FCPS School Board Regular Meeting 6-24-21

001[Music] so [Music] so [Music] board members we are ready to begin good evening studio we are ready to start this june 24 2021 regular meeting of the fairfax county school board will now come to order i will call roll miss cohen here miss corbett sanders miss darina colfax good evening mr frisch hello miss keys gamara good evening miss marin good evening miss omaesh hello miss picarski good evening miss eisema heiser hello miss tolin good evening mr onobudo hi everyone so good to have you here miss merritt i'm sorry miss mclaughlin will not be with us this evening and we have miss corbett sanders coming right in please rise as our in-person student representative nathan anabudo leads us in the pledge of allegiance and moment of silence i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united

002states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you please be seated in order to comply with sections 2.2-3712-d of the code of virginia it is necessary for the board to certify that since the fairfax county school board convened a closed meeting on june 24 2021 and to the best of each member's knowledge on the public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed session the closed meeting were heard discussed or considered by the board during the closed meeting thank you miss corbett sanders and seconded by mr frisch was that your hand thank you all in favor miss corbett sanders mr frisch miss omeg miss cohen

003miss mccarskey miss tolin miss marin miss seismo heiser missouri not cofax and myself i do not see the screen for miss keys gemara i am abstaining from that vote thank you i was just looking for the screen so i can get to that thank you so much um so it goes against there are none and abstaining ms keys gamara if you would like to review a copy of the agenda and any agenda item 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 board slash board docs tonight's meeting is being broadcast on channel 99 and live streamed on the website at fcps.edu tv slash ch9 is the portion of the meeting where the board will confirm any action

004regarding issues that were discussed in the closed meeting those issues may include action taken regarding student discipline disciplinary matters board members have discussed each individual case and at this time will make several motions to confirm the recommended action i call on miss corbett sanders for a motion i apologize madam chair i move to excuse from attendance at school certain students identified in closed meeting pursuant to virginia code section 22.1 through 254 b1 thank you is there a second ms seismoheiser thank you all in favor we have miss krubert sanders mr frisch miso maish miss picarsky miss tolin miss seismo heiser ms darnoch kofax all of those opposed there are none those abstaining miss marin miss cohen miss um kisgamara i need a voice vote abstain thank you and i'm not sure if i recorded a

005vote for myself i didn't think i did i will be in the group voting in favor of the motion so the motion carries and i'll call on miss cohen for a motion i move that the chairman of the school board be authorized to execute on behalf of the board the contract for the assistant superintendent region four as discussed in closed meeting is there a second miss mccarski thank you all in favor we have miss crorbert sanders mr frisch miss cohen miss picarski miss tolin miss marin miss is my heiser mr koufax and myself i'd like a voice vote from miss keysgamara abstain thank you and there are there any who are opposing miss omega the motion carries now i call on dr brabrand for the introduction thank you chair thank you chairman anderson it really

006is my pleasure and honor tonight to share with the fairfax county public schools community and with the school board our new assistant superintendent for region 4 penny gross penny has over 20 years of educational experience at all three levels serving as an elementary and middle school teacher as well as an assistant principal and principal at the middle and high school level she's taught in multiple school systems including fairfax county public schools to include the district of columbia and houston texas she recently successfully completed her third year as executive principal in region two she has invested deeply and deeply knows her schools she stresses the importance of knowing school data and building relationships penny's fluent in spanish and is no stranger to region four she began her career at ravensworth elementary as a spanish immersion teacher

007she also recently served in region 4 as the interim principal at lake braddock secondary school and she served earlier in her career as a sub-school principal at robinson secondary school penny is a military spouse who understands the challenges presented for our military connected youth families many of whom live in region four penny has worked to be a true leader in our schools and in our system she's been able to increase graduation rates and sol scores at every school that she's worked in she's been a great mentor and coach to principals she's a student focused leader who believes that every child can reach their fullest potential and receive through equity and access the highest quality education she's a true champion for students and it is my pleasure to welcome her as champion and region assistant superintendent

008for region for miss penny gross thank you very much dr ray brand [Music] miss gross before you begin i would like to give an opportunity for the school board members who'd like to speak to your appointment and opportunity to do that mr fresh go ahead thank you madam chair um i'm excited for you i'm sad for region 2. i'm excited for region uh four as well um i have had the opportunity to work very closely with you in my first 18 months on this board and i have always found you to be conscientious smart willing to think outside the box and i think that those skills will come in very handy in your new position and uh your work particularly with the shrevewood community i think your work around there and other places that we've

009worked together has meant a lot especially to the families there so i know dr zuluaga is going to miss you a great deal and we certainly will in in region 2 but i think our friends in region 4 are getting someone special thank you thank you very much mr fresh miss cohen i'm glad to follow mr frisch because he did threaten to tank your [Laughter] ascension because he wanted to save you for region two so um you come with such glowing glowing reviews from everyone who's had the opportunity to work with you rachel and i were fortunate enough to get to have you as our children's interim principal and so we know what you were able to do in such a short time at lake braddock and when you left you just left this huge

010sea of fans and cheerleaders and people who thought you were outstanding and who actually you know begged for you to stay so we're very excited to get to work with you and wish you all the best and we're excited to be on the journey with you so welcome thank you miss cohen miss tolin congratulations i'm so excited for you but i must admit when i opened up all that paperwork and started to read it i was like what you know i have schools in drainsville in three different regions but not region four and so i'm just really bummed that i won't be able to work with you quite as regularly but have certainly valued the time that we've had together with region 2. and i just want to say that the thing that has really

011impressed me is the depth of caring that you have for the principals and for the students and and just the conversations that i've had with principals where they have told me about how you have just really helped them in working with students and families to answer their questions and you know around the boundary change to be you know really working with families that were impacted and making the best decisions for them and and helping them through you know the decision time frame so i really appreciate it i will miss you but we'll see you around congratulations thank you miss stolen miss eisenheiser welcome home to region four um i know i'm an at-large member but as a long-time 20-year region for resident and region 4 parent i'm so excited to have you back and i

012remember when you came as an interim to lake braddock and my children were there and you came into a tough situation and within two months everybody loved you and loved the school i'm like how did she do that in two months it was very impressive and there was a lot of people who really wanted you to stay after you're being an interim and that speaks very highly to what you're able to do in a very short time in a tough situation so so kudos to you and having gotten to know you a little bit in the last year and a half and worked with you the thing that i think is going to be such a um such a great thing about you and such an asset to region 4 is you're really your authentic

013leadership style right you really care you're authentic you're honest you're direct and you coach people to be better than they thought they could be themselves right and at the same time you you know having done a town hall with you and watching you interact with the community it was you brought such an honesty and an understanding you know in a very understated but very authentic way which i think really um you know in a tough year brought people's guards down and made them feel like they had somebody they could rely on and who cared and so i'm thrilled to have you you know in region 4 as my child's region superintendent and i know you're going to do great things and i'm sorry fabio um not really but i'm sorry fabio for taking her from

014region 2 but i am i am thrilled and and i'm looking forward to partnering with you as you move into your new role congratulations thank you miss seismohizer miss mccarski thank you ms gross i just wanted to publicly congratulate you and in the sally district i have the pleasure of not working with just one two but actually three region assisted superintendents and uh they are all wonderful so i'm looking forward to our collaboration and our work as you get started um for and and my colleagues have shared such wonderful wonderful things about you that i cannot wait to start thank you thank you seeing that there are no other miss keys i'm sorry ms corbett sanders yes thank you and penny welcome we are so thrilled that you're joining the region 4 team it has

015been a great pleasure to watch you from afar and admire the amazing work that you have done in so many different ways in our county you are the epitome of when there is a job to be done you have stepped up and done it and it is greatly appreciated you have gone to some of our most challenging situations and been been able to calm the waters and not only calm the waters but also bring people with you to um to become a better place for students because your focus is always students so as student centered and that is greatly appreciated and i know that this process has been very difficult because we have been blessed here in fairfax county with the amazing leaders that have stepped up and applied for this job and so it

016wasn't one that was lightly given but it was one that took a look at who was there and who would be the right leader for the right time and we are convinced that you are the right leader for the right time in region four you remind me a little bit of something my mother used to or my grandmother used to say about the right leader for the right time when it was a woman leader is a steel magnolia and that is somebody who has the ability to bring people together to have that soft touch but also to have that firmness of leadership and vision and we are just so looking forward to seeing you um do this in region four so welcome thank you miss kwabit sanders ms dennis colfax thank you and um penny

017i i have not had the opportunity to work with you in my region but your reputation is stellar uh your hard work your attention to detail your student-centered focus that is known throughout the district and so this is a well-deserved promotion and and i am honored to support this and congratulations i look forward to working with you as part of the rest team thank you ms dana colfax seeing that there are no other board members to speak i will take my turn um dr zuluwaga i'm very sorry for you i know how very much you will miss miss gross's work obviously you've done a lot of work in region two serving in many many schools in mason district and i thank you so much for that service i thank you for the last year and

018a half that i've had the opportunity to really work with you very closely over some very difficult things and you were lucky that you had a chance to engage in two boundary issues so that's good on you uh but i do want to say thank you for your professionalism thank you for your knowledge thank you for your the fervor and dedication that you bring to this work it is not at all unusual for me to get a late night text from miss gross to inform me of something that is happening just to be sure that we are kept aware of uh that i am kept aware of what is happening in mason district so i thank you for all of that hard work and that i know you will bring gladly accepted by the folks

019of region four so again congratulations the floor is now yours all right well good evening everyone thank you for the very kind comments i really appreciate that thank you dr brabrand dr ivey for your confidence i am humbled and honored to be selected as the next assistant superintendent for region four while i have been a teacher as dr brandt mentioned in los angeles in houston and in d.c public schools fcps is my home and it is where i have dedicated my career i did leave twice once to pursue life in new york city which was short-lived and the other to accompany my marine corps husband to his assigned duty station in great lakes illinois i am a proud graduate of fcps and have been a resident of region 4 for the last 8 years i'm

020excited to get to know all of the schools and communities in region 4 and to embrace the important work that we have ahead of us in the years to come i know i would not be here tonight if not for those who have mentored coached and pushed me along my journey about this time 25 years ago i was teaching spanish in dc public schools and waiting tables at the outback steakhouse on the weekend and one of my customers on an early june morning was my middle school spanish teacher and she recruited me to come home to fairfax county and teach here and so i took her advice and began as a first grade spanish immersion teacher at ravensworth elementary i've had the best mentors and colleagues in fcps some of whom have retired and others

021are in this room i am grateful to have had them supporting me guiding me and pushing me to be better today than i was yesterday finally i like so many others who lost loved ones during the pandemic lost my father last year at a time when gatherings were restricted to 10 people i didn't have the ability to publicly honor him as i wanted so i'm taking that moment now my dad was my greatest champion and taught me the ability to recognize that hard work is often disguised i'm sorry that opportunity is often disguised as hard work and always requires you to change and grow as a result i am energized by the opportunity that lies ahead and know that it will entail hard but rewarding work i know there is much to do to ensure

022that we close achievement and belonging gaps that we eliminate inequities that we provide access and opportunity to rigor for all of our students in a welcoming and inclusive environment where they can be empowered and equipped with the skills to make a difference in the world around them i look forward to partnering with our principals our school and central based leaders with our families and students with our leadership team and with you our school board thank you [Applause] i think dr zulu guy just cried a little bit so back to the search for you sir i will now hand the gavel to ms pikarski i call on dr anderson for a resolution i am so glad um to be able to provide this resolution whereas nathan anabudo as has enthusiastically served as the 50th student representative

023to the fairfax county school board his tenure for the 2021 school year has been an extremely challenging year due to the coveted pandemic and whereas nathan has never wavered in his commitment to the students of fcps and his duties as the student representative he attended meetings and special functions and contributed helpful observations as well as the student perspective to discussions on issues before the board and whereas nathan has advocated for closing the economic achievement gaps and brought to light the struggles of students dealing with mental health issues he was also an advocate for the sy 2020 2021 grading policy change for middle and high school courses to ensure students were not penalized by the challenges brought by the pandemic learning and whereas at south county high school nathan maintained academic excellence while enrolled in rigorous

024advanced placement classes and also found time to compete in varsity indoor and outdoor track and whereas during his time in fcps he was part of the national honor society national english honor society and was president of the south county national latin honors society nathan and his quiz bowl teammates represented south county on the tv show it's academic and was also the recipient of the 2020-2021 south county service learning award now therefore be it resolved that the fairfax county school board acknowledges with deepest gratitude the service of student representative to the school board nathan anubudo during the 2020-2021 school year expresses its sincere appreciation for his contributions and extends its best wishes to him as he continues his education at the university of virginia i so move and i will second this resolution dr anderson would

025you like to speak to this try and stop me i would absolutely love to nathan you are tremendous you're a tremendous student leader you're a trend tremendous person your heart comes through every single time you speak there is not one meeting that we've had although you have been virtual all of them until today that the community did not respond to your words the words leader empathetic heartfelt this kid is going somewhere these are the things that i've read on twitter about your comments and you have a fan and my son in my house for some reason i don't know how but he was just as excited as i was that you were going to participate in person this evening and he watches you and i know you know that because every moment that you have

026presented and advocated for students you have been a model for all of our students i am so proud of you and i'm not your mom but i i would be happy to be but i am so proud of you and i was glad to be able to be the first one to leak the news to the community about your acceptance to um to college i'm so excited to be able to present you with this resolution this evening it is very well deserved nathan i will speak to my second ditto to everything dr anderson said this has been such an incredibly difficult year and to just have you here today so that we can say goodbye and good luck at the same time i know is not is not the way any of us would have

027hoped this year to go you have been an incredible student leader truly incredible and for many reasons not just because of your advocacy and your connection to students and your desire and passion to make things better for others but also the way you engaged in that work and that matters um you pushed us you you inspired us to do better and be better for you and that kindness the way you did that the way you interact with others not in a way where you put them down not in a way where you are hurtful and assume negative intentions but truly in a way where you inspire people to be better and don't ever lose that i know there are people who sometimes mistake kindness for not being strong and that is so far from the

028truth i'm so excited for you please stay in touch please let us know all the wonderful things you continue to do and i just like dr anderson i am so proud of you and the places you are going thank you for your voice this year i will open it up to speak everybody shall i go down the line okay miss corbin sanders please go nathan i think it's appropriate since you're my constituent that i get to speak first of the many however i want to talk a little bit about how special you are not only as an individual and how you've worked with each and every one of us but also because you have that unique combination of iq and eq and your emotional intelligence coupled with your very high intellectual intelligence makes you a

029powerful leader and someone who inspires and also has empathy and you because of that combination of these characteristics what it makes you so important to our students because they have selected you to be their voice and you have been an incredibly powerful voice and what we implore you to do nathan is go down to charlottesville use that voice on the lawn and make sure that um uva is a better place because you're there and then lastly don't forget that you have to come back to fairfax because home is where your heart is but home is also where you need to contribute back because you've contributed in incredible ways this year but i know that you'll be contributing even more in the future so we're proud of you we love you and just remember that you

030are a core part of mount vernon's history mr fresh thank you um i think the full board got to meet you at the lewis high school dedication and the first thing i heard several colleagues say was he's so tall and if anybody's wondering just look at the table he's taller sitting than most of us are standing i have been watching your servant leadership this past year and very much appreciate the example you've set of doing this for the right reasons not for the clout not for the the adulation of your peers but for service to them and being of service to them and caring their voices i've heard you say in meetings um that you've carried perspectives that are not your own to this board that says a lot about the type of leader you

031are and uh you know i speaking for myself i have very high hopes for you um and uh we will be watching um and uh you know it's that time of the year when a lot of older people talk to uh high school seniors and graduates and ask them probing questions about where they're going what they're doing what they're gonna do with the rest of their lives i hope you enjoy the summer you certainly deserve it thanks miss omesh hey nathan i totally could have texted this to you um but on this occasion to show off about you a little bit and all that you've been able to do for those who don't know nathan did sustain the student congress of student leaders across the county that continued to influence policy and of course i

032was such a pleasure being able to have you as my co-host on fairfax every other week and really having seeing your commitment to being able to offer the community information in a digestible way in a way that centers you know the various experiences of our community members and trying to help people understand even on these tough topics that we were discussing as a board and of course you know seeing your advocacy and even your reflections throughout some of our decisions whether that was tj and trying to really find that solution that's equitable and also you know fair and academically rigorous etc um and and you know all the behind the scenes conversations there um whether that was your passion out behind the scenes so this is not not something that was even necessarily expected of

033you as a student representative right but when it came to mental health for kids and pushing that or the grading policy and having all kinds of opinions about that right and really meeting with staff meeting with board members calling to try to whip those votes and rally the support i really commend you for for making the fullest of that position especially in a tough time when you knew the student you know voice and what it was uh saying um and then finally um [Music] with all these accomplishments still having the humility where you were you know were you gonna get in the uva were you not but of course you were and we're so proud of you and looking forward to the many many uh successful uh ways that you know you you prove yourself

034wrong and all your doubts um because i'm confident that we're gonna you know only hear great things and when you're ready to talk about law school let me know um but but just really uh really really inspired by you um as much as you know you you say nice things about us sometimes and all but truly truly at the end of the day you're you've been my inspiration um and i'm so grateful to have had the honor and privilege of working with you for the past year miss cohen nathan your head's not going to be able to fit through the door by the time we're done you know ruth bader ginsburg said you can disagree without being disagreeable and i think about you so much when i think of that quote because there are so

035many times as stella said when you pushed and you pushed us and you were told no um and and you came back and said okay well how about we try it this way okay well how about we try it this way and you stayed after us and you stayed after us in a year where um it was hard to do that because not only was it really hard to be a student and be this voice people saw you i think more than ever in this role of of representing them and being the only person up here whose voice in the room um understood on a daily basis you know what they were personally going through and you took that responsibility to heart and i saw it it was a heavy mantle for you sometimes and

036definitely took you out of your comfort zone and but in the end i hope that you feel a real sense of satisfaction of what you were able to accomplish and how you brought the student voice into every single thing that we did you really were our heart there's no question we are all so proud of you you know you will forever have my heart for your comments um in support of our lgbtqia students um some of us up here had the very great pleasure of getting to see you walk across the stage and take your first steps on your next journey we cannot wait to see what you do next but i hope that you will always know that we are here for you and we truly are your biggest fans so whenever you need

037us i hope you will pick up the phone or text and and we'll be here for you thank you for everything let's tell one nathan thank you so much for your generosity of spirit and time i mean as you've heard from other people among all of the things that you did this year i was always um found it so remarkable that anytime i asked for help or assistance you always gave it um and thank you so much for inspiring all of us to really think about our students and the student perspectives throughout this very difficult year that we had together i cannot again tell you how much i appreciate the time that you spent with me to help raise up student voices student leaders and to inspire students to talk and to just share and

038to achieve across drainsville um you know we met with brought together students from langley mclean and herndon and had amazing conversations and a lot of that is just it's due to your openness and willingness to to talk with people so the best of luck to you keep in touch we want to hear what you're up to and i know it'll be great things good luck hey hey nathan um i think my only wish is that i could have worked more with you one one-on-one this year but i tried to imagine what you were going through and all the expectations you were living up to that you put on yourself and perhaps others put on you and so i just tried to honor that you're living through the pandemic and being an extraordinary student and community

039member but um you have so much potential to do work and make the difference and you'll always be limited by time and energy so i hope that that's a lesson for you to take forward because there's going to be a lot that you're going to want to do and you are one very talented person but figuring out what you can do best will be how you leave your mark on this on this world thank you for helping elevate the needs about homework and course load um i really you know heard you and elevated that up too and we all got behind you and you did it and that's what advocacy is it's knowing when to be the wind in the sales of the people making the decisions but to not back down either i was

040just delighted to witness to be a witness to your strong and respectful nature and your constant input about how to improve things for your peers and you embody the meaning of poise and i believe you will continue carrying yourself with such poise as you go forward so feel free to brag to us because we're always going to cheer you on and thank you for all of your hard work besides my heiser okay well nathan i didn't really know where to start with all the things that we've talked about this year and the conversations we've had and i actually even thought about bringing you a gift that would you know sort of symbolize the the the work that we've done together and the only thing i could think of was a pie and i decided i

041wasn't going to do that to you on your one and only time sitting at the diet so i didn't bring you a pie and for those who don't know my favorite moment of this year other than watching my son walk across the stage was getting pied in the face by nathan onomuto so alongside dr bray brand so um your congratulations on not getting a pie today um i don't even know where to start with with you nathan it has been beyond my honor to partner with you on working on issues for our seniors and um bringing with you be standing behind you and bringing the voice of the student experience and especially the virtual student experience in secondary school but really bringing that voice forward and partnering with you to talk about the the need

042to center that voice and and what i will say nathan in in working with you is that i i am so impressed at how you have taught the people around you you have this gentle soul coupled with this incredible wisdom and this kind way of delivering it that you make people who don't even know that they need to be better or want to be better and then you show them the path on how to do it and then you say hey but if you don't do it i still love you anyway right that's an incredible skill to be able to motivate people to be better show them how to do it and still love them along that journey and you have that in spades right and and you are humble you are so well spoken

043you're interested in everything and you know about everything but in a very humble way and you you learn just by listening almost through osmosis of how to represent others by listening and watching their experience and then somehow being able to express it in a way that you you convinced others who've never experienced it why it's so important to center and take care of that and that is a skill i don't even know how you were born with so um i could talk for an hour about you but i won't and i know stella's like please shut up all right so um i will just say that i will just share with two things one my favorite moment with you this year was when you and i were in a meeting with a group of students

044and there was one set of students who were very frustrated with the other set of students and we sat and i listened to most of this meeting and i was so impressed at you and your colleagues at how open you were to listening to somebody else talk to you about why they were disappointed and then be able to openly and honestly authentically speak your your truth and hear their truth and find a common truth and that is something i was in awe going wow i just learned how to to be in a meeting but that is something that the adults in this world could learn so much from the students like you and the young adults like you so nathan thank you for teaching me how to be a better person thank you for that

045first conversation last july when i welcomed you to the board we talked for an hour and for all the conversations about students since then and thank you very much for that pie in my face um and just tell me in 2040 or anytime after that if i'm still alive when and where i can vote for you for president because that's where i think you'll go thank you and we'll miss you please keep in touch they're not co-fought all right i'm sitting right next to you and the mom and me just has to say i got to give you a hug um all of my colleagues have had so many amazing things about you about your ability to be wise to to have that gift to be wise beyond your year but you also as as

046they've said are humble about it are very sharing um of your talents and your hard work and dedication so know that as i can't even look at you know that as as your impact will be still felt here at fcps as you grow at uva and you make new friends and your professors see what an amazing student we have given them and so we just wish you well on your journey and um thank you for being that that bright light during the year for all of us you're welcome excuse gemara thank you first of all nathan i'm sorry i can't be there today but i want you to know that um i just sat here and tried to think of what is it you know you meet somebody and you want to go what is

047it about their person there's something very special about you and the words that came to me were first of all listening no matter what we had to go through no matter how hard it was you spent time not only listening to us but encouraging us to listen and listen and bringing what you heard by way of listening up from students and for that i really want to thank you um at your core i think that you exemplify excellence and great care so i was googling trying to think of you know what was there some great quote and john lewis came up he was described as someone who did exemplified love in action and i thought ah that's it that is nathan and so i thank you for your great example of leadership i happen to

048believe the greatest leadership comes from those who focus on serving others and you truly have given us a great example of that i know you've heard many um about we've all heard about your accolades today and those are all well deserved but i want to say i just admire your heart and i thank you for that i will now call for the vote all those in favor miss corbett sanders mr frisch miss o'mesh miss cohen dr anderson miss tolin miss maron miss sizemore heiser miss darinat kofax uh believe miss key please bring that up miss keys gemara and myself that is unanimous congratulations nathan nathan just on behalf of the board just a very small token that i'd like to present you with no or maybe you should go on this side so you could

049be closest to nathan thank you mr fresh it has to be a selfie he's a high schooler oh my we're going into territories unknown to me and i'll call him miss corbin sanders for the recognition now we we are at the pta recognition item 2.07 now i just was enjoying our tribute to mr onobudo june marks the 100th anniversary of the virginia parent teacher association today's pta is a network of millions of families students teachers administrators and business and community leaders devoted to the educational success of children and the promotion of family engagement in schools an organization that is a powerful voice for all children a relevant resource for all families and communities and an important partner in student success and a strong advocate for public education the virginia pta advocates for laws and policies

050that further the education physical and mental health and safety of children and youth in collaboration with the virginia department of education and other like-minded associations and partnerships the mission of the virginia pta is to make every child's potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children and to engage the public in united efforts to secure the physical mental emotional and social well-being of all children and youth as well as to promote support of teachers and staff in virginia's public schools representing virginia pta regionally is the fairfax county council pta and the northern virginia district pta and who are part of the national pta the largest and oldest child volunteer advocacy organization in our nation and we encourage families to consider joining their local schools pta thank you very much

051ms corbett sanders item 2.08 on the agenda the vsba business honor roll resolution i call on miss tolin for the resolution yes thank you whereas public schools and local businesses are integral are an integral part of this community and whereas many local businesses play a crucial role in supporting our schools and whereas the economic health of our community state and nation depends on a strong public school system and whereas the collaboration between local public schools and local businesses strengthens schools and the business community alike by providing a well-trained and highly educated workforce and whereas an excellent public school system is vital to the quality of life in this community and fundamental to preserving a strong democratic society now and in the future therefore be it resolved that the fairfax county school board names capital area

052food bank cox communications cox business and synthetic theater to the 2021 virginia school boards association business honor roll in appreciation for the ongoing support of fairfax county public schools iso move thank you miss tolin is there a second yes a second thank you miss marin miss tolin would you like to speak to your resolution just very briefly as a large school district it's impossible for us to do all of our work without the help of our business and community partners we cannot thank these companies enough for the support that you have given us over the years and look forward to future collaborations and we particularly appreciate your support over the last year dealing with the pandemic i was fortunate to work closely with our business partnership office during my tenure with fcps as we set

053up ignite partnerships and worked with over 40 local organizations and businesses in our work in environmental education and sustainability so i understand firsthand how important the contribution of these organizations is to the success of our school district thank you so much thank you miss tolin miss merritt would you like to speak to your second yes just briefly you know businesses of various sizes have a role to play in supporting our public schools and the three mentioned have done you know a lot of things that they're uniquely poised to do to help our schools and i i just feel very grateful when i see authentic help coming from our business community and i hope that we can continue to build on that work not only in one-on-one partnerships but also when we think about our tax

054base here and what our businesses can contribute through that very formal process of funding our schools so thank you to these businesses we we couldn't do without you and i'm glad we could recognize your your support today thank you other board members wishing to speak seeing none i will now call for the vote all of those in favor miss corbett sanders mr frisch miss omeg miss cohen miss mccarskey miss tollen miss marin miss seismo heiser ms darnach kofax and myself and miss keys gamara that is unanimous thank you item 2.08 resolution honoring jay pearson region 4 assistant superintendent i call on miss cohen for the resolution whereas j.w pearson served with distinction in the field of education for 30 years in the state of virginia as a teacher and ib coordinator assistant principal principal executive

055principal for region two and the last three years dedicated to fairfax county public schools as an assistant superintendent of region four and whereas mr pearson has been a leader of distinction having been named the fcps 2014 principal of the year and the recipient of the washington post distinguished educational leadership award and whereas mr pearson in his leadership role as the region 4 assistant superintendent fostered the tenants of professional learning communities and encouraged all region 4 school and pyramid teams to collaborate exchange ideas and share strengths in order to create the best learning environment possible with an emphasis on high quality instruction to improve student achievement and whereas mr pearson supported principals and school communities as the assistant superintendent of region 4 demonstrating outstanding leadership skills and exceptional professionalism conveying a vision for positive student-centered learning

056environments and setting high expectations for the achievement of all students and whereas with keen insight into the strengths and talents of staff members mr pearson drew from his extensive knowledge of school life to guide and mentor principals assistant principals and other school administrators thus influencing the quality of services to students in our school system for years to come now therefore be resolved that the fairfax county school board extends its highest commendation and deepest appreciation to j.w pearson for his outstanding service to fairfax county public schools and to the students and citizens of this community iso move thank you miss cohen is there a second a second thank you miss picarski miss cohen would you like to speak to your resolution it's a good sign when people are fighting over seconding that's right resolution um well

057i have the good fortune of being the board member with the most schools in region four so i get the unenviable job of having to say goodbye to jay your calm presence listening ear and can do attitude over this past year has been so important to our region you have a giant heart and you always keep kids and staff at the center of everything that you do your gentle smile and great sense of humor will be so missed and i know i speak for your colleagues as well um we hope that this retirement is actually going to stick [Laughter] and we're really hoping that we run into you at orange theory um or on the sand in rehoboth we will miss you jay miss mccarski before we rumble here would you like to speak to

058your second yes jay i knew i was going to like you um i think it was our very first meeting together when i walked into your office and you took out this big old book and you were like okay here's the numbers let's start talking and i was like okay this guy's getting down to business um you know focused on what matters and i i really appreciated that because i never had a lot of time to waste truthfully it has been it has been a hard year and i imagine a hard year to end a very long career we've we've asked a lot of you um not just ours but also in an ability to motivate others during a time where it was really hard to get the best out of people and and and

059to to know that in the end they would be okay i mean that needed really really true strong leadership this year and i'm very thankful that you were there i am very excited for your next chapter i hope you visit the beach and you do all sorts of wonderful things and you take the time for yourself because you have truly given so much to this county and to the students and and you have touched so many lives that it really is time for you to take time for you so congratulations thank you miss seismo heiser jay i am um i've been so honored to work with you this year and i know um it hasn't always been easy mostly because of me but um i'll own that um you know as being a proud region

060for parent but i've been so impressed with your um your calm and your patience and you're willing to willingness to listen and partner and consider um you consider viewpoints and consider hard topics to talk about and and really just the way that you have brought just this sort of zen and that may not be who you are but it's what comes across to me to an incredibly difficult year an incredibly challenging year and and you know the loveliness of having two school board members at one school that are also parents there um so i just want to say thank you for that i recognized that that you you were very very um you're like a calm in this incredible crazy sea around you and that brought a lot of value to the people that you

061worked with that you coached that you mentored and you brought along region four and i never saw you flapped you're always unflappable right and i don't that's the orange theory or the what but i was like when is jacob flapped right but so um you know and i've appreciated the you know the conversations about how short life is how important it is and i really hope that you know for this next year you get to relax at a beach before you come back as an interim principal somewhere so um you know honestly i i i hope you i wish you the best you deserve it and i hope you continue that zen as you find your path um to really enjoying the life that you've really earned that in time to enjoy and thank you

062for everything you've done for fairfax county and we'll see you in a year thank you miss eisma heiser miss tolin so yes i had the good fortune of meeting jay years ago and we won't think about how many years ago that might have been um when he was principal at marshall high school i arrived at marshall i had been recommended to him by another principal mutual friend of ours to work in the as a resource person in the ib environmental science and society program so i of course was nervous to go in and interview with jay and the then ap jeff litz and i sat in the conference room and they asked me a couple questions and i can remember i launched into this huge diatribe of my background and my experience and all the

063things i had done in schools and they just very kindly listened to me and as stella said you know jay just gets right to the point i finished and he just said so when can you start so you hired me you hired me so um it was a wonderful experience working at marshall high school and i think um just the fact that i was brought in there is um you know a statement to jay's real creativity um in you know looking for ways to truly engage students um and and have students have you know real experiences i'm in the international baccalaureate program so i really appreciated that opportunity and i loved working with you and i don't believe you're retired either because i've known you a long time and every time you run into you're

064talking about your retirement and here we are so anyway congratulations to you thank you so much for all your years of service to fairfax county public schools so appreciated thank you miss stolen miss corbett sanders yes thank you um so we heard a little bit earlier tonight that penny was was encouraged to come back to virginia by a wise teacher and we are so thrilled jay because you are somebody who have your roots in virginia you are a graduate of the newly renamed alexandria high school one of the original titans and then you actually spent most of your career here in virginia while living in dc and you retired and because of your focus on the importance of student success you did come back initially in an interim role and then was encouraged by this

065guy here another one who has virginia roots about the importance of serving the students of region four and i know that was a really tough decision for you to make but we are grateful that you made that decision at a time where region 4 was in transition and needed a stable voice at the helm and someone who understood the importance of raising the bar for all children and like stella i fell in love with your approach as soon as you opened up the data because as you know i'm a numbers geek and so it was very helpful to be able to pour over numbers and figure out where the trends were and identify risk before they became a reality and that was something that i think that that analytical skill and willingness to kind of

066extrapolate into the future if these trends go that way what do we need to do to um to triage before we have a problem and so i'm very appreciative of that and i'm also appreciative of the advocacies you have for our high-need schools in the region because there aren't that many high-need schools in region four but those that are high needs those students are on buses that pass multiple schools to get to the school that they attend and we know that we have to engage their parents in a different way and you were always sensitive to that you were sensitive to the neurodiversity of students in south county as well so i am grateful i uh know that you're going to enjoy your time in rehoboth say hello to the president for us and also

067we will be glad to welcome you back to alexandria virginia because i know that that's where your heart is thank you miss corbett sanders miss omaesh thank you um so the first thing i remember when meeting jay was that they told me he was supposed to have retired um and so it's it's wonderful to thank you for coming back and serving um i echo what folks mentioned about you being centered and always having a relaxed kind of grounded vibe about you that would calm down anyone that was coming to talk to you um i also appreciated uh really did how honest and direct you were at times and just kept it real always without sugar coating and that was essential to do good work together and also that you were responsive you know and willing

068to listen and even change your mind on some things which was really valuable to be able to partner together and i appreciated that humility um so you know i it was a pleasure to be able to witness you choosing great leaders for our schools i know you worked hard and diligently wanted to answer our questions um and and i appreciated that um and and finally for being my partner in sidekick at fcps honors i think in this last just month or so we really had the chance to connect in ways we hadn't before um and and even sitting down and having a really human conversation at that last graduation that we attended together so um it's been a pleasure to be able to work with you over the past year and i i wish you

069a true retirement uh and lots of rest thank you miss miss donna koufax jay i just want to say thank you for your years of dedication your professionalism and um i wouldn't be remit i would be remiss if i didn't talk about our uh road trip through texas um as with mr zulaga and uh you know i think uh perhaps um we we we weren't sure what we were getting into but after an entire long day of visiting different sites and um you know going through these crazy roads and you know we're trying to figure out where to get to and make sure we had such a a excellent um we were able to give an excellent analysis of what is out there and for some reason i think i went upstairs but i had

070to get something and when i came down you and fabio are down there and you're still like you're like have all this energy and all this excitement talking about all the things that we saw all and on and you know and we developed um you know program um crosswalking and you know from and your dedication and that's just who you are you're kind of roll up your sleeves get the work done look at what's before us and i know that will be hard for you to leave because you've tried once but um i i hear there's a beach house and this is what i seem to be saying hearing so congratulations on that enjoy the next chapter and you will always be welcome back here and we will always be looking for your leadership and

071expertise in smaller ways than we have this during the the last retirement but thank you for everything and it's been a pleasure knowing you and working with you thank you so much mr not cofax i will take a quick turn while i did not have an opportunity to work with you i do understand to work with you directly that is i do understand you work with doctor zuluwaga it seems as if all roads start and end in region two with dr zuluaga it's just really a wonderful sense of poetic justice as we acknowledge a new regional assistant superintendent and we also honor the outgoing regional assistant superintendent i'm very much amazed by all what's been shared about your illustrious career principle of the year and not retiring not once but twice those are huge feats

072i wish you the very best of luck in your second retirement and i'm just very proud to have been able to learn about all of your wonderful service to fairfax county public schools thank you now i will call for the vote all in favor of the resolution please raise your hands at this time we have miss crobit sanders mr frisch miss o'mage miss cohen miss pakarski miss tolin miss marin miss eisema heiser miss narnach koufax miss keys gamara and myself that is unanimous i do have to say miss mclaughlin is very unhappy that she was not able to be here to honor you this evening she speaks very highly of your work and i know that she will reach out to you to speak with you personally so having said that the motion has passed

073congratulations if you would like to say a few words this would be a great time so because i know you have other business to do so i know little boys and girls don't dream about growing up and being assistant superintendents right so you know i left high school i drove a bus at the airport and stumbled into this amazing career right because of this crazy fifth grade class as a substitute teacher that i'm convinced ran off their real teacher and that that was just beginning of the journey so i'd like to thank that class for setting me up for this amazing journey uh thank all of you thank dr brabrand great mentor dr zulawaga so um just thank you thanks and just continue the good work focus on what's best for kids [Applause] thanks thank

074you um agenda item 2.10 charles britt recognition i call on miss corbett sanders for the recognition thank you madam chair mr charles britt has been a member of the fairfax county public schools career and technical education advisory committee for eight years and served in the leadership of the committee as the chair and vice chair during his service to the fairfax county public schools mr britt is a long time advocate and leader in the field of stem education specifically focused on increasing access and opportunities for underrepresented populations mr britt has over 17 years of it cyber security and project management experience across government academia and non-profit organizations mr britt first joined the career and technical education advisory committee when he was with northern virginia community college systemic solutions and represented northern virginia community college as a

075liaison for the career and technical education advisory committee during his time with northern virginia community college he was instrumental in a number of areas to include but not limited to expanding the robotics competition program for fairfax county public schools implementing training for both robotics and cyber security for fairfax county public schools teachers and helping with the start of the cyber patriot program for students in middle and high school as chair of the career and technical education advisory committee mr britt's focus on engaging committee members to participate in subcommittee work transformed the group into active and vibrant stakeholders in career and technical education and during mr britt's tenure as the chair the committee grew in size and expanded membership to multiple career fields in order to get input for all aspects of career and technical education

076and over the last few years the focus on data has helped him to inform members and to develop concrete recommendations to the school board at each of the annual meetings the fairfax county school board extends its highest commendation and deepest appreciation to mr charles britt and thanks him for his outstanding service and dedication to the fairfax county school board students families and community members of fairfax county public schools mr britt congratulations thank you very much for your service would you like to say a few words and mr brett we invite you to come back to virginia too [Laughter] exactly much like jay i'll be very quick um standing here it is sort of surreal that i wouldn't be in this area if it wasn't for my mother who joined the military and we were moved

077to the d.c area to fort belvoir and i was a third grader at fort belvoir elementary did fourth and fifth grade at mount vernon elementary it never would have amazed me that today i'd be standing in front of the school board of fairfax county public schools some 20 years later after graduating high school to accept this recognition so i do appreciate each of you sharing this with me today it's been an honor to serve in this capacity so reporting the cte advisory committee and all the members that are serving the community today it's a wonderful program with lots of opportunities and i'm excited about the growth that's going to happen as a result of the new leadership that's taking place so again thank you for this recognition and honor best wishes to all of you

078thank you [Applause] item 3.01 citizen participation which is the next order of business speakers are requested to limit their remarks to not more than three minutes the school board will not hear statements involving issues that have been scheduled for public hearings such as capital improvement program budget and boundaries speakers should only address new business action items or resolutions as listed in the meeting agenda complaints regarding individual students or school-based employees should be directed to the appropriate school principal or other official speakers should refrain from using personally identified identifiable information in connection with an individual student and are expected to deliver their comments with the decorum and respect appropriate to the conduct of the public's business thank you for your cooperation and thanks to those who've come to speak to us today please be informed that

079the microphone will be muted after your three minutes have expired tonight ten citizens have signed up to address the board and we also have five video testimonies i will now ask the clerk to call the first speaker our first speaker is sue zoldak so [Applause] do you recognize this document it is the study guide that comes with the book stamped which is the assigned summer professional development for chantilly high schools for the many parents in the community who say fcps does not teach critical race theory i want to read from this guide racist ideas are embedded in the formation of the us government by founding fathers racist ideas among with economic greed are the central to the formation of this nation meritocracy and the american dream narrative are rooted in whiteness ladies and gentlemen greed

080for lack of a better word is good but i digress this is what it comes down to do you leaders of our school system believe in america do you believe in meritocracy do you dr brabrand believe that you're the best person for your job do you the school board believe you're fairly elected based on your merits for this job because if you don't you should resign because you cannot at once denounce meritocracy as racist and live under the very outcome meritocracy provides this is the danger of the lies and distraction the people that you allow to gather outside this meeting allows and allowed to tell the ones some of you encourage and are financially benefiting from what's the harm of letting your supporters call us racists or call us the kkk as a way to

081protect this well for one thing you'll notice that i arrived here at this meeting with private security i don't feel safe in my own county because of you when you post about making this safe community for all of us does it include me your actions and words that took place last week i don't think it does when you talk about inclusivity does it include asians who deserve to be at thomas jefferson just this week a teacher posted a teacher of yours aap students tend to be white males and asians this is the kind of comment that your staff thinks is okay to post publicly that comes from this leadership when you passed around this boilerplate email in response which none of you wrote by the way because none of you could write you guys all

082passed along to each other about the racial equity survey it says in it fcps social studies has engaged in curriculum revision such as the work of the virginia inquiry collaborative that sounds great doesn't it because it matches exactly the request in this letter from the largest u.s organization in the us fighting anti-semitism which you all received on the 21st fulfill your state's requirement to educate your students it pleads about the holocaust some holocaust assignments have trivialized the holocaust and have been hurtful and offensive to jews well if you look at the virginia inquiry collaborative which you guys all emailed around and touted in your emails and look i'm sorry your time is up miss even talk oldack jews that's what you're telling people your time is up ms zoldak please call the next speaker mr

083smallberg the next speaker is marcie reeves i came to this country to escape communism and all of you don't even understand what communism is they take your property they say everyone is equal that's a critical race theory we this is a melting pot this is the united states of america i came here i'm sorry ma'am are you dr reeves no no dr reeves please come up to the podium i apologize i was not sure who that speaker was i was wondering why her time hadn't started dr reeves i didn't wanna [Music] my name is dr mary claire reeves and i have a kindergartner and a second grader in fcps we moved to fairfax in the summer of 2020 entering what i thought was one of the best counties in public school in america sadly fcps

084is far from the best today kindergarten should never be taught virtually and to continue for months was wrong to say the least and a failure of the leadership of this board this board did not do your job so that teachers could actually teach basic standards including five days in person and why i feel the need to remind you that five days in person is a standard should give you some pause to think of your failure as leaders speaking as a scientist with a phd in molecular biology i do not take my credentials lightly allow me to share some insight infectious disease is not new viral size has not somehow changed in mass efficacy hasn't miraculously changed either shutdown was never meant to be a permanent solution and mitigations were never meant to be permanent as

0852020 unfolded we learned that 99.998 of kids are fine from covid but we continue to hear when it is safe then when we have a vaccine then meanwhile so much learning was lost while you all sit around and wait for some arbitrary perfect time or different conditions fcps ended the year without getting kids in person five days with kids still wearing masks at outdoor recess hear me now infectious disease and other potential risks that we face each and every single day will not change but our goal for learning and growth is needed and necessary as spcf fcps's website your goal states fcps is a catalyst that transforms our community's most valuable potential our children hardly a catalyst this year instead over and over we heard when it is safe safe based on what standard millions

086of students elsewhere returned five days in person i've read the data have you as a scientist i must be very careful not to bias data toward my narrative otherwise i'm not a very good scientist the same is true for you have you lost sight of your goals and whom you serve that each student is to achieve his or her full academic potential every single effort should have been made to open those doors for kindergartners and first and so on education standards are in place for that exact reason and even after teachers were given the priority for the coveted vaccine kids still did not attend in person five days i want to believe you bray brand when you say that we will be returning strong but how can i when you also say that we are

087not behind my kindergartner along with many other students will attend summer school because fcps did not fulfill thank you our next speaker is kathleen mallard good evening my name is cole mallard i'm kathy's husband so she's asked me to speak on her behalf i'll speak briefly on several topics with effectively education of fairfax county children in a healthy environment by now people in virginia and across the country are witnessing pushback by parents and community members everywhere notably in loudoun who are deeply concerned that stakeholders voices have not been heard and that parental authority is not respected fairfax county k-12 parents are looking forward to a smooth reopening of schools in the fall so that students can return to in-person learning and make up for grade level losses they recognize the need to focus on academics

088however we see efforts to cancel our history and instead of helping young people discover that america is the greatest they're being taught that america is systematically uh racist and that hearts of our people are full of hatred far from advancing the dream of dr martin luther king jr that a people should be judged by the content of their character the new theory preaches that judging people by the color of their skin is actually a good idea recently an anti-racism and antibiotic survey was approved by the fairfax county public school administration using a contracted organization the leadership academy this is costing fairfax county public schools seven hundred thousand dollars there are serious concerns with the survey for example anti-bias and anti-racism are not defined the survey does not allow for comments it'll be shared widely and

089responses will not truly reflect fairfax county community voices student surveys can be traced to student accounts another issue fairfax county public school transgender policies must be halted pending a hearing scheduled for july the 21st the virginia department of education ignored an overwhelming number of respondents to the vdoe public comment which is in february this year opposing transgender mandates which among other things for students and teachers to use false pronouns secretly affirm and facilitate a child's gender transition while at school without notifying parents deputizes teachers to report parents who don't affirm their child's trans transgender identity to child protective services they fail to accommodate religious families and people of conscience and most of concern allows biological transgenders males in biological female dressing rooms locker rooms and on sports teams and finally a lawsuit has been filed

090against the vdoe by founding freedom's law center in other words to halt implementation of policies until the hearing thank you very much for your time appreciate it our next speaker is brandon hein uh hello uh good evening members of the school board my name is brandon and i use he him pronouns i'm a queer student who's in 12th grade at fairfax high school and i'm a member of the pride liberation project a block of students working towards a better future within the community education is what us students strive to be a part of and yet there isn't any concrete educational structure for any student body about lgbtqia issues for lgbtqia students they have to seek out help about specific issues by other means and there's a stigma for for lgbtqia students to make their identity

091heard and validated three years of model un have taught me to be informed about the world plus the community i reside in to me to communicate with others in an efficient manner but what i consider the greatest is to know that everyone around you has their story when i was the president of the esports club at my high school and i came out as bisexual i was met with support from my officers my sponsors and the members of the club i led and i am thankful for that and yet i know that that isn't the case for all lgbtqia students i know that some of my friends and many people i've met are scared to come out appearing being treated differently based on their identity and to those that do come out they face harassment

092discrimination and ignorance not only that when i was part of in-person school homophobic slurs was common language along with intentionally misgendering people and disregarding people's pronouns the victory that lgbtqia people won in this nation in 2015 for same-sex marriage must be expanded on teaching the student body can guarantee that queer students know what to do in the face of unfair treatment with their rights and for the entire student body to keep moving forward in equality i ask for lgbtqia inclusive education to be implemented within our education so that lgbtqia students can be taught about recognizing recognization of their dignity their hopes and their rights the first step into this direction is to look into implementing lgbtqia inclusive health education in the health curriculum thank you for listening uh to me speak today and hearing me

093out thank you our next speaker is ryan a thief good evening school board members i'm rayon i use say them pronouns and i'm a trans rising junior in fairfax county public schools i'm a member of the pride liberation project a coalition of queer students who are working to uplift our community and fcps i haven't attended in-person school since february of 2020 at the time i was still using my legal name and they them pronouns i was constantly misgendered by both faculty and students since then i've changed my name and continued using day then pronouns even in a virtual format where my correct name and pronouns are plastered on social media i'm misgendered and dead named it's a gut-punching feeling one i'm used to dead naming and misgendering is incredibly normalized in fcps i'm at the

094point where i'm more shocked to be referred to by my correct pronoun to name than i am when i'm dead named or misgendered the normalization of dead naming and misgendering is a direct threat to trans students and directly goes against our ability to exist without being targeted and it's not like i can do anything about being dead named misgendered nothing will happen if i were to report an instance of detonating or misgendering it would result in a conversation with my counselor about how i feel or a conversation with my teacher and emotionally taxing one at that actually i don't need to be telling you this there is absolutely no reason for why you need to know what harassment and trauma i faced but in fcps a culture of harassment and trauma is heavily normalized it

095takes projecting our trauma to be even acknowledged but even then we barely rack up support if i sat here and told you my sob story about never being able to use my name at home how many of you would actually listen how many of you would 100 support me i got up at 6am refreshed my page seven times and quickly filled out the form just for a spot to explain something that's more than self-explanatory but that's my life as someone who's transduced non-binary especially in this county there's more to me than that though i'm an artist i'm a very active in all different parts of the arts technical performing literary and visual but you don't care no one does i'm trans that's my entire personality according to you even when i do share my trauma

096and experiences i'm rarely taken seriously most of the time they've been seen as a mode for entertainment exposition for a new play that's not what it is other times they're mishandled and widely spread out when in reality instances of trauma and harassment should not be shared if you aren't the person to have experienced it but alas here we are our first good step is to make dead naming and misgendering bullying in the srnr it's important to note that the experiences i've shared goes far beyond far beyond the first steps of classification and systemic change as needed i appreciate you taking the time to listen to me thank you our next speaker is bethany heim bethany heim oh can you hear me now i think i was muted yes okay thank you hello um fairfax county

097public school staff are currently sending emails to parents of children with special education needs these emails are about the extended school year services that are mandated by the individuals with disability education act some parents are finding out that these services are postponed or significantly reduced there is a real concern among some of these parents that the services may not come at all i encourage the school board and superintendent to consider offering parents a reimbursement so they can find alternatives or the reimbursement can be used by parents to support household expenses as a parent temporarily stops working so they can homeschool their children parents are concerned about learning loss and preparing their child for the next school year also i read the 20 uh 2020 to 2021 annual report to the fairfax county school board from

098the title 1 parent advisory committee i would like to better understand how these committees work and how parents are able to attend these meetings the annual report uses terms like white supremacy white supremacist and white supremacist viewpoints when discussing the anti-racist enhancements to the social studies curriculum for example the st the document specifically states that it should be acknowledged that even the mere mention of telling history that is truthful about this country's white supremist founding hasn't met with criticism fear fear-mongering and every type of overreaction i think that since the term white supremacist and white supremacist viewpoint are being used in school documents then i think that fairfax county public schools should post how these terms are defined on their website so parents are aware and informed also i read the virginia department of education

099model policies for the treatment of transgender students in virginia i support a lot of the model policy language and i want transgender students to feel welcome and safe however i do find it perplexing that the definition for gender makes no mention of biology or physical traits i want to know if the department of education's definition for gender prevents students and teachers from discussing the biology and physical attributes associated with gender also if a student or teacher does not fully agree that gender is only comprised of a set of social psychological and emotional traits as stated in the in the model policy language then how will school leadership handle different opinions i think this needs to be discussed and clarified by the superintendent i want to say that i would like to see the school board

100have a public conversation about the controversial issues policy i would like to understand why it is being revised i would like classroom scenarios that demonstrate the need to revive revise this very important policy and i would like to know where each of you stand on the forthcoming revisions also as a member of the open fcps group i think delegate simon's comments on july 17th were ridiculous to say the least i hope the members of the school board publicly condemn his statements thank you thank you our next speaker is vanessa hall hi i signed up to speak about conflict of interest policy the policy for teachers makes sense but sros and our schools don't make sense i didn't think this a year ago but i've changed my mind after listening to the testimony by students from

101the pride liberation project and care not cops when we toured my son's middle school we met the school resource officer at the front of the school he seemed approachable so i asked my son to introduce himself because this man was here to keep him and the school safe since then i've come to realize that may be true in some cases but that is not true for far too many students i've learned that if i and my son were not white neurotypical cisgender heterosexual middle class english speakers the likelihood of an sro keeping us safe can dramatically decrease and that an sro is even more likely to harm than help us in many such circumstances there are between 14 and 20 000 sros serving in the united states yet there's no comprehensive data showing that they

102make students and their staff safer however there is solid evidence that sros are associated with higher disciplinary rates of black and latino students versus white students public input in this very room shows that higher disciplinary rates extend to autistic neuro-atypical lgbtqia asian non-english speaking and low ses students i've learned that sros are not obligated to protect students or staff in fact their primary duties can be in direct conflict with actually keeping students safe nowhere are sros required to protect anyone from an armed attacker this was confirmed by a judge when the sro hid during the parkland florida attack that killed 17 students and faculty and also a washington post analysis of gunfire in schools found that an sro incapacitated an active shooter in just one of nearly 200 instances where shots were fired what i've

103learned is that my perception that sros improves safety is not rooted in reality there's no comprehensive evidence that sros reduce gang violence keep all kids safe reduce school shooter threat or create relationships with all students however there is evidence that trained teachers staff and mental health care professionals can accomplish many of these goals through directly addressing the needs of students perception of sros is not the reality of sros i'm saddened that i've believed the sros make a safe myth for so long however i know there's hope that you the school board can make changes i think that eliminating or radically rethinking sros and reallocating the eight million dollar budget for mental health and student support will help us be better prepared for school this fall no matter what as an active as a parent and

104an active volunteer in our schools i know that radical change is required to keep all students safe please decriminalize education thank you so much for your time our next speaker is kimberly adams evening can you hear me yes go ahead please good evening chair anderson school board members leadership team welcome to the team miss gross and thank you mr pearson for your service my name is kimberly adams and i'm speaking tonight as the president of the fairfax education association we have seen in action that this board has been hard at work to improve educational access and equity for our students and our staff we appreciate all that you have done and continue to do to move this system forward as we all know there is much to improve we thank nathan onobudo for his service

105as our student representative we wish him the best in his future endeavors may he continue to be a voice for those who are in need of his representation our students and staff are beginning to feel safer in our community and at schools and though there will be many opportunities to support these students in the summer programs being offered this year many more needs will face this system as we move into the next school year it will be up to this board administration and all staff to ensure that we continue to provide mental health supports and incorporate a sense of community once again in our schools this has been an unprecedented time of challenge in our public schools and we must ensure that as we emerge from this pandemic we are doing all that we can

106to support the social and emotional well-being of those engaged in our schools i'm lucky to be one of your speaker slots today but once again my privilege is showing i have computer access the ability to be online at 6am to continuously refresh my screen and eventually register and yes this time able to secure a spot in the 15 limited spaces to address this board it is unfortunate that your changes to citizen participation are still not in effect i can't even find a final draft preview you must know that even with the changes you're planning to implement access will still be limited opportunity to hear from a true representation of your community will be lacking i hope that more can be done to encourage public comments in writing to empower more voices in our school community

107and to share their input on important topics in a much more robust way thank you our next speaker is robert rigby can you hear me good yes go ahead please good evening school board members dr bray brand leadership team but in particular nathan anabudo i am robert rigby co-president of fcbs pride an lgbtqia plus organization for adults in our schools first congratulations mr anibuto and many thanks you have been a great voice for students and a remarkable ally to my community i will always remember your basic speech in response to hateful rhetoric you set the standards for all of us to the sesb i'm sincerely grateful for the words and actions of all of you in the past years the pride proclamations history month the wonderful intervals on gender identity for staff the immense policy

108and regulation progress that has been made thank you i've had glimpses of the terror that's been brought to you may 2015 june 2019 the kkk flyers and the animosity you've experienced this past year now for the manifesto part lgbtqia people here are wounded and terrorized by the specifically anti-trans violent mob action at the loudoun school board tuesday we are in crisis words and affirmation in this crisis are crucial and most of you are doing that all should do it in the case of actualizing queer students it is brutalizing concrete actions will underscore the words i have some suggestions one enact specific policies on what anti-lgbtq harassment entails such as dead dynaming and ms gendron also be specific on what racial harassment sexism religious harassment and ableism meet in our schools expand training for staff on

109how to counteract these types of harassment be specific state publicly and for all to see what regulations we have now for trans and gender expansive students people need to know in this crisis there may be animosity we will stand with you work with the bls under one fairfax to develop more emergency and shelter housing for unaccompanied youth and lobby the general assembly in the legislative program to change the prohibitive shelter laws seek out and hear students such as the pride liberation project thank you very much for listening our final speaker is lupita garcia at the last school board meeting miss garcia go ahead please at the last school board meeting miss kiss camara said that when parents accuse the school board of not caring about loss of learning it was just not true in her

110heart i'm sure she feels she does care but we the parents are not reacting to how you feel or what you say instead we react to what you're actually doing many of you have thanked the students for the sacrifices they have made this year do you realize that you put them in that situation by your closing their schools you probably still believe that your decision to sacrifice the students learning and mental health was correct and necessary but you refused to own that action the school board never acknowledged any input from the countless parents who asked you to open the school for our children when we told you they were suffering emotionally and academically now parents who can afford private schools or to home school are doing so while the rest of us have to accept

111this accept this inferior education how's this equitable you listen to the teachers unions demands instead of the teachers who told you virtual learning was exhausting and of lesser equality now teachers don't want to teach summer school and someone ever come back and this is happening in fcps in arlington and other districts who refuse to provide in-person learning unions and school boards created the staff dissatisfaction and the exodus some of you who spend so much time in political activism giving a bad name to our school district are enacting on behalf of the citizens who voted for you to do one job which is to ensure every student in fcps receives excellent academics many taxpayers want to move out of fairfax county because they don't want to pay higher taxes for a school that is focused on

112the wrong things you often discuss equity and inclusion and yet somehow you exclude children with disabilities at the last return to school session the board said summer programs for general education students are fully staffed while those four students with disabilities are only 50 staffed and because everything is so last minute with fcps today many parents will come to the news that their kids won't be starting summer school in four days because of lack of teachers your disregard for families schedules and our kids learning disruption is telling those like my son who was lucky enough to get a spot will be in a classroom of 16 special ed students 16. this is frankly disappointing and frustrating do you want a solution to this problem i will give you three one allow the students with disabilities who

113wish to access the fully staffed general ed programs to do so allocate money for parents to contract private summer tutors do partnerships with local well-established tutoring services to teach the students your current staff can teach these solutions respect the students federally protected civil right to equal access don't further segregate these students not reduce the quality of my son's education just because you don't have the staff think outside the box please give our kids what they deserve by love or you will find yourselves immersed in more lawsuits and on enrollment you all can talk about how much you care but the parents have no reason to trust what fcps says anymore thank you we now have video testimony from alex levine good evening my name is alex levine i am a proud member of the fairfax

114county parents association a non-partisan group of parents made up of from the open fcps group that has come together to fight for fairfax county schools to put kids first over politics our members come from all political persuasions in fact i am a lifelong democrat i voted and donated to democrats all my life i've worked for a democratic congressman democratic senator on various different democratic campaigns i want to talk to you tonight about the recent kkk flyer when that flyer came out our group immediately and strongly denounced it we said that the hatred underlying that flyer has no place in our school system and has no place in our public discourse despite that strong response however we have been unfairly and viciously maligned by leadership of the fairfax democrats in fact at a rally that took

115place last week delegate marcus simon said quote that openfcps is on the same side as the kkk in addition the chairman of the fairfax dens said that he redacted a picture of the flyer because he didn't want to give open fcps any ideas other similarly disgusting statements have been made by various different leaders in the fairfax and virginia democrats uh party which has been frankly despicable these are people who have been making these statements are your friends they're your supporters you follow many of them on twitter and they are the people who help to get you elected in some cases and yet despite your close relationship with them and the you have been completely silent as they have been viciously slandering a large portion of the parents in your school system this silence has been

116deafening and has conveyed a message of support i know that you bristle at the suggestion that your actions are dictated by politics but the simple truth of the matter is that this explanation is the only one that really explains why when you're faced with difficult decisions you default towards the option that is best for you politically how else to explain why you voted to close schools and keep them closed even as the fairfax health department repeatedly told you it was safe for them to open and how else to explain why you have remained completely silent while your friends have equated us to the ku klux klan and used that despicable allegation to fundraise on your behalf maybe you'll surprise me here and issue a statement condemning the fairfax dims and their vicious slandering of parents

117even if it loses you the support of these folks these friends of yours who elevate partisanship over kids who view retaining a non-partisan seat as the ends that justify any political means maybe you'll do the right thing this time but i doubt it we have video testimony from barbara brown hello we are girls guys from shoot five zero zero seven five at wolf trip elementary school in vienna we want fairfax county public schools to purchase more electric buses because electric buses don't put out the toxic pollution that harms kids in the environment we are interested in electric school buses when investigating energy for special tax that we are earning the more we learn the more interested and dedicated we became about speaking out for our health and our future here's why we think it's important

118for fcbs to use electric buses instead of diesel buses the toxic themes from the diesel powered buses are harmful to kids respiratory systems especially kids with asthma we can smoke these people every day when the buses are dropping the students or picking them up these fumes come into the hallways too when the doors are open in the mornings and afternoons as the student and the students who ride the buses leave the themes as they ride to and from school electroclasses don't throw out these qualities electric boxes means a cleaner environment we know that it's important to cut back on using fossil fuels both to lessen talk to police and also to help combat global warming and we also like the idea that fcps should be a good role model for other school districts across the

119country we realize electric buses are expensive but they can save money too we read that it costs less to maintain them plus not as much money will be spent on treating diseases and cleaning up the environment president biden notes and support for the country to switch to zero and missing school buses too cleaner air meets healthier kids and increased academic performances he and vice president harris are urging investments to help convert the nation's 500 000 school buses to electric we hope we can give a little push to adopt the adults who can make a difference for our future and who can help solve these problems now that's you thank you for listening with us and looking to make important changes that are good for students but also we would also like to thank that fun

120money official our local solar on school spirit leader and our school board representatives melanie marin and elaine colin for supporting us as we learned about the advantages of electric buses yasmine ever since my first year here in fairfax county a county that i've been in my whole life i've never once felt represented i've never seen someone who looks like me receive any recognition and after going through many years of bullying by my peers because of who i am and how i look and how i dress i just began to accept that as a muslim was not valued in this county in elementary school when i first started wearing the headscarf i i was bullied by my peers i had my peers call me names i literally had the scarf ripped off my head numerous times

121in public and in school on school grounds and some kids called me a nun but what hurt me most about that was they refused to acknowledge that i'm affiliated with a completely different religion there was no representation no one came to you know truly know the religion that i was affiliated with and in middle school i had teachers even disrespect my religion health teacher told me once that to use my headscarf as a tourniquet in case of an emergency that that should be the first resort for me to take my head scarf off and a civic teacher used to make up numerous hypothetical situations in which i would be murdered for being muslim and she would tell these situations that you know she'd say these things in front of the class and what hurt me

122most was that no one saw that anything the teacher said was wrong and i didn't understand how the teachers even thought that was appropriate to say and in high school i had people continue to attack me for how i look people call me towel head people tell me to go ride my camel back to my country i even had a competitor in a race once uh tell me that no one dressed like he was gonna beat me and you know i just wondered to myself how could these people get away with this how did no one care enough to fight for me and to fight for the thousands of muslims in this county how could fairfax county my county tolerate this behavior um but when abrar was elected into fairfax county uh the school board

123i felt that i was finally represented you know i saw that it was possible for a muslim to receive respect and recognition i was certain that fairfax county had changed and i thought that maybe just maybe people begin to respect me and respect the other muslims in this county but some things don't change and because we're back at square one there are people from this county on the internet calling abroad terrorists and i just i can't believe that i live in an area i live in a county where people think like this you know and they think that this is okay and i don't understand why there aren't more people speaking up about this explicit islamophobia and racism i have yet again to see someone stand up and defend the muslims here in fairfax county

124and i understand that fcps always wants to represent every student they want students to feel welcome and valued but somewhere in all of that we drew the lineup muslims are we not worthy of being represented and being valued and being respected it's really saddened to me that by the end of my time here in fairfax county i graduated two weeks ago i'm still wondering to myself how is fairfax county your county tolerating this behavior how is this still okay martin luther once said in the end we remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends abeer elbaz hi my name is abirubez i'm speaking today to address the word of miss megan mclaughlin in the last board meeting that took place last week on the 17th of june ms mclondon i

125find what she said last meeting very disturbing and surprisingly unexpected from a board member of the fairfax county public schools you addressed in your talk the incident of the student replacing the word god in the pledge with the word allah even though i will not necessarily go with that as a personal choice i find your your action very disappointing and hurtful you imply that by swapping the two words we are not addressing the pledge with dignity to start with i find it surprising that this address was coming from aboard the member of a county with equity as one of its highest priorities your worthless fullness of conceptions shows lack of research and promotes fearing the other which is a rhetoric we are trying to avoid and stay away from this goes against the direction the

126county should be heading for when i took my first training to become a girl scout leader about 15 years ago leaders were told that girl scouts can swap the two words as they are cinnamons girl scout organization has not had the right idea not every muslim troop chose to swap um the two words and america's still america and nothing really happened as a result but making many feel comfortable in their own skin miss mcgloggin your reaction screams fearing the other and even white supremacy the word allah is used by both arab and muslims and christians which literally means god again even though i would not necessarily swap these two words myself by hearing you promoting more misconceptions and disrespecting your muslim constituents is really disturbing to me you are simply adding fuel to the fire

127i know that so many people in the county who are not muslims are also highly disappointed in your speech i expected you to lead an open conversation about that incident with all your constituents in mind isn't that the attitude we're thriving to teach our students and would like to model it for them miss mclogan i think that when the county made equity a goal it was the choice that we all knew deep down is our only choice to maintain a healthy nation your speech is simply taking us multiple steps back miss mclogan i would urge you to please rethink the way you address your constituents trying to use a language that promotes that is not biased and promotes respect please remember your role as one of the leaders when it comes to education in one

128of the largest counties in the nation thank you elizabeth kane my name is elizabeth keane i am speaking because i am very concerned that changes to the existing controversial issues policy proposed by the leadership academy relating to their proposed anti-bias anti-racism curriculum will be implemented without getting proper or sufficient input from parents the current policy reads as follows purpose to establish guidelines for the study of controversial issues philosophy the preparation for effective citizenship includes the study of issues that are controversial the study of controversial issues shall create an atmosphere in which knowledge can be freely imparted and the critical thinking of students can be developed through research and classroom discussion within the guidelines of the program of studies procedures such studies shall be carried out in an atmosphere of freedom from bias prejudice or coercion

129the current regulations further cleared by the role of the teacher is to a address controversial topics as impartially and objectively as possible do not let personal biases intrude or allow personal beliefs to interfere with professional judgment b handle controversial issues in a manner relevant to the content of the course and appropriate to the knowledge and maturity of the students see when there is doubt about the impact of a controversial issue plan and instruction inform the principal about the situation and provide a brief outline of the instructional strategies that will be used to ensure objectivity fairness accuracy and relevance to program of studies objectives d encourage critical thinking by offering multiple perspectives of the issues under discussion gathering information and evidence considering implications and consequences of varying viewpoints checking for assumptions and using questions to guide

130ideas and clarify thinking e do not expect or require that students reach an agreement be sensitive to students with feelings and emotions surrounding a controversial issue and contact school counselors if appropriate i am very wary of any changes that would be proposed to the above these existing policies make so much sense for public schools serving an incredibly diverse county diverse in many senses politically religiously culturally racially ethnically as the policy is currently written it does not ban controversial issues but provides teachers guidance in remaining neutral which fosters critical thinking and learning in the students i do not agree that such a policy would need to be changed for any curriculum be it history english math or social emotional learning please give the parents more information about what exactly within this policy means changing and why

131you cannot just bring a change on this without letting them know review discuss and question the necessity of such changes please seriously think about the consequences of making any changes that call for teachers to take a clear position on matters that may be perceived as controversial i think parents across all beliefs cultures and political spectrums would want teachers to be as neutral as possible on controversial issues and would also want to make sure that regulation 4426 schools and employee political activities remains in place which specifically states among other things that employees shall not attempt to indoctrinate students with personal political and social philosophy thank you very much um we are now up to item 3.02 student representative matters mr anabouta the floor is yours thank you thank you dr anderson um before i get to

132um my prepared remarks i wanted to briefly um speak to our gender expansive students here in fcps northern virginia and just um in our nation in general um it's unfortunate this has to be said but you all have every right to feel welcomed and respected in every classroom that you step into and speaking to any teachers out there if your religion prohibits you from making students feel welcome and respected in a classroom then i question how effective any of your teaching methods can be um but with that being said i speak with confidence once this board hears you we see you we appreciate you and we will continue to stand up for you um and i'm confident that we'll continue long after i'm gone but with that being said i have very prepared remarks this

133evening because there was a lot i wanted to say and i knew i wouldn't get to say all of it if i didn't write it down so here i go when i ran for the position of student representative to this school board i thought it was so that i could give back to this school system this community that had given so much to me what actually ended up happening however was that you all this board fcps leadership the greater fairfax county community continued to pour into me you allowed me this platform you listened when i spoke you challenged me to look at things from a new perspective and forced me to grow and step outside of my comfort zone in short you all gave me more than i will ever be able to return so

134instead of trying to return all that i've been given i will work to pass on what i've learned and let's just say that serving on a school board while the global education apparatus has a has had to reimagine the way in which we educate kids in response to a worldwide pandemic i feel like i've learned a thing or two not just about education or public school systems but more broadly about people i learned that the best decisions are often made after listening intently especially to voices that we have a nasty habit of not listening to i learned to try and focus on intentions because people's intentions are usually good i learned to try and i i've learned that right and wrong are more subjective than young people or normally taught which is never an excuse

135to compromise on your morals but always a reason to listen to those who have a different perspective those three things listening intently good intentions managing different perspectives in many ways i feel have been the cornerstone of the positive policy decisions the sport has made over the past year and will continue to be the foundation after i leave but again thanks to the people here tonight i leave heading off to college wiser more courageous and feeling prepared to handle whatever comes my way not necessarily because of this position i've held although it has certainly helped but rather because of the work the folk that these folks do every day to stand up a school system that produces graduates that are equipped to take on tomorrow because of the work that fcps teachers do and parents and

136the community at large because at the end of the day the main thing i've learned from this whole experience is that we are all in this together and i know it's cliche but whether whether or not we like it our collective success is dependent upon our individual will so as i move on and begin the perpetual process of passing passing on what i've learned and then learning some more i will take all of this with me and as a result in a way i will be taking all of you with me as well thank you he still has one more meeting with us just to be clear he will have to come back next month no we will not create a new meeting next week um item 3.03 the fy 2020 22 office of auditor

137general's general risk assessment and audit plan i call on ms keis gamara for the introduction thank you although i'm still recovering from the words of our wise student representative thank you nathan um i am giving you a virtual hug right now school board members and community members we have the privilege of having an excellent auditor general work on our behalf to protect our independence and to make sure that we have an ability to review our processes and hold the system accountable this year you've all been approached to have an opportunity to decide what the program shall be for this coming year and i invite s miss esther co our uh oag extraordinaire to speak to us regarding that program thank you thank you uh miss keith kamara so um good evening everyone so i'm hoping

138to carry you all with me in this audit plan that i'm going to present tonight time flies it ha it is my fifth year this time to present the annual audit plan to the school board and i would like to walk over with you all about the contents that we are going to cover that we will first take a few seconds to go over the fiscal year 21 accomplishments that the office of auditor general has achieved and then we will go through kind of like the from the beginning to the end of how the audit plan is being derived so during last year i know that we all have been working under a very special and unique circumstance and i'm proud to report that oag was able to complete all the fy21 engagement to support

139our mission and i'm really very grateful of my team members who help us to carry this through since we presented our fiscal year 20 annual report to the school board in december last year about six months ago we were able to complete the remaining engagements timely meanwhile we also perform many other oag duties as listed here as you can see under the third bullet of other oag duties specifically i would highlight the monthly audit bus that we issue which is a periodical that we aim to produce on a monthly basis our subscribers have increased to over 1 500 right now which is an over like 25 increase from same time last year and i am pretty sure that one of the major drivers is because we have been working closely with the school board members

140that um you have been helping us to promote it in your newsletters and also other postings so that our subscriptions has been increased so i'm really very grateful about that we also continue to perform our fraud waste and abuse inquiries review and then i also want to mention that in july 2020 oag completed a process where fcp has now becomes an official national registry cpe sponsor that we can offer certified continuous professional education cpe to our employees with the support from the financial services team a lot of great things have been happening so with that i would like to introduce the risk assessment and audit plan objective so this is more about the why that we are here tonight that oag reports directly to the school board our office is charged to independently and objectively

141to evaluate the fcps processes and to promote fcps achievement of strategic goals particularly in the area of resource stewardship the fiscal 20 the fiscal year 22 audit plan has been presented and discussed with the audit committee and today i'm going to share the plan with the school board and our community members and there will be a work session to discuss this very important topic on july 15th where we will have a more extensive dialogue on the details so here is the procedures about how we get to the result and then we are looking at first of all we identify the audit topics by we our audit team to go through the fcps organization and the auditable universe and this year we identified a total of 41 other topics and then the second point is we

142prioritize these other topics through five different channels the first one is to interview with different fcps employees and we also solicit the feedback from the school board and our audit committee members include our citizen members this is the first year that that we are able to get 14 out of 14 responses from you also really really appreciate that and then at the same time we also examined the benchmark data to look at how the other internal audit departments are putting their audit plans together we have looked at a total of 31 of them and then with all this different criteria we come up with the audit plan for next fiscal year as well as the secondary and long-term priorities so here we go here is the key outcomes of the plan for the upcoming year

143and as you can see that the first two are carryover engagements from the current fiscal year number one is the business continuity plan audit the second one is the local school activity funds audit for the year fiscal year june 30th 2021 and we're also in the process of completing a two years review over the fcps special education program and number four through eight listed here are all the new engagements that we come up from from the fi 22 audit plan and they are the community use audit number five is the employee evaluation process audit number six is the it technology platform implementation and hardware acquisition and management audit number seven is the lsaf audit for next fiscal year and the last one is continuous monitoring we will go through each one of them at a

144high level so that we understand the scope of work and before we do that here is a chart that shows the operational plan for the upcoming year with the resources that we have and um so for those of you who may not be aware within oag we have a total of seven auditors including myself and we come up with this plan so that we can map out the blueprint of what we are going to do from july through june and for those of you who would like to understand more about this chart you can go to the appendix 2 of the document the full document that has been uploaded to botdoc so with that i'm going to go over the audit objective and the review objective for the plans that that we put together the

145first one is the business continuity plan audit this is coming from our fiscal year 21 plan we have already started planning and have the scheduled completion date of december of this year the objective and scope to cover under the business continuity plan is listed under the second box on the screen here the first one is to evaluate the existence of if such a plan exists within fcps and number two is to determine if the plan defines the mission-critical operations offices and responsibilities and the third one is to evaluate a reasonableness and the number fourth is to confirm if the plan has been reviewed updated and tested periodically number two this is the local school activity fund audit for this june 30th 2021 fiscal year we need to do that in order to complete compliance with

146the code of virginia code to look at all the lsaf fund including all the approximate 200 fcps sites on an annual basis and we're going to look at the year-end cash balance and because of that that the final division-wide report is expected to be presented to the audit committee in october which is after the year-end close for this project number three the comprehensive program review of the special of our special education services program we be we have began this audit we have began this review since fall last year and the objective and scope are listed here there are four of them to evaluate the current design number two is to evaluate the aqueous adequacy of the human capital resources number three is to analyze alignment with evidence-based practices and number four is to evaluate the

147communication strategies and the first reporting from this review is um expected to be done like in ju in july we will be presenting it to the school board and then the final report is expected to be completed in summer of 2022 so when we come to the audit topic number four these are all the like the new topics that we come up from the uh fiscal year 22 risk assessment the first one is the community use audit and i'm going to highlight the objective and the scope of work here the first one is to evaluate the applicable fcps policy and regulations and the checks and balances when we use the fcps facilities number two is to evaluate if the community groups comply with our terms and conditions and number three is to evaluate a fee

148structure to see if it is reasonableness to see if it is reasonable and number four is to benchmark with the other community use processes in other school districts and we estimated this audit to take five months to complete the next one is about employee evaluation process and again i would like to highlight the objective and scope here with you all about what this audit entails the first one is to evaluate the existing process and number two is to evaluate how the process is managed at the different levels to ensure fidelity of implementation number three is to benchmark with the other school districts and for this audit we estimated it would take five months to complete number six is the it technology platform implementation and hardware acquisition and management audit the objective is to evaluate the

149project management in the department of information technology associated with the technology platform implementation the second one is to review the purchase process number three is to um is to assess the distribution process and the last one is to look at the tracking of keeping of these assets and this audit we estimated to take eight to ten months to complete number seven is the local school activity funds audit lsaf for the upcoming fiscal year as we have already covered the scope of work for before so i would just mention like to mention that that for the schedule we will we'll be doing ongoing school site visit throughout the year as well as continuous monitoring and i'm going to cover about what continuous monitoring means in a second so here we go beginning in fiscal year continuous

150monitoring is one of the ohe focus to include the surprise and continuous components monitoring components of the division transactions throughout the year we have been utilizing technology-based audit techniques to analyze patterns and trends and select specific samples to test and this method allowed us to understand risk and identify exceptions and abnormalities in a timely and efficient manner instead of just relying on specific audit that is going to be conducted so it helped us to select samples in a smarter way and be able to identify a needle if there is in the haystack and number nine is uh the other oag duties as i have been mentioning them in the beginning of my presentation so i won't go through them in details but we will continue with all this initiate initiative that we have started implementing

151during fy 21 and before and here are the next steps from tonight so we are presenting it to the school board and also community members tonight at this school board meeting and there will be a work session on july 13th and then there will be an approval night on july 15th and then the last two slides are some helpful links if any of the school board members or these community members if you want to understand more about our audit process as well as our fraud waste and abuse hotline reporting here is some useful link that you can click too so with that my presentation is complete i just want to see if any school board members have any questions thank you very much mrs kell mr the light's on later on okay i was just

152going by the lights miss kubrick sanders please go ahead yes thank you miss co and uh we are so appreciative of all of the work that you've done over the five years you've been with the system i just have two small questions tonight that you don't have to answer tonight but you can if you'll be ready to answer them during our work session that would be great on page 8 where you were talking about the business continuity audit in today's world we know more than ever that our i.t infrastructure and the threats of cyber attacks are create a vulnerability in our business continuity i was a little surprised that we did not specifically put on that slide the it piece and so the chief information technology officer and so i would like to have some

153assurances that we're addressing that as well as the restoration of a network if something were to happen the second is on page 11 with community use um so glad you're looking at this but one of our largest community users is our sac program and so i hope that as you do the community use you will also address what portion of our buildings are used for sac and whether or not we have any revenue sharing with the county on this and whether or not we recover the cost and what what recommendations you have in both general community use as well as our sac programs got it thank you thank you mr maysha thank you so much miss ko always uh pleased and impressed with your work and the professionalism with which you conducted um i did

154have a question uh specifically related to the meeting we had previously when you presented your the audit report um and in looking at the various topics that we can examine whether there may have been anything you found in terms of an alternate role for the audit office remember we were taught we had talked about a potential collaboration or the way that the school board could even utilize some of your expertise um to take a look at things in a way that's different than the typical kind of topics that we look into you know like the finances every year and things like that so i was wondering if you had given that any thought um perhaps in incorporating it in the risk assessment or some of the identification of the future topics sure thank you miss

155mage um definitely after the discussion like in the different forums right that we know that that there are like expectations from the school board that we may be looking beyond the compliance testing right like more about effectiveness and efficiency that we tried our best to incorporate into this upcoming year audit plan and then while there are some areas that may not be our core competency such as program evaluation that we also discuss that in details as well that we may need more time to think about how we can structure our office right if this is something that that the school board would like my office to support so that we have the right resources the right professional in order to conduct the work but definitely we plan the seat in this year and trying to

156start thinking because it's not just just one year right it's a very um diligent planning in order for that to happen and thank you so much for your feedback no absolutely and i appreciated you offering some of that i think you know to my colleagues i would say that this is one of the few offices that we directly oversee um and you know obviously we hire auditor general so i i would just think it might uh be worth thinking about uh outside of the box a little bit as to ways that we can utilize musco's expertise and and and think rethink the way that this office could be could function i mean i know in the past it's it's you know been a bit different under the superintendent et cetera there's been some shifts over

157the years um and this is just an opportunity for us to think about you know like we did with the special education audit right with the experts and um additional topics that we might measure the effectiveness of uh through the office but um i hope that in future conversations we can examine that thank you thank you miss omage miss keisgamara yes thank you i'm glad to follow my colleague i wanted to assure her uh we discussed extensively even in planning our meetings the comments that were discussed previously about expanding the role uh but if this co is i think she's still standing there uh miss co can you tell me or tell the board how many uh uh employees you have uh other auditors working in in the office for our organization sure uh thank

158you miss keith tomorrow so including myself we have seven auditors and then we have one uh executive assistant that support the office okay um and is that typical for an organization of this size so i don't have the benchmark information with me at this point but through my understanding with the other jurisdictions i think our size is comparable however of course with some of the bigger school districts and i think like i don't have the exact name with me but i can provide that information to the school board later maybe at the work session that some of them do have a bigger team but i would need to provide those data to you all at a later time yes i wanted to make sure i asked that because i remember being in a meeting a

159few years ago um we had visitors from overseas i believe and they were amazed that the num the amount of work we did with the number of people that we have having said that um i know and from our discussions with not only the audit committee but uh members on this board that accountability is uh taken very seriously and so i want to thank you for assisting us in that and i know that we stepped out with the sped review that we uh implemented we issued an rfp for about probably about a year ago now and we await those uh results but oftentimes we do need expertise to accompany you um when we are doing these types of evaluations so there can be some budgetary concerns first of all making sure that we have enough

160employees to be able to carry that loan and then second of all that we uh we have the expertise necessary to evaluate properly and then we also have statutory requirements uh if you'd like to talk about that a little bit i'd like to make sure the public understood or has an opportunity to understand that thank you very much miss keys gamora i wasn't finished miss cole i was allowing miss code to answer to explain why some of the other topics are included as they are yes i think uh maybe miss keith kamara is referring to uh the local school activity funds audits that is a statutory requirement by the state code that we need to look at the cash positions of lsaf local school activity fund on a annual basis so even though that that

161it sounds really a compliance driven audit but we have to keep that on a yearly basis okay so i wanted to make sure we kept that in mind and then i also wanted to just support some of the comments that were made um i i too am very concerned in light of um what we know has happened in many organizations and i know that there has been some discussion uh even at the last audit meeting about project management and uh the implementation of that so i just wanted to mention to my colleagues that we will be having uh that conversation going forward to discuss it as well as project management and the possible role in this particular uh audit cycle so i i wanted to make sure i mentioned that and thank you miss co

162for an excellent presentation as always thank you miss donna kofax miss marin yes thank you miss ko i've i'm so um grateful for your work just a question i'm aware that uh mr sethi our assistant superintendent for technology is going to be reviewing the basically doing an intake of all of our hardware and software especially that were purchased during the pandemic and i'm just wondering how that combines with your work on the audit topic that is about the i.t inventory management and also i know initially you had proposed um one topic about inventory management and one about acquisition and distribution so is that now combined into the one you presented it is okay so two questions so you guys to that one and then just about working with the department of information technology on on

163their work is it one of the same or something you'll do in parallel sure thank you miss marin so yes we combined it the topics into one so that to get more synergy because for us as an auditor when we looked at the documentation we will start follow from the purchase and then through the distribution how they are being tracked at the end and how they're being managed so we combined that and then we also combined the project management aspect into this particular audit topic as well trying to cue many um first with one stone i'm trying to get my acronym correct so to answer your second questions about how to work with the department right to make sure that there is no duplication of work and make sure that what we do is value

164added so we definitely will be in close con contact with mr saffie and then to ensure that what we do is not duplicating with what he does so i think that conversation needs to take place and i will definitely do that before the work session so that i can have a complete answer for you fabulous thank you thank you seeing that there are no other speakers we thank you for the presentation miss co and we look forward to the work session in a few weeks item 4.02 nomination for vsba northeastern regional chair i call him miss cohen for the motion i moved that the board approved the nomination of karen corbett sanders as northeastern regional chair for the virginia school board association is there a second a second thank you miss mccarskey miss conan would

165you like to speak to your motion i'd be happy to i am thrilled to be able to support um our good friend and former past chair um karen corbett sanders to represent all of us on the north as the northeastern regional chair i know that she will hopefully be able to just do an amazing job for all of us here in this area and really help strengthen the partnership with fcps and the virginia school board association thank you miss picarski would you like to speak to your second i will just quickly i'm happy to second this i think karen you would be an excellent choice for this position and i know you have so many relationships and you've always made a concerted effort to create relationships with other board members in other jurisdictions and i

166think that is going to be good for this board and good for northern virginia you know northeastern school boards in general so i am happy to support you as you move on any other board members wishing to speak seeing none i will now call for the vote excuse me the motion before us is to approve the nomination of karen corbett sanders at northeastern regional chair for the virginia school board association all those in favor miss carpet sanders mr frisch mr mesh miss cohen miss picarski miss tolin miss marin miss seismo heiser ms daranak kofax ms keys gamara and myself that is unanimous congratulations ms keys miss corbett sanders thank you very much agenda item 4.03 governance committee recommended changes to policy 4430 conflict of interest i call him mr frisch for the motion i move

167that the board approved the governance committee recommended changes to policy 4430 conflict of interest is there a second thank you miss corbett sanders mr frisch would you like to speak to your motion yes thank you uh let me just pull up the notes here so tonight the board is considering changes to policy 4430 on conflicts of interest these changes result from 18 months of work spanning two iterations of the governance committee to that end i'd like to thank my governance committee colleagues for their contributions to this important work miss corbett sanders miss mclaughlin miss amash miss picarski and miss kisgamara i also want to thank miss kennedy for her tireless legal assistance and our auditor general miss coe for her insights and all of the other staff members who contributed to this work the purpose

168of policy 4430 is to establish the school board's commitment to ensuring compliance with the uniform standards of conduct contained in the virginia state and local government conflicts of interest act including the avoidance of any conflicts of interest between employees personal and or economic interest and their official duties the changes we are considering tonight strengthen our approach to addressing conflicts of interest in a few simple but important transparency inspiring ways they clarify awards or payments for meritorious or exceptional service from non-profit entities are not considered prohibited gifts they clarify gifts to employees from students or families while not prohibited should be of limited value they define possible penalties for employees or former employees found to have violated the provisions of the policy including the possibility of being deemed ineligible for future employment with the school system

169they develop special provisions for senior level employees which it also defines and as noted above it includes upon hiring the disclosure of outside employment clarifying such work that it is in compliance with this policy and the division regulations requiring written approval from the superintendent or a designee prior to accepting outside positions or appointments paid or unpaid superintendent must provide the school board with at least 48 hours of written notice before approving these requests and it requires senior level employees to file internal disclosure forms related to potential conflicts of interest in contracts and transactions as well as outside employment with that i would like to yield the remainder of the time here to ms corbett sanders who can speak to her second and offer additional context and background thank you mr fresh miss corbett sanders would

170you like to speak to your second yes madam chair it's my pleasure to speak to mr frisch's no motion as mr frisch mentioned the governance committee has worked extensively on this policy and it is a great example of the importance of the work that the auditor general performs as well the work stems from the work of our auditor general whom identified the importance of having a conflict of interest policy that addressed those important issues that mr frisch just mentioned she did this as a result of three separate auditing activities in which she did not find anything wrong but rather identified ways in which we could strengthen our processes and so it is with pleasure that i am seconding this but i also wanted to address why we're doing it tonight rather than having a work

171session and addressing it at a later date and this is because time is of the essence our fiscal year starts on july 1st the next meeting is actually after july 1st but we will be entering into our organizational arrangements including our leadership contracts in july and so it is important for us to finish the work on this policy tonight so that everybody knows about the new policy in advance of the next fiscal year and so with that i'm very happy to see us on a path of continuous improvement which is a philosophy i think everybody on this board embraces a philosophy of transparency and accountability and that's what this conflict of interest policy does thank you thank you ms corbett sanders any other board members wishing to speak to this motion seeing none i will

172now call for the vote all in favor of the motion as presented by mr frisch miss corbett sanders mr frisch miss omaesh miss cohen miss picarski miss miss tolen miss marin missisma heiser ms darnach kofax miss kisgamara and myself that is unanimous thank you mr fresh at this time i will um hand the gavel over to our vice chair sorry all right agenda item five consent agenda adopted rules of parliamentary procedure robert's rules provide for consent agenda listing several items for approval of the board by a single motion many items listed have gone through board review and documentation has been provided to all board members and the public in advance items may be removed from the consent agenda that request of any board member prior to the meeting the consent agenda items are on the

173screen is there any objection to approving this consent agenda hearing and seeing none the consent agenda is approved item six new business the following are new business agenda items there will not be a vote on these items tonight but action will be scheduled for a future meeting these new business items are now on your screen thank you miss bakarski item 701 superintendent matters i call on dr brabrand for his remarks thank you chairman anderson i'll be super brief this evening just want to uh highlight some of the outstanding work of our cte programs i know several board members have the opportunity to see our fcps students complete their 10th home with another home already under construction next door it's a partnership between fcps and our foundation for applied technical education and it's been around 40

174years of course this year we had coveted we had the challenges uh when construction was forced to shut down but we had 15 to 20 students all over the age of 16 work side by side with subcontractors and when allowable we're able to go in and build the houses the 5 bedroom 4 bathroom house is now on the market built with universal design meaning minimal steps and extra wide doors it's safe and accessible for everyone regardless of age or physical ability and these homes are funded through fate and proceeds you're used to fund future projects and one of the students shane who's a 2021 graduate from south county is working now in a career in carpentry shane's mom michelle monday said her son thrives in interactive learning and that's partly because he's a student with

175special needs has a mild form of cerebral palsy which impacts hand movements but he's worked hard to keep up and actually attended advanced classes in high school around cte and his passion and really has found this new passion in building homes this is just another one of those amazing programs that we do that changes kids lives i wanted to lift that up tonight and i just want to say you know nathan you heard from everybody else but everybody in fcps thousands of students and teachers have the highest respect for you you are a gentleman you are a scholar you're humble but you also showed a model of respectful advocacy which this world this country and yes fairfax county public schools needs now more than ever and i hope your model of respectful advocacy is something

176that everybody can take away and say how do we keep working to make the place better but still honor the dignity and human value that every person here every person who comes to speak to us cares about their community cares about their school system and wants to see the best for it and how do we bring people together and you have been a model the entire year it saddens me a little bit the first time we get to see you live and in person of course i did get to see with the pie in the face a few months ago and that was a lot of in-person experience at one moment but i'm very proud of you everybody here is very proud of you and come back this is always your home this is always

177your family thank you nathan thank you dr brabrand um thank you for sharing those comments regarding nathan's character it is very very much needed in these in these times um item 9.01 board matters no [Laughter] not just quite 8.01 board committee reports we have a few we will start with ms seisma heiser for a public engage from the public engagement committee thank you dr anderson and i was really excited for a minute but so the public engagement committee met earlier this week and we continued to work on the on our forum topic around revising the processes and of our advisory committees we're nearly done with i think a pretty extensive advisory committee operating manual which is really i think groundbreaking work in getting a lot of guidance and and giving um a manual for consistency

178in our operating in our the operation and processes for advisory committees to really respect the work that our community members and volunteers do on those committees so we really talked a lot about membership and types of membership and really looking for consistent review in our memberships and how that process works and the criteria for memberships so we are ensuring that the community members that are on our board are really related to and tied to the mission and purpose of the advisory committees and then we shifted that was for the last major section of our advisory committee operating manuals then we shifted to starting to talk about the individual committees and the needs of each individual committee and how we could better give guidance to our committee so i'm really excited that this this is really

179huge work that we're getting ready to wrap up in peck and bring to the board for conversation and so um that hopefully will be done very soon thank you very much to mrs corbett sanders mr frish and miss omesh my pet committee members for all their hard work and really incredible ideas we'll be uh we also have um taken the feedback from our citizen participation or community participation um updates and from the work session that we had and we shall hopefully be talking about that tomorrow as well so i'm really excited about the really big work that peck has done this year and um look forward to continuing that great work thank you thank you very much miss miss heiser miss marin for a budget committee report yes just a quick reminder please to the

180board that after our june 7th public hearing on the esser funding the budget staff is really eager to hear your particular input on spending of the esr funds we've heard from just a few school board members so we you can submit that in writing or if you want to schedule a time to talk with ms burden please do so they're very eager to hear from us thank you thank you very much now item 9.01 board matters i call him miss corbett sanders i will be very brief i'm doing a shout out to the south county stallion nation they rocked this week we have the south county women's soccer team as the new state champions woo hoo and we have south counties softball team playing in the state championship in midlothian virginia on saturday so we

181wish the ladies well we know that they will be bringing home the we hope they'll be bringing home the um the gold and so with that um good evening oh one last thing real quick the environmental expo at fort hunt park on saturday it's a great place to learn about all sorts of sustainable energy and environmental projects thank you the all south county channel miss dare not cofax i do want to comment on dr brabrand's comments about the fate house as that sits in my region i am so excited about all of the opportunities that provides for our student each and every year i always say it's the best example of our hands-on experiential learning and for those of you who are able to see it this year i you know what i mean and

182for those who aren't next year there's another house in the making so we look forward to welcoming you there and i also want to say congratulations to the lewis lancers men's soccer team for making it to the state championship game and while they did not win that game we are so proud of them for their hard-fought journey and um you know there's always next year but but you guys did great and i'm very proud of you as is your whole community thank you very much miss zeno at colfax mr fresh i hope everybody has a nice summer thank you mr fred okay that was not it no that is it that was it we've had a long week jumped the gun there thank you keys gemara i wanted to say amen to mr fresh i

183want to wish everybody a great summer please know that our staff are working hard to try to make sure that those that need summer supports will have access to that parents happy to talk with you i'm hoping that we can work together as a community to improve how we express our disagreement following the great example of our student representative and to those that were harmed by some of the language tonight please know that we do not stand for any type of hate and we hope that adults will learn that we've got to speak to one another with respect even when we disagree thank you guys and have a great night thank you very much miss keys gamara miss marin yes i wanted to share um an interesting uh experience i had today advocating on our

184behalf to the foia council at the state the subcommittee to try to see if we can get this electronic meeting flexibility to continue after july 1. and it's not only for us it's for our constituents and i made the case about how so many more parents have been able to be engaged and you know come and give their comments and get back to their children at home how people are appointed to committees want to serve but the first question is well can i do it virtually so um i've been partnering with other elected officials we submitted a letter with over 300 signatures 80 of those were elected officials 150 were appointees from 16 counties in the state so we have more to do but it's little by little we're getting there so thanks for my

185colleagues for signing on and helping with that i too loved the open house with fate and i am so jazzed to figure out more ways for our students to do more with career and technical education i have lots of ideas and i make your first staff to you know know that we support them so they can do that stuff i had a good time at rest in pride at juneteenth at the first baptist church of vienna it has been a very full week and it was wonderful to see people in person and that only makes me more excited to welcome our students and staff back in the fall and i also just want to speak to the pta resolution real quickly our ptas are such wonderful resources it is a tried and true organization you

186know it has three goals student and family enrichment fundraising to add on to school budget funds and then community engagement and relationship building and it's so important now more than ever that we protect our ptas and ptsas there has been a trend with some folks kind of abandoning their pta and i hope that people will really consider the benefits that our pta ptsos bring and the support they bring in the community so um finally you know i just want to say i keep trying to keep the motto of trust civility and respect in mind i know there's a lot of hurt out there and a lot of anger but you know we have to figure out ways to get over our this moral injury that we've suffered and each of us has suffered at different

187ways and um you know i just wish us peace and that we can work together peacefully and that we do hear the public and we're trying to to do our best and can't always grant what you want but modeling how to be civil with each other will really help our students as well thank you thank you very much miss marin mr meish i promised some people that we're going to pass tonight but um i did want to just make sure everyone was aware that we do have summer mental health supports so if you need that student's parents it is available directly so be in touch with your school if that's something you can benefit from thank you mr mage miss pakarski i'll i'll just quickly say um i had a fun trip to my local

188library with all my kids this week and i just wanted to remind people that if you are looking for something to do this summer um and and if you engage in no academic activity at all please do take a trip to your public library they have many many summer programs that would add lots of value i think to a summer experience and i would also like to thank the jcrc for an invitation today to attend a virtual town hall with them and have the opportunity to hear from some of our families in our system and and continue to build bridges and collaborate and work together so that we are best able to serve all our students in fcps thank you thank you miss eisenheiser um thank you just just briefly um i'm really grateful to

189everyone who came to my office hours this week i'm grateful to the principals i'm starting my principal meet and greets virtually that i did last year i think i ended up speaking to 90 principals last year and i'm starting around again this year to really just a 15-minute virtual meet and greet it's really nice as an at-large member trying to get to know 200 schools to build at least have a little introduction and thank you to the community members who came to my office hours i was really also grateful to meet with the national arab american women's association education outreach program to talk about to talk with them and looking forward also to meeting with the jcrc and i would just say the the importance in this day and age especially is to model as

190nathan does all the time respectful listening and he's like please stop talking about me now um but to model respectful listening and so i'll just end my remarks by saying that um i meant to say this to you nathan earlier and you often talked about worry about whether you were making a difference or um living up to your obligation to the students who voted you in this position we had many conversations about that and i can tell you that from my perspective you will leave fcps forever changed based not just on the words in your advocacy but in the actions and how you advocated and i hope that the whole all of us can continue to learn from that model that you gave us thank you massage my heiser miss tolin yes um the drainsville

191area was devastated this past week to hear the news of some of the deaths are in our in herndon i'm sorry we were devastated to hear the news of some deaths in herndon this week including two of our students at herndon elementary school my prayers are with the community and the family as they're holding a prayer vigil tonight our wonderful haunted community and our elementary school staff has been coming together to support families that have been affected directly or indirectly by this tragedy please if you need help or want any help with this please reach out to the administration and heard in elementary school they're doing a tremendous job with this on a lighter note we are welcoming two new principles to drainsville spring hill elementary school i would like to give a huge shout

192out and a thank you to sal rivera for his work over this entire year as the interim principal and a huge welcome to maria eck the current principal of justice high school who is now selected as the new principal at spring hill elementary school effective july 1. and at herndon elementary school we've had a fabulous interim principal marty jo jackson and we are now welcoming candice huntstead the current principal at fairfield elementary school she's new the new principal at herndon elementary school effective july 1 and we are starting the process for a new principal at clearview elementary school so we'll be meeting in the next couple weeks with the community on that um in drainsville we have one of our mclean high school students is an american ninja warrior max feinberg a mclean high school

193rising senior appeared on season 13 of american ninja warrior this past weekend he played his trombone he's in the marching band at mclean high school he completed the course you have to watch the video even with a difficult pretzel twist and we'll move on to the semi-finals he dedicated his run on this course to his mother who is under treatment for breast cancer amazing we look forward to max's next impressive run through the course way to go max let's see a huge thank you to girl scout troop five zero zero seven five for their research on electric buses we heard from them earlier this evening your help to tell the public about why an investment here is necessary to help us move forward with our joint environmental task force goals is incredible and we'll be

194talking about those goals in the next couple of weeks so thank you girls we really appreciate all your hard work um i cannot thank the jewish community relations council for sending i can't thank them enough for setting up a conversation today with community members and stella picarski and myself it was very helpful to hear directly from you and to have the conversation and i look forward to continued collaboration toward more inclusivity in our schools i'm looking forward to attending the email for an environmental expo tomorrow hosted by our fellow jet leadership member supervisor dan stork i'm looking forward to visiting summer programs out in the schools over the next couple weeks and please i'm today was fabulous and there's a big moon out there tonight get out there and enjoy it enjoy the summer weather

195and enjoy this break from school for a little bit with your family thank you thank you so much miss tolin miss cohen thank you so much i you know just want to speak directly to our trans and gender expansive students i am so sorry that it seems like every single school board meeting you are continuing to hear folks who invalidate how important you are how valid you are and continually tell you that your pronouns don't matter that where you go to the bathroom should be their decision and i just want to tell you we don't feel that way and we can't do anything to stop unfortunately people continuing to testify but i do want you to know for this school board member it falls on very deaf ears and we hear you and we see

196you and i know that it is very traumatic every time you continue to hear it so i'm sorry that you have to in the springfield district i just want to say thanks again to penny gross welcome to region 4. thank you again to mr pearson for all of your service to fcps we have welcomed three new principals um miss christine ritter at king's glenn miss allison jankowicz at sangster and miss linda peace this week at keene mill elementary school we're excited to get to start the school year with you and can't wait for august 23rd and again a huge shout out to south county i get to share that with my colleague miss corbett sanders and so proud of the women's soccer team um and the softball team holy cow you guys really have killed

197it this year this is coming from a very pained lake braddock parent um but you guys have been amazing so congratulations to all of you one stallion thank you very much miss cohen i will briefly uh make some remarks um as was noted earlier the fate open house earlier this week was just a tremendous opportunity i had a chance to take my little daughter on that tour and she and i both we were ready to move in so i'm just very grateful to the instructor ron merenhardt who was in hand to provide information about the project which is one of the three korean technical education programs available for our students through the foundation i'd like to say a very hearty welcome to mike astudio who is going who has been named as the new principal

198at columbia elementary school and he will begin july 1. interesting story about mike it was that he was a student at columbia elementary school and recalls going into the principal's office in the to the very place where he will now be working from um he served for seven years as the assistant principal at mcnair upper elementary and also at chantilly high school so welcome to mason district well rather welcome back just want to brag a little bit on the students at justice high school the crew team won silver in the states so congratulations to the wolves the men's varsity quad team took silver in the state rowing championship last weekend four additional justice teams competed in the finals the women's varsity quad took third place the men's junior quad men's double and women's double team

199doubles teams each took fifth place congratulations to all of those athletes on july 4th i'm very excited to be judging the annual bike and trike parade at boy hill crest recreation so i am looking forward to judging some very cool bikes just a very quick reminder to not just our families in the mason district but throughout fairfax county that all me all students will have access to free weekly meal kits beginning next week monday june 28th seven days of breakfast and lunch will be available in weekly kits distributed at 10 sites and updated on bus routes adult meals are also available for purchase at those distribution sites please check the website for locations lastly i do want to say thank you to all of the mason district appointees the various school board committees i appreciate

200your time and your effort and i'm looking forward to continuing to have many of you represent the mason district into the next year that will conclude my comments for this evening it is now 10 24 and our meeting is adjourned you