FCPS School Board Meeting - 4/14/2022

001foreign school board members please take your seats that's so much fun I know school board members please take your seats our apologies we will be starting shortly all right this April 14 2022 regular meeting of the Fairfax County School Board will now come to order please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a moment of silence and a performance of the national anthem by the Stone Middle School Panther Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Tracy Maguire United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all oh [Music] what's your problems [Music] um [Music] all right foreign [Applause] great job Panthers thank you for being with us tonight chair picarski is your special Panther there is a special Panther that I think

002would rather not be called now well congratulations but this may be my favorite band in order to comply with section 2.2-3712d of the code of Virginia it is necessary for the board to certify that since the Fairfax County School Board convened a closed meeting on April 14 2022 to the best of each member's knowledge only public business matters lawfully Exempted from open meeting requirements and only such business matters as were identified in the motion convening the clothes were heard discussed or considered by the board during the closed meeting is there a motion moved by Miss Sizemore Heiser seconded by Miss Cohen all those in favor that is unanimous with um one person away from the agenda item 3.3 3.03 announcements Miss McLaughlin has submitted a remote participation request form due to a personal conflict I

003will call for an approval from in-person Members all those in favor of approving Miss McLaughlin's request to virtually attend tonight's meeting please raise your hand that vote is unanimous with one person away there's Miss McLaughlin if you would like to review a copy of the agenda and any agenda item that is being discussed tonight the information may be found at the back of the auditorium or on the website at fcps.edu school board docs tonight's meeting is being broadcast on channel 99 and live streamed on the website meeting at fcps.edu TV ch99 item 6.03 Award of contract asphalt milling and paving at Hayfield Secondary School has been removed from tonight's agenda at the request of Staff item 5.03 Award of contract Falls Church High School renovation has been moved from the consent agenda to the action

004agenda of the request of a board member policy 2100 has been removed from the consent agenda to the action agenda at the request of a board member I would also like to acknowledge that former School Board member Ryan mcelveen is joining us tonight and we are very happy to have you please stand up thank you [Applause] fan favorite agenda item 3.04 appointment of division superintendent I call on the Sizemore hyzer for the motion I move to authorize the execution and delivery of the by the chairman of an agreement appointing Dr Michelle Reed to serve as a division superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools for the period beginning July 1st 2022 and ending on July June 30th 2026 on the terms and conditions more particularly set forth in the agreement is our second seconded by mrnado

005kofox uh motion has been made and seconded Miss seismo Heiser would you like to speak to your motion you bet I would um I am so honored and excited to make this motion to introduce Dr Michelle Reed as our new superintendent Dr Reed has served as a superintendent of the North Shore School District in Bothell Washington since 2016. she was previously superintendent of the South Kitsap School District in Port Washington or in Port Orchard Washington early in her career she served as a deputy superintendent district athletic director and high school principal in the Port Angeles Washington school district she was named aasa National superintendent of the year in 2021 for exemplary Communications and her work in closing achievement gaps she also grew up in a military family and has raised four children welcome Dr Reed

006we are incredibly happy to have you here today and I know you will do amazing work as our next superintendent and as we welcome Dr Reed I wanted to also thank Dr Bray brand for his many years of service and loyalty to scps your positivity your nuggets of wisdom and spirit of Joy will be greatly missed and I wish you the best of luck I wanted the community to know thank you [Applause] we had a long and robust search process that started last fall it included many opportunities for the community to share their input on what characteristics they wanted in our next superintendent including a survey many Town Halls Community stakeholder meetings in all five regions and a public school board work session we are fortunate that we were able to have a large group

007of excellent candidates participate in our process among among this large strong group Dr Reed was consistently at the top she impressed us throughout the process with her thoughtful brilliant and insightful analysis her work around stem and strong academics for all students and an understanding that our Focus must also be on the whole child I was also impressed at her work on racial and educational Justice and inclusion in addition to her demonstrated support for and deep understanding of lgbtiqi students students of color students from various religious backgrounds ell students immigrants students with disabilities and those of different gender identity she was the only one to talk about ableism she was the only one to talk about ableism and demonstrate understanding of the concepts of neurodiversity I know when our community gets to know her like we

008have they will see all of this and more since the day nearly two weeks ago that this board voted to begin contract negotiations with Dr Reed as our finalist it has been a pleasure to get to know her as we work through these last few details to bring her here today Dr Michelle Reed has all of the characteristics that will make her an excellent superintendent for FCPS Not only was she named the 2021 National superintendent of the Year by asaa the school superintendents Association she is also nationally known for her work in instructional leadership she is visionary bringing to FCPS a 22nd century education philosophy She Thinks Big but customizes those ideas based on the specifics and needs of her District she has high intelligence and great curiosity I was consistently impressed by the amount

009of research and work she did to get to know our system and analyze and propose ideas that could work in FCPS she had a deep demonstrated ability to engage with various stakeholders she spends time to listen to her community to heal to bring in student voice I have received many messages from people in the North Shore District singing her Praises I know that she will do what she did there bring her well-documented reputation as a Healer to bring students staff and communities together she also brings a positive and warm approach not quite the Nuggets of Dr Bray brand that will bring our community together she is full of grace kindness empathy and whip smart as was said in one of the emails that was sent to me in short she blew us away with her

010Keen analytic skill her desire to be a little more Curious with everything she does and her ability to let her intelligence shine in the most empathetic and warm way School Board cares deeply about doing right by our students and staff and we took our job of selecting our next superintendent very seriously I appreciate that we have a community that also cares deeply about the leadership of our school system and it's wonderful that we have such engaged community I have utmost confidence that once this community knows Dr Reed for the person we know her they will also love her I hope that our FCPS Community will come together to welcome Dr Reed and give her that opportunity I know she is eager to get to know our amazing community and I will end by saying the

011best thing for our system for our students for our staff after two incredibly divisive years is to be a little more curious to be a little more open to be a little more empathetic and welcome Dr Michelle Reed as our next superintendent for scps I cannot wait to work with you in creating that 22nd century education for all of our students in Fairfax County Mr Naco facts would you like to speak to your second ma'am Dr Reed I am truly excited to be seconding this motion to welcome you as the next Superintendent at Fairfax County Public Schools as our board's top candidate we knew that when we extended the offer to you on April 2nd we were getting a Visionary educator who is known both regionally and nationally for your outstanding instructional leadership you've been

012honored as the 2021 superintendent of the year you humbly accepted this award and knowledge acknowledged that it was a team effort that made this happen for you and it was a team award you acknowledged your partners in the community the students their families the staff as well as your school board a colleague described your unique ability to diffuse polarizing Community concerns by stating Dr Reed has shown the leaders in our district an alternative approach through Grace skill collaboration and love she consistently brings forward every voice here's each concern and commits deeply to ensure that each person within their sphere of influence is in a position to be and to give their very best Dr Reed you are coming to a top performing beautifully diverse school system but we are not without our challenges in your

013very first interview with us you described yourself as a Visionary as an incurable Optimist you will need that here you stated that students need to be seen they need to be heard and they need to be Affirmed you declared in my daily work I come prepared I do my homework I am not afraid of a challenge and I've Loved this work as a superintendent we look forward to that my colleagues and I believe you embody the characteristics and qualifications needed to continue to move Fairfax County Public Schools forward today April 14th in case you were unaware as I was not but I found out the day is the U.S national reach as high as you can day we are all encouraged to reach where we are all on this day we were all encouraged to

014reach for our dreams and our goals and I cannot think of a better day to welcome you into our school system I look forward to working with you to build Community Trust and to bring our community together welcome to FCPS Dr Reed thank you I'll now open the floor for other members Miss keys gamara yes I'd like to make a motion to delay this vote uh is there a second I'll second that brother I would like to remind our audience that we are conducting business would you like to speak to that motion thank you um Dr Reed I would like to first of all say that what I'm about to say has little to do with you I have had concerns throughout this process and as many people know our community has expressed some outrage

015I can't blame them and quite frankly I think that much of the concern and the response to that outrage has been how dare certain groups speak how dare they get a hold of information how dare they share something if they were a part of the community panel who leaked let me say this that is the wrong Focus the people who are reaching out to us are our community members they are our constituents it is our job to hear them for a public school system our school system belongs to the public so my objection today has to do with the fact that we seem to be rushing this decision the contract as well as the announcement was posted last night it's my understanding that there's been some advice given that we need to get this over

016with but my concern and I have a list here of the groups that have contacted us as well as nearly 50 people most of whom have objections some of the same kinds of objections I had through this process despite the qualifications of Dr Reed I happen to believe that the other candidate was more qualified my concern is that if I read the list of these people the NAACP the Fairfax Association of black Educators Pride Liberation project and so on and so on I've been contacted by faith leaders in this community I've been contacted by concerned citizens and neighbors I've had lawyers contact me not because I was giving them information but because they are involved because this is their community and they care it's our responsibility to listen and to jam this vote through in

017my opinion is sending them a message that they don't matter I fully respect that I have a different opinion than many people on this board I listen to people speak tonight two of particular were a particular note one broke this down to the candid one candidate being white and one candidate being black that is the furthest thing from my mind I have three sons two of whom are here tonight and if I point them out I won't have a place to live but they are graduates of Fairfax County Public Schools and they have told me about the joys and the difficulties they have told me what was missing they have told me how they were treated and it's part of the reason I'm on this board I also operate as a lawyer and I represent

018children every day and I have done so for nearly two decades I understand what children experience and so when I walked in that room I felt that I carried the concerns of each and every one of them because yes when I meet the kids I represent I do feel a little bit like their mother and I want to carry their voice but when we rush through something and we know that we have had the type of Community input even if we don't like it coming in it is our responsibility to listen and so I ask that we consider a delay of this vote I understand that there has been some advice that perhaps we just get it over with like pulling off a Band-Aid and if you feel a few hairs put some alcohol on

019it and it'll be better soon but I can tell you that the community members that I know feel disenfranchised and they're hurt and that is why I'm speaking today I thank you for considering this motion it probably won't pass but I thought the 50 or so people and organizations on this paper deserve somebody to mention it thank you Dr Anderson would you like to speak to your second um yes I will briefly like to speak to this um just like Miss keys gamara this motion is not going to pass but I I think it's important for me to state that this decision that is about to be made this evening is the most important decision that this body can make it is responsible for determining who the next leader is of our organization one that

020I'm very highly invested in because I have two kids in this in this system our community has bombarded us with emails phone calls about this very critical task that we're about to engage in this evening and many of these statements were shared tonight they've asked for engagement they have asked to be heard I strongly believe that we should afford ourselves the gift of time to reach out to those who have expressed their concerns and to listen more closely before finalizing our decision I believe we are needlessly rushing into this part of the of the process and in doing so we have discounted the people whom we are elected to represent the people who have been telling us that they have questions that they have concerns and we have not provided ourselves time to address or

021alleviate those concerns we have whether intentional or not without timetable fed Into The Narrative of not being inclusive or transparent and that is why I have seconded Miss um kiesgamara's motion are there any members wishing to speak to this motion seeing none I'll take the oh Miss Cohen thank you I appreciate it um I really respect and appreciate how Miss case Kamara and Dr Anderson are feeling tonight um and I won't pretend to say that I understand your hurt but I do understand hurt and I know what it's like to have kids who go through the system and don't feel like we are working for them whether they're queer whether they're brown whether they're black whether they're Muslim whether they're Jewish we have work to do and I'm proud of the process that we have

022undertaken as a collective group of 12 very different people to get to where we are tonight this is an imperfect system it's not run by robots it's run by human beings we have kids ages first grade to 12th grade on this board to think for a second that they're not every minute of sleepless nights of trying to make sure that we get this right there's not a person up here who does not understand how high the stakes are so I won't be voting to delay I'm proud of who we chose and I trust you to get us to where we need to be and I hope that we're all going to do our best to work together and figure out how in the heck we got here so I appreciate your motion very much but

023I won't be supporting it was telling so I've struggled and struggled and struggled with this we have worked as a board for hours and hours and hours for months we held public sessions we we tried to hear from the public um it I'm really hurt that you know people feel disenfranchised you know Miss kiesgamara and I had a long talk yesterday about you know how she's feeling and what she thought about the process I mean all I can say is I have worked in good faith I have read resumes I have interviewed people over and over and over what we put these candidates through was so intense and we got to a point where we had two incredible incredible people as we slowly went through the interview process and the decision was really tough really

024tough we voted as the board and Dr Michelle Reed came out on top fair and square and I I honestly you know and I sit here speaking as a white woman so I know that you know people can accuse me of not feeling and not understanding that I've worked really really hard at this and I cannot believe that I am sitting up here what 12 other people that didn't work equally as hard I just needed to say that all out loud I need you to know where I'm coming from thank you Miss McLaughlin yes thank you I just want to Echo um the comments that were shared by Ms Cohen and Miss Tolan um I do share um the empathy for our colleagues and for members of the public who um are feeling hurt who

025are concerned about the process um but I also want to really reinforce what both of them said um this board was very very transparent in publishing what our calendar would be what our process would be um that it would be a confidential search as we've done in recent memory and certainly in the three searches I've participated and several before that it's very common because we are trying to attract the best candidates and they don't want to necessarily be leaving their districts and so this is a very big deal um when we have strong recruiting companies go out and find strong candidates and I really want to use my remarks to the main motion to celebrate our incredible finalist so I I really wanted to speak to this particular motion because I appreciate where Miss case

026Kamara and Dr Anderson are coming from I respectfully disagree however I don't believe that we are discounting the people who were elected to represent I don't feel that we have rushed this process or or had a lack of transparency our calendar our timeline our entire process was all published and this board spent countless days and months involved in this process and I couldn't be more excited about the finalists that we have before us this evening um but I do want to reassure the public that we were elected the 12 of us to make this most profound decision and that is our elected Duty and I really appreciate how all 12 of us we're working so hard at this and I'm proud of my colleagues for all the time and passion and commitment and effort that

027that was put into this um I admire you greatly and everyone knows I have different votes than a lot of people that you're going to be seeing tonight and I think that speaks volumes too and I'll be speaking to that in the main motion so um again I believe all 12 of us care deeply and we recognize um that sadly there are hurt members in our community but I don't want them to lose faith for a minute of our commitment to recognize and serve and care about every single person in our community thank you thank you uh Miss Corbett Sanders yes thank you madam chair um I was not planning on speaking to this motion but the reason I felt that I needed to is because um I will not be supporting this motion and

028the reason I am not supporting a delay is because of the extensive conversations that have gone on within this board and uh within the community and by having a delay tonight it's not going to change the outcome and so when we know that the outcome is not going to change then we should go ahead and do the business of this board and that doesn't mean that um I don't have great sympathy and empathy for the comments that have been made thus far but I want to make it very clear um part of The Angst that has occurred is because of um not having a full dialogue with the community but more importantly amongst ourselves and so instead what happens is then all of a sudden we are not necessarily as um you know we don't

029come across the way that I know this board wants to come across I also want to ensure this community that every member of this board takes their job seriously and has been incredibly discerning as they have looked at how they make a decision and how they come how they dissect the data how they analyze what's before them and then how they come to a decision that doesn't mean you get unanimity but what it does mean is that you have thoughtful consideration of issues that come before this board and so I really appreciate the concept of delay but I don't think that it serves this board to delay tonight Miss keys gamara yes I I wanna I want to clarify a cute a few things I'm not trying to change the outcome there are people in

030this community who always feel like they're not heard and they're always in certain groups and they always and a lot of them have supported this board it hurts me it pains me to think that they have to feel that way again I will also say that I know to this board as I explained my position I said some things that were not understood and I think that people's feelings may have been hurt but I would like to explain why I made some comments and I won't outline what they were um we are not hiring experts we didn't receive any particular training for this we're not the HR department and we don't know necessarily how to avoid pitfalls I happen to have done a lot of reading and studying because of my work with respect to

031the psychology of decision making patterns of hiring the history of FCPS and our hiring issues Etc but we really didn't get I believe we were at a bit of a disadvantage because we had not been given parameters to try to have an equity lens in place and everything that we do that doesn't mean people weren't trying on their own but it was sort of Our Own Thing so I I I don't know if that cleared anything up I'm looking at Miss picarski's face but uh um the fact of the matter is I hope from this day forward we can have some real honest conversations um I can tell you there's been things that I kind of try to put boundaries around because honestly they're a bit hurtful and I know some people probably don't even

032know that they were but I have to say we had one speaker tonight who said it quite well at least some of the things how people feel Miss Leslie Houston tonight so thank you Leslie and I just want the board to know that nothing I said was intended to be name-calling it was intended to challenge us we've got so much in front of us and we have to equip ourselves for this very hard and important work intentionally that's how we make a difference thank you Michelle mesh so I want to thank my colleagues for sharing their truths I think there's an importance to sitting with discomfort and understanding one another regardless of what perspectives we come with um obviously uh figging off of Elaine I am not a white woman I know I'm not black

033but I also come from a community that is deeply deeply skeptical of systems and and institutions after 20 years of of deliberate uh and intentional marginalization and so I say that because I spent the first year being on this board highly skeptical of every staff member of every leadership team member Dr brabrand knows this well and seeing the implicit bias and everything and I I present that because I can understand what it means to come at this deeply distrusting and for rightful reasons but that precisely is actually a reflection of where we are as a society today I actually was just I told I mentioned the speaker mentioned I have no idea how she knew but I was just talking to miss Keith Gamora about how I was thinking for a while and struggling with

034the idea should I bring a motion to delay should I not how do we validate the community's concerns and help bring people along to bring healing through a decision that is meant to be a unifying process for our community and I ultimately decided to recognize it and mention it in my statement which I'll make a little bit later to kind of culminate Where We Are but I chose against it largely because I knew the majority wouldn't be there for it but I also knew that everyone came through intentional and thoughtful reasons for why they arrived at that place and I was hopeful that we can choose healing tonight which requires intentionality and I recognize that and we have to commit to certain steps to making sure that we earn the trust of our community and

035and work on addressing the wounds that have been a part of our country's history for the past centuries so I I ask us to reflect on how we came to this moment we're no different than the rest of this country and the challenges that we're facing and and frankly I'm going to abstain from this motion uh not because I I because I'm precise I'm I'm stuck I'm stuck in a place where we're not having a conversation anymore and I want to make that precise point that to polarize ourselves and and to to put ourselves in a place where a certain vote means a certain thing about who you are and what you believe in outside of the context and the Nuance of what is required to understand one another and move our system forward is

036not moving any of us forward uh and and I hope that that abstention testifies to the idea that this is not a way to have a conversation uh and I'm hopeful and this is not to invalidate any perspective or voice that has come forward today because there is rightful and righteous anger um but I'm hoping that we can come to a place where we have we do come together tonight to support a leader uh who will move us forward in a proper direction so I I hope that we can reflect on that and again this is these are the Growing Pains of exactly what we're witnessing across this country with racial class you name it divides thank you so much Dr Anderson your light is on did you want a second go okay um I

037will just uh make one short comment I will not be supporting this postponement um I I very much appreciate you sharing um how you feel and your perspectives and all of our community who has come forth to speak uh it is very difficult when people that you have often worked with listened to and very highly respect come into a position where you have very very different opinions and and what we do at that point um as elected officials and that balance of you know what is the listening to the community and when is it time that we have to make a decision because it's the right time for me this is the right time um Dr Reed is an exceptional candidate who from the very beginning underwent a rigorous rigorous process um speaking to our

038recruiter just before I came here tonight his words was the most robust process Professionals in recruitment who do these searches across the country and I'm confident I'm proud of our process and there is always opportunity to hear and to find common ground and I believe Dr Reed will be our next superintendent tonight after our vote and I know that she's eager to listen to all of you as we are every day and I think we will all together be proud to call her the next superintendent of FCPS once we have that opportunity so thank you and with that I will take the vote all those in favor of postponement of the vote tonight please raise your hands all those opposed all those abstaining that motion to delay fails we will now go back to our

039main motion are there any school board members who would like to speak to the main motion Miss Marin well I am thrilled to welcome Dr Michelle Reed here tonight and as she has done throughout the rather exhaustive and perhaps exhausting candidate interview process she is before us with enthusiasm focused and professionalism in my career in public policy I've often heard the term thought leader thrown around but it's really an accomplishment that so few people can actually obtain because it requires a discipline of curiosity of Investigation of data of the calculated risk of innovation and Dr Reed is a thought leader she has exhibited this at each opportunity during the candidate review process including in her remarks references to research and not in a in an academic way but in a practical way that we can

040use here and for myself as a school board member who's also a parent and an apparent with children in elementary schools I certainly approach this process with my own children mine they are friends in mind the children their grades my colleagues friends so um you know reflecting the values of the overhead 130 000 constituents that I represent I took that into the utmost seriousness and this is a really I've never had quite an experience like this to interview for such an elite and important position um so I uh you know I remark you know Dr Reed currently lives on another Coast in a different time zone and yet she has exhibited that she already knows the data about Fairfax so intimately and I have heard her voice her eagerness to see an experience for herself

041that data as it comes to life through our students our staff and our communities I uh I also really appreciate that she like understands the value of play she is she's an amateur athlete she helped to grow programs in sports in her schools based on how students could get scholarships to college playing those Sports so I think that she brings a well-roundedness not only of stem and academics but that value of being healthy living healthy and being curious so um I think of Dr Reed like this I think that her work thus far has been a pilot and I think she's going to blow the lid off the Innovation when she gets here to Fairfax I believe that Dr Reed will lead Fairfax County into fulfilling the birthright that is public education in America thank

042you Miss Marin Dr Anderson thank you I do have to agree with my colleagues who spoke earlier and that we take this job very seriously we do each and every one of us has done this during this process and it is with that framework that I do regretfully share that I will not be able to support this motion to be clear I believe this board by our recruiters have provided us with numerous qualified candidates it was a good problem to have it really was but in my many years of hiring as a school principal who had opened up a brand new school and to staff that I have hired hundreds and hundreds of people during my 17 years of being a school leader and I always look at the options that are provided to us

043very very carefully and make sure that all of my questions are answered unfortunately I still have outstanding questions in this case the question of fit really still continues for me it's been said by many that experience matters and FCPS has challenges that are significant size scope demographics you name it we could sit here all day to list them and I would like to see an established record of addressing those obstacles as I shared earlier the most significant concern for me right now is not having to take the not taking the time to bring our community along we've had student walkouts today we had a rally out front today all of those are cries for help cries for engagement cries for inclusion we should have taken a beat to do that we absolutely should have taken

044a beat to do that I am not saying and just like Miss uh covet Sanders I don't think it would have impacted the outcome but we didn't even put the effort to bring folks along and that's very disappointing to me the issues that have been raised in the community based on all of the correspondence that we've received testimony that took place tonight I would have had a little bit of I would have appreciated a little bit more time to stop and reflect on that I would have liked to investigate some of these things that were have been raised and I don't think I've had the time to do that no doubt again everyone on this board has worked very hard during this time it's been a lot a lot of hours spent on it and

045Miss omesh is very right in terms of the work that we've put in and I respectfully I respect your decision and I want mine to be respected as well while I will not be voting in favor of um your appointment Dr Reed I do wish you success my children are in the system I have a child who's going to be in the system for many many years because she's only a fourth grader and I need for her to get what I hope for all of our kids which is to be seen which is to be included which is to be taken care of thank you okay Miss keys gamara I just spoke a lot I'll let other people go just if you don't mind thank you there are no other lights oh I'm sorry Miss

046McLaughlin uh yes thank you uh well I really want to um bring the joy that I think tonight reflects and and Dr Reed I am so sorry to not be there in person [Music] um I would give anything um to be there um with everyone because I couldn't be more excited about you as our next leader um as my colleague Ms darnak kofax knows um when we selected our former superintendent Karen Garza um she just reminds me so much of you um she was wickedly smart and had served as Superintendent at multiple school districts where she really learned um so much along the way um like you she came from smaller size districts and yet she came here and absolutely shined uh so great leaders know how to bring their great leadership to scale our

047current County Executive Brian Hill also comes from James City County which is much much smaller than Fairfax and he too has shown his great leadership and brought it to scale um but you know Dr Reed one of the things that I wanted to really emphasize tonight for our community is that first of all I haven't had an inbox overwhelmed by concerned residents I've had some but I think it's because Unfortunately they just got information that is not standard in our process and so people are asking questions out of confusion so I do want to also share this for the community not only is Dr Reed um brilliantly smart she understands project management she understands change management she brought forth in all of her interviews in her work a depth of knowledge to the point that

048had hand cramps I'm writing notes from all of the wealth of information Dr Reed not only uh oh all right well we'll let Miss McLaughlin have another go at it when she reconnects um Miss Tolan so I also had kids that went all the way through Fairfax County Public Schools I've been a member of this community for over 25 years and was a staff member for FCPS for many years so the forward direction of the school district is very very important to me I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to interview so many qualified and inspirational candidates for the role of FCPS superintendent and I think our recruiting firm for doing a good job of bringing these candidates to us they meet our job very difficult each candidate had strengths and weaknesses and

049as we as a board went through three rounds of intensive interviews the board focused on those areas of strengths and weaknesses with our questions um to try to feel comfortable I know we're at a point now where we have healing to do with our community and I'm very happy to move forward and be a part of that and from what I know about Dr Reed she's very happy to be part of that too a vote tonight is not a vote for one candidate or another I want to make sure that's clear that's in my mind the vote tonight is about to say whether or not Michelle Reed is a good candidate to be our next superintendent Dr Reed brings to us extensive knowledge and a real passion for the study of educational best practices she

050recently spoke on a re-imaging school postcovid um a panel with thought leaders such as Tony Wagner and possie selberg she's a listener and a community Builder and a collaborative thinker she grew up in a military family like so many of our families in FCPS we'll be celebrating them tonight she's bilingual has experience working with labor unions and has experience across many jobs within school districts and I of course am happy to welcome another science teacher and stem Advocates to our ranks as a community now is the time for us to gather behind Dr Reed and support her as she takes the reins of FCPS we need to give her a fair chance and get to know her we have many challenges that face Us in FCPS but we have many strengths to bolster and to

051celebrate it is time for us to move forward as a community and collaborate with her to make sure FCPS remains as a premier School District and grows in the use of innovative and best practices across instruction budgeting food and nutrition facilities youth Etc welcome Dr Reed thank you Miss Tallinn um Miss kieskamara would you like to go be waiting for me to speak and then they're speaking do you want a chance or no I do want to change okay go ahead Okay so I have to acknowledge how our community has been feeling and um as I said I have done quite a bit of research I actually had an opportunity to speak about um how people make decisions and and why and the history how history impacts those decisions um and so in that regard

052I think that is probably where I had the hardest time because um to some extent This was um the research Bears this out to some extent but I will list what I'm concerned about and why I won't be raising my hand but I I offer a caveat I have significant concern about you coming from a very small District we are the demographics are not necessarily the same as ours um I have concerns about the fact that schools were closed for a significant amount of time and that's something we can't do here um I have concerns about the fact that we receive significant Community input and I took that I took put a lot of weight on what we heard so let me outline where I am I feel people twisting in their seats raising my

053hand today means that I am confident that this decision is the best for our community because of the concerns I just mentioned I don't know I certainly hope so raising my hand means that I have confidence that we have heard the community and honored their ownership of this school system I have to sell you I'm really not sure uh not just because of what was stated afterwards after the decision leaked but because of things that were said during the process legitimately raising my hand means that we have reached a unanimous decision that reflects the concerns of all constituents that we represent as a board unfortunately I cannot confidently answer each of these statements in the affirmity affirmative and it is important to convey the right message to my community our community I believe this is

054not a question of whether I think you're good I believe it's a question of whether I thought you were the best coming out of that with all of that in mind and I believe it's my responsibility to convey that to the community and the reason that I have that responsibility is because it is our job to hold the superintendent accountable and I take that very seriously I mentioned these issues because I want you to know people will be looking because of those issues it's our job I mentioned the county while I do not agree with today's decision and I made that very clear I will do everything I can to make FCPS successful I am worried about the learning curve it's a big jump from 22 000 to 180 000 and I know my colleagues

055believe that you know that's doesn't mean much but it means a lot to me leadership in this role means that I must speak the truth on every matter to the best of my ability I've tried today I used a lot of words to try to reach that goal and I am conveying concern that we have not listened to marginalized Community that's communities that has weighed heavily on my heart and we have not addressed concerns that I believe are important to the community at large there have been some things that have come out that we never really thought to get the answer but I will work to make sure that every parent every student every Community is heard it's part of the reason I'm speaking today because those who have concerns I want you to know

056that there are people on this side of the diocese who hear you and will be looking out for your interests some of my colleagues may not appreciate how I'm sharing information but while I had no part in in what has happened in the community I also understand that the school system belongs to the public it would be nice if everybody played by the rules and spoke to us nicely but too often that doesn't happen in the past we have recognized that and still listened to those communities I'm troubled that we're not doing that today my duty is clear to advance the purposes of public education for Fairfax County Public Schools the families and the communities at large we do not need a unanimous vote to work toward that goal whether we agree or not raising

057my hand means that I have I have confidence that is is I have to know that it is in the best interest of every child I pray that it is and it will work toward I will work toward that goal after having expressed with full disclosure today I hope in a way that is not disheartening to you at all this is my responsibility this is how I work to fulfill my duty and how I work to maintain the public trust that I hold dearly thank you Miss McLaughlin have you logged on again [Applause] oh yeah before we go on um I recognize Miss Cohen I'm so sorry to go out of turn I just wanted to we have the most amazing I just lost my gymnast sorry I I appreciate so much I know this

058is a big deal and I don't want anybody to feel like um we're trying to shortchange it but I also know that we have state champion students who came here to be recognized from the Hayfield basketball team the Hawks and the Lake Braddock gymnasts are hopefully somewhere out there in the hall and um and the amazing folks who came here to celebrate month of the military child I just don't want this is a lot and I totally get it and I I just want you all to know we appreciate you we can't wait to celebrate you my God if you want to leave right now I completely understand um but we did just want to take two seconds if it's okay to say to the Lake Braddock Bruins and they're and the state the state

059champion Lake Braddock gymnast and here comes the Hayfield Hawks basketball team hey hey field Hawks state championships we are so proud of you without objection um we do apologize to our students adults like to talk a whole lot and we are taking a little bit longer than normal we would like to invite you however if we take a quick pause up here with us so we can at least get a picture and we will be rescheduling um the formal uh recognition at another time without objection of my colleagues thank you yes let's do the folks we will have to do this quickly we could have the basketball team please kids have to leave to go because they have school in the morning that is why we had to have an interruption our apologies thank you

060chair picarski for your indulge Indulgence let's get started what we've learned in the last two years is that flexibility and pivoting Dr Bray brand is the way to success we will get back to our motion um do we still have Miss McLaughlin Miss McLaughlin I call on you for your comments yes Dr Ms pokarski I just wanted to finish my remarks since I lost my connection um you know I I want to just again end on a very positive note here um if I had any concerns that we didn't have a successful search I have always said in my prior two searches and this one as well that we take our time and we make sure we get the most exceptional leader possible and that's why I've been so excited tonight because I truly believe

061that Dr Reed is exceptional I may not always agree with decisions she will make going forward and even some decisions she's made at her current school system I may not have agreed with but what I do know this is she is incredible in her ability to look at data research science engage and collaborate and she understands issues at an incredible depth and so what I do know is that just like prior superintendents who have come from multiple districts uh they bring it to scale Lubbock Texas this was 35 000 students Dr Garza had no problem bringing it to scale and that's why I keep emphasizing that um it's not just a matter of what the board of 12 assessed in terms of our our search process and it was very comprehensive and we had incredibly

062highly qualified candidates so Dr Reed reaching the top is because she is that exceptional and being recognized by the national school superintendents Association being recognized for the various national boards and councils that she serves on are all due to her intellect and the respect that she holds at a national level so I'll conclude because it is late at night and trust me everybody it's a lot later for me than all the rest of you in that Auditorium um but I'm just excited thrilled and I look forward to reassuring our community that we the board did our due diligence we the board did the job that you all elected us to do which is to make important decisions and we the board did follow our process absolutely and engaging our community in the way that we

063could and said we would nothing was rushed nothing was um done outside of what we promised we would do and tonight is a moment for celebration and I look forward to celebrating with Dr Reed in person um when the next opportunity presents itself to my colleagues thank you for um indulging me and uh again I'm sorry for the connection issues thank you Miss Corbett Sanders yes thank you thank you madam chair for a couple of reasons including uh being indulgent of us allowing our young athletes to uh jump to the head of the line which is always appropriate here in Fairfax when it comes to students they get uh first up and so thank you as you all know this has been a terribly difficult decision for this whole board I appreciate the discernment that

064each and every one of my colleagues has brought to this decision it is the most important decision that a school board undertakes and impacts everything we do as a system and impacts each of our students in ways that we know and ways that we do not yet know as stewards of a 3.3 billion dollar entity we know that FCPS is both a complex business entity and an academic center of excellence we also know that Northern Virginia is chosen by large and small businesses and families to relocate to this jurisdiction because of the excellent educational opportunities available to them here this board had the opportunity to look at a wide range of candidates that applied for this position through our excellent executive Search firm I very much appreciate the work of gr Consulting in helping us

065navigate this process I know that individuals made their decisions based on the information provided to them and understanding of me of the needs of their individual communities the Fairfax Community as a whole an input from our community panels and three interviews with excellent candidates and I very much appreciate Dr Reed that this is your third trip across the country in I think three weeks um except we know that the process has been extensive and the candidates brought To Us by our search firm had Great accomplishments each in their own right Dr Reed has been recognized by our peers as the national superintendent of the year and it's an incredible accomplishment I know that the families of the North Shore District appreciate her service her home state of Washington is very proud of her and she

066has served her community well and deserves the respect accorded her accomplishments with the recent redistricting Mount Vernon is made up of almost 130 000 residents we lost a few and similar to the entire it is similar in size to the entirety of the North Shore District in students attending six high schools we also have three centers serving the unique needs of our special education population and students who need a smaller academic setting we have schools that have almost 3 000 students and we have schools that have 250. we have 1500 Military connected youth attending the Fort Belvoir upper and primary and upper schools on Fort Belvoir so our needs are vast the differences are vast I know that we all want to have a unanimous vote this evening and I really wish I were able

067to join that majority it is with heavy heart that I will be voting no and my decision to vote no tonight please allow our board member to finish her comments my decision to vote no tonight is a difficult one and it is based on my concerns that center around the ability to scale up from a small school system smaller than the mount this Mount Vernon District to a system the size of Fairfax County with a hundred and eighty thousand students the absence of experience in a large diverse District which Dr Garza did have and the associated challenges as well as lingering questions that I have that I will look forward to having a more in-depth conversation with you in the future Dr Reed having said this I do look forward to introducing you Dr Reed

068to the Mount Vernon District it's wonderful schools and the students that I believe will honor their predecessors in my community who have served and continue to serve as the first president of the United States members of Congress members of the Supreme Court an honored military service members I know that the students you meet in Mount Vernon will be the leaders of this country tomorrow I also make a commitment to you Dr Reed that I will do everything in my power to ensure that you are successful because it is utmost important to the children of Mount Vernon and the children of Fairfax County that you are successful and that all of our staff are successful in meeting the unique needs of each and every one of our children so we have a shared vision of success

069for every child no matter where they live thank you Miss Cohen [Applause] I know anybody who knows me it won't surprise you that I had a really long list of must-haves in our candidates um and honestly I the first time that I talked about it with my PTA monthly PTA Roundtable the first thing one of my PTA presidents said is what will you do if no one applies I really hadn't thought about that and so then spent a lot of sleepless nights waiting to hear how many people had applied for this job um 72 by the way um people wanted to come and be here and be a part of this system even as frustrated as many of you in the audience feel with it tonight um and as we whittled it down there were

070a few questions that with every candidate's answer that were ones that were deal breakers for me and one of the big ones was the equity question that we asked we asked a very open-ended question in the hopes that people would be able to run with how they felt how they thought what they had done in their districts um and some people excelled at it and some people didn't and interviews are hard um but from the first time that Dr Reed answered that question and none of you will be surprised that there were many exclamation points and Stars by the answers I liked the best um she weaved Equity into every single answer it wasn't just do you get the equity question right it was talking about um access and program placement she talked about participation

071in sports in the Arts and how important how those were equally important to how kids feel successful she talked about access to algebra in eighth grade is one of the very minimal benchmarks that a system should be using she talked about ensuring that kids weren't testing in the afternoon during Ramadan she talked about making sure that kids didn't miss play auditions homecoming band concerts on the Jewish High holidays she talked about reflection rooms she talked about even adding Cricket as a sport in their District because so many people loved playing it and it brought that love with them now that they were here in our country she talked about figuring out that one in four girls will get a scholarship in crew if they row well they didn't have a program so she decided to

072build one look nobody's gonna be perfect they're just not we're a very I don't even know I wish I had a good adjective for where we are right now as a community I'm sorry you feel that way so let's work together so I am excited because I did have some must-haves and you ticked them all and I am excited about the vision that you have for redefining what the school system means for stopping the narrative that is a school system that's based on churning out Factory workers of figuring out what kids are good at and helping them be successful in it and then figuring out how we help them be good at everything I believe in you and I know that you here tonight that we're putting an awful lot on your plate [Music] um

073but I know that you can rise to the occasion and that's why we're picking you so we look forward to the journey and even the folks who don't want to be on this journey we're going to figure it out together it's what we do thanks thank you Miss Cohen um are they on any other school board members wishing to speak but so mesh Mr fresh thank you excuse me um nothing over the past two years has been easy for this school board I think that's an understatement and so I'll be honest uh when I say we began this process I was worried that we wouldn't have any we'd have trouble finding a qualified candidate to be our next superintendent um as a profession their work has been incredibly hard over the last two years and

074there are vacancies for these positions all over the Commonwealth of Virginia all over the country so I was thrilled when we received dozens of amazing qualified and impressive applicants through round after round of interviews with tough probing questions I was always impressed with Dr Reed's answers not only for the clarity and detail with which she described her work as superintendent but with her insights about Fairfax County Public Schools throughout our interviews with Dr Reed she routinely spoke unprompted of the ways she addressed the equity needs of her student body lgbtqia students Muslim Students students of color English language Learners students with special needs and more her commitment to equity as Miss Cohen spoke to and inclusion was a thread woven through her answers her accomplishments as superintendent her commitments to this board we asked all

075of our applicants how they would heal a divided community it says a lot about her character that she told us she would listen and that she would not presume to speak for others whose lived experience is different from her own she also said that she would work to put the results of those conversations into action I know Dr Reed is eager to get to work for Fairfax County Public Schools and I Dr Reed and eager to work with you as we seek to build a school system that helps all students achieve their potential thanks smash okay this is not going to be short but bear with me oh boy I said we have to bring healing right that doesn't come without understanding uh so obviously this is the most critical decision our board has to

076make it is the defining vote of our jobs and as stewards of the system we have a tremendous obligation to give this the proper thought heart wisdom and and and uh intention to do this right let me start first by thanking our clerks Beverly Medea and Laura Cornell alongside our Tech specialist Danson ho for their tireless work facilitating this process please give them a round of applause and I want to thank our Consultants Gloria Davis Gary Ray and the team at gr recruiting as well as our board Council Sona rawari for their patience and guidance and their process and our chair and vice chair for putting in more hours than they ever signed up for to facilitate this further and my colleagues of course for coming together despite the surmountable difficulties we continue to have

077I also want to recognize and thank Dr braband for seeing us through a tough few years and for having humility and positivity throughout isolating moments and a difficult process I cannot express the fullest extent of my appreciation the day for that will come but I also finally want to thank Dr Michelle Reed for her patience and Grace and persistence throughout this process and I'd like to welcome her here Dr Reed Welcome to our meeting Welcome to our school Welcome to our community and to Virginia so as we come together tonight with every perspective imaginable I'd like to share some reflections like many others I await the day when our system can have our own katanji Brown Jackson and perhaps one who's raised by our own hands in our own system and we're close and we

078will get there but understanding today requires more than public discourse and labels and sound bites and the lack of nuance that those allow so much is at stake and we can't run with what we hear without careful thought because our kids are the ones that ultimately bear the cost so today I'm asking for a rare commodity in our public Arena and all I can offer you is good faith hard work thoughtful consideration and a track record of sincerity and dedication and advocacy for equity and inclusion in return I'm not here to dismiss anyone's feelings nor discredit the multitude of perspectives and insights community members have around how we experience today the days and weeks leading up to it and certainly not the years and generations of realities that color today today I'm asking you for

079nuance for every single one of us to come to this conversation with nuance and a commitment for better in a way that moves us all forward this morning in releasing an equity action plan for our nation President Biden stated that advancing Equity is not a one-year project it is a generational commitment indeed as a board and as a community we're grappling with exactly what we see happening all across this nation and which we observe and so desperately wish can be healed our reality is such that people have been underserved in deep ways and for a long time critical needs have been dismissed ignored and at best pushed to the margins and people have had enough they are tired of waiting and they are tired of being told it will come I won't only validate this

080I feel this myself and I'll even add to that in saying that what we have observed today is only the tip of the iceberg and a single subset of so many underserved voices in this County who we may not hear from yet we find ourselves here as we Steward a system full of loving people with good intentions and so how do we reconcile that and where does that leave us for a combination of factors some with Merit and others completely without we find ourselves in a conversation where yet again we're polarized if you vote one way you're a prejudiced person if you vote another way you're an ally if you vote one way you're fearless and if you vote another way you're coward some are some are ready at the moment this vote is taken

081to cancel the entirety of the entirety of the holistic identity of those with whom they disagree this cannot be how we understand our world and it certainly cannot be how we teach our children to lead it it's the same thinking we criticize in those who have no tolerance for anyone who and who work against equity and inclusion it's actually the same simple-mindedness we criticize in racist Behavior and so I ask again for nuance having Taken full advantage of Ramadan and the spiritual opportunity for me where I only had a sip of water today I've tried to think about how I might lean into courage into Clarity into humility and ultimately integrity and what I say to you today and in my vote I came back to a single question what is best for children and

082what is best for all children and what I do tonight and perhaps more importantly in how I behave here today before you and what I say to you we have invested as a board in trainings on the state and federal level to understand the best practices of school boards and their relationships with superintendents to understand that one of the most important and difficult ways that school board members actually make sure our children come first is to stand behind the school superintendent and the easiest choice for me tonight would have actually been to meet the expectations of those who rely on me and vote with without any comment a safe face and to lean into the way that things appear and that well-meaning but misguided perceptions have led us to believe another more difficult but also

083easy choice would have been to vote with the majority and to just stay quiet to weather the storm in the shadows while people feel dismissed and continue experiencing the pain current perceptions reinforced in our system because we can but the hardest choice would be to maintain Integrity even when I'm disagreeing with my friends and to bring Nuance into conversations that our whole country is avoiding ones that are too sensitive difficult and deeply personal to have and look where that's left us and so let me be the first to say this process had biases and biases can lead to double standards and this unfortunately is nothing new but let me also say that even with accounting for that I do not in good conscience believe that bias determined the outcome today and let me remind us

084that insisting that it is while a projection of true and real feelings and valid wrongs in our history hurts us and even minorities especially that stands what I believe to be the most honest and detached from myself stance that I present to you today that I could take tonight is what I owe all of you and those who presently agree or disagree in this community but who are all still part of that one community and the one Fairfax we're building so we find ourselves at an impasse because we've established certain truths we've established that those truths are core and unshakable beliefs that a certain candidate is more qualified that the community favored a specific candidate that one has that was that one was privileged intentionally over another or that certain voices were prohibited intentionally from

085a process every single one of these is a debatable gray truth but if we take them to be absolute in a black and white analysis we begin to build entire theories around these outcomes that leave us with only one possible conclusion but we have to go back down that ladder of inference if we go back if you run down a few rungs to recognize that the ways we perceive the facts we recall and the aspects of various leaders we most value are themselves up to debate and are diverse some of us are upset with each other for arriving in different places on the highest rungs of that inference ladder when our very first steps on it from the factual foundations don't align some of us are upset with each other for arriving in different places

086and we live in a world of alternate facts so it's important to always go back to that bottom layer for clarity and before I get accused of gaslighting the reality we can we can the reality is that we can make anything look good and anything make look terrible we know this all too well in this work and seeing and observing the attacks on public education for the past two years has made that more evident than ever everyone has a perspective and I'll earnestly do my effort to lay out how we might better understand because it's arrogant and dismissive of me to just tell people they're wrong too so if we take a step back the fact of the matter is that only 12 of us here have the full information of what brought us here

087today through multiple rounds and multiple rounds of evaluation and research and investigation I for one have taken this extremely seriously and this decision has left me sleep Sleepless anxious and prayerful when examining data that we presume to be objective any one of us out there sure knows how framing can guide the conclusion and more importantly that a person's worth potential and capacity for success and what they're capable of cannot be determined by a single metric or numbers alone whether that's a test score in our classrooms or whether that's a district size in a superintendent our board actually did engage in that process on a preliminary level but our perspective and our perspectives were not actually that far from where the public is but like anything a good decision or planning through through layers of process

088further research and that is what Nuance allows us to do and at the end of the day I don't disagree there are concerns I have my own reservations and the reality is that the work of democracy is always messy to bring 12 people behind one decision I'm supporting Dr Reed today for several exciting reasons one of which is because she was one of the most she had the most holistic Equity responses we've encountered and this was my stance before any of these concerns fomented Dr Reed has the vision to have set up an entire racial Justice education department she spoke to us about how she empowered students through the student Justice collaborative to elevate their voice to be confident in who they are and to bring in Storm Solutions for the division the school superintendents

089Association didn't just recognize her as top superintendent in the country because she has a vision for and decisive leadership that successfully and safely got her school through covid or school system through covid but specifically because she had led inequity in unique ways in addition to her racial Equity work Dr Reed introduced quiet rooms and a lot of this was shared since the emotional supports that our students critically need she led before the nation was ready to support transgender athletes who feel limited by gender binaries she restructured schedules to include Jewish and Muslim families around religious observances and included cricket and crude expand opportunity and Inspire motivation in a variety of students to feel their part of the system and in so doing along with other examples demonstrated an expansive and holistic view of how we

090think about equity which is what Fairfax County needs are are all the outcomes perfect no and they're not here either but these are important starting points and she didn't stop there she talked about the importance of advanced math offerings for all kids where she shifted numbers from 48 of kids in advanced math to 82 percent projected to be 90 by the end of the year and she brought an expert to review course taking patterns to ensure biases in them don't exist something our board has just started to do the scope of equity in the scope of equity in candidates you know and the conversations we had with them was understood only by very few and Dr Reed shared that she knows Equity is not giving others an advantage but it's removing barriers when asking her

091to analyze our work and give us preliminary thinking around where she might start Dr Reed actually started off by saying I was shocked to see you have a single person responsible for equity in a division this size and that's something I and people on this board and people in this audience have been pushing for and advocating for and the perceptiveness around that need is important to recognize again did bias influence the process of course but has it been part of nearly every process and decision in our system in the way our nation works and in any human project also of course but was it how we got here today I honestly and sincerely believe no but I do believe that Dr Reed is committed to writing wrongs and that she relies on data which makes

092it imperative to do so and impossible to ignore and I'm asking her today and publicly to commit among her first steps in the role to build relationships with those who are concerned and perhaps the commission and Equity audit of our division one led by experts who have trust in the community to begin examining where we can work on these challenges because as someone we've met not too long ago said and in the words of Stephen Covey change moves at the speed of trust and that's just on Equity because there is so much more to share and to celebrate about her Dr Reed is a value add in that she confers with national and international and international experts in education on a regular basis and she lives between the academic and practical sides of the work

093providing an imperative feedback loop that facilitates Innovation through a Reliance on data and research with understanding the realities on the ground and connecting with students and stakeholders who are impacted she's an immigrant she's a scientist she's a military child and brings a combination of heart and competence to the job she's a global thinker and can model the imperative of learning more languages than English in a global community and in tough times Dr Reed has brought experts in her own division to build consensus around board members and important stakeholder groups and has expressed her commitment to interest-based bargaining that makes everyone feel that they can win Arkansas our Consultants invited the public to provide input in October and hosted the first stakeholder meeting five months ago in November thousands upon thousands of people were invited through

094public forums the survey town halls and individual meetings and we were so lucky to have groups from all walks of life actually join our board engaged with data experts to analyze these findings to determine which qualities were the most important to this community and our task was to choose accordingly we didn't all agree at first we had our favorites and we used tools to help reconcile hours and hours of conversation to build consensus and our board arrived at similar conclusions repeatedly all of which were consistently expressed even before the community panel as a group we agreed that all of our top candidates were exceptional and today we are here to support and celebrate Dr Michelle Reed for the sake of our kids and for the sake of every kid in this system so Dr Reed

095welcome thank you for coming to Fairfax you have an exceptional leadership team and an improving board that are ready to embrace you and bring healing and Leadership to Champion our kids I'm very excited to work with you thank you Miss samesh well I get to follow that um uh before I offer my comments um I I will I'd like to speak directly to Dr Reed nothing is easy in Fairfax but I am sorry I am sorry because you deserved a much warmer better welcome than we were able to give to you tonight and it is my opinion that none of this has to do with you you are an exceptional educator exceptional and those who strive for excellence never settle for anything else and as a mother who has one FCPS graduate and five kids

096in this system I'm going to be around for a long time and I'm entrusting you without reservation from the very beginning of this process in fact with the education and the care of my children and to help you we have incredible incredible staff the best of the best in the country and we have families who care deeply as you've heard and who I know will be partners with you once we have the opportunity and with that I'm going to offer my my comments of course I am honored and delighted to have our finalists here for superintendent of schools as selected by this school board with us as we begin writing the next chapter for Fairfax Public Fairfax County Public Schools in partnership with this community Dr Michelle Reed exemplifieds the critical characteristics of servant leadership

097in every way and is driven by a vision for public school that is resolutely student-centered a vision not for what education is today but what it could be what it must be for our kids who will be the leaders of tomorrow she holds in the highest regard the integral role that healthy and trustworthy relationships play in the work of a School Division to facilitate success for all students not my words but those of her family and those who have worked with her it is a testament to her focus on collaboration and results driven work for students that she earned the 2021 highest recognition for superintendent not only from the state of Washington but also nationally the national superintendent of the Year award Dr Reed has also been a leadership facilitator at the University of Washington

098Center for educational leadership and the Harvard Institute for school leadership the Metro Seattle area School Division of North Shore is regarded as the gold standard for public education in the region as superintendent of that division she brokered connections and Partnerships across two cities and three counties in the best interest of students Dr Reed has long displayed her passion for stem education through her expertise as a science educator for courses that include physics chemistry and math as well as physical education where she kept her eye on the ball as a coach for school teams and director of Athletics as a School Division leader she brought access to algebra to all students by eighth grade important because in addition to being a gatekeeper class that students must complete to go on to higher level math and science

099civil rights and education innovator Bob Moses has called math proficiency and early access to algebra a gateway to equality Dr Reed is also a global citizen a bilingual German immigrant and the child of a military family both as a child of a service member and the mother of one perhaps then it's no surprise that the games for English language Learners under her leadership in North Shore are changes that we are eager eager to see replicated in Fairfax County Public Schools in her striving for equity and Excellence for all students in parallel her school division has opened fully inclusive elementary schools a State University partnership demonstration sites for Effective special education practices opened an innovation lab in high schools expanded dual language and dual credit programs and reimagined and redefined the gifted program with a sustainable

100model for an equitable program that resulted in a 600 percent increase in historically underrepresented students participating in the program after restructuring without changing qualification criteria in my conversations with Dr Reed and we have gotten the opportunity to have quite a few in the last few weeks as part of the interview process and the contract negotiations I have been impressed by her early depth of knowledge about the challenges we Face here in Fairfax Public Schools her integrity and her eagerness to work on behalf of our students with everyone in this room and in Fairfax County I too share her eagerness and I look forward to this vote for casting this vote and I will do everything I can to ensure that you are successful that we are successful because that is what the students and the

101families in Fairfax County Public Schools deserve today and every single day and with that motion is on the screen I hope the motion before us is to authorize the execution and delivery by the chairman of an agreement appointing Dr Michelle Reed to serve as a division superintendent of public count Fairfax County Public Schools for the period beginning on July 1st 2022 and ending on June 30th 2026 on terms and conditions more particularly set forth in the agreement all those in favor please raise your hands Miss Marin miss toland miss darnak kofax miss eismoreheiser miss picarski miss Cohen Mr Frisch miss omesh all those and Miss McLaughlin all those opposed Dr Anderson Miss keys gamara and Miss Corbett Sanders that vote is you Nan I'm sorry that motion passes and I'm very excited Dr Reed to

102welcome you to the podium to share your opening remarks to our community [Applause] well thank you very much and um thank you for your confidence in me and um I'm grateful to have this opportunity and I'm thrilled to serve this community and um earn the trust of each of you on the board I've listened carefully and will be thoughtful and reflective about everything I've heard and you will have my best so I want to thank you also for the opportunity to speak this evening and remind and reassure you and the community that I too will be looking out for the best interest of marginalized communities in our Fairfax County community I want to begin by sharing a bit about myself and I realize we've heard a lot about myself sitting here but I was born

103in Germany and did arrive here in the United States at the age of five in fact my Port of Entry was Andrews Air Force Base as my father was assigned to the Walter Reed Medical Hospital so I did grow up in a military family moving quite a bit from Europe to Washington DC Boston Fort Ord which is south of San Francisco and then later sent down deep roots in the Pacific Northwest throughout this military move and time um first and foremost I understand the importance of service and appreciate that you're honoring that this evening as well coming from a family that understands service deeply I also think the moving about regularly enables that sort of nimble flexibility that was a supportive trait throughout the pandemic and its accompanying challenges so all things that appear as

104a challenge also can appear to be that which prompts us for future growth my academic strengths as you've noticed fall in the stem category of course with engineering science and math those are my passion although there would be many who say technology might not be as an educator and a mother I am particularly supportive of stem with the addition of the fine and Performing Arts I believe that a well-rounded student and the fine and Performing Arts enable and support a culture and understanding in ways that very few other content areas can I light up in classrooms I believe my heart beats strongest when I'm in classrooms and with our students and I can't wait tomorrow to be out in several of our schools and also understand the foremost Foundation of literacy and how necessary it

105is to access mathematics science and the Arts as well as our Career and Technical programs and apprenticeships and the opportunities that our students have moving forward and how again and I keep talking about the 65 percent right of our students who are preparing for a career that's not yet exist and those skills that will be so necessary so many of which I believe we learn in the Arts I'm deeply committed to learning in a variety of spaces not all learning occurs within a classroom confined and we saw young people this evening who have been who have demonstrated discipline in crafts and athletic moves and those skills will carry them well into later life throughout my career I've been a teacher a principal a coach and I've been a sitting superintendent for nine years I am

106resolutely committed to a world-class education for each and every student in the division high expectations require High support with steady and courageous leadership and this continues to be my life's work I do bring an equity lens to all aspects of teaching and learning recently our student Justice Cooperative Collective hosted a student Justice Conference where Dr Chris emden spoke to them and he talked about Equity being truth in action and I feel this evening I appreciate each of you sharing your truth and prompting my response in the coming days to that truth I want to share that it's fundamental to me in meeting with the leadership team and I want to especially thank Dr brabrand and Dr Francis Ivey who spent quite a little bit of time with me today and the team the leadership team

107I had the opportunity to share that a core value for me around the equity lens is that I believe if you walk by an inequity you have lost the moral authority to lead and I think that that's a critical piece that people must know about me who I am as a person and who I will be as your leader during my six year tenure in the North Star School District I just want to give a couple data points our district did double the enrollment of income eligible students in early childhood education to set our students on a positive trajectory once they started in kindergarten we removed barriers so more students across the district could access accelerated Math course taking patterns because you're absolutely correct it's an office of civil rights track data point we doubled

108numbers of our instrumental students in Elementary music and provided access to our students to be able to participate in activities that they had not traditionally been able to participate in due to a variety of barriers we dramatically increased increased dual credit course enrollment AP Career and Technical education college and the High School courses in all of our high schools regardless of the neighborhood they sat in I'm proud again to talk about our two elementary schools that we've opened that are State demonstration site for inclusive practices for students in special education and we have a fabulous team that's working on Research to expand those services and practices we've increased the number of our school in central office administrators of color by more than 100 percent in the last five years we have students at our new

109innovation lab High School who are taking advantage of cutting-edge assessment practices and opportunities to take their work outside a traditional classroom we've increased new language opportunities and substantially increase the number of our students our multilingual students earning biliteracy seals on diplomas finally I believe Learning Happens best in community and building trust happens when we develop and nurture relationships that's critical it's critical for our students that we're able to model those relationships I also believe every effective leader should listen and learn from the community they lead and serve I understand who I serve and I would need to spend more time with our community to better understand the needs the hopes and dreams of each student each family each staff member that's a part of the Fairfax County Public Schools everyone everyone has a story every

110student every staff member every family member and Community supporter I'm committed to listening and learning from this community so that together we can build on the strengths of the Fairfax County Public Schools while developing schools of the future and not the schools of the past I'm looking forward I am absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to work with each of you as board members and our community to prepare each and every student for a world yet to Be Imagined thank you [Applause] welcome if there is no objection could we take a five-minute recess please I'm so very sorry five minutes I promise I'm counting also Dr Reed please stick around for student rep matters I promise there are more exciting things coming okay school board members please take your seats foreign [Music] hundred lady school

111board members I know we're we're all excited I know we want to go home tonight we have we have wonderful people waiting for our recognitions yes yeah no no one two all right um without objection I would like to move agenda item 3.05 to after our recognitions and resolutions and with that we will move on to agenda item 3.06 month of the military child recognition and I want to extend an apology to everyone who is with us tonight and and still hanging in there we appreciate you and we are excited to celebrate you I'll call on Miss Sanders Miss Corbett Sanders for recognition absolutely Madam chair and I am so excited to uh to make this recognition tonight and we are very honored this evening to have some very special guests I'd like to acknowledge

112that our school uh School liaison officer Kristen aqua attending on behalf of the Fort Belvoir uh Garrison Commander Colonel Joshua Seagraves and he unfortunately couldn't attend tonight and members of the military connected youth process action team are who are here with us this evening April is the month of the military child here in Fairfax County we are extremely fortunate to have over 13 500 students who are part of a mil of a military family as well as part of our Fairfax County Public Schools family since 2018 when the Virginia Department of Education the Virginia Council on the interstate compact on educational opportunity for military children and Fairfax County Public Schools began certifying purple star schools we have certified ready for this Dr Reed 31 elementary schools with this designation [Applause] our military connected students bring

113a strong sense of community and a wealth of life experiences to our schools our military families often move every three years that means that in the course of a student's K-12 education they can move as many times as far as many as five times in addition to the physical moves military connected students often deal with their parents being deployed multiple times and worry about potential deployments when we see areas of unrest around the world celebrating the month of the military child provides a powerful opportunity to raise awareness and build support to help these children meet the unique challenges they face it is an opportunity to recognize and thank military children for their heroism character courage sacrifice and continued resilience we invite you to join us Wednesday April 20th for purple up day as we encourage

114everyone to wear purple to celebrate our military connected students [Applause] before I invite our military families to join the board for a photo I'd like to first show a very special video in honor of the month of the military child recognition why I am proud of you is that you always you put everyone before you right oh man um and that you think of others and then you like you go on and you know [Music] you do get to live in a lot of different places like I've lived in Hawaii before because we were stationed there you kind of get different experiences get to see new cultures and things like that [Music] being in the military has helped me grow because like I guess I have a lot of different perspectives on stuff um it's

115helped me see from different people's like points of view and you know there's news coverage on Georgia one day and I'm like yo I've lived there I I know what it's like [Music] foreign so we will move on to the rec next recognition and take pictures after all of the recognitions before I do that though I do want to offer a special thanks to the daughter of a military family the spouse of a military family and somebody who made sure that we put a focus on having our purple star schools designated in Region Three Dr nardis King thank you for all you have done [Applause] oh yes and she is a mom too [Applause] thank you Miss Corbett Sanders agenda item 3.07 Hayfield Secondary School basketball team recognition has been postponed agenda item 3.08 Lake

116Braddock Secondary School varsity gymnastics team recognition has been postponed agenda item 3.09 social worker of the Year recognition has now been postponed however agenda item 3.10 after school professionals week recognition I call him Miss Tolman for this recognition Fairfax County Public Schools after school professionals create a rich environment for our students for creativity enrichment and inspiration thrive they provide a place that challenges students to work outside of their comfort zone without fear of failure a safe and secure place to engage and Inspire them to learn promote physical and emotional health and expose them to new experiences after school professionals afford our children access to high quality relationships with their peers and caring adults and to expanded learning opportunities beyond what they have access to at home and at school after school programs to present the

117opportunity to enrich remediate and explore that helps young people develop the attitude skills and knowledge to thrive in the workplace and communities of the 21st Century FCPS is proud of our after-school professionals and grateful for all their hard work and sincere dedication thank you agenda item 3.11 resolution honoring Northern Virginia chamber of con Commerce and the citizen Bond committee I'll call on Miss Marin for this resolution foreign ERS are still here thank you whereas the northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the 2021 citizen Bond committee play a crucial role in supporting our schools and contribute to high quality education and life in Fairfax County and whereas collaboration among local public schools Community organizations and businesses provides a well-trained and highly educated Workforce and whereas first in-class instructional facilities are required to provide spaces for students

118to practice and hone the skills needed for success in the workforce and their communities and where is an excellent Public School System must have school facilities that are increasingly more environmentally sustainable to preserve finite natural and financial resources and whereas public school facilities serve not only the students and adults who learn and work there but also provide essential space for Community Athletics indoors and Outdoors Community meetings and distribution of Public Health services including emergency shelter and more and whereas members of the northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce led by president and CEO Julie Coons with support from vice president for governmental relation Clayton Medford and the entire 2021 citizen Bond committee led by chairman Len Fortis have dedicated their time energy and resources in support of passage of the 2021 360 million dollar school bond referendum

119with 70 percent of the County's voters voting yes now therefore be it resolved at the Fairfax County School Board extends its highest Commendation and deepest appreciation to the chamber and committee for their leadership and outstanding service to Fairfax County Public Schools and Fairfax County through their unwavering dedication to the children and overall success of this community your work has resulted in securing sound public Investments to provide the best public schools possible for every FCPS student is there a second seconded by Miss Tolland Miss Marin would you like to speak no further I've been very deeply appreciative thank you well and to say that uh chairman Lynn forcus was here earlier but he had to leave for a plane flight but a very deepest gratitude to him as well Miss toland um just a quick thank

120you for all of the work that the committee has done the citizens that served on the committee and the northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce and all of their support thank you um Mr fresher light is on Dr Anderson your light is on yes I did one and very quickly say thank you for this recognition and for all of those who have been called and I also want to point out we have our Mason District citizen member who participated and helped get this Bond pass she's in the audience Julie stranley thank you so much for being here and thank you for all of your work because I know parents did not stop hearing about this from you particularly at Annandale high school so thank you again for ensuring that we were able to in Mason District

121really benefit from these bonds because they will be going towards one of our schools Bryn Mawr Park so thank you for your work thank you Miss Corbett Sanders yes I want to thank the members of the bond committee but I also want to thank the taxpayers of Fairfax County for having the confidence in our school system to ensure that every child gets a great building to attend their school in and we are working very hard and diligently to get rid of all of those trailers and the only way we can do that is with the great support of the taxpayers of Fairfax County and the incredible dedication and work of the members of the bond committee so thank you thank you um and with that I will go ahead and take the vote oh miss

122man would you like to speak again okay um all those in favor of the motion please raise your hands and that is unanimous with everyone at the table and I would now like to invite Clayton Medford I see Tim Thompson Miss Julie stranley and as well as Jay Garrett to please join me in the board for the day is for a photo thank you thank you at this time I'd like to invite School liaison officer Kristen a call and any military families or anyone here in the audience in support of our military families to please join the board at the dies for a photo as long as you guys if you're here this evening in support of the after school professionals we ask you to please join the board of the dies for a photo

123okay foreign agenda item 4.01 Community participation the next order of business is community participation hi everyone speakers must admit their remarks to no more than two minutes in length at the conclusion of the two minutes the microphone or video will be turned off school board members will be listening but not responding to individual speakers the school board will not hear statements involving issues that have been scheduled for public hearings such as the capital Improvement program budget and boundaries Commons 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 official speakers should refrain from using 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

124avoiding profanity and appropriate gestures shouting and comments that were encountered to the spirit and letter of the school divisions non-discrimination policy all statements should be directed to the school board and speaker should remain at the Podium until concluding their remarks as a reminder speaker substitutions are not permitted a speaker may not yield their time to another individual before during um their remarks shouting in outbursts from the audience will not be tolerated but we are very grateful for those of you who have come to speak to us today and very much thank you for your cooperation and your patience our first speaker is Maureen Syed uh Miss mendeja if I could just interrupt I I did it did come to my attention and it's late that there is a Boy Scout in our midst working on

125his citizenship in the community award um so I don't know if if you could see Miss madeja do we have a slot for our student tonight or to be able to speak thank you thank you Jesse Ramer welcome yeah he's on the list he speaks he's our next speaker so our next speaker is Jesse Ramer look how great I am good evening Dr brabrand and F and FCPS School Board officials my name is Jesse Ramer I am a sixth grader at little Run Elementary School I'm here to talk about the outstanding school-based operational employee of the year award and why my school's custodian Mr Frank should be chosen Mr Frank makes School fun every day for everyone like when he does a special handshake and snaps our fingers together he has a smile on his

126face every day and a joke to share Mr Frank makes everyone feel welcome at little run especially the kindergarteners everyone knows his name and looks forward to talking with him Mr Frank goes above and beyond his job for everyone just like when he brought Candy and drinks to our classroom at the end of third grade he helps us out during difficult times like when my friend Sully was crying in the hallway because she got a bad score on her test Mr Frank went out of his way to comfort her then led her back to the classroom once my younger friend Jack's bicycle broke down in front of the school after school hours Mr Frank was able to temporarily fix Jack's bike so he could ride home my principal says that hiring Mr Frank as the

127daytime custodian was one of the best hiring decisions she ever made he is committed to this school the students and the community as a whole this is why Mr Frank should get this award he is a fun caring and kind person thank you for considering Mr Frank's safaro for the FCPS operational employee of the year award thank you Jesse we appreciate you being here tonight thank you our next speaker is Jay viscardo lichter our next speaker is Safa Chohan our next speaker is Monica sarmiento foreign good evening members of the school board my name is Monica sarmiento I'm the executive director of the Virginia Coalition for immigrant rights a collaborative of 45 organizations in the Commonwealth that collectively convened for the Immigrant rights movement in the Commonwealth Virginia I'm here to speak in support of

128the Fairfax trust policy as it is written I think all of you know that Fairfax is the heart of the Immigrant community in the Commonwealth which has the ninth largest undocumented community in the country and so we have so many families that depend on you for their safety want to feel safe at school when we have seen our undocumented families attacked at a national level and those scars have still pertained so we really want to go ahead and make sure that those families wholly feel safe in our Public Schools we saw two organizations really speak out which is Casa as well as Fairfax ACLU people power both who are members of here and so we really want to go ahead and make sure that as we see the landscape of Virginia change we know that

129Fairfax continues to be a welcoming environment where students feel safe where families feel safe where parents feel safe and can entrust their data their information will not be shared with ice for any scrupulous reasons to separate and really destroy families at the core thank you our next speaker is Elizabeth zielinski good evening my name is Elizabeth zielinski I'm a disability Advocate and the parent of an autistic teenager I'm here tonight to discuss our understanding of autism first of all thank you to FCPS ABA program for the progressive website resources they provided for autism acceptance month in April note that it's autism acceptance and not awareness awareness says we know you exist acceptance is better but it's the minimum anyone deserves we need to appreciate because diversity in all of its forms benefits everyone there is

130no them only us words have power and they can change mindsets but words aren't enough without action and it's time for FCPS to modernize how they serve their thousands of autistic students the unique needs of this community must be examined regarding IQ testing communication support and the role of motor planning just to name a few things ABA is no longer the only option as evidenced by a growing body of research as well as feedback from autistic self-advocates for FCPS to lead in educational best practices it has to be informed by evolving research and the expertise of autistic people not simply rely on established methods which have been mostly unchanged for decades one simple change you can make today autistic self-advocates reject puzzle piece symbolism because it has a complicated and ableist history symbols of neurodiversity

131are better but they are not specific to autism this gold infinity symbol that I'm wearing tonight is one that was chosen by autistics because the chemical symbol for gold is a you and it represents the infinite diversity of autism in the words of Maya Angelou do the best you can until you know better and when you know better do better let's challenge ourselves to model the education we value by being willing to learn more and teach better thank you thank you our next speaker is Sandra Davis parents are not a trendy topic that will eventually fade away and we are not a certain kind of person continue to dismiss us all as right-wing operatives at your own political risk I am Sandra Davis a parent a moderate Democrat or so I thought until my own

132party you all included stepped so far to the left you fell off a cliff and you're trying to drag our children with you I was a proud participant in the attempt to recall several of you we knew it was a heavy lift yet we achieved success by drawing attention to the fact that children do not come first here and Common Sense was abandoned long ago recall is street level I met a lot of people in the county and parents they had questions they wanted to know why were why were recent immigrants from communist countries terrified of what was happening here why were teachers saying they were going to quit retire not because of pay but because of what they were being asked to teach why were the children whose parents didn't speak English dragging them

133over to explain what we were doing and eagerly getting them to sign why were parents telling us that they found out they assist that their child's records had been changed and they were heartbroken to be the last to know why was every single story about a child with an IEP so sad and tragic we kept tissues on hand why were military parents concerned their kids would be behind at the next Duty station you spend the first hour two hours every one of these meetings gaslighting bloviating self-congratulating engaging in group therapy campaigning even while we sit and wonder when you're going to get to the stuff we heard on the street you've really messed up this time elections are in 2023 and I know you're not afraid of the Red Wave but the wave this time

134is purple the parents and the people that I met on the street thank you our next speaker is Catherine Stewart good evening members of the school board Dr brabrand who isn't in here anymore and FCPS senior staff my name is Catherine Stewart and I'm a mother of three FCPS students most of you know me or at least May recognize this shirt that I'm wearing I am here tonight to say thank you we are so excited about the Middle School recess policy that you all will pass later tonight five years ago a small group of parents met and worked with many of you to increase Elementary School recess to a minimum of 30 minutes per day then in the fall of 2018 Adriana Nino spoke at a shack meeting to point out that middle school students

135still had no recess at all former School Board member Sandy Evans submitted a foreign topic on Middle School recess and response the issue was discussed and some progress was made but we still didn't have recess for all middle school students when Sandy retired and Dr Anderson was elected to take her place we met with Dr Anderson to ask her to take up the cause of Middle School recess that was at the beginning of 2020 right before covid hit thank you Dr Anderson for continuing to Champion the cause of Middle School recess over the past two years when I was watching the work session on Tuesday I was so encouraged by the comments each of you made on the importance of recess this represents a real culture shift especially when you started bringing up investing in

136new facilities and equipment for Middle School recess it's so wonderful to see the efforts of our prayers and hard work I also want to thank the school health advisory committee and all the middle school principals who have been trying to out different ideas and getting creative about how to give our kids breaks and outdoor time in middle school I'm so excited my daughter will enter middle school next year with 15 minutes of recess we recess Advocates look forward to continuing to work with the board thank you all so much for this and for all you do for our students I know your jobs are not easy and I will keep praying for all of you thank you thank you our next speaker is Mark Smith our next speaker is Missy Pratt communist Marxist ideologies this

137is what was intentionally planted in Academia during John Dewey's day whom I'm sure all of you know and love for almost 100 years these destructive ideas have been eating away like a virus from within the American education system and today Fairfax County leads the way and propagandizing our children with these communist Marxist ideologies this statement is not conjecture this is truth if you don't know what I'm referring to you let me be clear I'm talking about the sexual and gender Liberation ideologies that now permeate FCPS curriculum in campus life critical race theory of which you feed your Educators thereby indoctrinating our children the diversity inclusion and Equity tenants that seem so Noble but actually serve to divide exclude and disenfranchise every single student in our school system school board members if you do not know

138what I'm talking about then you have no business sitting in the seat that you're in and you should resign immediately and school board members if you do know what I'm talking about that communist principles are embedded are in in our education system specifically the FCPS education system the same holds true you should resign immediately these are not popular things to say people lose their jobs for speaking truth like I am doing tonight German and Russian philosophers Marx krupatkin Lenin Stalin founded or perpetrated these ideologies that were responsible for over one hundred thousand deaths in his new in his book New Lies for old KGB leader and Russian Defector Anatoly golitzan exposed the subtleties of Communism and the plan for communism to manifest in our in America through our education system while none of you authored

139these ideologies you are complicit in the destruction that they bring into this County and our school system if you do disagree with these ideologies they and make it known otherwise not one of you deserves to be on this school board and parents are disgusted by it and we are coming for your seats thank you our next speaker is Emily Hackle more convey to you tonight the struggles of many twice exceptional students in Fairfax County but I cannot do so in two minutes I wish the stories of frustrated parents and the issues they raised did not repeat I wish I could not say that I did not pull one of my kids from Fairfax County after reading hundreds of comments about similar kids slipping through the cracks we have been telling our stories for years to

140no avail and we are so tired you may not hear from us often enough because we don't have the energy we are busy making sure our children go to school the next day making sure our kids stay out of the hospital because of their trauma trauma caused because FCPS has failed to create an appropriate setting to educate them IEP meeting number I have lost count because there are just so many each one a stalemate our kids are bright many are often profoundly gifted yet they are either routinely screened out of advanced programs or set up for failure when they don't get the support they need too often schools can't accept that they learn differently they are accused of eloping when they need a break called lazy unmotivated cowardly difficult or poorly behaved we are told

141they are so unusual such outliers that the system simply cannot accommodate them and we should just settle for less the Supreme Court ruled that the bar was to be set at the potential of the child not the bare minimum where is the urgency where is the long promised neurodiversity specialist within hours of many of the latest controversies like our former speaker you react but the slow and steady denial of Faith nothing our kids are secluded bullied outcasts the FCPS motto seems like a cool joke to us FCPS does not engage them it does not for them in our kids are deaf thank you our next speaker is Deborah tisler actions speak louder than words which is something this school board has forgotten tonight for example is a bright blinking example of your disconnect with the

142community you are to serve for years FCPS has failed to ensure that every child is receiving appropriate evidence-based and are peer-reviewed research-based instruction as mandated by state and federal regulations if FCPS fully invested in meeting those mandates in the same way it invests in lawyers and cleaning up messes related to being hacked sexual abuse failing to launch a viable online platform and to denials a free and appropriate public education FCPS would be on its way to Breaking the barriers of illiteracy and poverty and might even find itself closing the achievement Gap instead millions of dollars that should be invested in our children go into the wallets of In-House and outsourced lawyers that are hired for damage control and to protect the personal interests of both this board and upper Administration we the people of Fairfax

143see through the facade of this school board and your agents just as judge Gardner did in the decision he rendered when this school board sued me and my friend Cali when the school board tried to bully us from sharing your legal invoices and suppress our first amendment rights judge Gardner expressed that you failed your lawsuit was near frivolous and your actions appeared to be inept this school board wasted over three hundred thousand dollars to fulfill the role of a schoolyard bully if this school board was truly vested in the children and being the Statue of Liberty of education you'd ship the funding from legal services from the overcompensated and underperforming upper management and from pet projects and instead allocate the funding for the following foreign thank you our next speaker is Diane Alejandro thank you

144ma'am we appreciate you offering your comments tonight your time has run out who is in next our next speaker is Diane Alejandro please walk to the podium Miss Alejandro good evening I am Diane Alejandro the lead advocate for ACLU people power Fairfax I am here to thank you for developing a robust trust policy we urge each of you to vote for it when it comes before you again on April 28th the school board has acted before to protect the rights of immigrant students for example with the SRO program the trust policy however is broader and more profound my husband and I moved to Fairfax for the schools so have many immigrant families but their children cannot Thrive if they feared their parents will be deported because of information they share to enroll or to complete

145assignments now we know you have a broad anti-discrimination provision so one has to ask why do you need a school policy one because your aspirations and desires are not enough we still get reports of discrimination we still get reports of harassment we still get reports of abuse parents are afraid to come forward some of them are undocumented some of them have family members that are undocumented fear drives them away from schools second privacy is a tricky subject you have FERPA Provisions that that are designed to protect and yet do not protect the rights of immigrant students who have their information shared that normally you would consider to be routine this policy will benefit all in Fairfax thank you our next speaker is David walrod [Applause] a chair pakarski and members of the school board thank

146you for giving me the opportunity to speak today my name is David walrod and I am the president-elect of the Fairfax County Federation of teachers during your last meeting you recognize National Library week well I'd hope to give that address that day the live the lottery was not my favor um Librarians have an important job they teach research skills they give students the tool that they need to thrive in a 21st Century Media environment most importantly they inspire like many students today books were vital to my childhood books gave me access to perspectives and viewpoints I may not have otherwise had access to books for Comforts during times of grief they were a form of relaxation during times of stress they were an escape during times of turmoil books introduced me to characters that I

147could see myself being they introduced me to characters whose lives I never could have lived I'm eternally grateful to the Librarians in my childhood and hope that you will continue to honor and support these valuable Professionals in the work that they do for our students finally I wish to thank you for the diligence that you did during your superintendent search it is imperative that our next superintendent come in on day one ready to lead one of the best and biggest school districts in the United States I look forward to the continued growth and Improvement that will incur in Fairfax over the coming years thank you again for the opportunity to speak to you today thank you our next speaker is Amber beichler our next speaker is to to Jess to spay um thank you for

148giving me the opportunity to continue um what I earlier talked to you about the science fair project that my daughter and some other students who look like her um were completely hidden to have this information and while they were in school it was run behind them uh while I'm sitting here I have heard uh you're talking about Equity inclusion stem the importance of it and I'm really wondering uh what do they feel about what do each one of them have in mind when I talk to you bring you this issue um the whole week this week uh almost the whole month and I wonder what you are actually going to be doing about it while I was continuing to look for an answer how the students did not to get to hear about this a

149big project uh the response I got finally from the principal was it was by inquiry and my next question was how would my daughter and other students with inquire when they don't even know that this existed I asked multiple times and the information was how the information was posted announced on the walls or where what it was I did not get the answer not only that science fair my daughter and some of the students have not done a single science project in their entire schooling while they were even bus to the AAP center from third to eighth grade and now taking honor science classes for two years how is this possible how could this happen except a six a systemic design improved with a long-term goal to keep our students who had passion for science

150to explore this related fields in their future so I urge the school board to seriously take this to take this matter seriously and give us the answer and take the proper action this school system has a lot of work to do when it comes to creating a true caring culture thank you our next speaker is Margarita Brown thank you ma'am our next speaker is Cole mallard thank you ma'am we appreciate you sharing our next speaker is Michelle patties good evening I'm the president of Fairfax County Special Education PTA listening to miss keys gamara and Dr Anderson tonight I threw out my prepared statement and wrote this one these women speak from their hearts about their perspective on community members not feeling heard and they could have been describing our students with disabilities their parents and

151their teachers we too do not feel heard we bear our souls in IEP meetings we're up against a system that's supposed to collaborate with us but we're outnumbered and the balance of power always favors the schools we have limited understanding of the regulations our legal rights and systemic resources we cannot protect our children from being restrained or secluded in school and we lack Financial Resources to hire attorneys or pay forty to fifty thousand dollars a year to send our children to private schools for students with disabilities so many overworked special Educators on the ground want to help us the way we need to be helped but they risk retribution from their supervisors if they do so general education teachers are not trained special Educators yet they're being forced to take on this role because FCPS

152does not have enough special ed teachers to adequately support our model of inclusion in a manner that truly works well it's time to treat all parents and students as equal members of IEP teams to actually teach all students how to read and write using current scientifically evidence-based approaches we need dyslexia specialists in every school not just one for the entire system we need in-class support for 2E students we need to teach students on the VAP track literacy and math skills and how to live to their full potential in society we need to be brave and call out Injustice when we see it said Margaret Mead never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world indeed it's the only thing that ever has thank you very much for making time for

153me thank you our next speaker is suparna dutta good evening Karen kiesgamara I think you're right a lot of parents have been marginalized and silenced and I'm one of them and there are quite a few in this audience on February 25th federal district judge Hilton ruled that the Fairfax School Board discriminated against Asian American students by manipulating the admissions policy to racially balance teacher high school so giving preferential bonus points to some students at the expense of others yet the school board continues to use our earned money taxpayer money to fight us today you voted for um Michelle Reed after Brave and one would think could things really get any worse for Fairfax County students I mean we have a 12-0 ideologically far-left school board and a far left superintendent so what are Michelle Reed's

154successes coming from the North Shore School District she oversaw a steep decline in their math and reading scores in the last couple of years she was the first to school closed schools when covet hit and the last to reopen them FCPS student scores have been in a steady decline FCPS enrollment is down just like in North Shore School District Reed will fit in perfectly with the FCPS gang to continue the tragic downward trajectory here they say some on this board leave the names of the superintendent candidates well I think parents should have a seat at the table to pick the superintendent it's our taxpayer money is a rigorous quality of Education re reads priority what does she think of political indoctrination classrooms from what will she continue to Pander the woke leftist activists destroying Fairfax

155schools from what we heard tonight she may be just viewing everything as an exercise in equity also what can parents do parents can take their kids out of Fairfax Public Schools parents can stand for the School Board elections to take your radicals out and as Laura Jane Cohen said thank you we also have two video testimonies this evening the first one is from Natasha sang V hello my name is Natasha and I'm a student organizer with a pride Liberation project my peers and I were not given the opportunity to ask questions to candidates during the FCPS superintendent search if we were here's what we would ask what role did parents have in the classroom in previous school districts you've managed and how do you plan to support parents that want to have a voice when

156it comes to what is taught in the classroom how will you ensure that all students voices are heard and not overshadowed by others who don't have our best interests at heart will you follow the students requests how would you take student input into consideration on changes that directly affect us what is your experience level when it comes to working with Title 1 schools and I would like to know what your policy is on ensuring the continuing success of English language learner students throughout the next few years in our County how would you help protect the safety of students and staff in the event of another Copa 19 surge how do you plan on addressing declining student performance and a lack of motivation from and faculty that is emerging as a result of the kova 19

157pandemic what do you think of the ongoing movement to ban books from school public libraries and what criteria do you consider when deciding what kind of books should be banned what is your plan for implementing Glenn young kids excellence in education restoration initiative and how will this affect the work teachers are already doing to keep families informed how are you going to ensure that information is communicated effectively in our County how would you make sure FCPS addresses the climate crisis and ensures sustainability in schools how will you ensure that all student voices are heard in such a large County how will you protect trans students if the requirement that school districts must follow the model transgender policies is repealed just how they're going to handle that assault on lgbtq Plus students how does the superintendent

158plan on addressing the safety and inclusivity of transgender students in school and school sanctioned activities what will you do to close disparities for achievement between low-income and underprivileged students of color and our final video is from Karen Taylor good evening my name is Karen Taylor and I'm here to speak on behalf of the Fairfax County Federation of teachers and bring you an update on the all in Grant covet presented enormous challenges to staff and students as they return to in-person learning maintaining Safe physical distancing particularly in situations with large class sizes provided a silver lining to schools to reconsider their outdoor spaces in new and creative ways to the benefit of students educational social and emotional well-being in 2021 fcft applied for and received funding from the American Federation of teachers all in Grant to

159assist schools in providing flexible learning spaces and resources for outdoor use to date five schools Herndon Wayan Oak Timber Lane and Crestwood Elementary schools and Westfield High School have received funding based on need and the ability to develop and Implement plans for creating these spaces lead individuals at each School were tasked with coordinating their proposed projects with their respective administrators fellow staff members students School communities and fcft site visits were conducted in Fall 2021 to evaluate prospective sites on school property that would lend themselves to further development to serve all students taking into account accessibility and approval by FCPS facilities detailed plans budgets and timelines were created to enhance outdoor classrooms and learning experiences proposed projects seek to increase students time Outdoors by including outdoor workspace and seating for entire classes and garden areas to

160support exploration Discovery curriculum tie-ins food production and the expansion of native habitats these projects are now well underway with requested items currently being purchased and delivered to the schools work days for completion of the projects and dedications are being planned with students staff and PTA in we are looking forward to completion of these projects in Spring 2022 when students and staff will have permanent access to these well-designed inviting and exciting learning areas agenda item 4.02 superintendent matters I'll call on Dr Bray bran thank you chairman bakarski I'll try to be super brief uh this evening uh and I know that uh you may be uh uh in some conversations that we've had looking at some presentations to postpone to the work session that we have and um so that we can give you and the

161public the full information in the right time so I look forward to that I also look forward to a future agenda item around uh actions you all had enclosed and I'll make perhaps with your discretion a couple of comments uh at the end of uh actions taken after that first I want to say just right out of the gate welcome Dr Reed as the next superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools I'm very excited to get to know you to work with you to ensure a full and seamless transition and we have not had that in Fairfax County between two sitting superintendents and a new incoming superintendent in over 40 years so I'm very excited about that I pledge the full resources of the leadership team and this organization to ensure you get off to a

162successful start and it is a pleasure to get to know you today and to get to know you in the months ahead so thank you and congratulations I also want to share a couple of things uh just going on uh that all of you will be interested in uh first of all all County course this past Tuesday the Fairfax County Public Schools and the Fairfax General music educators Association had the sixth annual all-county choral Festival concert with selected sixth graders I I did have a virtual uh intro there uh it is great Dr Reed you'll get to see when it is in person which it will be moving forward thousands of kids sixth graders singing and it's better than any Broadway show you could experience super excited about that super excited about some of our

163summer learning opportunities we're going to continue to have a summer school two to three times larger than normal as we work to deal with unfinished learning in our kids go to our website put in summer learning learn more about all of our summer programs with Partners like Sac Fairfax County Libraries and the Fairfax County Park Authority we have a school bus driver job fair a Monday April 25th we love our school bus drivers and we want more folks to come and drive a school bus for FCPS three thousand dollars sign a signing bonus competitive pay which this school board took leadership in raising at the very beginning of this year no pre-registration it'll be at 8101 Lord and Road station at our Lord and Transportation Center also I wanted to share with you the FCPS

164parent Orchestra Dr Reed I know you're doing a lot with parent involvement I can't wait to hear about many of the ideas but one thing we're doing I don't know if you knew we have an FCPS I didn't know this either so I'll just be honest I know you guys are looking at me I didn't know it until I did superintendent matters today that Annandale High School's Orchestra teacher Annie Ray has started a parent Orchestra group there's now a wait list to be on the parent Orchestra and it's really an exciting time to really accentuate our caring culture our connection with families and really create a love of music that we already have so strong in FCPS not just across our kids but the parents and families who represent them so congratulations to miss Ray

165what a great example of caring culture also uh resource stewardship again many of these that's our caring culture one of our other strategic plan goals resource stewardship Earth week is April 18th to the 22nd with our get to Green resources and our students will be celebrating that and really a great way to have a chance to engage and continue to engage our students in conversation around environmental topics environmental sustainability and our portrait of a graduate goals around being ethical and Global Citizens I also just want to end on one other note that a mentor of many of the leadership team and a personal mentor to me Dr Lillian Lowry passed away uh suddenly uh yesterday Dr Lowry was a teacher in Fairfax County a principal she was a region assistant superintendent um she gave me

166the opportunity to become principal at Fairfax High she went on to lead one of the the largest District in Delaware became state superintendent for Delaware and Maryland and then went on to be a senior vice president at ETS and Lillian was an inspiration of moral force and one of the finest people I have ever met and just an inspiration so please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers and God bless you Lillian thank you for all you did for me and all of this leadership team in Fairfax County thank you Dr Bray brand agenda item 4.03 student representative matters good evening Madam chair board members in trupernov fashion I prepared a lot I promise I'm going to save you most of it um but there is one thing that uh I really thought was

167important and that was Dr Reed I greatly look forward to getting to know you and working with you on everything ranging from suicide risk screenings to the experiences of children going through the IEP process Fidelity of implementation at the hyper local level for policies set by central office when we have almost 200 schools the ways in which we do not currently meet the needs of twice exceptional students the de facto segregation reinforced by the way that we structure gifted education and tracking in Fairfax the quality and frequency of student voice opportunities I put this in all caps underlined by the way um student voice is something that I think is really critical to this community how heavily and universally disparities at home can fuel disparities in the classroom how we can advocate for students who

168are dealing with child abuse or an abuse of environment at home and support them in the classroom and so much more I also do look forward to conversations about our Revenue structure here in the Commonwealth and how some of the most legendary superintendents in our County's history have not shied away from asking for the funding that we truly need to meet our student needs when working with our state and local Partners even when it wasn't popular among politicians outside of this body my path through this school system has been circuitous but Fairfax County Public Schools has become one of my life's passions and I really do hope that all of us at this diet can show you why we all love this unique beautiful School District so much thank you thank you Mr Chowdhury if

169there is no objection um by my colleagues we are going to postpone agenda item 4.04 I get 4.04 Elementary School language arts basals um an agenda item 4.05 students rights and responsibilities um we are having an upcoming uh work session for the srnr and we will schedule a time to also hear about our language arts bazals both very important topics but seeing as it is this late hour and our staff need to go home um thank you and with that I would like to go back to agenda item five oh okay agenda item five point no just agenda item 5.02 appointment of the assistant superintendent Department of Human Resources I'll call on Dr Anderson I moved at the school board appoint Dr Sherry Wilson as assistant superintendent of Human Resources effective June 1 2022 and

170authorize the chairman to execute a contract reflecting this action is there a second Ed by Miss Marin Dr Anderson yes very excited to bring forward this recommendation by staff it's been a long two years in our search for a super for an assistant superintendent for HR but before I speak a little bit about Dr Wilson I want to say thank you to uh Mr McDonald for all of his work in the interim in this position he has stepped into a very difficult role at a very trying time and has just been a hero as you can see by the Applause that he's just received so thank you so very much for that work I know you're looking forward to your next chapter which is kind of going back a page and so we're excited that

171Dr Wilson's presence will allow you to do that Dr Wilson comes to us from Chesapeake and we are very excited that she's here unfortunately she's not here physically with us this evening and Dr Bray brand maybe you want to share when she would be with us in person uh we'll have her coming to our next board meeting to make some remarks before the board and uh thank you um Dr Wilson is an experienced HR Director with over 11 years of experience and so we're really looking for her forward to her coming into our division and helping to lead that department very excited thank you Miss Baron yeah I'll add I'm very eager for Dr Wilson to start and I thank her for choosing to come to Fairfax County Public Schools for this super important position

172and we are eager to see her in person and I also want to Echo thanks to Mr Sean McDonald who I've had the pleasure of knowing since before I was elected as an appointee on the human resources advisory committee and I just am so grateful for everything you have done through this pandemic and I don't know how you're going to ever go back you cannot know what you know but uh we're glad you're still going to be here and I look forward to working with you in your new old capacity I guess thank you thank you and before we take the vote I too will say thank you you are an incredible asset to this system so glad that you will continue to be with us um and with that call for the vote the

173motion to appoint Dr Sherry Wilson as the assistant superintendent of Human Resources effective June 1st 2022 and authorize the chairman to execute a contract reflecting this action all those in favor all those opposed all those abstaining that motion passes with Miss omesh away from the table agenda item 5.03 School Board policy student and staff health and wellness I'll call on Miss Cohen for the motion we're doing such a good job sharing time move that the board approved policy 2100 student and staff student and staff health and wellness my mouth doesn't work anymore is our second seconded by Dr Anderson Ms Cohen I couldn't say it better than Catherine did I will say as a parent of Elementary schoolers at the time that we that you all really started the recess push and that was the

174first way I I knew about and learned about all the activism that uh an advocacy that Miss pokarski was doing for our kids in this County um I mean this is a no-brainer we all know that our kids need breaks and we're really excited to get to codify it and grateful to our middle school principals who are embracing this fully and we can't wait to help support them do it so thanks Dr Anderson yes very briefly I do want to say thank you for recounting the history and just kind of how I got involved into this I did pick up the Baton from Miss Evans so I want to be sure that she has credit for having begun this work um I won't be labor the point because I think last time I talked about

175this quite a bit I'm very excited that this is happening for our students particularly when we have our sixth graders in Mason that are at the middle school which is a very different experience than those who are around the division so I'm looking forward to this being moved forward so that our students can have this in place for them at every single school every day next year thank you thank you Dr Anderson I call him a star not co-facts for an amendment I moved to amend the main motion by revising the language in section four policy under B physical activity elementary and middle schools the language reads will create a schedule that allows for students to participate in Daily outdoor recess weather permitting and instead to read 5A elementary schools will create a schedule that

176allows for students to participate in Daily outdoor recess weather permitting 5B middle schools will create a schedule that allows for students to choose to participate in Daily outdoor recess weather permitting or provided supervised indoor activity is there a second seconded by Miss Corbett Sanders Mr Natco Fox yes as we all stated in our work session we were excited to bring forward in policy Middle School recess however as I had asked for some time during the last time this was brought to us I had concerns I have heard concerns as of my colleagues about the need to be respect full of middle school student choice and while some middle school students welcome the opportunity to refresh themselves Outdoors others may need more quiet time and would prefer to remain inside our buildings playing board or card

177games with friends and our readings and or reading I have worked with the middle school principals in my region one which includes the chair of the middle school principals Association and he looked at his executive board he is in favor he and his Border in favor of these so it's for these reasons that Miss Corbett Sanders and I have brought this forward this amendment and we have also collaborated with our colleague Dr Anderson to bring forward the changes we have today we look forward to your support it's garbage Sanders yes thank you very much Madam chair um as you know this policy came to the table for a vote at our last meeting I supported leaving the policy on the agenda as new business last meeting and for Action tonight to allow me to speak

178with the middle school principals in my district many of which I share with Miss darinak kofax in our speaking with the middle school principals a couple of items were raised to my attention the first was that a break for individual students differs among students in the same way it a break for the individual students and what they consider a break differs among students in the same way as they do for adults the middle schoolers have done a great job of or the middle schools have done a great job of piloting recess over the past year and have learned from that process some students prefer to take their break inside where they can quietly read a book play a game or work on puzzles While others need and prefer to be outside what this amendment does

179is make sure that we are able to honor and respect the differing needs of our students while ensuring that there is supervision for those students having this in policy is a transparent way of establishing the priority of the board to ensure that our students have breaks and are encouraged but not required to be outside the Middle School principles Association unanimously supported the amendment and I would appreciate your support as well thank you seeing as there are no other speakers I'll take them um the amendment to the motion is before us on the screen all those in favor um that boat is unanimous we will now now go back to the main motion oh oh I'm so sorry I call him as Corbett Sanders for an amendment hold on one second I moved to amend the

180main motion by adding four students or students in section four policy under B physical activity to read if there is a safety or security concern that impact the availability of recess for a student or students the principal or their administrative designee will review the circumstances and take appropriate action in each case in accordance with the FCPS policies and regulations is there a second second thank you Mr knucklebacks scoreboard Sanders yes thank you um before I actually speak to this amendment I do want to thank the governance committee for the incredible amount of work on this uh policy because it really ha they did an amazing job and this amendment as was the other one is really just minor clarifications that make it uh easier for our middle school principals to follow the guidance so um

181I would appreciate the support of this because what it does do is allow for the principals to be very um focused on how they can best manage their building and meet the needs of their students and uh there's it takes away any ambiguity about whether or not this flexibility of the principles is limited to a whole school or individual students to address the needs of those students thank you Mr netcofox Miss Corbett Sanders summed it up well thank you thank you seeing as there are no other speakers I will go ahead and take a vote on that Amendment all those in favor of the amendment as shown on the screen please raise your hands that vote is unanimous we will now go back to the main motion the motion is before for us on the

182screen is there anyone wishing to speak to the main motion um I will just say thank you recess moms it's great to see you all I miss our days working uh at the state level um and and remember that fondly uh today so my my fourth grader asked me what I do so it was a great time to tell them well we're going to talk about Middle School recess policy today he was like that's great and then he was like but wait that will you keep that just for me so we will be keeping that just for him when he makes it to uh middle school so I'm really excited thank you Dr Anderson for continuing that work um that Sandy started so long ago uh and with that I oh miss Cohen sorry I

183would be remiss in all the craziness I know you don't want credit but um man Dr Ivy and Dr quimenko you guys have gone back and forth 500 times to like make this perfect and get everybody um on board and I know that um as omage said it earlier but the whole like meaningful change happens at the speed of trust and you all have certainly earned that in Spades from both the middle school principals and definitely the governance committee so thank thanks for all the work thank you Miss Cohen motion is before us on the screen all those in favor of approving please raise your hands and that is unanimous yes [Applause] I call on Dr Anderson for a follow-on motion goodness I just love recess so very much um I moved to direct the

184superintendent to explore the provision of two 15-minute recess periods for grade six students house at Glasgow Poe and Holmes Middle Schools is there a second Ed by Miss Baron would you like to speak to this I would very briefly um as I've said before we have our sixth grade students who are at the middle school and what I'm super excited about the fact that we've just passed 15 minutes for them other sixth grade students are receiving 30 minutes at their elementary schools so I think we need to have an opportunity to explore the possibility of having recess equity Miss Merritt yeah indeed it is an equity issue and I appreciate Dr Anderson's advocacy not only for recess but in looking at the structure of the Mason District middle schools so this really is in line

185with that thank you seeing as there are no other speakers um we will go ahead and take the vote for this follow-on all those in favor please raise your hands and that motion that follow-on passes thank you agenda item 5.04 Award of contract Falls Church High School renovation I'll call on Dr Anderson for the motion I move that the school board award a contract for the Falls Church High School renovation project to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder gunly Construction Company Incorporated in the amount of 133 million 575 000 and authorized a division superintendent or the assistant superintendent of facilities and transportation services to execute deliver and administer the contract on behalf of the school board is there a second seconded by Mr fresh Dr Anderson yes very briefly I I just really wanted to

186share that this project um I asked for it to be pulled off the agenda along with Mr fresh because we really owe a little bit of conversation to it rather than just on the consent agenda this project has been a long time coming it's been so overdue The Falls Church community has been waiting for a very very long time for this and we had a little bit of a hiccup um there were a couple of presentations regarding the plan and on February a second plan was um shared with the community that removed some of the much-needing part much needed parking for the school in the community and I have to recognize Miss Paula Prettyman who is right here in the audience and her group of parents who I think we saw the last time we

187were meeting they really galvanized and organized and brought this to the attention of myself and Mr fresh and we were able to work with Mr plattenberg who I do want to thank for his Speedy response to this issue um to a to be able to turn back to the original plan without any delay so I do want to say thank you to the parents who organize around this and also to staff for being responsive to the community's needs and I know Mr Frisch will cover the rest Mr fresh thank you um Dr Anderson said most of it but I do want to say that this is how the process in a roundabout way should work that the community brings concerns to the board and the board weighs those concerns works with staff to address them

188and then communicates that back out excuse me um one thing I think we can all agree on is that we always need robust Community engagement and when we're dealing with these renovation projects or new school buildings being constructed um or when we're working on boundaries we need to have a thoughtful and thorough approach to the way that we engage the community and I think that Dr Anderson and I are on the same page on this that some good thinking could be brought to that issue with our our support in the occr and our friends from cpdc and fpac as well as our friends in the community who have experienced what kinds of Outreach is done where it's worked and where it's left so we're getting a lot of benefit out of the conversation here even

189though it was a difficult uh process to go through and I very much appreciate the parents who are involved in this conversation it was always respectful it was always forceful as it should have been um and I appreciate all of the work from our facilities team who quickly pledged to make it sure that it would work to meet the needs and meet the expectations that the community had I remember before I was on the board very quickly back many years ago no I went my one of my first things I did in 2019 before I was on the board is I went to a community meeting at Falls Church High School to see the first drawings of what the school would look like and there were people in the community who still didn't believe it

190was going to happen because they've been waiting for that long and this vote is is putting our money where our mouth is and it's proof that it's going to happen so thank you thank you Mr Frisch um Miss keys gamara I just I fully support this but I just wanted to let the community know that we are working on making sure we get that robust communication process worked out uh it's current we're currently getting feedback from fpac the comprehensive planning and development committee is working on it we're getting input from staff and we'll also reach out to occr and then the board will have an opportunity to overall to put it so we are working on I know that sounds like a lot of steps but I think it will be better in the end

191because we will have touched everybody that will be involved in the process and then we'll have Fidelity of implementation across the county thank you thank you seeing as there are no other speakers I will take um the vote the motion is before us on the screen all those in favor that is unanimous with Miss their net Koufax um and obviously Miss McLaughlin away from the table okay agenda item six consent agenda are adopted rules of parliamentary procedure Roberts rules provide for a consent agenda listing several items for approval of the board by a single motion many items listed have gone through Board review and documentation has been provided to all born members in the public in advance items may be removed from the consent agenda the request of any board member prior to the meeting

192consent agenda items are on the screen is there an objection to approving the consent agenda seeing and hearing none the consent agenda is approved agenda item 7 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 these new business items are on the screen agenda item 8 board committee reports and I'll call on Miss Keys Kamara for an educate Fairfax update so this is going to replace anything else I would say tonight this is it so um FCPS Hall of Fame our educate Fairfax has a new program that I wanted to make sure you guys know about and our community understands educate uh Fairfax it's staff and board believes that our vibrant and successful school system is

193a big part of what makes Fairfax County a wonderful place to live and work by highlighting our amazing graduates in the new program called the Hall of Fame we are drawing the connection that tomorrow Stellar Community leaders business owners and servant leaders are currently students in our schools right now educate Fairfax will make sure through this program that all of them have a path to success this year's class of Hall of Fame include inductees include a lifelong Diplomat a war hero entrepreneurs a lawyer an inventor a young published author and filmmaker an Olympic Athlete and one of fcps's leadership team winners were chosen through a vigorous vetting process not quite as vigorous as a superintendent involving two rounds of judging by the educate Fairfax Board of direct directors the celebration will be May 4th and

194more information can be found on the website so we're looking forward to that exciting celebration thank you Miss keys gamara and if there's no objection to my colleagues I would like to suggest that we skip board matters tonight and we adjourn this meeting thank you all