FCPS School Board Regular Meeting - 2/24/2022

001[Music] so [Music] school board members please take your seats my god this february 24th 2022 regular meeting of the fairfax county school board will now come to order we apologize for the delayed start tonight please stand for the pledge of allegiance followed by a moment of silence in a performance of the national anthem by the daniels run elementary school singers under the direction of michelle mccartney under god [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] all right [Applause] great job thank you okay where's where's the certification in order to comply with section 2.2-3712-d of the code of virginia it's necessary for the board to certify that since the fairfax county school board convened a closed meeting on february 24 2022 to the best of each member's knowledge only public school business matters lawfully exempted

002from open meeting requirements and only such biz public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard discussed or considered by the board during this closed meeting is there a motion all right we have a motion by miss corbett sanders that i don't see him here is there a second seconded my miss cohen all those in favor all those opposed that motion passes okie dokie agenda item 3.02 announcements we would like to recognize fairfax city schools superintendent dr phyllis pedro and school board vice chair mitch sutterfield who are in the audience this evening if you'd like to review a copy of the agenda and any agenda item that is being discussed tonight that information may be found at the back of the auditorium or on the website at fcps.edu school

003board board docs tonight's meeting is being broadcast on channel 99 and live streamed on the website at fcps.edu tv ch99 a reminder a mask that covers the nose and mouth must be worn at all times by everyone in attendance if you have a mask exemption or if you need a mask break please take advantage of the overflow room set up in the gymnasium there were reported cases of verbal abuse abuse and profanity used against fcps staff at our previous school board meeting this behavior will not be tolerated we ask that all in attendance maintain proper business meeting decorum and are respectful to others and to their property missteronaccofax has submitted a written request to virtually attend this evening's meeting all those in favor of approving miss darren kofax request please raise your hands that is

004unanimous and i call on mr chowdery for an announcement absolutely first off i would like to recognize that we have a boy scout in the audience today from troop 1347 he is working on his communication and citizenship in the community badges so let's give him a warm round of applause read across america day march 2nd 2022 national education association's read across america now in its 25th year is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading on or around dr seuss's birthday our schools are places where every child is welcome and encourages students to delve into diverse books from diverse authors that will appeal to an increasingly diverse population in cities and towns across the nation teachers teenagers librarians politicians actors athletes parents grandparents and others

005develop nea's read across america activities to bring reading to excitement to a children of all ages art in our schools month march 2022 march is designated as youth art month by the national art education association to celebrate art and art education and to direct the attention and the value of art education for creative and critical thinking for all students from a variety of backgrounds thank you so much agenda item 3.03 resolution honoring women's history month the board will invite each recognition recipient and their supporters to come forward for a photo with the board after the reading of all recognitions tonight i call on ms tolen for the resolution thank you whereas march is women's history month and this year's theme women providing healing promoting hope is both a tribute to the ceaseless work of caregivers

006and frontline workers during this ongoing pandemic and also a recognition of the thousands of ways that women of all cultures have provided both healing and hope throughout history and whereas women's history month began as women's history week in santa rosa california in 1978 to coincide with international women's day on march 8th the goal of this event was to bring attention to women's historical achievements many communities across the country adopted this special recognition this movement became so widespread that in 1987 congress ultimately designated the month of march as women's history month and whereas we honor those who gathered at seneca falls in 1848 for the first women's rights convention organized by elizabeth caddy stanton and lucretia match launching the women's suffrage movement the conventions manifesto the declaration of sentiments drew its inspiration from thomas jefferson's declaration

007of independence but added the words woman and women throughout to call upon women to fight for their constitutionally guaranteed right to equality as u.s citizens and whereas the ratification of the 19th amendment to the constitution of the united states which provides the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or any state on account of sex in the enactment of the voting rights act of 1965 which extended protection of the right to vote to women of color and language minorities and whereas susan b anthony one of the most known suffragists traveled the country giving speeches to persuade people to support a woman's right to vote virginia's own ellen glasgow an author who won the pulitzer prize for literature and is the namesake of our

008own glasgow middle school here in fairfax county was also active in the suffrage movement now therefore be it resolved that the fairfax county school board on behalf of the fairfax county commission for women and all its residents hereby proclaims march 2022 as women's history month and a time to remember and honor the countless women who fought relentlessly for the rights of all women in our great nation i so move thank you is there a second i'll second seconded by miss omesh mistolan would you like to speak to this yes thank you so women play so many important roles including mothers sisters aunts daughters and through hard work and love keep our families and our communities together we have many unsung female heroes political and business leaders scientists and inventors that have paved the way for

009other women and that have made significant contrib significant contributions to all of our lives scientific inventions from the basis of wi-fi technology dna structure kevlar coffee makers and dishwashers were all created by women we cannot forget the rosy riveters or the code breakers of the world wars that provided key military machines and intelligence during that time we now have our first woman vice president in the united states and several women on our supreme court i really want to take just a minute now to focus on the incredible women in our myths that set examples for all of us to follow and who are currently making women's history i only have a minute to mention a few of the incredible organizations and people among us but i want to thank all women working to make our

010community better and look forward i look forward to seeing all of our women scientists at the regional science fair in march i had the pleasure of meeting with the mclean high school's girls leadership committee officers during my visit with mclean high school counselors last month these young women are creatively and innovatively making fcps a better place for all women they are currently hosting a menstrual product drive throughout the month of march many women and girls have trouble affording these basic necessities and especially now during the pandemic expensive but necessarily necessary mental supplies are hard to find please join these amazing young women and girl scout troop 2090 who spoke at a recent meeting earlier this month on this same issue to help out girls in our community we have a tj junior who created a

011student-led non-profits named women for education advocacy and rights she formed this not-for-profit during the pandemic after reading many social media posts on repealing the 19th amendment through her and her not-for-profit efforts fcps has added more women's and women's of color role in american history in our social studies curriculum these efforts include many books about native american women to younger students and more 6th grade civil war materials we have organizations that have visited us at our school meetings like moms demand action a grassroots movement of americans fighting for public safety and to protect people from gun violence mothers out front mothers clean air force powerful grassroots movements of mothers grandmothers and caregivers working to ensure we have more of our electric buses thank you to all of these groups and many many more that are currently

012working to make our education system better and to make a better world for all of us we can move our county forward to a more sustainable and wonderful future for all of us working together here's to girl power thank you miss tolan um miso mesh i'm really happy to be bringing this uh with miss tolin specifically today both because she stands out as a compassionate fair and open-minded female leader on our board and especially because between the two of us our experiences collectively represent as vast a gap in the inspiring a journey of women in this county and in this country right here in fairfax one brought together by our womanhood i thought a lot about what i'd want to say today and i struggled quite a bit in such divided times it's deeply important

013to me that we approach matters with nuance after all our work is in education and so i ask for my colleagues as indulgence ms tollin spoke to a lot of the local efforts happening and it's important that we take a historical view as well there's so much to be proud of in reflecting on the suffrage movement it's not easy to persist and to fight when you're told to sit down or go away instead it can be as hard as resorting to doubting one's very self and we're told we're too emotional not tough enough belong on the sidelines or at home or that we're just too different to belong the suffragettes crack that grass glass ceiling and the struggles continue to break it for all women for when they all rise through together number one let

014us honor the intersectional contributions of abolitionist women like francis ellen watkins whose stories aren't always told in the american suffrage movement and what a great opportunity today where we are just finishing up african american history month and entering women's history month and there of course are many more like her of various backgrounds and number two let us also honor the global contributions of women who inspired our suffrage movement right here in places as far as china and mexico one example actually is fatima alfaria a woman who said her own islamic view of women's rights led her to establish the world's first university during the golden age in our world history our assumptions about why these realities may surprise us are also worth unpacking i'll leave you with these two examples as a tease and hope

015that you research intersectionality and global suffrage the epistemology of feminism and other ways to deconstruct and understand as we honor this month and its themes of liberation and self-actualization a wonderful example of an opportunity that mrs corbett's in mrs corby sanders's district has just pointed out to me to learn more is actually the suffragists uh suffragettes memorial and museum right here in lorton virginia these are some lessons we can take even from the progression of the many historical waves in women's history at first women called for rights to be heard and included years later we defined our worth relative to the other namely men we thought we had to be like men to be whole but today we realize that we are inherently whole and we demand rights and inclusion on our terms in later

016years and into today we continue to struggle with the narrative of what women's history was has been and continues to represent through its third and fourth waves and in the modern era women's rights have even been weaponized to disenfranchise some women and force them to choose between their female and other identities yes there is such a thing as imperial feminism too i was quiet when we all had conversations about saving the women of afghanistan for example but those are also the very same conversations that have been used to justify war of wars through misinformation and other people towards other people and their beliefs as a muslim woman this has been a huge source of pain growing up how do i fight for women's rights when those who don't who don't respect my very existence use

017those very rights to undermine my faith and seek to erase its adherence but this is all part of a collective education and better understanding one another to fight for the same rights that we that advance all of us many of the arguments are the very same ones that were used against the suffragettes decades ago these are the struggles that we must continue to contend with as we forge women's history ms pratt tonight actually mentioned the sexual movement i can sympathize with the earnings to be included so we ask ourselves does today's feminism leave space for women who don't align with the sexual liberation movement can a feminism rooted in a particular philosophical underpinning honor and respect women from all world views how do we forge a narrative of our history and of our ongoing movement

018into the future that honors and includes all and when we say all meaning all i said things that many of us may not think about often probably a little bit edgy controversial that's not my intention but it is important for us to sit with nuance especially for those who have felt sidelined it adds to how we understand one another and it makes it possible to embrace that we come from varied worldviews when we share and gathering today still in a common festivity in a common celebration i do think back fondly at stories with women in my girl scouting experience and i'm especially happy to have scouts here today that prove to me that this is possible where we were able to share young and old christian muslim jewish buddhist you name it everything else black

019white hispanic women who showed me that our sisterhood was more powerful than those differences and that we can be our full and authentic selves and also fully accepting of one another as women in the various ways we conceptualize that identity and it's it was these women who also showed me that we have a lot of work to do but it is through that sisterhood through a powerful legacy of successes in our history and of coming together to better understand and include one another that we can get there so as women and as people let us stand for telling a history and a movement that includes all of us through education we may be able to reach that collective liberation and that is how we can continue to provide healing and that is how we can

020continue to promote hope thank you ms mclaughlin thank you i know we have a long meeting ahead of us but as a native santa rosan from california where this all originated as noted in the resolution i i did want to speak tonight because i couldn't be more proud of my hometown where this all began as famed activist and feminist laurel ulrich said back in 1976 in one of her articles about women's history well-behaved women seldom make history and when i think about how for so long our country in our nation even just up to a hundred years ago wasn't sure that women had the intellect and the ability to vote and we have come so far in so many ways in just this century alone and it is something to be celebrated i do look

021forward to how we will continue to incorporate the history of women in how we teach our children from pre-k through college and beyond because it is countless women who have made history and made this a greater nation when we look at the historical achievements of women it's also important to realize what they were up against even up through the 1960s and 70s it was my grandmother who fought as a rosie the riveter in the brooklyn shipyards she was there to fight just alongside of my grandfather who was on the navy subs during the war and yet often we don't hear enough about the women who are doing the work on the home front to help us be successful when we think about that in terms of improving pay equity it's still something that we struggle

022against when we think about during the 1960s and before where so many colleges did not allow women to attend when we think about how women were forced to lead their professions if they got married if they became pregnant when we think about how women couldn't get loans to buy homes all the way up through the 1960s telling women that only if they had a husband and that their income couldn't even count toward that it's hard for me to believe that at times because i was so fortunate to grow up in a family of three sisters where my father and my mother taught us that we could grow up and become anything we wanted to do and so fast forward it here we we are sitting as a nation seeing a female vice president i really

023started to wonder if we would would really see that in my lifetime and thankfully we have well we have many places to go in this world to make sure that every woman is respected that every woman is seen as equal to men i do want to use tonight as a way to celebrate how incredibly far we have come over the centuries how incredibly far we've come just in the last hundred years alone in our nation and i look forward to being among many women who don't always behave well but hopefully we're making history and making this place better for all thank you miss marin [Applause] yes good evening i just wanted to acknowledge the overwhelming crowd we have tonight and thank people for coming out and just share that the role of these resolutions and

024recognitions is a signal to the community where the board intends our strategic planning and policy work to go to um i think that you know as you see we have a lot of passionate people here i do really want to encourage my colleagues to let's be you know as as a as focused on what's happening in our schools around this context we have three of these topics tonight and i've heard you know from the community that we want to get to our community participation and all the other business like passing our budget tonight so i of course fully support recognizing uh women and all that's happening in our schools we have a student at madison who's trying to diversify our learning in classes but i do hope that we can continue to move through these

025important motions as swiftly as possible thank you and with that i will call for the vote all those in favor please raise your hands and that is unanimous agenda item 3.04 national athletic training month recognition i call on dr anderson for this recognition thank you march is national athletic training month and this year's theme is providing health care everywhere an appropriate slogan reflecting the important role certified athletic trainers employed by fairfax county public schools play in keeping our students safe fcps athletic trainers are licensed medical professionals who dedicate themselves to promoting the health and safety of our student athletes before during and after practices and competitions fcps fcps's 50 athletic trainers consistently go above and beyond to support our athletic programs and without question are essential members of each school's athletic activities fcps athletic programs

026have been operating non-stop since july 2020 offering both in-season and out-of-season opportunities for high school students these activities directly supported by school-based activities office staff members including certified athletic trainers facilitated over 337 000 contacts between students and their coaches teammates and friends during the first year of the pandemic since july of 2020 through february of fcps athletic trainers have provided care to over 8 500 individuals i'm sorry individual student athletes treating more than 23 000 cuts scrapes bumps bruises sprains strains and fractures even when faced with unprecedented circumstances fcps athletic trainers play a vital role in our overall efforts to support athletic opportunities for all fcps students thank you dr anderson agenda item 3.05 resolution honoring the spread the word inclusion campaign i call them inside zero seismo heiser for a resolution thank you whereas

027individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities a group made up of over 200 million people of all backgrounds continue to be excluded and isolated from their peers in schools workplaces and communities around the world and whereas fairfax county public schools has committed to fostering responsive caring and inclusive culture where all feel valued supported and hopeful and whereas studies show students with disabilities are two to three times more likely to be bullied and inclusive school sitting settings can help reduce bullying improve academic and social outcomes for students with disabilities and positively impact the moral and ethical development of all students and whereas quote the term mental retardation unquote was a medical term introduced in 1961 for people with intellectual disabilities that has become a hurtful and bullying slur that remains prevalent especially in social media posts and

028whereas special olympics best buddies and other advocacy organizations have collected millions of pledges to end the use of the r word to be respectful and inclusive to those with intellectual and developmental disabilities through the spread the word to end the word campaign and whereas to spread the word to end the word campaign became spread the word inclusion to focus beyond the use of one word to promoting the inclusion of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in all aspects of our society now therefore be it resolved that the fairfax county school board encourages all school and community members to pledge to end the use of the r word and work to promote respect for and inclusion of those intellect those with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the school the workforce and the community iso move is

029there a second second seconded by miss cohen miss seismor heiser would you like to speak to your resolution i would very much like to speak my resolution and i i beg the indulgence of my um colleagues because this is something that is incredibly personal to me and to my family so i apologize ms maron in advance for my um for how long my comments will be um so this read the word to end the word campaign was founded in 2009 and focused its first 10 years on addressing a particularly powerful form of exclusion a slur based on a former medical term what we now refer to as the r word the r word and parts of that word has and still are used as a slur in conversations and on social media which is a

030denigration to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and an enormous barrier to the societal acceptance and inclusion of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities as full and valued members of society the use of the word also perpetuates false stereotypes of ability and disability which can lead to continued segregation of people with intellectual developmental disabilities the r word was used by the doctor who diagnosed my son with autism as she told me i should put him in an institution even though he was only two years old in 2019 to spread the word to end the word became spread the word with a focus not just on the elimination of a hateful slur but on the creation of a new reality inclusion for all people with intellectual and developmental disabilities but the reality is we cannot have

031true and full inclusion unless all of us do the hard work it cannot just be incumbent on people with disabilities to promote their inclusion it cannot be incumbent on people with disabilities to adjust who they are and how they experience the world and adjust their norms to adapt to our world if we truly believe in the humanity of all if we truly believe in the importance of inclusion and a welcoming atmosphere for all we need to adjust our norms our words and the norms of our society our schools our workplaces our public spaces our civic and political associations to make space for the stories the strengths and the lived norms of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities as the saying goes people with disabilities are often much more disabled by the society they live in

032than the condition of their disability and recent visits to the pulley and davis center job sites prove this to be so i saw our students with intellectual developmental disabilities thank you and it's true we disable people much more than they are disabled recent visits to the pulley and davis job center sites prove this the managers of these job sites which are job sites for our students who are working on job skills and job training raved these managers raved about the skills and value these students bought loyalty hard work dedication to task many of these employers that people with disabilities were some of the hardest working and most loyal employees they have as the accessibility officer from microsoft stated disability is just part of being human it's frankly a little bit nutty to me he said

033that we don't talk about it in general society anywhere near as much as we should it's the biggest untapped talent pool out there and that is true and yet the unemployment rate of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities is more than double those without we all lose if we don't make space in our language and in our society if we don't look at ourselves our words our actions and what we do to be intentionally inclusive and not exclusive if we don't challenge ourselves to expand our world if we don't redefine disability as diversity with all the strength and value that brings there's a young man sitting at the audience tonight who taught me this that young man is my son jake [Applause] i never knew and i apologize for getting teary i never knew how

034much we judge intelligence how much we judge somebody's worth somebody's intelligence and somebody's right to exist by how well they can communicate until i had my son he is a kid who struggles to communicate but finds it so easy to connect he's a kid who has participated in the state special olympics and whose rock band has played at many a fan quest pre-covered for so much of his life he was presumed to be incapable in all areas of life because of his disability in some areas of life he is a person with autism who struggles to communicate but also a brilliant musician on his way with a scholarship to berkeley college of music that is what happens when we when we redefine disability as diversity he is also the kid who has written 600 letters

035since covet hit to his friends his family his teachers and classmates to bring them sunshine and smiles he has connected people around the country these are the gifts and as long as we use the r word as long as we focus on exclusion and not inclusion we will lose the many gifts our students and adults and children with disabilities bring the continued use of the r word the continued focus on segregation and exclusion diminishes the brilliance the strengths the joy and the humanity of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities the full inclusion of people with disabilities is a human right and a civil right we all deserve to belong we all deserve to be celebrated and included we all deserve to live full and meaningful lives free of bullying and harassment and meaningful lives where

036we are seen for our abilities we are all human thank you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] let's go remind me never to second anything rajna does again that was beautiful and jake i'm so glad that you're here tonight we're really honored to get to hang out with you i am so honored to be able to second um this motion and so grateful to my colleague ms sizemore heiser who brought this up brought this our attention wrote it um and was kind enough to share it with all of us as a parent and as a teacher i've gotten to have a front row seat to the many challenges and successes in both the academic and personal lives of our students with disabilities some days the struggles work very hard to overcome the victories but boy are those victories

037sweet maybe more so because they are often so incredibly hard-won as a parent and a teacher i've also gotten to see firsthand the harm that the r word does how it robs joy and how it causes irreparable damage i'm so grateful for the good work of this campaign not only because it sheds light on such an ugly hurtful and damaging word but also because it gives us a chance to recognize organizations like the special olympics best buddies and other amazing advocacy and opportunity groups in our county and around the world it also gives us a chance to highlight some of our incredible schools who go the extra mile to walk the talk of true inclusion i'm so pleased to have some of our amazing principals students and athletes with us here tonight and i would

038encourage everyone here and everyone listening to learn more about fan quest best buddies special olympics and other opera awesome opportunities that everyone in this community ought to be a part of thanks thank you i will now go ahead and take the vote all those in favor and that vote is unanimous agenda item 3.06 national social work month recognition and i'll call on ms mclaughlin for this recognition thank you madam chair as the resident social worker on the school board it's always a perennial favorite of mine to get to read this important recognition march is national social work month and this year's theme is time to shine school social workers are professionals who are trained to examine and address life's challenges in a holistic way they have expertise in many areas including mental health human development

039behavior trauma and family systems school social workers in fairfax county public schools use their training experience and skills to provide services to children families and school staff members to remove personal and environmental obstacles for supporting student academic performances they are committed to helping every child achieve ensuring equitable access and opportunity building relationships to strengthen students and family engagement and supporting mental health wellness to help students succeed in school and in life the social workers have put together a quick video can you please play that video now for our audience if we can restart the video with the audio okay um trying three times a charm maybe when i think of the ways that school social workers shine i the words that come to mind are empathy engagement and equity school social workers are uniquely poised

040to really be that safe place when i think about the work i've done with children having them come and talk about things in their life be a support to them be a support to their families one of the ways that we're unique is our job is to really help remove those barriers or obstacles that help them come to school engage meaningfully in school feel a part of the community so that's what comes to mind when i think about the ways that we shine that's really our area to be that support to families [Applause] on behalf of the board i want to again thank all of our social workers for everything you do every single day to help our children and our staff be successful in our schools as part of our protocol this evening we

041will be inviting each of the groups to come to the dais for a photo with the school board so my colleagues please remain um at the risers while we invite the different groups but according to my script we will begin with the social workers first so for all social workers in the audience uh please come join us at the dis along with our coordinator for social workers mary jo davis [Applause] i would like to invite the fcps athletic trainers the director of activities and athletic programs bill curran athletic training program administrator john reynolds and other staff and supporters of the national athletic training month recognition to please join the board [Applause] thank you i'd like to invite kyle reese special olympics global messenger the area 26 special olympics council members and athletes to please join

042the board [Applause] okay so i'm just gonna [Applause] we'd like to we would like to invite anyone here in support of the uh special olympics to please join the board at the dyes for a photo including the woods and what including the woodson partnership best buddies all right next order of business is a board statement that i will be reading on behalf of the fairfax county school board the fairfax county school board values our caring culture which includes protecting our most vulnerable students and staff fairfax county public schools will continue to have a mask requirement until we reach a moderate community transmission level we strongly recommend that parents and students [Applause] [Music] continue to have their children wear masks in school fcps continues to focus on doing everything possible to ensure the health and safety

043of our fairfax community throughout this pandemic we have collaborated closely with our local health experts their guidance together with our layered prevention strategies including universal masking has worked to keep all 199 schools and centers open and our transmission rate low even during the omicron surge this is something of which we are proud we continue to have constitutional concerns regarding the legality i apologies we continue to have constitutional concerns regarding the legality of the process and law virginia code section 22.1-2.1 this law leaves local school divisions no flexibility to address future public health emergencies however we respect our obligation to comply with this law and therefore we'll allow parents and card parents or guardians to elect for their children not to wear masks on school property starting march first we encourage we encourage our community to

044continue to follow the guidance of health officials particularly for the benefit of our immuno-compromised students and staff we must continue to work together to keep our schools safe and open for all the superintendent will be sharing information around the operationalization of this change on friday please look out for this information early tomorrow agenda item 4.01 community participation the next order of business is community participation speakers must limit their remarks to no more than two minutes in length at the conclusion of their 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 a capital improvement program budget and boundaries comments targeting criticizing or attacking individual students

045are 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 avoiding profanity inappropriate gestures shouting and comments that run counter to the spirit and letter of the school division's non-discrimination policy all statements should be directed to the school board and speakers should remain at the podium until concluding their remarks in-person speakers should wear a mask when addressing the board and as a reminder speaker substitutions are not permitted a speaker may not yield their time to another individual before during their remarks shouting and outburst from the audience will not be tolerated school board members may step

046away um to the back of the room but there is a a a feed and will be able to listen to all comments we are grateful for those who have come to speak to us today and we thank you for your cooperation our first speaker is landon spears our next speaker is danelle sawyer you may not know this but this school originally opened in 1954 as the very first public school for black students in fairfax county for grades 7 through 12 called luther porter jackson high school prior to this they had to travel to dc for to attend school the school closed in 1965 and reopened the next year as an integrated intermediate school the 1970 census changed zoning and in 1972 i attended luther jackson intermediate which was fully integrated according to a 2004

047washington post article about luther jackson middle school its student population had become a diverse assembly of kids whose families descend from over 60 countries and that was 18 years ago all people just like you and me deserving of the excellent public education provided here and that is what i call progress the current toxicity of contemptuous parents pushing for bans and books bans on teaching truthful history and attacking electric elected school board members is just that toxic it's not a tactic to get ever anyone to work together these tactics are from the past they failed then and they'll fail now because they are not helping to prepare anyone for a future in a modern ever-changing world that is going to keep progressing with or without you one last thought kids spend really only about a quarter

048of their week hours in an actual class setting so i wonder if our attention should be on where they spend most of their time at home for instance board member uh keys gemara shared with us in a prior meeting about a terribly abusive letter she received if the person who wrote her can say such horrible things about wanting to tar and feather her what do you think that person is capable of saying in front of or to their kids at home does that sound like an emotionally stable parent capable of creating a nurturing environment i don't think so i believe what happens at home far outweighs the impact on a child's development than in their time in class and perhaps that's where our focus should turn thank you for this chance to speak thank you

049our next speaker is dmitry allergand i am a parent of a six-year-old first grader son that had started virtual kindergarten last year continued masked in person this year and has never seen what a normal unmasked school looks like our family followed all safety guidelines vaccinated at the first opportunity and boosted when it was recommended the science at this point is overwhelming ensuring that cloth masks don't work without micron masking is hurting young students and toddlers they are losing in emotional social and language development many are struggling with mental health adults in this state are free to enjoy daily lives and entertainment without masks of social distancing continued forced masking of young children is hypocrisy and travesty our youngest children need to be the first to drop their masks not the last what is happening is

050institutional child abuse our neighboring major school districts loudoun prince william did a decent thing and complied with the law masks are optional there already for everyone no forms required vaccines are available for all vulnerable populations and those who are still afraid can wear n95s and fully protect themselves fcps has held on the announcement it may come tomorrow there are extensive rumors and leaks that they may plan to circumvent the letter and spirit of the law and introduce discriminatory secretary punitive policy against students choosing to unmask if they were not they would have already announced compliance a week before i have little trust in this board i am therefore i'm not calling on them i'm calling on the virginia general assembly and especially senator peterson the assembly is still in session and you can still pass

051one more amendment strengthening the law specifically banning all forms on discrimination by masking status including social distancing launch procedures seating arrangements and quarantine policies not just academic and disciplinary consequences do it while they can to ensure the local work is intended and many students are actually able to unmask when you adjourn for the year it may become much harder to stop the abuse all students must be treated equally with dignity and no discrimination whether they mask or not i will be happy to be mistaken and see a fair and decent thank you our next speaker is joanne collins good evening in the fourth grade i began my journey for the next nine years of daily pullout accelerated math classes it started off with five boys and me one of my classmates was named david i

052saw david every school day until i graduated high school while in school a cloud of chaos surrounded david his mother would burst into our classroom to air her complaints about her son's schooling berating the teacher bullying the students why wasn't david's schoolwork more challenging why was david pair with a girl for his bath project why this why that yes i was the girl who was partnered with david for math assignments in our pull-out class none of the boys would work with david i wasn't really sure of how to get out of it i kept david at arm's length we never met in the library to work on assignments we didn't converse for our projects we just passed notes back and forth until our assignment was ready to hand in students avoided david in class he

053was a loner in high school we graduated from high school and went our separate ways i attended my 10-year high school reunion as i made my way to the gym a man walked up to me it was david he started a conversation first just pleasantries then pivoting to college uh and where i did where i landed we both were now in new york city in similar careers we talked about coding technology software development it was oddly natural conversation one that we had never had while attending school as i went to leave david thanked me for being his math partner all those years in school i haven't thought about david until the school board meetings the public comments section of the school board can at times remind me of the chaos and interference that parents can

054inflict only on their own children but on other children as they navigate to adulthood school board meetings remind me that schools and teachers can be respite for children thank you our next speaker is scott orange thank you it was my first school board meeting here and i was very pleased to hear speaking about honoring women valuing different faiths and also talking about students with disabilities these values of inclusion and diversity are exactly what we need in a 21st century education history that you all know i'm sure from 1789 to 1920 women didn't have the right to vote in this country that's 131 years was it uncomfortable to talk about was it divisive say in the 19 teens probably but it was a conversation that needed to be had and we're all better for it the

055holocaust 6 million jewish people 10 million people with other ethnicities killed a very difficult conversation to have very difficult to learn about in school but still very important even today when we have inequality for women's pay even today where we have one third of a population in the united states not believing in the holocaust these are still very important conversations we need to teach history so we don't forget it so we don't repeat those mistakes everything i've heard today gives me confidence that that will continue when we talk about black history which appears to be disproportionately targeted by our governor understanding about slavery understanding about jim crow segregation the kkk massive resistance to integrating education in the commonwealth of virginia are all very important pieces that we need to know if we cannot confront uncomfortable

056truths we cannot prepare our children for a 21st century how to interact with neighbors with employers employees customers the whole wide world around them thank you our next speaker is kimberly adams thank you to all the speakers tonight who've given testimony that's supported our staff good evening chair picarski school board members dr braebranna leadership team my name is kimberly adams and i'm speaking as the president of the fairfax education association a union representing thousands of your employees you are working hard to keep everyone safe healthy and learning and thank you for that your employees are feeling significant emotional impact of a pandemic just like millions of people across the world we are asking for the grace that we regularly talk about to be given truly given to all of your employees the stories i could

057tell you are immense but right now the stories that employees are telling us are being denied grace when asking for leave for important family situations being treated poorly because of small mistakes made at work and being involved in escalating discipline situations to address matters that would better be handled by simple discussions at a time when morale is at an all-time low and educators everywhere are under attack the fea is asking you to return to best practices of allowing us and other employee associations to be present and helping to de-escalate such situations when an employee reaches out for help with employment matters recently we've been excluded from important meetings with multiple administrators in a room with a single employee we've been told that we cannot sit in and take notes for an employee in crisis and

058we cannot have access to spaces within school buildings to meet with employees who need assistance this must change quickly if we are to maintain a workforce that wants to continue to support our students that they are so dedicated to i look forward to continuing to discuss these concerns within the human resources department and appreciate the time to share this with everyone tonight we are stronger together thank you thank you our next speaker is jeff anderson good evening my name is jeff anderson i'm a board member of the fairfax alliance for better bicycling a parent of two james madison graduates and an 11th grader at the same school i was last here about 10 years ago in 2012 alongside one of those graduates encouraging the school board to adapt change adopt changes to its transportation policies

059to allow students to bike and walk to school without any penalties restrictions placed upon them as well as adopt a safe routes to school as a key initiative in the system i might date myself here but back when i was in school in the 70s we walked and biked to school all the time generations had passed and kids weren't allowed to do that for many many reasons if we fast forward to 2012 and as a result of adopting these policies 10 years ago a new generation of students at fcps get to enjoy walking and biking to school now we go to 2022 and the funding source for the safe routes to school program has dried up uh it's come to an end and vdot doesn't have the funds anymore uh we can't let that happen

060and i don't think you should let that happen either in january at a budget work session uh megan shared with you up to pager from fab created um that we created about the success of the program i'm not going to go into any of that it's an eight-year program that that was funded by vdot you all know the success via that one pager a two-pager and during that session several of you agreed with the need to continue the program elaine laura jane carl all did that i even saw some social media about safe routes to school it's my understanding an amendment has been put forth uh to fund the program it's now been wrapped up in an omnibus amendment and i urge you to pass that i don't want it to get lost in the

061mix we need these kids to be able to continue to walk and bike to school if you have any questions you know how to get a hold of me and thanks for your time thank you our next speaker is joseph harrison good evening i came here tonight to speak on behalf of parents like me who on a typical school night can't attend school board meetings because we're busy taking our kids to taekwondo helping them with their homework and trying to get them to bed on time it's unfortunate that us being busy with the day-to-day responsibilities of parenthood has meant that you the members of the school board have had to deal with month after month of abuse from people who don't care about education and are only here to scratch a political itch never forget

062that these people are not the majority they're just the loudest the parents of school kids in this community respect you we appreciate the work that you do and we have your back thank you [Applause] thank you our next speaker is cole mallard sorry i'm a little stiff i've been sitting a while um good evening um my name is cole mellon i'm the parent of three former fcps students i worked 40 years with the voice of america i'm a taxpayer and a vietnam vet i want to make clear i'm not a racist nor am i an oppressor recently the mclean community center director said there was racism in dog whistles of white supremacy and mclean where i've resided for over 40 years i mentioned this because i later learned that fcps students were taking or talking

063about racism at the mclean community center school teen center at the old fire house in mclean obviously there these students have been impacted by critical race theory which is embedded in fcps curriculum as you well know this theory rooted isn't is it rooted in marxism and it claims that whites are oppressors people of color are the oppressed there have been denials that crt is being taught in fairfax county public schools however that statement frequently repeated by fcps admin and school board members is very misleading sure you can't find a class labeled critical race theory in fairfax public schools but critical race theory has been infused within the system as a framework or lens through which education can proceed we have irrefutable evidence that fcps paid ibrum x kennedy a well-known proponent of crt to speak

064to principals teachers and staff during the summer of fcps chief equity officer appeared with professor kennedy during this presentation as reported to have used the term academic frame to describe lessons that teachers could be expected to present during the twenty twenty i'm sorry twenty twenty one twenty two school year taxpayers parents and community members have legitimate concerns that there's more indoctrination going on in fcps in spite of the repeated denials that crt is being taught would suggest all too frequently explained as being in alignment with equity social and emotional learning [Applause] thank you our next speaker is steve tunnley thank you i'm a parent of two children that currently attend south lakes high school my daughter's a senior my son is a freshman they have attended nothing but fairfax county public schools their entire lives

065aldrin elementary langston used middle school they've done well academically and from also a social and emotional development i'm very happy with as well there are a lot of reasons why i believe they've done well but i think the number one reason is that they've attended the best public schools in the state of virginia and possibly the united states my daughter currently maintains a 4.6 gpa in a very rigorous international baccalaureate program she's taking multivariate calculus organic chemistry linear algebra and a bunch of other really tough stuff she scored a 1580 on her sats and she's a national marriage scholarship finalist in six months she'll either be attending one of the she'll probably be attending one of the finest universities in the united states and i say probably because if she found out i'd come here

066and talk about her tonight she'll probably be in prison for killing me um 53 of the national merit scholarship semi-finalists in the state of virginia this year were from fairfax county that's more than the rest of the state of virginia combined including public parochial and homeschooled children i'm very happy i've seen in all the years i've been a parent i've attended multiple many dozens of football games basketball games i've seen asian kids and hispanic kids and white kids and african-american kids in different religions and presumably people who are members of the lgbt community and special needs children i've never seen a fight i've never seen a shoving match i've never seen an argument i've never seen a race i've never heard a racial slur i've never seen a boy acting inappropriately to a girl all

067i see is kids with really good school spirit and very very happy and um lastly i stand against anybody who bans books and anybody who's trying to shove the lgbt community back in the closet thank you our next speaker is melanie smith good evening i come to you tonight as a former fcps student a graduate as the parent of a graduate of fcps and now the grandmother of child enrolled in fcps and i just want to thank you i want to thank the board the administration the staff and the teachers thank you for keeping our children safe while still learning during two very difficult years thank you for listening to the science of the pandemic and not bowing to the political winds thank you for making tough decisions that best protect the students you were

068elected to serve thank you for the ever evolving educational opportunities to best prepare our students for the future thank you for not buying into the fear-mongering that could lead to banning books thank you for a curriculum that educates instead of resorting to a soviet revisionist history thank you for understanding that we must teach children the cruelties in our history to avoid having them ever happen again thank you for understanding that teaching facts about our past does not diminish nor disparage others thank you for letting our teachers teach thank you for all you do to provide a safe and a stimulating and fair educational environment for our children throughout the county thank you our next speaker is caroline steinberg thank you for the opportunity to speak i am deeply troubled by the executive order banning so-called

069inherently divisive concepts and i want to speak in support of fairfax county public schools programs to promote diversity equity inclusion we are heading in the right direction but we have a long way to go discussions about privilege implicit bias and systemic racism are essential learning even though this can take our students beyond their comfort zones we do a disservice to our youth if we don't help them grow and we don't prepare them for a world that has clearly progressed past the state of virginia i also want to speak in support of maintaining a library collection that celebrates diversity books provide a window into the lived experiences of other people this includes people that are like us and people who are different people of other races gender identities and sexual orientations i was heartened by the

070school board's decision to restore two award-winning books on gender identity and sexual orientation to our school libraries genderqueer was easily the best book i have ever read on gender identity everyone with a genderqueer child or a friend should read that book and i'm glad that it was brought to my attention though saddened by the way that came about books like life may include positive experiences like love friendship and sexual awakening they also depict dark experiences like bullying racism abuse or suicide these are the lived experiences of many people a child may see parts of themselves and characters or a book may help them process something that they experienced reading builds empathy and reading builds community banning books takes away the ability of our children to see through these other windows particularly when those bands are

071targeted at certain populations in closing i do not have a problem with parents engaging with their own children about the books that they read in fact i encourage it but i will fight to ensure that one group of parents does not stand between other people's children's and the books they want to read thank you thank you our next speaker is norm hall [Applause] good evening this is part two of my testimony i want to continue my remarks from earlier on how to accommodate persons in school who are part of a household with immunocompromised individuals apparently the board has heard me want to thank you uh i look forward to seeing the details later i'm not in the room so i can't tell whether governor young can or senator peterson they're present their unexpected involvement in

072setting school policies suggests that maybe in their minds they become ex-officio members let me use this as an opportunity to wish everyone a meaningful black history month and why it matters i honestly don't know what's in the school curriculum that explains why it is that the virginia consultation dates back to the 70s and it is in the 1970s and why the governor is not given the role to lead schools if citizens don't know i suggest you do some research and senator peterson i do wonder why given your objection to our last governor's role and he is a medical doctor it was okay to defer the decision on unmasking to a governor who doesn't have medical expertise which i guess wouldn't be a problem if you or the education secretary designee had a firm proposal about

073how to do the work to accommodate the immuno compromise and immunocompetent individuals without mass and small group settings that nominee couldn't finish a sentence about it as i recall but i want to think that fcps is further along and i'm really looking forward to the information um because we're still in this thing and it's not that long ago there were two schools nearby me where there were more than 12 new cases reported on a single day at each of those schools and you know we got to make sure that we are ready to have safe school operations and i'm so looking forward to the next phase of education in fairfax county thank you thank you our next speaker is stephen brussell a couple months ago my daughter fractured her leg sir you need to wear

074your mask oh i was told by the security guard when i uh read i could uh take my mask off we would appreciate you keeping your mask on thank you sir uh is it required or appreciated it's our policy uh give me back that time please you just took away seven seconds thank you thank you all we're gonna let our speaker go ahead a couple of months ago my daughter fractured her leg she needed special help to go to the bathroom so instead of going to school she did homebound care this is where a teacher comes and tutors her for an hour every day after school she is healing nicely and will be back in school on monday this whole incident made me aware of a weird double standard if she gets coveted or is

075in close contact with someone who with covet she is allowed to attend her class virtually if she stays home for any other reason including a different infectious disease she is not allowed to attend her class virtually it should be the same standard no matter the reason we have the equipment and the teachers have the training for virtual learning all in-person classes should also be on zoom my daughter's in-person preschool was also on zoom and my girlfriend's in person grad school classes are also on zoom if i keep my daughter home for any reason she should be able to watch her class virtually and have a teacher check on her at the end of the day also it would be nice for parents to be able to go on zoom and see what is being taught

076to their children thank you very much [Applause] thank you that was our last speaker we also have two video testimonies our first one is from robert rigby good evening my name is robert rigby the pandemic has and continues to be very hard on our students staff and families we've had virtual school hybrid school concurrent and in person we've had vaccinations mass and variants our schools have been a focus in a statewide election in this time disabled people including children have been particularly hard hit the divisions created in the community around pandemic issues are real and we need to solve but we need to solve them ourselves we have always had debates around books history curriculum and the degree to which we honor and include muted voices in our schools but in the past there have

077been our debates it is different there is so much outside media messaging and money involved that it has limited our ability to discuss and solve our differences in our own community we need local control i think these outside media money and organizations should leave us to heal our wounds and come back together education a unified community and peace in our fairfax county depend upon it thank you for listening our next video is theodore [Applause] geiss good evening everyone you know i really didn't want to have to speak again but i kind of think that i have to because no one can seem to get their mind on what is the best solution to continue with fairfax county public schools so i will just talk about some excerpts from a soon to be published op-ed i

078wrote that i wanted to speak about a little over a month ago about how toxic these school board meetings can be i mean we all know that you guys just yell and yell each other you just yell at school board people school board people don't listen to you you know just goes around in the circle but you have to be more proactive than this you have to reach out in a calm and professional manner they're not your enemy now you may not agree with all the positions of the school board members but they're not your enemy and the school board people you have to listen it's as simple as that i used to speak a lot and i know the brunt of it people attacked me people praised me it just doesn't get you anywhere

079and you know i spoke in a calm manner and still we all let our extremes get the best of ourselves i mean do you really think it's appropriate or you know even just decent to have a person with an anonymous twitter be accusing parents of belonging to q anon or another person that attacks laura jane cohen and melanie marin's kids i really don't think it's that nice we know that this has gone across the country it's been about books critical race theory sexual assaults transgender policies mask mandates you name it but the thing is though everyone has opened a pandora's box that you can't get anywhere unless you be proactive please be proactive that's all i ask for thank you okay agenda item 4.02 superintendent matters and i'll call in dr brabrand thank you chairman

080pokarsky a couple of things i want to share with the community this evening don't all hold your breath at once but i understand um yeah i know all those of you at home i know you're ready to hear exactly what i'm going to say um but really we have a couple of good news items to share first of all forbes magazine just announced that fairfax county public schools made the top 500 lists for best largest employers in the united states of america we're halfway up that list at 264 and we certainly want to get to the top but uh fairfax county was the only school district or educational employer in virginia to make the list the only school district or educational employer so we're very proud i want to thank sean mcdonald and his hr

081team and marty smith our ceo for leading sean in the hr team and a just a tremendous job very very proud of them and that's a big part of our strategic plan as you know this board has authorized which is a premier workforce we also have a great news to talk about in terms of our strategic plan around our caring culture we just have released a new fcps podcast called in pocas palabras which in spanish means in a few words and we offered a multilingual family podcast to our community a new one was released on february 22nd and the podcasts are offered in arabic korean and spanish and the topic this week was transitioning your student to middle school and these podcasts are being produced monthly now on a variety of timely topics to learn

082more about these podcasts visit our uh fcps website and search keyword podcast um you know one of the things we i try to listen every night as teddy was just saying in the comments to hear what the community is saying and what our parents are saying and one of the things i want you to know in just a few weeks i just shot a video to be talking about our family engagement survey that we will be sharing out with our community in just a few weeks asking for our family's input on how well we're doing how well we're engaging them and making sure we're doing uh work with families not two families so we're going to get a lot of data and i want to thank the school board for passing the first ever fcps

083family engagement policy just a brief time ago and this survey is a part of that work i also just want you to know sr3 we had a great discussion about that at our work session earlier this week it's been focused on our learning gaps that students have encountered during the pandemic and we continue to be focused on unfurnished unfinished learning social and emotional needs and by the way social and emotional needs are what some call scl i call life skills i call career skills i call it eq and every kid who's going to be successful in this country in our global economy is going to need iq and eq we're going to teach both in fairfax county public schools and so we we have a lot of that in our sr3 spa spending we also

084have some work around technology and multilingual engagement so uh as the speaker also said tonight we have our at-a-glancer plans but we'll have the full plans out on our website in just a few weeks and really hope you all will go and take a look at the well done plans by each of our schools finally uh and i wanted to just mention two two final things one i know the school board will be voting tonight on our fy 23 budget i'm super excited that the county executive earlier this week brian hill did put in his budget another fully funded budget request that was in my proposed budget and this will be the third time in five years of my time as superintendent uh that we have the opportunity again um uh still waiting of course

085for the board of supervisors to take that final vote to have a fully funded budget but i am very excited the budget includes a step increase for all eligible employees and a four percent market scale adjustment it also has new lead positions for special edit elementary schools which will bring and usher in a new era in special education instruction additional days for professional development and training uh and really 86 of this budget allocated to instruction to student success part of our other strategic plan around resource stewardship strategic plan focus around resource stewardship and then finally i want to just mention this year public schools week national public schools week is february 21st to the 25th which is this week and it serves as a time to celebrate the achievements of our public schools and the

086contributions of our students parents and education advocates it's an annual celebration to really celebrate the best of in our public school system and we are fortunate to be in the premier school district in america our schools are open and remain open for every child by name and by need and we will continue to work to build their future together and as earlier said by chairman picarski i will be sharing some additional information about how we continue to keep our students and staff safe even as cobot goes down while complying with our obligations under recently passed general assembly law that information will be out early tomorrow afternoon thank you very much thank you dr bray brand agenda item 4.03 student representative matters and i call on mr chowdhury good evening madam chair board members as someone

087who um will still be considered legally a child for about three more hours um i wanted to talk about something oh thank you um i wanted to talk about something that i think has really deeply shaped me and especially my experience as a young person as you all know my freshman year i struggled very profoundly with my mental health well here is the second part of that story as a sophomore i was able to get some of the interventions that i needed but as this began um also began an incredibly perilous journey navigating the iep process i entered a place where i was in personal development courses i was put into edmontum classes and team taught courses and as much as i was very grateful for all the people who helped make that iep happen

088and who were there to support me i could not help but resent so many pieces of the experience and it was something that i think really got to me and that i let and i let my mentality about it limit me for so much of my high school experience i found the classes under stimulating and during the process i really felt unheard so as someone who had previously battled anxiety and mental health struggles i entered a dangerous cycle i wasn't enjoying my learning and i felt like my voice over the education i received was actively being shut down and i thought well if this is how it is what's the point of going to school something that i had already previously dealt with 87 days of in my freshman year um and so in that

089iep room it was always very much a conversation in which i felt demoralized and in many ways dehumanized um a lot of the time it almost felt like i was being grilled before a table of adults um and i was told hey here's where we think you fell short and here's why that's not okay for us i kept trying to advocate for my own needs and how i felt about the situation but i was told i was just making excuses and i thought this might be an isolated experience but later on before i was elected as student rep i was talking to another student about how i was used to leaving those meetings in tears and he said oh my gosh i've had the exact same thing happen to me and as i did a

090report that year for my journalism class on twice exceptional students in fcps and i met some advocates from septa i found out that there have been some really deep struggles and i think for a lot of students who have gone through this process there is really this feeling of conflictedness where it's oh my gosh this has helped me in so many ways but i also feel harmed or set back in so many ways and so really balancing that and making sure that we are not just um i would say demonizing and disparaging students in that process is huge and when we talk about special services and fcps we really need to center our goals around building students up rather than putting them down and i especially think that when you're on an iep there's this

091assumption that a student might not be able to do well in certain environments or might act a certain way might have certain behavioral issues but the truth is there is no such thing as an average student on a on an iep the level of diversity in terms of needs and individual circumstances is massive and so with that this is kind of a little mishmash of ideas i had written down that i wanted to share i think number one really making sure that our team taught classes in which we have one general education teacher and one paired special ed teacher that the general ed teachers in those environments are familiar with neurodiverse populations that know how to interact with those of us who have struggled or have disabilities who have a record of excellent teaching in

092their school communities and who actively want to teach neurodiverse populations i think that's huge um and i also remember in elementary school that there were some instructional assistants who would support either individual students or small groups regardless of whether they were learning in general education or advanced academics all the way down to smaller setting classrooms and i think those kinds of direct supports could be further utilized at the high school level especially because right now as it stands our team taught classes and our self-contained courses for example are only offered at the standard course offering so let's say we have a student who's really exceptional in english they have to take standard english if they're recommended into a team taught course they're not able to take ap lang or ib literature um and that's a

093really big barrier and so i think looking forward at um how we can accommodate and get through that even within that team taught setting and also acknowledging that hey in our current team classrooms not all of the students in there are in special education and so even it may even take you know 10 to 15 students in a certain environment to be able to have that set up and one advanced course teacher along with one special ed teacher there for support and we do have pretty big high schools at over 2000 almost everywhere but in cases where if we say look at that and say okay it looks like our population isn't big enough to support that this i think looking at specialized programs or concentrated programs for this could be really hugely helpful and

094i think it's really important that we are engaged in our academic environments that we are affirmed and that we feel like our needs are cared for is incredibly crucial and then the other thing that i think is going to be a defining question for us long term is how to better support students who might not be able to get a diagnosis that qualifies them for special supports or get the supports they need outside of school at all it can be really difficult for students who do have disabilities but whose parents might not know how they can reach out to get their kid that support or even worse those whose families worry that communicating their child's disability would limit their access to educational opportunities and that's why i also think parent education comes in there a

095partnership comes in there and really understanding that supporting students with disabilities is so much more than just classroom accommodations it is about day-to-day life it is about support it is about feeling loved and really making sure that we can feel uplifted when we come to school every day that we want to be there and that we don't feel in any way constrained or chained down is how we can change that for the better thank you well thank you and thank you and a very very happy birthday from all of us [Applause] agenda item 5.01 confirmation of action taken and closed meeting i call on mr frisch for a motion thank you madam chair i moved to authorize legal counsel to file an amicus brief in the pending federal case challenging executive order number two and

096sp 739 cement at all versus commonwealth of virginia according to the terms and conditions discussed in closed session is there a second second in my miss corbett sanders all those in favor that vote is um unanimous with miss they're not cofax away right i now call on miss corbett sanders for a motion yes thank you madam chair i moved to expel a student who possessed a weapon and endangered other students on school property is there a second second if i miss keys gamara i will call for the vote all those in favor all those opposed all those abstaining and that motion passes with mysterion netco facts away i will now call on ms seismore heiser for a motion i move to grant in part the school reassignment appeal of a student who violated probationary conditions

097and caused harm to another student on school property and to modify the disciplinary decision of the division superintendent according to the terms and conditions discussed in closed session is there a second second did my miso mesh i will call for the vote all those in favor all those opposed all those abstaining now motion passes with miss donatkofax away agenda item 5.02 fiscal year 2023 advertised budget and i call on miss corbett sanders for a motion thank you madam chair i move that the school board adopt the fiscal year 2023 advertised budget as detailed in the fiscal year 2023 superintendent's proposed budget and defer consideration of all amendments until funding levels at the state and local level are finalized is there a second seconded by ms tolen ms corbett sanders would you like to speak to

098this motion yes madam chair hold on one moment please yes this has been another tough year due to the pandemic but as the budget committee chair chair i am pleased with the collaboration collaborative budget process that has engaged that this board has engaged in with dr bray brand in setting priorities for the fiscal year 2023 budget i'm particularly thankful for the partnership of the budget committee's vice chair elaine tolland and lee burden and alice wiggington of fcps central office it has been a pleasure to work together over the past few months as you will recall in october the budget committee sent out a survey to determine the school board priorities and conducted a work session to discuss these priorities in greater detail the survey asked school board members to share themes the fiscal year 23

099budget should be centered around and requested feedback about non-negotiable items and solicited ideas on how the budget development process might be smoother based on the survey results the budget committee drafted the school board budget resolution identifying fiscal year 23 budget priorities and the resolution was adopted at the november 11th 2021 regular meeting the superintendent's fiscal year 23 proposed budget reflects an overall decrease due to the elimination of one-time esser funds the fiscal year 23 proposed budget aligns with the school board's budget resolution and focuses on compensation opportunity and access investments and critical operational needs it should be noted that on tuesday the county executive delivered the county's fiscal year 23 advertised budget and in that proposal the superintendent's proposed budget is fully funded the county board of supervisors have just begun the review of the

100budget with final funding levels determined in early may this is just the beginning of the county process and miss tollen and i will continue to collaborate with you all in the months ahead until the final adoption of this school board's budget at the state level both the house and the senate release their budgets on sunday the two bills are significantly different in how they impact fairfax county public schools funding our budget staff are still analyzing the impact of each proposal the general assembly will continue their budget consideration over the next few weeks and if they reach agreement we'll adjourn on march 12 2022 the governor has 30 days after that adjournment to act on the budget bill so we should have the final state revenue numbers in mid-april based on these unknowns the main motion

101tonight defers consideration of all amendments until funding levels at the state and local level are better known next tuesday the two boards will have an opportunity to discuss the county budget and the needs of our schools at the school at the board of supervisors budget meeting we will have an additional budget work session scheduled for april 12th to continue discussions about potential budget items recently identified by the school board members the first follow-on motion tonight provides a listing of the items for further consideration based on the consensus reached at the april 12th worst section work session the superintendent will provide a recommendation on how of the amendments and identify funding prior to the final adoption the final budget approval is scheduled for may 26 2022 by this board many thanks to dr braeburn brabrand i'm

102sorry ms burden ms wiggington and their teams this is a good news budget that affirms the value we place on fcps employees by by providing a four percent msa plus a step increase for those eligible as well as other initiatives that will provide the much needed support to fcps students and staff thank you miss corbett sanders ms tolen would you like to speak to your second thank you i don't have a lot to add i thank you to ms corbett sanders for providing us with a nice overview of the budget and the budget process as we move forward thank you to dr brabrand and to staff for putting together this advertised budget that meets so many of our needs including taking care of our staff that has worked tirelessly to educate our students over the

103past very trying years and a huge thank you to our colleagues on the board of supervisors for passing our full budget request and for understanding the acute needs of our students as we move out of the pandemic i really don't have much more to say than those thank yous we went over this in some details so i hope that we can pass this motion thank you miss tolan mr fresh thank you first i want to thank miss corbett sanders and miss tollen for the work they put into this budget with our incredible staff so thank you very much it is a good news budget in part because of all of that hard work and one thing that i'm particularly looking forward to is the investments we're making in our staff couple that with the investments

104we're making in uh recovery of academic loss for our students and i think we're heading in the right direction and and i think we need to acknowledge we can always do more right i keep talking about changing the sales pitch around teaching and working in schools part of that comes with doing these kinds of steps towards paying teachers and staff what they deserve year over year over year and i'm grateful um that my colleagues uh are interested in doing that work as well um i'm not gonna be speaking to the first follow-on motion so i'm just gonna get it out here um i look forward to engaging in these conversations uh during the work session session this spring in particular i'm excited that we will be considering the work we have around our environmental goals

105including safe routes to school which we've heard about in our community participation tonight and around compensating our transportation staff in a way that attracts people to the profession and keeps the hard-working people we already have on the team there are a number of other issues that i could speak to but in the interest of time i will end it there thank you mr fresh mr mesh thank you so much i also want to thank miss corbin sanders and ms tolin for their hard work bringing this together and i do want to acknowledge that this is at least in part possible because of the relationship that's been fostered over years um i know dr brabrand's collaboration with the county has made it possible to have the amount of money that we're able to have today and

106that is something to be acknowledged um i did want to just give dr weber and the chance to just speak a little bit to uh remaining pieces i know we weren't able to reflect everything in the advertised budget that remains as a part of the conversation so dr brabrand please uh well thank you mr mesh i think after you do this motion you'll be talking about another motion from the board and i believe some of the things that were priorities for you and frankly all of the board are going to be reflected in that follow-on motion so i look forward to joining that discussion perhaps a bit more when you all finish this motion and then go to this next one but i believe uh that you will see reflected from our work session and

107additional discussions board priorities for me and our team to follow up on when we have our net next budget work session in april thank you thank you yeah i just want to make sure we capture that there were a number of topics discussed at that work session and for folks not to be alarmed at all if they don't see anything reflected that's hopefully forthcoming thank you so much thank you before we take the vote i want to thank my colleagues and staff for your hard work to get us here and of course also to the board of supervisors for their collaboration and partnership and their support in understanding what the priorities of this board are and the necessity to fund them and i do look forward to our joint budget meeting with them on tuesday

108at 3 p.m at the government center and with that i will go oh miss mclaughlin i apologize she just put it no that's okay um before you take the vote i did want to raise um dr brabrand my concerns again about how the proposed budget is suggesting that we spend 32 million dollars on three days of professional development and as you know that's the probably one of the biggest pieces of the budget that gives me pause because i can think of just so many things that we need to do and one of them that i've certainly raised a number of times is middle school start times you know our employees who've had frozen pay for many years throughout the recession and so i just want to better understand what your thinking is because by voting

109yes for this vote well i want to absolutely support your commitment and dedication to raises for our employees i i don't feel informed enough at this time to affirmatively say yes i'm going to vote for this while that 32 million line item is there so i was wondering if you could just speak a little bit more about how you view that line item well i do think you know we have multiple steps to our budget process the the advertised excuse me my proposed tonight the advertised and then the approved we're gonna have a couple more months to really uh dive into this a little bit more i know some board members have said uh wow that's three additional days of professional development though professional development has been a priority i think for our employees and

110our board members i did share on a slide when we had our budget presentation a couple of weeks weeks ago a couple things i was wanting to look at a little bit more too just from stakeholder feedback elementary planning time uh there was some concern about her early childhood and then board members in fact brought some other things up and and again i think when we get to this next motion it really will maybe help um and i don't want to read it because i don't want to take away other board members motion but i this is not the final product i think there there can there will like there will be changes to this budget between now and may and we need to work through those proactively but we don't really know the state

111budget yet as you may know the senate and house general assembly just pass radically different budgets that will mean different things for our budget as it moves forward so by april we'll really have uh we'll have the solid foundation from the state that we need we'll be a lot closer along on the county side and i think we'll be able to put some of the final pieces together but i've heard that concern about that 32 million from you and some others and we'll be looking at that along with a couple of other things uh at the next stage of our budget uh development okay um i really appreciate that and i'm certainly not trying to put you on the spot um the other thing is that it's i've heard that the county has indicated that

112they may increase the raises for their employees even more than was initially considered and i want to know if you had heard anything about that no i i have not heard anything about that at this point i have not i did hear that the county did do a salary scale extension for an additional step and that is something that i know board members again i'm not trying to get ahead of the board but i think there's another follow-on motion coming that talks about the salary extension for me to look at that and i am working with our team to cost that out and then see where we are with all these other priorities but i did see that as an addition in the county budget uh and i also know that it's something the board

113is now asking me to look at as well so just to make sure i'm i'm not misunderstanding where you're coming from it from your perspective this is our best thinking to date you are wanting to work in partnership with the board and things like the 32 million dollar line item and the three additional professional development days as we start to look at all of these competing needs including what will come up in the follow-on motion you are willing to remain open-minded as we really examine our most mission critical needs including what we do with employee compensation which i think i've heard from you and my colleagues is one of our most important priorities i absolutely remain open-minded and i'm committed to partnering with you this is my uh you know maybe of all the budgets

114for me the most special budget it's my last budget uh working with you all and i was so excited to see the county executive fully fund his request and now we just need to get it to that uh finish line in may so there's still a lot of work to do i'm excited but we do need to see how the county process goes we need to see where the state lands with its budget and uh i'm i'm hopeful i'm very hopeful that we'll get to a good place we'll make a few tweaks here and there the board has given me some additional i think the board's about to give me some additional priorities uh and then i'll take those priorities along with what i put in my own budget to get us to the finish

115line together great thank you so madam chair my colleagues i i apologize for extending the dialogue but this was really important to me i want to join you all in in a really strong solid vote of support for the proposed budget most importantly i want to make sure that we communicate to the public and to the board of supervisors that our school division has had tremendous unmet need over the years and for the county executive to be recommending um that we receive these funds and for our budget that lays out the need for these funds i do support that at macro level the details within it and a 32 million dollar line is a pretty big one as long as hopefully you understand that as we work through this until our final budget vote in

116may um i you know we'll continue to have those questions to ask and desires to consider as we reshape the budget um but i i will join you all tonight in in voting for it okay i'm going to go ahead and call for the vote the motion is before us on the screen all those in favor and that vote is unanimous with mrna kofax away thank you all right and i will now call on miss tolin for a follow-on motion okay i moved to direct the superintendent to bring an updated plan to the april 12 2022 budget work session to address the following topics they're in alphabetical order these topics were gathered from the february 8 2022 budget work session adult and community education resources assistant principal staffing standards implementation of calm spaces sensory rooms

117early childhood assessment and testing staffing environmental issues jet or joint environmental task force get to green and safe routes to school family liaison staffing hr recruiting and retention strategies library staffing middle school start times novice teacher support including the reinstatement of the special education teacher mentors one step salary scale extension professional development planning time for elementary schools school board resources telehealth services for students mental health translation services and transportation compensation is there a second second by ms corbett sanders ms tolen would you like to speak to this motion just very briefly i am happy to make this motion as it encompasses the additional needs our board members and our public has brought to our attention through our budget public hearings our visits to the schools pta and community meetings and this will allow us some

118additional time for staff to look at all of these items prioritize them and strategically take a look at any budget modifications we should discuss further i appreciate dr brabrand's willingness to provide us additional information and planning on this list of topics this motion will set us up nicely for upcoming budget discussions thank you ms corbett sanders would you like to speak yes thank you as i mentioned in my earlier remarks this is really an iterative process budgeting is an iterative process because as we progress through the year and recognizing that the school system is a going concern that we have to constantly keep our ear to the ground and have that dialogue amongst each other the superintendent and this board in its adoption tonight essentially is required under the state code to provide a needs-based

119budget the needs-based budget that was presented by the superintendent and just adopted as a advertised budget by this board is the first step in the process of having the iterative process of discussion extended with our colleagues at this county level in the form of our discussions regarding the county's budgeting process the county has not adopted their budget yet we do know that there is a recognition by the county that they will need to address property taxes in before they adopt their final budget so there are a lot of unknowns at the same time there are a lot of knowns by this board and the community of how we could continuously improve and strengthen this school system so this list actually reflects the recognition of how we continuously strengthen the system and the approach that we're

120taking is a very deliberative approach that allows us to continuously refine our budgeting process and our budget itself before we adopt the final budget in may and so i appreciate miss mclaughlin your questions earlier because that is actually a great example of how that refinement process works so thank you and i hope all of my colleagues will support this follow-on motion thank you dr anderson thank you i will be very glad to support this follow-on motion as we know the resources are finite but needs are infinite and we must be able to have conversations that are productive i i'm not i don't look forward to past practices with this jockeying for this is more important than that one but that means that the burden really falls very heavily to you dr brabrand and your team

121because i think we are all seeking those strategic recommendations that you're going to share with us in the coming weeks to help evaluate how do we spend the limited dollars that we have because each of these is important but not each of them may be as urgent and so those discussions i'm really looking forward um to seeing how you help us prioritize as the chief operating operator of these of the system so if you want to share a few words please do i'll simply just say this there's no way we're going to be able to fund everything in this motion but what i can do is bring you a plan of what i think the key priorities are what might end up being in a sense above the line that we have revenue to pay

122for and what may still be below the line and we can even talk about whoa are there trade-offs that the board would want to look at but um you know we talked a little bit about that at the work session we have a month and a half and we'll be in a much better place to really know what we have available to us from both the state and local but no we're not going to be able i will say that clearly now every one of these things fully costed out is far more money than what we're going to have available and we will be strategic in doing this and do it in alignment with our strategic plan goals that we were talking about just earlier tonight so thank you for that question thank you not

123to continue to belabor the point but i know you will um have those recommendations be fully informed by data that you will share with all of us for those discussions yes the only thing i would the only tweak i would make from just something you said as you said a few weeks i i'm not going to have that in the next week or two to be honest it's going to be closer to that april work session i promise it won't be last minute at the work session um but uh i i think the work session's april 12th so i think the very first week of april i'm really going to be focused on trying to have that all finalized for you so we're going to use the rule the month of march here to really

124do some extra work and try to come up with those priorities for the board thank you i appreciate that clarification it's still just a few weeks away because february is practically over so thank you and that's it for me it's cohen thank you so much and i just want to say thank you to miss corbett sanders and miss tolen for figuring out how to herd cats which i think has been your effort this entire budget cycle to get all of us in in the same place as you can see from this list we're all very passionate about so many things and we're lucky enough to have relationships in the community where we get to learn about these things and i think what all of us feared is that as we tried to move the budget

125cycle up so that we had more input into it i think there were a lot of us who worried that we didn't want to cut out the voices of the community who see may as when we passed the budget and so start having these conversations in february and we didn't want to be in a point where we're like oh sorry sorry it's too late to have those conversations so i'm just so grateful for this approach i think it's perfect i really appreciate it i'm so grateful to ms burton and miss wagington and their team who answer 5 million questions for those of you at home you may not know that they not only answer questions and get answers on budgetary items from all 12 of us multiple ones sometimes at like 3 o'clock in the

126morning when we have a moment to think about elementary childhood assessment testing and staffing but also from boards of supervisors they work to get with other departments to try to help answer some of those because they're not just necessarily a money answer sometimes they're much more programmatic so i i mean it's no small feat and so thank you for helping us get the information we need to be able to have these conversations um dr bramer and i think what you said is key i think even just in having some conversations this morning with dr boyd about the ecat staffing you know i think there are opportunities where we may be able to do some band-aids and also have conversations that i think are very reasonable about are some of these things that we're seeing just

127bubbles after covid or are they long-range things and i'm grateful for your insight to say hold on a second we don't want to make a long-term fix for something that may just be a short-term problem but it doesn't mean we can't we have to still address that short-term problem so i do appreciate your flexibility in hearing us certainly i i know you know that i i've been pushing for us to extend the salary skill so i was very happy to see the board of supervisors looking to do that i hope that that is something that will be a no-brainer for all of us in the in the world of limited resources and i do i really appreciate what ms mclaughlin said because i just want to echo i think on the other side too i

128think there are some of us who feel very much like we can't support a budget unless it supports some of these targeted things that are so important so i i really appreciate you bringing that up because you're right i mean this is a zero-sum game at the end of the day and what things have to take priority and it has been nice to hear in the work session i think even though we're 12 very different people from a lot of different places there is so much we have in common about what we are what we see as places where some strategic intervention could make a really big difference for our kids and for our staff so thank you again it's been oddly a very painless process to this point probably not for miss tollin and

129miss corbett sanders or miss bird nervous wiggington but for the rest of us onlookers it's been great and we look forward to the rest of the process and hopefully wrapping up a budget that we're awfully proud of at the end of all of this miss cuscamara yes thank you i too want to thank our colleagues for having a very focused conversation and focusing us on what i believe are a strategic plan and primarily student success so dr brabrand as you're looking at these additional follow-on motions it would be great i think as you bring what you believe is appropriate that it could be tied to our strategic plan and specifically to student success i know that a number of us have expressed concerns regarding learning loss and we heard some public comment tonight regarding what

130is our focus on that which i know uh being on this side of the diocese has been a significant part of our conversation so i'm hoping that as our com as our discussions go forward that we will focus on some of these uh things that we have set as priorities already i also would like to see dr brabrand as ms mclaughlin mentioned with respect to the objective professional development i know that these were the early stages but any additional information you can give us as to what that plan will look like we'll make it more feasible for us to understand why that 32 million or so is necessary um we do recognize that you're you know you're the you're our operational person and so we look to you for that guidance and so i really

131look forward to getting the rationale behind what these items are and what the investment would include and so i just wanted to clarify that and i look forward to our discussions going forward thank you thank you ms keis kamara before we take the vote um you know this is a very long list um dr bray brand so i i too will absolutely be looking towards you to help prioritize and align the needs of our students and this system with some of the things that are before us in this motion the motion is before us on the screen all those in favor votes unanimous with misterna kofax away today i will now thank you i will now call on miss cohen for a follow-on motion i moved to direct the superintendent to develop a letter on

132behalf of the school board to the board of supervisors asking the county executive to collaborate with the superintendent by convening a joint working group to discuss and provide recommendations for implementing a living wage for all fcps and county employees is there a second second seconded by mr freshmas cohen i won't um belabor it no pun intended that um we all have been having conversations and i know had amazing advocacy in particular from some of our ias about the fact that this their the starting salary here in fairfax county while the previous board did a great job of getting us in the right direction um 25 000 is not a living wage here so um with help from our colleague karen corbett sanders i think it's an excellent idea that we ought to work in unison

133with the county to ensure that there are no employees that work either for fairfax county or for fairfax county public schools that are not being paid a living wage so we want to work together to come together with a budget plan to get all of our employees there and keep our employees at a livable wage even as the times continue to change mr frisch um i think there's great interest among all parties that we address this issue the the county is certainly interested in making sure that its workers have a living wage as well you know this comes down to something very simple the idea that you should be able to afford to live in the area in which you work and we want that to be an option for everybody that works in fairfax

134county public schools and certainly our county counterparts as well so i won't belabor the point either and i do intend the pun but we'll leave it there thank you hey miss mclaughlin um i i do want to express my appreciation for our colleagues bringing this to us um one of the things i've always championed is that we really work with the county so that regardless of where employees sit on the aisle of working for schools or working for county government we are our one fairfax we are one fairfax family and so i really like this approach a lot i know our our deep commitment and concern that all employees are earning a livable wage but i want to do this in partnership with the board of supervisors and that we would have a holistic and

135in-depth review of this issue so really appreciate you bringing it to us in this manner and i'll support it thank you and with that miss corbett sanders would you like to speak yes i wanted to thank my colleagues for bringing this forward because it really is building on an approach that has worked very successfully in the past we know that when the county and schools work collaboratively together we come out with better solutions for all and this is modeled very similarly to the work that has been so instrumental on the joint environmental task force on skipt and others and so um by the two groups working together we know that we can have a shared understanding and clarification of terminology and expectations and i just think that this is a great way of doing things

136so thank you thank you and i think now we are ready to go ahead and take this vote the motions before us on the screen all those in favor and that motion is unanimous with miss dare not cofax away got through our budget excellent um and it is it is a chairs understanding that there are some requests by board members um to change previously taken votes are there any board members who would like to speak miss mclaughlin yes for my colleagues as you know earlier this evening we took votes on three motions from closed session uh the first one that had to do with authorizing legal counsel to file an amicus brief in the pending federal case as i had also shared with all of you that i have unanswered questions and i didn't feel

137comfortable at this time to vote yes for that unfortunately i thought we were voting already on the student discipline case and in 10 years i've never made this mistake before so with your indulgences i would like to ask for unanimous consent from the board that i would withdraw my yes vote and that it would be recorded as an abstention all right without objection the member's vote is withdrawn and with herbs uh abstention the motion was still adopted there any other school board members mrs mesh i'd like to modify my vote on the student expulsion um to be a an abstention rather than a vote in favor thank you okay and without objection that member's vote is also recorded thank you okay and agenda item six consent agenda and i'll turn it over to the vice

138chair thank you our adopted rules of parliamentary procedure robert's rules provide for a consent agenda listing several items for approval by of the board by a single motion many items have gone through board review and documentation has been provided to all board members and the public in advance items may be removed from the consent agenda at the request of any board member prior to the meeting the consent agenda items are on the screen is there any objection to approving the consent agenda hearing and seeing no objection the consent agenda is approved agenda item 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 the new business items are on the screen i will turn it back

139to miss detroit carson agenda item 8 board committee reports i'll call on miss cohen for governance committee update and then ms tolen for an audit committee report sorry miss cohen's got to get her stuff together so that she can give a government governance committee report um governance we met last week and i was so thankful to all my colleagues as always for showing up and really hanging in there we extended our meeting because we weren't able to meet in january so it was a long meeting so thank you all so much to mr freshmas mclaughlin and dr anderson for your time and your energy we also tackled some pretty weighty things first we tackled policy 2100.3 which is our wellness policy um and brought our policy into alignment with the new vdoe policy um that

140was um we'll be on bus on new business for our meeting in 310 and then should head to consent that said we are going to be tackling the second half of the wellness policy which will be our middle school recess in the coming months our next item was tracking of motions we worked with ms ester co our auditor general to incorporate a method for tracking board motions and follow-on motions the recommended changes to the governance manual will be on new business for 310 and on consent for 324. the next thing we tackled was draft social media policy we're working with occr and helen lloyd on this policy that would apply to all fcps employees using social media in their official capacities the policy was sent back to occr in legal for further revision and they

141will bring it back to the march governance meeting next we tackled policy 3280 which was a controversial issues policy we began the discussion on this policy and we'll continue to work with dr presidio and his team to further refine it and last but not least we got to see the final version of the trust policy a really new and important policy for our decision for our entire division and also certainly to this board so because it was such an important policy we decided to do something a little bit differently than we normally do and we're going to have a presentation to the board at our 310 regular business meeting so that everybody has an opportunity to see the policy ask any questions they want to and work it through and then it'll be scheduled as

142an action item and a future meeting after that thanks the audit committee met on february 16th and we discussed the following items the audit committee approved a proposed change to fy22 audit plan to amend the fy 22 oag audit plan to audit the external council engagement process the related expenditure and the related freedom of information act process and in order to do that we postponed the employee evaluation process audit to fy23 the oag presented on the results of the fy 22 quarter one continuous monitoring and the results of a business process audit from madison high school we also discussed the fy 21 business continuity plan performance audit report the auditor general presented the scope of work at the audit committee and in accordance with the code of virginia the results of this audit were not

143discussed in the public meeting the fy 22 community use audit results were posted to board docs and this topic is scheduled to be presented and discussed at the march audit committee meeting on march 16th thank you agenda item 9 board matters i call on miss corbett sanders yes madam chair i'll be very brief i want to thank everybody who came out to the mount vernon magisterial district town hall on the 11th or the 12th of february that was a great event where lots of over 200 people arrived at mount vernon high school it was so wonderful to have an in-person town hall where people were able to pose their questions and it was a great event i also want to do a shout out to the students of south county high school who on monday

144will be having a mock convention in which they will hear from potential candidates seeking the endorsement of to run for office and i am so grateful that congressman beyer has agreed to participate in their mock convention we also have had numerous conversations and work being done over the past couple of weeks on the budget which i am so appreciative of all of our colleagues for all of your contributions to this work and then supporting the advertised budget tonight so i wish everybody a great evening thank you thank you mr mesh thank you so much i don't want to go too long i do want to celebrate our student mental health working group that was invited to the student health advisory committee to the school board just over this past week completing a just about exactly

145on the anniversary of a year of their work meeting monthly and sometimes even weekly to put together proposals to discuss to share with staff and just put in a lot of hard work one to two representatives from every high school and they had the chance to showcase that at that meeting and dr boyd was a part of that conversation and one of their proposals which i believe has now been reflected was the telemental health support and their second was requesting review of some of the sel learning which i know will be an ongoing conversation so i'm very grateful to them and excited to see additional student involvement uh that brings about change uh the second thing uh yesterday we or tuesday oh no it was yesterday yesterday um such a long meeting we had a

146really healthy and powerful conversation uh as i advertised before a justice equity diversity and inclusion conversation around critical race theory i think most people were half asleep last time i said this so um i am saying it at this point but but really uh to just unpack and and and deconstruct some of the confusion uh and and misunderstanding around it um and there was some healthy disagreement and i think that that is a model for how nuance can help us have conversations but still see our collective humanity and come together for collective goals and seeing where we may align so that was really productive and ultimately encapsulated at the end of the session with the idea that education is liberation finally i'm really excited to be celebrating tomorrow the announcement of our new principal at

147bucknell elementary school i'm so looking forward to perhaps joining some of my colleagues in doing that but otherwise have a good night everybody thank you miss kisgamara followed by mr frisch thank you uh i want to start by uh chatting a little bit about uh the title one meeting where we met with uh parents regarding the public their public engagement policy which was a really good discussion as we broke into small groups and talked about how we can do a better job even though they had lots of glows dr brabrand there were also some some concerns that they raised and that information will will be passed on and i also had an opportunity to participate in a legislative priorities discussion with representative connolly as he celebrated black history month so i was pleased to participate

148in that i did want to just really brag on our students i have to say i had the pleasure of talking to about 90 of our students at kilmer middle school this week and um they were pretty amazing they i i said you know you have a school board member here and the buzzer will now go off what do you want to say and they wanted to talk about how the mass mandate came about how it was intertwined with the legislation and the governor and so we had this impromptu civic uh discussion which warmed my heart because that's just brings joy to my heart but the discussion of how they discussed the nuances of how different people felt there were a number of kids just when i asked how they felt about it they just

149put thumbs down we hate it but then they also explained why they knew it was necessary so i just want to say thank you so much to our kilmer middle school students who really showed that the fairfax effort education system is working so thank you guys so much it was such a pleasure to be there thank you very much i'm going to keep this short since our last meeting i've had conversations with nearly 20 principals and i'm looking forward to visiting some schools in the next two weeks we've got several on deck and just recently was grateful to attend a meeting of the local moms demand groups and talk about all the great things that our school division is doing to prevent gun violence and suicide prevention so looking forward to furthering those conversations as

150the months go on thank you very much i was very excited sorry i thought you just wanted us to go in order i was excited to get to join mr frisch in that discussion and just always nice to be able to have some conversations as ms keys gamora said about what's working and what isn't and and how we work to make it better which at the end of the day i think all 12 people who are up here and and who are online um that's our job that's our goal every single day when we wake up and go to bed thinking about is how do we make this um whole system better um i had the opportunity to go to the lake braddock principles cabinet and miss keys gamara you could not be more right

151holy guacamole i can't wait to see all these kids run in the world because we're going to be in really good shape they each had focused they've been working on a project of several different groups tackling different issues that they want us to do some more work on certainly conversations about mental health about workload about some complaints about schoology so mr sethe sorry to say you're on my list to call um and um you know just a lot about how the year's going but again just overwhelmingly and in the many schools i've been in in the past couple of weeks i just want to say again to our staff like thank you so much our kids are happy and i know we have work to do and i know they have work to do and

152they know they have work to do but but they are so happy to be there and happy to be back and i know it comes at a cost for our teachers and our principals i know you guys are killing yourselves to make this year magic but they see it and they feel it and thank you for that um i got the chance yesterday to go to saratoga elementary school i know a few of us in the magisterial redistricting inherited new schools so two years into this gig to get to get a brand new elementary school was pretty cool principal lotion her staff were amazing the region 3 team just knocked it out of the park thank you so much for having me and showing me your amazing school i cannot wait to come back and

153talk about happy fun kids it was so fun to get to be there as they came into school and kids were just like just so excited to be there on a wednesday morning who would have thunk it and the and also got to go to union mill yesterday which was great thank you so much to principal case for hosting me and really good conversations about the future there and last i just want to thank everybody who keeps coming out and saying such lovely things about our schools and our school system and our teachers and all of our educators and staff it matters so much more than you will ever know um the collective being able to to drown out some of the ugliness and some of the vitriol that we are seeing and that many

154of us all of us up here and every school board has had oh sure i'm the one who gets the timer all right thank you so much have a wonderful weekend thank you miss cohen um miss mclaughlin followed by miss tulan so i will first say that i'm i'm very pleased with our new approach to three minutes on board matters because um it's just it's a long night and and we you know we really do love um to share our happy news so that was my vote i did get that one right i will tell you um no i i first want to say you know dr brabrand look at the clock i hope your team is celebrating i mean you know we have a massive budget we just passed and there was a lot

155on on today's plate and for the public who maybe wasn't aware i mean we started a closed session at 3 30 today so this board has continued to work extremely hard and i really felt like tonight was the spirit of what we are all trying the 12 of us to do together along with our illustrious student and our superintendent um you know this is hard work and um all i can say you guys is the the grace that i feel you continue to give me and what i hope to continue to give to all of you um some days are better than others um but it you know it really um i i'm trying to get some liberty here i don't even know where my time limit is at this point um but but all

156i can all i can say you guys is um you know it is it's a love fest no uh it i i i know that our community could actually use um this this positive modeling that we're doing and um and i do hope our community understands the 12 of us can see things differently but the whole point is that we bring our our own diverse perspectives and as we show care and consideration to listen to one another i hope we model that for our community of you know really saying to everyone let's speak to the issues let's you know teddy geis the woodson graduate so proud of him tonight and his remarks and dr brayburn thank you for giving him a spotlight you know we really need to truly look at how we help our

157community heal and i just want you all know that that's my effort and my commitment today going forward and uh i hope our community will reach out and let us know if they're not feeling it we'll keep working hard at it but we really are here for everybody so thanks guys so it's custodian appreciation week i want to thank all of our custodians for the amazing work that they do to keep our schools running we truly couldn't do anything in our schools without their hard work i just want to do a quick congratulations to jeraneseville elementary school principal jamie gadley on being named the region one outstanding new principal and a few other amazing drainsville staff dana chen haycock elementary school assistant principal was named fcps's region 2 outstanding leader kathleen jacoby from herndon high

158school the band director was named the region 1 outstanding secondary teacher and sarah eichmeier 6th grade at chesterbrook elementary school was named the region 2 outstanding new elementary school teacher so with all of the nice comments that we've had already this evening i unfortunately have some bad news to bring earlier this week the police announced that detectives were investigating an anti-semitic incident that occurred on sunday in drainsville it was in the wolf trap area of vienna a community member found a sealed plastic bag containing an anti-semitic flyer on his property prior to police arrival the community member found an additional 70 to 80 flyers throughout the neighborhood detectives are working to determine the origin of these flyers and patrols have been increased as a precaution i've had conversational conversations with our jewish community and fully

159support our jewish families in a fight against this type of attack incidents such as this one remind me that we must always work together to ensure that our schools are a welcoming community for all students and all staff regardless of religion race our county our country of origin i strongly support the efforts of our police department to locate and identify the perpetrators of this and any other anti-semitic conduct in our county the police would like to hear from anyone who may have information about these flyers or may have home surveillance footage that may have captured the distribution of these fires so you know i just want to say i support you know all of our families in drainsville and you know hope i don't have to report on any incidents like this in the future

160thank you and have a nice evening miss maron followed by dr anderson and then miss eismar heiser yeah i'd really like to thank the individuals who came here tonight to share how public education has been successful for them or for their children or even grandchildren i didn't realize how much i personally needed that bit of fresh air you know i'm also working toward improvement and and doing more and more in fcps but i i strive to do it with trust stability and respect so i think this is what inspires people to join in and build towards what's needed and desired and so on that note i was really pumped that we had i hosted an outdoor learning community conversation to invite people to come and get inspired and share what they've been doing and we

161had representatives we had students fam family members parents staff community members whose children had long passed through the flores elementary school students i want to thank them for sharing about their nearby field trips that they take to frying pan farm park and work in partnership on gardening and all sorts of things also forest edge they're creating a new outdoor space and i'm really excited to learn more and help there my own school at wolf trap elementary school and then marshall road elementary as well has a lot of interest i'm having another conversation march 15th at 7 pm and it's on my website at fcps.edu marin and in my newsletter i did just return this morning or this afternoon from richmond where i went to connect with elected officials and thank delegates in particular and senators

162for passing the virginia literacy act which we are still eagerly awaiting to be signed by the governor and i actually was able to talk with a member of the governor's staff and personally express my interest in fcps being a partner with the governor in all that we're doing to benefit the well-being of those living in virginia and the economy so it's a very productive and quick trip and that's all i've got for now thank you okay thank you i do want to echo my thanks as many of my colleagues have done for the folks who came out this on this evening to share their experiences it's nice to have an opportunity to have a balanced perspective i want to go in and congratulate some of our students i want to start with natalie reyes a

163senior at justice high school naftali persevered through two days of tough wrestling competition in virginia beach last weekend to earn the title of state champion at the 195 weight class congratulations i was also able to tour the plum center with the ace committee members i am the liaison to that advisory committee and it was one of the most informative and exciting opportunities i've had to really learn about the program and also the adult esol program which works in the building i'm very very impressed by the work that is happening there so thank you to the staff who took the time to take the committee through the building and all its programs and to also get an opportunity to share with us what the needs are it was nice to see it firsthand thank you to

164those who came to my and off in person office hours last week i will be holding um virtual office hours on monday i do have a few spots left so please reach out to ms coffee if you are interested i've received a lot of questions from mason parents who are still waiting for the cip follow on from last year regarding grade six and middle schools it will be coming as i shared in the month in the month of march so please be looking out for additional information to come soon edison high school theater will be presenting the high school musical next week march 3rd through the 5th so if you have some time please stop by i'm looking forward to tomorrow going to visit the basal resources that will be that are on display at

165willow oaks i'd like to see it in paper i love the opportunity to review the resources for our k-6 program and so if the community if you would like to see them please be sure to make some plans because monday is going to be the last day that they'll be available there are saturday hours and also extended days extended time on monday as well and that's it for me all of you have a good night thank you since i spoke 6.5 minutes earlier and i only know this because my husband timed me and texted me and told me how long i spoke um i will not share much more tonight i just i was remiss and i forgot to specifically thank the special olympic council members and multi-sport athletes who came out tonight in sport

166in support so i thank my colleague ms cohen for mentioning that and also for the woodson high school um buddies sorry thank you best buddies program and assistant principal amanda burke dr liz noto from herndon high school and best buddy sponsor who came out and susan edgerton who's the president of poac nova who came out tonight i just really appreciate all that and i just want to thank my colleagues for your indulgence today for my 6.5 minute speech and for letting me share my son's personal story as a way to illustrate what i was trying to talk about so thank you for listening and i will stop there you can have all my time all right well you know me i'll be fast um i had some wonderful school visits this week to flores elementary

167with miss marin and to brookfield and kids really are learning and happy and it was it was just normal so i i worry saying that but it really was so it was wonderful and i have lots of visits scheduled for the next few weeks so i'm excited for that i had the opportunity to be a judge at the regional scholastic art exhibit at nova and it was super overwhelming i will be honest because the amount of talent was it was just it was a lot it was a lot i needed some help so thank you to that wonderful art teacher who who said just go at it and and and you know whichever jumps out at you first that inspires you it really was difficult but i had a wonderful time doing that i do

168have a joint budget town hall with supervisor kathy smith on march 3rd at 7 pm the details are in my newsletter please go ahead and send any questions our way and i look forward to connecting with constituents i also just want to say thank you to volunteer fairfax they delivered 7 000 handcrafted valentine's cards from the fairfax county community to teachers and staff at 42 title one schools and this handoff did take place at brookfield elementary so that was incredible um i will say good night to all of you and this meeting is adjourned at 1008 tonight you