FCPS School Board Meeting 6-18-20

001all right everyone this June 18 20 2011 of the Fairfax County School Board will now come to order I will take a roll call dr. Anderson rise that miss Cullen here mr. Frisch I'm here sorry about that no worries um miss Keyes Gemara here miss McLaughlin Miss Marron here miss Oh mesh here miss Piekarski here miss Sizemore Heiser I'm here miss haulin miss : all right I'm miss Boateng here miss Botz Hank thank you and Miss Korbut Sanders I see you're getting settled here I am here can you hear me now we can hear you yeah it's just there you go you got the camera all right we are ready to rise now as our student representative Kimberly Bois Tang leaves us in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag so

002what your stands one nation under God thank you now and we'll turn it back over to miss corporate Sanders I call on Miss Karski for a recognition of the school board character Award recipient thank you that very excited to be able to offer this recognition today the school board character award was initiated by former speeding representative to the school board Chris childer Ali and established by the Student Advisory Council in 2001 the Apple Federal Credit Union Education Foundation has generously funded the $500 award since 2007 the award is given to a junior or senior who demonstrates a continuous record of high morale strong integrity and good character and who is recognized as a role model for students in Fairfax County Public Schools in day-to-day behavior it is my honor to announce that the recipient of

003the 2020 school board character award is Daniela Barrera Flores a senior at Centerville High School Daniela is a tremendous source of hope and inspiration for the Centerville High School community Daniela immigrated to the United States and initially struggled to adapt she did not speak any English and left behind her friends her family and community Daniela worked hard and became stronger more independent ambitious and persistent through her immigrant experience she learned to appreciate this things she has in life and to work hard to reach her goals Daniela's dedication and persistence enabled her brought her progress from taking ESL classes in middle school to earning aides in honors and AP English classes in high school Daniela success is you to her grit and perseverance through challenges her experience in AP English language is indicative of her approach

004to all of her classes she embraces rigor works incredibly hard to gain skills and is tireless in her pursuit of knowledge and academic success Daniella is committed to helping those around her and devoting her time energy and considerable intellect to bettering her community she is a regular volunteer at a variety of programs and events that hold a special place in her heart such as the Latina scigirls program the Hispanic College Institute and the Word of Life International Church she has donated her time and skills to support the Centreville immigration center and the consulate of Guatemala she is also completing an internship of the immigrants first PLLC in Manassas Virginia as a natural leader Daniela has been selected to participate in the June Jennifer Weston High School Leadership Program and the Hispanic College Institute leadership program

005at Virginia Tech University Daniella is a value driven student with sterling integrity she values making a difference in the lives of others and dedicates her time to helping others in the school Daniela has taken on an assistant role in the East Hall Department where she works with students individually and in groups to help them access their education and resources Daniela helped create this world seeing the need in her school and volunteering to take on the work that went with it Daniela truly believes in improving the local community and the world she lives in and happily devotes her time to creating a positive difference please join me in congratulating Daniela Barrera Flores on this great achievement and I know we have Danielle and her family with us virtually we are all so proud of you congratulations

006cannot wait to see what you do in the future thank you so much Daniela we are so proud of you and when we are able to be back together in person perhaps we can get a picture with the board but it's unfortunate that we can't do that today I know yes but definitely I will be there and once again thank you guys so much I really appreciate it and it means a lot to you thank you them home make us proud Daniela will do and now I am very pleased to call on mrs. keys Gemara for a recognition of June team thank you madam chair where is the month of June is a time that many in our nation recognize Juneteenth as the holiday that celebrates Emancipation Day the day in history when the last

007state ratified ratified the Emancipation Proclamation and where is this date marked the time period where African Americans of Texas received notice from President Lincoln that slavery had been abolished a declaration that was codified in the Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States and whereas June 19 also marks the day that African Americans and the southern states exercised independence from those who benefited from their labors and the founding of this nation and whereas the journey of African Americans represents both great achievements and great hardships and whereas our nation is currently witnessing the injustice is of the African American journey that have existed for far too long this June 19th celebration weighs heavily on our hearts and our minds in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd and others who have not been treated

008equally under the law and whereas the pain and anguish displayed on our national stage developed from generations of systemic racism that impacts our students families staff and communities where is the educational institution of this nation including FCPS has a particular responsibility to recognize the painful realities of our history and make sure that our curriculum reflects these realities and whereas working with the community as one Fairfax this board is committed to identifying actionable items prove policies and procedures they give greater access to opportunities to ensure that students families and staff do not experience inequities in Fairfax County Public Schools and whereas we value diversity and are united and our opposition to racism and hate we stand in solidarity with our african-american students educators staff and their families now therefore be it resolved at the Fairfax County

009Public Schools hereby officially commemorates Juneteenth as a day to celebrate and emphasize a collective call to action against injustice of any kind I so move I so move is there a second to this dr. Anderson second miss Keys Gemara would you like to speak to your recognition I do and I will ask for your patience ahead of time I get so passionate about these issues indeed today we do recognize the significance of the date mark Juneteenth for african-americans and for all Americans and with that I am going to share a personal story that ties in not only the significance of this announcement back in Texas which incidents and coincidentally came more than two years after the actual signing of the Emancipation Proclamation it was a delay symbolic of what we are experiencing in this nation

010so yesterday my personal story is this I got a call from my son who just recently graduated from college and he had witnessed a domestic violence incident you didn't quite know what to do but he was very aware of the things going on in our nation so he took cover called the police make sure the young lady got help and they asked him to stay there and wait for the police and his statement is truly a statement on where we are in this nation because as he talked to the police and gave a description of himself he had to say I'm a black man please don't shoot me I want you to let that sink in my son's response to this interaction is the result of our failure as a nation to truly deal with

011the inequities in our nation and our unwillingness to really accept what happened as we accept a slave 400 years ago african-americans came from nations from a continent of cultures and families and kings and queens they were humanity but all of that was ignored in the slave trade and we didn't we never really stopped to say that it was wrong yes we had opportunities we had the Dred Scott case they went to the United States Supreme Court and that was well the United I'm sorry go ahead and just keep Komara okay we had an opportunity to turn away from those things and we'd have so an opportunity so many times before whether it was that case or lynchings or the KKK or a number of other opportunities but in looking at what has happened to George

012Floyd we now know that our shortcomings are far too great so we must recognize the unacceptable numbers of such things as the unacceptable numbers of people who have been African Americans that have been accepted to teach a we have to recognize that that is a manifestation of problems within our system that we have to have greater access and opportunity to advanced academics to affordable housing to Economic Opportunity and so we have to clean our own house yes we have to get rid of confederate names and a number of other things and so I've simply want to say we have begun to tear down these things we have begun to address the problems but celebrating this day will mean nothing if we don't do anything and so I challenge all of us and I know that

013my board members will stand with us as we remove the barriers that have created these inequities and impact our students unjustly thank you thank you very much miss Keyes Gemara dr. Anderson I'm just so very glad to suck in this resolution and a lot of the things that I've written to my comments have been stated by mr. Keyes tomorrow even though we did not work on this together at all so I'm just gonna go ahead and jump in Juneteenth is a holiday that was but for to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved people in the u.s. emancipation the fact or process of being set free from legal social or political restriction liberation I highlight this definition because since the first Juneteenth celebration in 1865 legal social and political restrictions on African Americans remain a fixture all

014of our institutions today I joined the voices to focus this year's recognition of Juneteenth not only a celebratory but as a call to action I seek for us as a school board and school division to reflect on what it means to liberate our students of color and staff from legal social and political restrictions in our schools restrictions that impede limit or restrict educational opportunities I strongly urge FCPS community to commit to the work of moving the needle on the issues presented to our students and families the symbolic observation of Juneteenth does little for students and families who are consistently on the receiving end of systemic inequities such as but certainly not limited to access to rigorous academic instruction including but not limited to teach admissions special education over-representation disciplinary disproportionality schools named in honor of

015those who sought to oppress or those who sympathize their causes and mascot names that are derogatory in nature to various groups daily lapped of accountability to behaviors and actions that support a culture of low expectations for some of our students or disregard for basic humanity these are a few of the immediate issues that we can address and honor of Juneteenth that I will be holding myself accountable to and I urge our colleagues to join me in this call to action as we shared previously and the forum rhetoric without action might as well not take place thank you thank you dr. Anderson do any of my other colleagues want to speak to this so dr. Anderson and Miss Keys Gemara I am so pleased that you all brought this resolution forward it is something that I

016feel very passionately about and it actually builds on the letter that this board sent to the community just a couple of weeks ago and it is a call to action and so I very much appreciate what you've you've brought here I believe that we need to include Juneteenth in all future recognitions going forward on the school board meeting closest to the 19th of June I also think it will be a wonderful period of time every year that we do self-reflection to say what have we done to honor what we are signing on to today what how are we making systemic changes to positively impact our black students families and staff and so thank you so much for what you've done here it is greatly appreciated I now see that miss McLaughlin would like to say

017something miss McLaughlin I guess I just want to quickly say that not only do I appreciate the eloquent words of both of my colleagues who brought forward this resolution on recognizing Juneteenth but I also want to express my appreciation to dr. brand and our County Executive Brian kill who worked collaboratively to ensure that now County and school employees will have this as a formal holiday to also honor the day and have an opportunity for reflection and as dr. Anderson and both miss Keith Mara said in actions without words do not bring a the change that we want to see in our communities and so I am so thrilled that you've both identified where we need much change and growth in opportunities for all students in Fairfax County and really appreciate the way that you've kept

018it here today on what is truly a historic and long overdue recognition of a solemn day in our nation's history but one that brings a lot of hope q miss McLaughlin mr. Nate Kovacs yes and I - I want to share I want to thank my colleagues for bringing this forward and I missed keys tomorrow I know you brought this up last year and I understand your passion as dr. Anderson and I've heard from many people just it just today about because we are recognizing this in Fairfax as as tomorrow as a holiday and it's a day of reflection and I you have a pledge from me as a fellow board member that this will be something that we will work on together these will not just be words without action and as we move

019forward we move forward in on this road we will work together to make sure the inequities that you're speaking of and that we see that we've seen will continue will not continue and will be addressed so thank you all thank you mr. Knapp Koufax miss amiss thank you and thank you Karen and Rikki for McCarty for reading the recognition with the encouragement of Kimberly and to give voice to Kimberly Nathan and all the students in our schools who now have the opportunity to reflect on this to celebrate this and the emancipation of many people and to think that this is a start to teaching our history that this is why narratives are so important and this is why when we live in a county of its diverse it is critical for us to reflect on

020the histories of all kinds of people in particular those who when when our nation was had declared its independence in 76 and had yet to find that for all people and for african-americans in particular in 1865 and it took that long for our country to decide that something like slavery was unjust and that you know for whether it was African Americans or even Native Americans who were enslaved and the combinations in between that the struggle for emancipation was something real in this country I want us to just reflect on that that it was actually acceptable once upon a time and that leaders across this country probably dated like that so now in celebration of the opposite you think about liberty and freedom being something that is not just physical now that we've moved past that

021right it's don't stall it it's no fun but it's mental and having a bit canary the burdens of discrimination or things like that certainly speak to the need to continue pushing forth freedom and I don't want to kind of water down you know the holidays so in being positive without that and looking forward to further achievements I'm happy to celebrate this I'm happy to see now that it is gonna be a holiday across the board for all of us and hope that we can be proactive to beat the state next time to doing this and and certainly connect having known that a third of the slaves that came here shared my faith and there's much intersectionality with that so I think it's the happy Jew tooth all those and we'll just tomorrow June 19th so

022and here's to many more celebrations of freedom in the future thank you miss oh me I will say that this was put on the calendar a couple of weeks ago so I think technically we did beat the state but we're glad to join the state in this celebration miss Sizemore hyzer great thank you very much and I also want to echo a great appreciation and thanks to my colleagues miss Keith Kamara and dr. Anderson for bringing forth this recognition and for their very heartfelt and wise and and much-needed words of and so I don't want a sort of center of my own words too much in this I wanted to speak up to say that when I participated in the swearing-in back in December the book I carried with me was a people's history of

023the United States and it was my copy that I got in college and is because this mission of centering voices that haven't been heard and making sure that our history reflects all of the people in all of our rich histories is is so important to me that that's why why the the message I want to destroy myself in on so I I'm just here to say I'm pledging to also not have words or actions and to be an ally moving forward to make sure that every in our schools is our equally respected included valued and everybody's histories and cultures are studied and understood and valued from varied perspectives and from a lens of the deep and rich history of which we all have so thank you and I appreciate it and I'm looking forward to

024standing alongside you all as we move this work forward thank you miss Sizemore hyzer miss Cohen I really appreciate my colleagues bringing up this resolution as well and I in the spirit of making sure that these are not words that their actions I really challenge all of us to look at what are the systemic issues and FCPS that leave many of our black African American students to feel other to feel like they are not supportive and sometimes that they're actively in a system that feels like it's working against them so as Miss Keyes Gemara said in the forum topic today regarding the name change for Mosby woods we have low hanging fruit work that needs to happen systemically and we need to work on our hiring practices we need to work on our professional development

025we need to work on our srn our we need to work on AP and TJ we need school specific interventions around anti racism we need anti-racist curriculum we need to have conversations about the roles of SROs in our schools and we need to tackle truancy and make sure that we are not inadvertently participating in the school to Prison Pipeline those are just the very beginning of conversations that when you need to have as a board and as a community and I hope that if there's any but to come from all of the bad that we have seen in and all that has been exposed in the last few weeks I hope it will be real action more than just a resolution of a recognition of an incredibly important day so thank you thank you McCowen

026miss Marion I'm very pleased to support this resolution and pleased that the superintendent was granted as a day of observance for our staff who's Cohen outlines the task before us and I'd like to mount our board here see if we can save time before the end of this meeting at 5:30 to go back and hear the forum topic that she presented to address that very list of things that she put forth I would 5:30 if we can reserve some time we can set forth or work for a staff to start doing this so I will firmly aspire you've any other comments short and reserve time I'm happy to make a motion to that effect with that what is say miss Erin this is I appreciate your advocacy this is not there's not a motion for

027that we're going to talk about this mook from first and then we can continue on okay I appreciate it we'll try to keep this tight thank you Miss tolling yes patty thank you very much for bringing this resolution forward I think my colleagues for that I'm some of my earliest memories in life are volunteering at the Steve Boniface parish in Milwaukee and peacefully marching with other Dame's krabi to promote civil rights for African Americans my mother was a quiet activist and then in her strong persistent way instilled in me the knowledge that all people are created equal no matter really this affiliation comes the country of origin sexual orientation and professional profession disability etc no person's abilities are to be underestimated and equitable treatment of all individuals is unquestionable and all people need to be

028treated with compassion and respect I wanted to mention that was I have fortunate to be on the phone earlier today with one of our administrators and I want to commend them for moving some of this work forward already by moving forward with discussions with our you know parent communities our Student Union our staff and as this administrator eloquent might put it earlier today there is no period at the end of this sentence we have lots of work ahead of us and it's something that needs to continue answering move forward for years and years and I look forward to working with my colleagues and our administrators and staff across FCPS to continue this work thank you very much thank you mrs. Toland mr. Frisch thank you yeah very quickly I appreciate the comments of Darren Hughes

029Kamara and Riccardi Andersen in their eloquent discussion of Juneteenth and I would underscore Melanie's call that we keep ourselves as quick and brief as possible today and it would be fantastic if we could return to the foreign topic that was next on our agenda which would move the school division forward on a number of these issues formerly so that staff can get to work I appreciate that thank you Thank You mr. fresh ah miss Piekarski thank you just briefly I also want to thank miss Keith come on dr. Anderson I'm so eloquently talked about this topic and I too just want to say I am ready for action and I'm ready to do the hard work and I think we are the board are there and I think the community is ready to have these

030difficult discussions I see them happening in my schools and the only way to to really move us forward is to have the card conversations and do the real work where it matters so I am also committed to this and I think you both for bringing this to us today thank you Miss Piekarski miss bra tang did you want to speak to this well not quite right now I think I'll speak more to it during it like more to everything turn during I'm student matters but thank you thank you very much so with that I will call for the vote all those in favor of the recognition put forth by Miss Keys Gemara and seconded by dr. Anderson please show your hands and I will call you out miss Mara and Miss Piekarski miss Tara knock

031Koufax MS Cohen miss Keyes Gemara miss Amash dr. Anderson miss mcLaughlin miss toll and miss Sizemore Heiser mr. fresh and Miss Korbut Sanders that motion is unanimous it does carry now we will go on to the portion of our agenda citizen participation and before I go to that I do want to call people's attention that our traditional procedures for board meetings are that we have our forum before the board meetings so that it can be recorded out to the whole public during the board meeting so if I can continue through this meeting what I would like to offer because I understand the sense of urgency is that we have two separate board meetings next week and I'm going to suggest that we add a forum topic prior to the vote next Tuesday night on changing

032the name of Lee High School so we could go ahead and do that and can and have staff have the guidance that is much needed in this area so I'm going to now call for the vote on the recognition all those in favor please put your hands up oh I already did that I'm apologize so now we go to citizen participation the next order of business is citizen participation tonight 14 citizens have signed up to address the board speakers are requested to limit their remarks to no 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 complaints regarding individual students or school based employees should be directed to the appropriate school principal or other school official speakers

033should refrain from using personally identifiable information in connection with an individual student speakers 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 have come to speak to us today our first speaker is Jennifer Hernandez followed by Susan danowitz Miss Hernandez demanding that the school board take concrete steps to address the lack of representation @gj especially in regards to black indigenous land necks and low-income students idomeni continuing the status quo by only focusing on stem outreach programs which are necessary but alone have not solved the problem I also don't mean just promising to address systemic racism and elementary and middle school because these important actions should be happening regardless of the Chi J statistics I am

034specifically advocating for a fundamental change in the admissions process to become race and class and class conscious as a school that is meant to cater to future leaders in the stem field why are we continuing to exclude the voices of underrepresented groups how is it possible that students can graduate from the best public high school in the United States without ever sitting in a classroom with the black high school student or low-income student why does MCPS continue to pretend that students are not being excluded from this institution under race to class blind admissions when that is not the reality at all the current admissions process perpetuates systemic racism it is the fact that this FCPS system does not offer equal opportunities for all students white an asian-american students have a significantly higher chance of having

035access to some extracurriculars class prep and a high-level SEM instruction before they even take the TJ test by using an admissions and the chooses to focus on their spouse without recognition of how unequally those resources are distributed across yes and other participating counties FCPS is ignoring the systemic struggles these communities face I went through the admissions processes as an eighth grader and I've spoken to students whose families have used all the available resources to get them into the school for many it is pay-to-play families pay for expensive test prep they move to expensive areas to attend feeder middle schools their parents pay for some extracurriculars and tutoring the admissions process is simple affair if the school board is willing just commit to make TJ and more racially and socioeconomically inclusive school they also need supplies

036support programs in place so that these students don't feel as alone as I and many other students well there were several moments I wanted to drop out because of the lack of support TJ gives to underrepresented students think about that for a bit I was willing to give up this opportunity because the power was treated and the fact that no one ever reached out to address these issues until FCPS actively works to implement a more welcoming culture underrepresented students will continue to feel this way many alumni are ashamed of what this school has become TJ needs to change and the change needs to be fundamental and different we can no longer accept the status quo all right I'm done thank you so much for listening to I had to say and thank you so much

037very important work Thank You mr. Fernandes miss danowitz hello in 2004 I first spoke to the FCPS School Board admissions new Jefferson were under review and my black and latin ex alumni friends encouraged me class of 92 and resident to advocate for policies to decrease the effect of test prep and increase diversity in 16 years later and the same problems that plagued Jefferson have persisted and accelerated I'm here before you again in front of an inspirational new school board begging for real horse correction for my dearly beloved high school when the news was out the TJ's class of 2024 again was accepting less than 10 black students the increased consciousness of this moment post an outpouring of concern and outrage a PJ alumni Action Group for diversity exploded adding 600 new members in just two

038weeks hundreds of alumni sprang into action gathering signatures writing letters and articles analyzing numbers researching the history of TJ admissions with regards to stem underrepresented groups blacks Latin ex women underprivileged students and students with disabilities and also researching the broader landscape of inequity in magnet schools throughout the u.s. we have realized that enough is enough the inequities suffered by black students in Fairfax County need to be faced head-on black opportunity matters these past two weeks black alumni have revealed story after story of racist moments during their life leading up to an attending Jefferson being told by teachers and administrators that they weren't ready for ap for algebra or Jefferson or Yale held by students they were only there due to their race that they only got into their top ten University because of their race

039my black alumni friends report that they are burnt out by this problem that he gave they've been fighting it their whole adult life one told me I'm just exhausted I've seen zero improvement in the 20 years since it first came into my focus the school board NSC administration must solve this there is no space for half-measures and coking at the margins any more no more ridiculous hope that small changes will suffice the CPS must fix admissions the Jefferson we must revisit all the prerequisites the bias the process and we must revisit how fairfax county serves our county our community through our crown jewel stem magnet school ii the board has a critical opportunity this week called the callin of weightless students immediately and use this strategic moment to increase diversity at jefferson finally FCPS must

040immediately implement its strong anti racism curriculum at jefferson to be in place this fall ignorant may be the reason but it cannot be an excuse any longer for a brilliant child to be undermined when they are accepted to MIT or Harvard [Music] yes curriculum already thank you thank you so much miss danowitz Ruth Metzl followed by Kelly Thea Guzman hello Jennifer and Susan Yi TJ alumni are outraged by how underrepresented black latina and free and reduced lunch students are in TJ's class of 2024 and in past classes many people have said to me throughout the years that TJ is just part of a larger systemic issue that in order to fix TJ we have to fix the entire legacy of systemic inequities in fairfax county public school as a 20 2006 alum i feel that

041too often that argument has been an excuse when in fact it is the inverse we need to change TJ now in order to change the systemic inequities in our larger school system in 1960 when black students sat down at a Woolworth's lunch counter in north carolina many people could have said for them why why here why should you care about sitting at 1:00 lunch counter or going to one science and tech high school and this is just one symptom of a larger systemic issue fix that larger issue and then of course you will be allowed to sit at Woolworths go it's the larger advanced-placement issue and then more underrepresented groups will get into TJ but it is precisely the targeted specific efforts at one Woolworths at one prestigious high school that are how we create

042that larger systemic change they're not just the after that from the families I met explanation merge in elementary school in Arlington to the amazing parents and students from underrepresented groups around Fairfax I know that Nova is home to incredibly driven educated proactive families not represented at PJ there's no excuse for TJ's abysmal numbers that not reflect this talent in its draw district never before these weeks have I heard so many fellow TJ alumni from underrepresented groups come forward with traumatic experiences of their time there the school culture must change along the admission culture the TJ Alumni Action Group has exercised this in multiple letters demanding change that will sent you after this meeting over 300 alumni have signed on in less than a week we demand immediate action to one at anti-racism to TJ's fourth

043victim to hold students and staff accountable for racist words indeed three critically examined TJ's lack of diversity and exclusion of black Latin next and lowing students and make a plan to fix it for pause acceptance in the 2020 48 list and sophomore year intake to consider immediate action and 5 changed the school mascot a colonial just isn't acceptable in the context of the current national moment this school board faces a choice choose anti-racism and transform America's number one high school into an environment that excels at Sam through empowering all demographic and it's draw districts or remain tone-deaf the national conversation that will inevitably ripple with the entire education sector we alone are here as a resource for you but we say in no uncertain terms that this is the year that swift aggressive action must

044be taken to address all dimensions of this complex and so far intractable issue includes examining this formation and the TJ admissions engage the admission frost these and many other things thank you thank you so much miss Bonilla Guzman hello person foremost I want to express my gratitude for giving me the opportunity to address you all however Ms will you know I will not be holding back the remainder of my time my name is Kelly Winnie I lose mine and I'm a rising senior at half of secondary school before I transferred I attended Thomas a Edison High School as a freshman and I grew up I went to school with the majority of the current students there neuticle the 19 licenses are given the opportunity to participate in a virtual graduation in which were allowed to

045submit both a photo and quote and Leonard the current events multiple students is hided it to honor black bags through this for absence of parents who have noted his graduation is dedicated to my friends family and the black bags that were lost were delivered a bad day nonetheless and since administration's silence of these students seeing that the decision was above them as in couldn't meet the guidelines set by the SPS before the - its little thermos if any of you believe that statement was either I'm only political I beg you to things are but evaluate yourself in than I thought for centuries the black community has been oppressed in what always in one and the school system is just one place from that pressure has occurred in no way is honouring the black eyes of

046a hospital bill and I'm ashamed to be a part of a penny that does not allow students not only really express themselves that's why we need to recognize the wrong didn't committed against black people not only am I miss appointed by I'm honestly not even surprised this white ass offense consisting of an overwhelming amount of minority students families come again this plan fails to represent us accurately but here's and I haven't seen that it's racism discrimination and more caught the hands of this condom mind you I'm latina so there's no way I can even begin to fathom or bus to go through but I want you to imagine it but my black friends and peers are forced to experience in a day to day basis even though there's supernes and it publicly tweeted out a

047video telling us that you all will no longer be smaller and they all will no longer asked us to be silent I've seen no change and makes absolutely no sense for the county that prides itself on cultural inclusivity and diversity the prevented students from speaking out against such a significant injustice and in theory it's me cuz I just sat here listening so y'all recognize the issue for what it is and he also don't know how to solve these issues all right at least you know the direction need some help towards and again I've seen no change new superintendent asked me the better there's the board members I ask you all better well do not say action it continued to silence us you are complicit in the systemic racism does burning in this nation for too

048long before I wrap up I want y'all to know that to not be the last time you all here for you other pieces sit silent and twice to change thank you thank you Miss Guzman miss Quintana Isabel Quintana followed Anant dass sorry good afternoon members of the school board my name is Joaquin tena and I'm a rising senior at Thomas a Edison High School the reason I chose to speak today is to address the injustice is in place and the school boards part in them FCPS says that they are against for some as well as stand against hate and but in the moments where they are put to action and failed I've seen this firsthand and an invitational track meet sorry I was called a racial slur and told that I needed to run for

049my green card I reported it but the boy who said I face no consequences I am president of the Latino Student Union and I fear the things of my peers both Hispanic and afro Makino's things have to go through and they all go unpunished and it's heartbreaking I was disappointed then and I'm disappointed now I'm not surprised but my parent that the seniors of my school were told that they could not dedicate their accomplishments to black flags they were told that it was a political issue and therefore cannot be publicized since when have the lives of our peers and the lives of our community been political FCPS said that they were taking a stand against racism and that I would not they would not silence us anymore yeah now in a time of the greatest

050achievements foremost they are silent many are choosing to take down their videos and their quotes instead of changing it because they will not take away their support for black lives this is supposed to be something that the community could see to celebrate these students for their hard work this part of taking the opportunity away from these students this is their stand against racism something that your board has preached not only today but in the past the making of Juneteenth recognized as a holiday is a start but it is not enough I urged poor to speak up for the lives of all its constituents including the children of color including the black children who feel that they are not supported or heard we should try to make this county more accepting for their majority minority students

051thank you thank you so much miss Guzman miss cantana is it Oh cantana followed by a nut dust this corporate standard I believe that was Miss King honor oh thank you i'm sorry miss anot does followed by mr. Frankland seagull hello everyone my name is Anitha and I'm a proud Virginia resident having been in FCPS schools from K through 12 attended University and state and graduating from Thomas Jefferson High School in 2015 where I served as a school-wide student government president there was a time of TJ we were dealing with the largest student hardships due to our renovation dealing with new school nutritional guidelines and many other challenges but I have fond memories of working with the school board on a variety of issues was a high school student and I'm excited to be here

052today speaking in front of you all as a recent college graduate and the TJ alone when news broke out that once again that GJ's incoming class accepted less than 10 black students I spent a lot of time listening listening to black and Latin X alumni and alumni from the other underrepresented populations of TJ as well as current students about their experiences I worked older high school and certain government trying to help students love their experience at the school as much as I did I know no high school experience can be perfect mine certainly wasn't but a student population that does not reflect the county's population but is not indicative and representative including the groups currently underrepresented hurts every student's experience with the school especially those in underrepresented groups I remember in high school trying to

053work to find solutions to this problem I was told as a student that there was nothing I could really do but now I realized that was wrong it's why I'm here in front of you all today I believe that you all the school board an MCPS administration work immediately to resolve this issue there's no more time to test the waters no more time to have words without action the time for effective change is now virtually changes have to come in the admissions process we have to examine the process and realize it's not equitably serving all students in our county and we have to address the equities that go further in the younger grades from access to math and other learning opportunities that some students who apply to teach I get while others do not simply

054seen from the middle schools that feed into TJ she trades at school for everyone yes many of us are interested in science and that with that opportunity to attend that school should not be restricted in those but to live in certain parts of the county you didn't make sure the opportunity's equitable to all students all over the county I mean let's get working immediately to ensure the process is reworked in time for the next cycle of admissions barriers in the admissions process must be removed on top of this we must work to promote an attitude in all middle schools that students interested in stem can and should consider TJ regardless of where they live or what school they attend or over I believe there must be an emphasis in the curriculum at GJ starting this

055fall to focus on racial inequities and anti racism students need to understand that they can contribute to an inclusive environment for all students including those currently underrepresented from my time at TJ in 2011 to 2015 I did not receive any curriculum designed specifically to learn about racism beyond the brief lessons in US history and occasionally English I should not have gone four years at a high school named after Thomas Jefferson and not learned anything about him and his past with racism until I ended up going to the University he founded lastly an immediate action that can be taken is to halt the calling of weightless students to fill in any available spots and cheated incoming class and rather used a strategic time to increase diversity at TJ I appreciate your work and I thank you

056for your time thank you so much mr. DAWs mrs. Franklin Siegel followed by Katya is mom good afternoon chairwoman Corbett Sanders and members of the board thank you so much for this opportunity to speak with you today my name is Galen Franklin Segal and I'm the associate director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington representing over 100 local synagogues and other institutions over the last year the J CRC has worked closely with dr. Bray Brandt and his team to address increasing school-based anti-semitism and other issues impacting Jewish Fairfax County public school students we appreciate MCPS leaders substantive good-faith partnership we're honored to represent the Jewish community on FCPS as religious observe this task force today the JCR SI was pleased to submit to the board along with our Muslim Hindu and Sikh task

057force partners a joint letter supporting FCPS closure on a limited number of days coinciding with key religious festivals in our respective faiths the JCR see strongly believes that implementing these changes will remedy academic and logistical challenges experienced on those days Jewish FCPS families are perennial E frustrated by in consistently followed guidelines for accommodating observance of the Jewish High Holidays each fall students routinely report feeling penalized and other for their Jewish observance review today's classroom test Kogan assessment schedules on young people our assignments do honor the day after Yom Kippur teachers and other staff forced to take personal days to observe or worse yet feeling forced to not take those days at all these types of conflicts arise each year the pressure to program these thicker Jewish observances is intense it falls upon school administrators to

058ensure that individual teachers across the 10th largest school system nationwide follow the suggested guidelines resulting in considerable logistical academic and emotional strain on students families and educators alike the long simmering frustrations of Jewish FCPS stakeholders were evident in the JCC RC town halls with dr. Brennan and dr. durán last fall as those of you who joined us for those events witnessed firsthand a 2017 demographic study confirmed that the Jewish population in our region is the third largest in the nation and that within our region Northern Virginia has overtaken suburban Maryland as having the greatest number of Jews more Jewish children than ever attend FCPS and more Jews are employed by the district and that number will assuredly continue to grow we're gratified that both draft calendars submitted for consideration include the closures we believe are

059warranted Ernests the closures will eliminate scheduling conflicts regarding instructional review and testing meaningfully reduced faculty student tensions regarding and accommodations and relieve growing pressure to secure substitutes and other wise manage staff coverage the entire system will benefit as we advance our collective goal to nurture schools where all students feel they are valued and treated with equity and respect we therefore ask that the Board of Education Institute school closures for students and staff on Days coinciding with the first day of Rosh Hashanah if you want to keep for our eighth outfit art and do one thank you so much for your time thank you very much miss Franklin Siegel Katya is now below all and thank you so much to the students who had the opportunity to speak before me and for the accounting to allow

060me this platform I would like to speak on the inaction of the school board and our County Superintendent on the affairs and the necessities pertaining to our County's minority student population the coronavirus has brought upon us some unfortunate times but it also allows for time to reflect upon such an actions in put forth change in our county for these students it is unfortunate to hear about the murders and the lynchings of black people and minorities around the country it is also unfortunate that many of us are privileged enough to reside in such an opportunistic County and allow our privilege to get the best of us in action is allowance and our science silence is lethal even from the words of our superintendent saying nothing about these issues like racism only makes matters worse we will

061not be silent anymore and we will not ask you to be silent anymore so if this is true why is it that the voices of students at edison are being silenced when did advocating for the lives of black people the lives of minorities in this country become politicized when did human rights being from a chocolate factory I talked before many of us who have been amazing and husband are able to be consoled touched by a difficult or more artful to Department which many and systematic systemic Lee that we are nothing and to allow it to continue to happen as a country is one thing underneath my administration but as a student a school system that are meant to educate our youth perpetuating the cycle of an action is simply unacceptable it is taking our time

062school board three years to even begin the process of renaming Robert leaving high school and even then it took my writing a petition and our esteemed student representative to get things going this should not be the case as a student in this county as a student representative of the MSA OSI and most importantly as a minority in this country I ask that our elected officials Croesus members into consideration and questioning more proactive and combatting racism institutions in our County that allow for the perpetuation of the achievement gap and discomfort of underrepresented students in our school system thank you so much thank you so much mrs. Mel Jorge teruko followed by Ostra Romani yes good evening thank you so much for the time and opportunity to be able to address the school board I come to

063you as a resident of birth Virginia of 13 years a resident of the Northern Virginia area of 31 years I come to you also as a high school graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School for science and technology and the UVA graduate 2004 I myself am a representative of a cadre of students that has been lessening in number over two throughout the time at cj with less than two percent of low-income free or reduced lunch students I was one of those there also this this particular admission cycle lessons and six or less african-american students and that is what we're calling for to action here it cannot be accepted any longer there are systemic issues in our county in our nation that have to be addressed and at the movement that has been swollen up doing with

064the tragedy of George Floyd's death that we must take action and my testimony this time I present a personal perspective of what is went on in this area you know the advanced academic program is the bedrock of the pyramid that feeds into TJ and one thing that it demonstrates is that there is with a degrees first this with added knowledge there's a disadvantage that those populations are experiencing in not being even get placed into advanced academic placement and that is through the appeals process through the fact that you can have privately testing you can have you can pay $600 an hour to have a psychologist test you privately and in parent there's the economic motivation to make sure that those test results are more beneficial then after you pass that you're placed into the AAP

065program then you have the opportunity to with edit resources added money for added school activities after school activities such as for example a drama plays or you have to pay $500 just to participate apart from the fact that you might be paying for a school after-school childcare which in and of itself is $1,600 and cannot be offset if you're participating on other activities so then you're building added resume that makes you look better you pay for private academies and private sessions but ultimately prepare you in a better position to take the examination that illustrates again this this football strategy by which wealth creates inequity by which the disparities that were started through you know Jim Crow laws obviously the slavery and ultimately the red opening and the accumulation of wealth generationally is ever-present in our

066county and it's then further propagating the situation I call the school board to be more proactive in having transparency in terms of the numbers and the data that is allowed to be presented sure it can be anonymized protect students privacy but there should be some way to know what percentage of kids are appealing getting into a people appeals process thank you so much mr. tareeq Oh miss her Ezra Nnamani austra no money okay we're gonna go to Joseph Dodson okay hello everyone I want to start by saying that I am beyond proud of all the students who are spoken before me and that as a rising senior at TJ I agree that change now more than ever is needed now I want to address discrimination and FCPS while the school board has committed to equality

067in writing in practice discrimination is still very much present some students use racial homophobic transphobic and xenophobic slurs in school with no repercussions FCPS must take a stronger position in rooting out all forms of hate in our county to do so our county's curriculum should emphasize the contributions of marginalized groups to America starting at a young age sanitizing history for elementary schoolers doesn't protect them instead it holds them back from a true understanding of what happened as a miracle --it impeding further progress for example the struggle for civil rights for black Americans didn't start and stop with Martin Luther King jr. and yet he comprised almost all about being whipped about massive resistance which FCPS participated in wasn't touching me in fourth grade Virginia Studies not in seventh grade American history non eighth grade civics

068and not even in 11th grade AP US history I had to learn about it on my own instead learning about the true history of America we learned about the regions of Virginia Pocahontas and Squanto both of which were whitewashed but legacy of racism and racism itself still exists in America rightfully leading today's vlm protests so it pained and disappointed me when a student at edison was told that they could not dedicate their graduation to black lives when did fighting for human rights become political dedicating their graduation to black lives is in no way comparable to including the expressly political language of naga or the widely recognized racist symbol that is the confederate flag which the ban on political speech was supposedly meant to prevent in conclusion i urge this board to stand up for our

069County's minority students and include the real history of america in our curriculum starting with virginia studies in elementary school the best way to fight discrimination is to show the contrary and struggles of marginalized groups in America and finally this board should support its minority students in their current struggle for equitable treatment in America and allowed them to say black lives matter thank you thank you very much Ezrin Imani Ezrin Omani I see your speaker your hand up and your speaker your microphone open can you hear us I will come back to you mister missus Nnamani Rahel selamun hi everyone good morning good evening I mean my name is Rahel and I'm a rising junior at TJ and in light of current events around the world in our community that have affected me personally I like

070to share my experiences and perspectives as a member of the TJ community as you already know it has come to the attention of the people in this community that they were few to know black students accepted into the class of 2024 and in all truth I am NOT very surprised that me how can I be when I can count the number of black students in my TJ class out of 450 regardless of how embarrassing this may be the proportions will no longer be ignored or accepted change must happen like all students I applied to TJ to find a school tailored to my high standards and academics and I can now say that I definitely keep exactly what I came for the rigor the high expectations and the focus on stem is clearly something unmatched by

071any high school in this county to say the least it would be foolish to assume that I'm one of the few URM students who seek higher education but the reason there are so few of us regardless stems for from other factors in many ways I too am privileged and lucky though I did not properly participate in prep classes for the TJ entrance exam these classes have an impact on the admission of scheme ins though it's not a guarantee to admission it serves value my family did not have to worry luckily about finances and would not hesitate to provide the money required to boost my confidence but the same cannot be said for all the bright and willing students who have an interest in pursuing TJ of course with this comes the other resources and materials

072that aid in preparation for these exams obviously leaving low-income students and it is another way in which I was lucky it was my mental preparation being a URM in an environment where I was and would be large and surrounded by people who didn't look like me though it may not seem important this confidence is key and something that my father instilled in me from a young age remind me that I shouldn't feel out of place thanks to his support at home I was rarely discouraged and basically I'm praised but I can't again say the same thing for other students three then TJ is and will be missing out on bright young minds that may not feel comfortable going to school where they have almost no representation and can you blame them I asked up CPS

073to take part at a time when systemic reform begins to occur throughout the nation and even the world I do not put the blame on the current administration or policies but I do believe that FCPS can come more to help I personally believe that targeting your I'm students who are already passionate and excited about learning will be an effective way to see their numbers rise over the coming years hopefully this will also encourage those who don't already feel working that teaching I also asked MCPS to provide finances and extensive resources to close the gap between opportunities for low-income students and others you should not be the reasons why intelligent motivated students whose amazing opportunities to further themselves and get an education from you for your time thank you so much for Sullivan Diane Cooper Gould

074followed by a very odd hi I'm Dan Cooper Gould most you know me as a disability advocate and I am also in 1992 graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School for science and technology over the past decade I have been active in the TJ alumni community and I have also felt proud of my alma mater until recently since its inception thirty-five years ago TJ has had a shameful problem with equity of access the black my next disability and economically disadvantaged communities know this students and faculty of TJ know this as do FCPS and the county the Commonwealth of Virginia is aware and now in the midst of a global blab in the midst of global black lives matters demonstrations the shameful means has broken that the number of black students admitted for the twenty twenty-one school

075year is quote too small to publicly report this admissions data is an embarrassment and a discharge of spotlight on TJ the entire country and world are now reading news articles about the racist number one high school in America TJ HS SMT is a perfect example of systemic racism in action as it stands it is a blight on Fairfax County Public Schools underrepresented ethnic and racial group alumni report the racial trauma they have experienced while attending TJ and I'm sure if you discuss the matter with the MSA OC they might be willing to tell you about why many of the black and that next community members look at TJ has been actively harmful for their children to the point that many of these parents discouraged their children from applying thirty five years and the problem is

076only getting worse I am ashamed and you should be too the truth is FCPS has not made a real effort to increase accessibility all county residents it does not really want change because if it did it would and it has not Sheriff acts does not want to mess with the formula and risk losing bragging rights despite with this who this inaction may hurt or what racist systems and mindsets it perpetuates but if the US News and World Report's changed its judging criteria in a heavily way racial diversity and equitable access that would find a way to make TJ more inclusive posthaste the illusion of being the best and dragging rates are more important SCS than TJ actually being the best because TJ is not the best it is systemically racist and based on the discussions

077flying in various alumni groups of which I am a member it is perpetuating racism and many of its students use that they take into this community at large for years sport has been championing won fair effects but in light of the latest admission data perhaps the TJ tagline should be none fair effect thank you thank you Miss Diane and miss Cooper Gold who renessa very odd hi I'm good afternoon good evening my name is Hernan SF rad I had the outreach an interfaith department at the old Dulles area Muslim society I'm also on the Fairfax County Public Schools religious observance Task Force I've been working with them for almost two years now first I want to apologize if you hear any outside noise I had to step away from the meeting and this was the

078only place for me to get on to this call without having to listen to other people but one thing we as a group would want the board to approve is the 2122 school calendar year which includes the religious holidays on the calendar when it comes for the Muslim Jewish and Hindu holidays for that year and beyond we know that Fairfax County is quite diverse and it represents many people from many different backgrounds and faith traditions but yet it has not been inclusive in terms of allowing kids to be off from school on their religious holidays especially when we have so many of our students in Fairfax County who are of these different faith groups not only that we can see how much of an impact it has when kids miss school when they're home during

079the holidays I know myself as a Muslim when my kids are home they have to figure out how to make up the work how to make up the tests and how to actually get in touch with their teachers and even on top of that if there were some leniency or some formula for the staff and the teachers to make sure that the children are not being marked not not just being not marked absent that's a different story I know that they'd have an excused absence but at the same time missing work and then how to make up that work and who is actually going to enforce it to make making sure that the teachers are going to be fair and then with the Muslim calendar year it follows the lunar calendar year which is about

08010 to 11 days shorter than the Gregorian calendar and every year it moves so right now it'll fit third is was in the end of May even I've had comes at the end of July but every year that those holidays will move back ten years ten days so within the next five years both needle feather and how we'll be in the school year calendar and so that's something to be mindful of in terms of how we're going to work around that and incorporating that into the calendar as well but in all it has to be something that we have to be looking into because it will alleviate the amount of work that's going to be required by the school itself the teachers and the students in making up those days is making up Sol testings

081and making up any work that they have not been able to do because they decided to stay home on their religious holiday and not come to school but if we look at New York City which has actually incorporated religious holidays into their school calendar year it has actually been easier on the students the families and the staff and making sure that the work isn't something that they're going to have to make up later on and that everybody is on the same page when they when they're coming back to school after these holidays thank you thank you so much I'm going to try one more time for miss Nnamani as Ron Omani okay I don't have miss no mati here so I'm going to proceed with student representative matters miss blotting thank you never hear me

082all right we can hear you miss watching perfect so it's been a minute since I've been able to adjust the public so I just want to say I missed you guys I'm off-camera right now because I'm actually still recovering from my wisdom teeth surgery not too long ago but I'm good enough to speak so nothing that's good because I actually do have quite a bit to say and while I do want to be mindful of our time I'm just gonna go ahead and preface and say I don't have intentions to shorten it because I often feel that voices like mine don't take presidents like of course I'm not just like me and Judd like me personally the voices of my demographic of like people like me often don't get the platform so I'm just here

083to take a little space if you will and I hope y'all can accept me for that too again I want to thank everyone who spoke today especially the students since the beginning of my term I've always pushed for having students come on speak and more than ever it's really important and I really want to thank everyone for having I know it's hard to speak even for me it's hard to talk in front of people so it takes courage so I want to commend everyone who did come out and have the chance to speak um and well minority students specifically now black students I just want to put out that up personally and I hope for all of us we love you um I can speak from many experiences it is definitely hard coming up in

084a system that was not made for us to succeed and the past few weeks have been hard they've been painful they've been distressing but in my honest opinion I feel this this past weeks have been very necessary ah normally I don't really get like bring in like personal stories and personal experiences but as a person I fear every day that my brother and my dad will go out someday and not return home I feel every day that one day for whatever reason I'll disappear and nobody will look for me because thousands of black girls go missing every day and nobody cares to look for them it's painful that I've had to spend most of my life thinking to myself should I make myself sound more white so that people accept me should I tone down

085my blackness should I stop using certain slang words maybe I shouldn't wear my afro so big all of that and it's ridiculous it's been ridiculous for the longest time and that's part of the reason I'm not sure if I've said it often I am a big but I don't I don't like professionalism because I feel as if it's rooted and um well dare I say elitism and it's been rooted in the fact that sir if you sound a certain way I won't be accepted in a certain workplace and I want to remind everybody racism black death lynching and discrimination as a whole did not end with Martin there King jr. people just stopped paying attention and I urge us not to just change names I like to commend the whole board for doing the work

086that like is important to change names and to push for because like like many of the school members said earlier today names matter symbols matter but I also um I will also be speaking along with many of my classmates at my high school public hearing on Monday but I also want us to take urged everyone to continue to take initiative and take a really deep look into our history course I shouldn't have had to learn as an elementary school kid as a court like a fourth grader best Lavery just was that all these things just happen because that's just how it was that shouldn't have happened I only really got the opportunity to take a deeper dive into atrocities of slavery and the Confederacy and what slaves and black people really went through and I

087didn't get a chance to take the understand it and take a look into it until this past year I'm 17 and I didn't learn really what happened until this year and that is unacceptable and that is part of the reason why people think the way they do about a history history needs to be taught as it happened not as how we thought it happened how we would like to think it happened as it happened we owe it to the people who have spent years suffering who gives to the people who still continue to suffer um so to all the students especially the Edison kids I hear you're honest and with y'all human rights is not a political issue it's not politics to ask to be respected and more simply to not be killed it's not

088politics and I used to be like I'm gonna be so honest I used to be a little scared to buy kind of like talk about certain controversial topics this that and the third but it's important I was given this platform and it is important that I speak about certain things that sometimes don't get the opportunity to get spoken from from a student perspective I've had issues in the past with administration that caused me to literally want to move a school I ended up moving schools and I don't talk about that often because I feel as if it's too personal but it's real-life situations like this that not just that ever many students in our County go through but to wrap up I'm only here for now less than two weeks um I think this is

089either my last time or my second to last time miss corporal Sanders is is my last time on my second-to-last time and let the second last time actually it's your third - the last time because our meeting on Tuesday where we will be voting on the change of name for Lee High School and then we have our meeting next Thursday where we will be recognizing and celebrating the excellent work you have been doing so it's my last time well regardless I'm more than excited to hang this position over to Nathan he's going to be phenomenal I look forward to every like great thing he's going to do when I'm sure I'm not sure sometimes people forget I'm not graduating I'm still going to be here I'm still gonna be mom shaking some tables that being

090said I'm going to be brutally honest here we have a lot of work to do as a County I'm not gonna sugarcoat it a lot of work I'm happy with this board's passion to move things forward and I really hope that we don't lose this fire and energy first staunch bureaucracy and systems I've know quite long-winded but as always I want to make sure that I'm taught anything for all of us to take care of ourselves um it's really tough I'm a I'm gonna be honest I've been I've had struggles like coping and complemental izing everything that's been going on it's difficult I guess is kind of like I can say like as a black female has been difficult and very painful but I also know that I am allowed to have orcs of like

091joy like I paint I write a little bit just to make sure that I'm in the right headspace and I encourage everyone else to find stuff to help them cope and also there's still a pandemic happening so I I know I'm saying this to learning everybody the conspiracy theories don't think that everything opening up because it's same to the health official people are still dining so messed up and be sick then very importantly continue to fight this this done and in bring changes thank you thank you so much miss bra thing our adopted rules of parliamentary procedure Robert's Rules provides 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

092in advance items may be removed from the consent agenda at the request of any board member prior to the meeting 6.01 approve the request to submit the nomination for this Virginia School Board Association in 2020 the health and medical sciences program is recommended for submission to the vsba for the workforce readiness award the program is being recognized for the work with the Claude Moore foundation in advancing the health and medical sciences program with Workforce Development additionally the work of the school board has resulted in more work based learning opportunities for students and flexibility and teacher licensure to expand dual enrollment opportunities for students 6.0 to approve the appointment of Lee burden Helen Nixon and Marty Smith to the ER FC Board of Trustees for a one-year term beginning July 1 2020 and ending June 30th

0932021 item 6.03 approved the appointment of Michael Burke to the ER FC Board of Trustees for a one-year term beginning July 1 2020 I Tamar four adopt the policies on the no change memo as detailed in the agenda in the agenda item item 6.05 confirm the separations for the period beginning May 1 2020 and ending May 31st 2020 item 6.06 appoint individuals to serve on committees as detailed in the agenda item is there any objection to approving the consent agenda hearing and seeing no objection the consent agenda is approved seven new business the following are new business agenda items there will not be a vote tonight on these items but action is scheduled at a future meeting 7.01 appoint individuals to serve for a one-year term ending June 30th 2021 on the adult and community

094education advanced academic programs Career and Technical Education human resources minority student achievement oversight school health and students with disability advisory committees as listed in the agenda item item 7.0 to adopt the 2021 2022 standard school year calendar next on the agenda is superintendent matters and I call on dr. dr. brand I've apologized Miss Marron has a question about the new business Miss Marron I had planned to bring forth a motion about changing in Kalama stages because people say and we have discussed that it would be under new business so is that we looked at here Miss Marron what you suggested was an amendment to our calendar and so that would be fourth abs and emotion by you at the next meeting and then we would adopt it it is it is on to something that

095is connected to the agenda item for new business okay I thought I heard from the clerk that you heard from the clerk that it was going to be discussed next time okay thank you very much and we'll make sure that your amendment is put forward dr. Bray brand if I could call on you for superintendent matters Thank You chairman Corbett Sanders thank you all I things and then I know we have a public hearing so I'll try to keep my remarks brief I did want you to know that I shared with our staff earlier today that I previously shared thoughts and feelings about racism and hate in our country and my commitment for eradicating them from Fairfax County Public Schools I know you've heard from a lot of speakers today and of course in emails

096and interactions over the last several weeks I've talked about and we've talked about expressing solidarity with our black and african-american student staff and our community and speaking up and taking a stand and I was pleased today to share with our staff just as you all were passing a resolution to who acknowledge the historical significance and importance of Juneteenth that as a step on a hard to create a more inclusive and compassionate environment that I am announcing that FCP Friday June 19th which is tomorrow was an official holiday for FCS employees and recognition of June team as many of you referenced earlier I did this in collaboration with the county executive Brian Hill and the county is also extending that to their employees and of course as you all know the governor earlier this week made

097Juneteenth a state holiday and made that a declaration for state employees I encourage all of our staff and our community to use tomorrow it's a home for reflection and learning and I know together we can work and we'll work to break the chain of systemic racism in our community I also wanted you to know that that work is going on not just at the system level but at the school level earlier today the principal at Fairfax High School utilizing the power of our regulations has announced a mascot change she has shared that while Fairfax High School for a long time had a mascot that was called Johnny Reb and while the mascot was changed in the 80s by a principal vice principal Harry Holsinger in 1985 the word rebels remain and so earlier today she

098shared that moving forward Fairfax High School will no longer use the rebel language Fairfax High School will no longer be the rebel pride it will be known as the Fairfax Lions miss Lonard has been working very closely with our F CPS leadership and with the city of Fairfax a school board that has ownership of course of the facility around the coming school year working to remove the rebel name and we've already worked of course to purchase new uniforms without that team name of rebels and we will continue to be looking at all of our capital improvements with the city of Fairfax around that and she has shared that she believes our entire community can move forward and feel whole value appreciated and affirmed as Fairfax High School Rises together as the Fairfax Lions so I'm

099very proud of our principals I'm proud of our staff and finally I would just say I'm also very proud of all the work that the board is doing and the community is doing around feedback for return to school I had a town hall earlier this week for parents one last week for staff our task force met today and we are looking forward to bringing you our plans next week as we move forward for return to school so thank you very much and I will talk to you all begins very soon thank you very much dr. Bray brand before I go to committee report so I'm going to take a one less than one minute break for the whole board if it's just one minute I need to clarify something so please give me the patience

100of one minute thank you ladies and gentlemen thank you for humoring me two things miss Nnamani I apologize but we tried to get you earlier okay she's miss no money our section for citizen participation has was completed and so I apologize that you were not able to speak this evening but if I could ask you to please sign up for Tuesday night we will make sure that you have that opportunity okay all right thank you thank you very much miss Nnamani I now have a hand up by miss Cohen miss Cullen hi yes madam chair I I know this is an unusual request but I am hopeful I would like to request that the Board add a forum session to next Tuesday prior to our regularly scheduled board meeting I recognize we ran out of

101time today for a forum topic but I've submitted a forum topic that is designed to take a look at the racism and bias in our fairfax county public school system and has it defined timelines with immediate short term and long term goals for how we work actively to eradicate both of them in our system thank you miss Cohen I know that that is a time-sensitive Orem topic do I have a second for your Raquin that second is by Miss Marron mr. Cohen would you like to speak to that and then we can take a vote certainly I really appreciate the opportunity I know that this is a bit out of our normal practice I just I feel very strongly as I mentioned during the comments on our Juneteenth recognition that we have a lot of

102areas that need to be addressed in FCPS and one of the issues I believe is that we have done some piecemeal work and I have no doubt that some of it has been good but I don't see an avenue for us to be able to pull everything into one place and really recognize in varied specific actionable ways what steps we can take to be true anti-racist in this system so I'm hopeful in introducing the forum topic I'm hopeful that my colleagues will support some very specific actions that we can be taking as a as a group to make some real change thank you so much miss Cowan and I think moving it to chuse it does give us the opportunity to have the deep discussion amongst board members which is so important and so Miss

103Marron do you have more to add because all we're doing is voting to have Tuesday not for lack of interest but lack of time I'm happy to great thank you so much so all those who can support adding to our agenda and introducing a robust discussion around miss Cohen's forum topic for Tuesday prior to our work session please show of hands so I have dr. Anderson mr. Frisch miss Marin miss Coe and miss Keyes Gemara missed Erin at cofax miss McLaughlin missed Olin miss omae's miss Piekarski and Miss Korbut Sanders that the motion carries it's unanimous we will be having that discussion on Tuesday thank you so much miss Cohen for me for bringing that forward I appreciate it thank you for indulging me madam chair I appreciate it you're very welcome next on our

104agenda is board committee reports and I first call on Vice Chair Darrin act her facts for a readout from the forum discussion that we had earlier this evening yes thank you madam chair as she said earlier this evening a forum topic was brought to us by mr. Frisch and Miss Keys tomorrow the topic was to begin the renaming process for Mosby woods elementary school when the process concludes for robert e lee high school that there was bus discussion on that the board can get commended their colleagues and unanimously supported this initiative and just for the public the process for renaming Lee High School will be should be complete on July 23rd so that's when this could begin happening after that date so thank you so much you're very welcome thank you so I now call

105on Miss Marron for the public engagement committee yes hi the public engagement committee met this past Tuesday and we report the forum topic again which gets the work on to the school boards full agenda the first forum topics submitted by Radcliffe asthma Heiser was to ask that the board review our Advisory Committee processes and more efficiently actually I believe I might have been submitted earlier this year but this is updated to include other things procedures for public comment during our meetings and also during public hearings so just to get that conversation scarred and outlining the things to be addressed I am also going to be so you think and then overall the discussion went on the lines of meeting a more hold more discussion about what we really intend to have for community engagement what

106that means what the vehicles or platforms that we use are and how to be sure that our board infrastructures and staffing and supports and technology can enable our you know board members to engage in your best with the public that's it thank you very much miss Marin mr. Frisch for the governance committee Thank You chairman Corbett Sanders we have had two governance committee meetings since our last regular school board meeting in addition to reviewing a number of policies that require no changes or minimal changes in sending some of those to staff for additional input the full school board will soon consider governance committees substantial recommended changes to our abuse reporting policies to better protect students and more clearly articulate the responsibilities of staff for abuse reporting also we are nearly finished with recommendations for significant

107revisions to our conflicts of interest policy which will hold principals Department leadership assistant superintendents and other members of the leadership team as well as our superintendent to a higher standard of ethical conduct when it comes to outside work gifts financial matters and entanglements and other items so we will be getting to that in our next board in our next committee meeting thank you thank you so much mr. Frisch miss Keyes Kamara thank you I will be bringing a report for the Audit Committee we to give a follow-up on the special education review sorry we in order to identify the best qualified vendor to perform this important school board initiative a comprehensive evaluation committee has been formed with key stakeholders and constituents including parents an independent university professor as well as teachers the review is planned

108to start in the fall and will be completed over the next two years with annual progress reporting to the school board we also at our June meeting the oag also presented a detailed breakdown of the proposed fiscal year 2021 audit plan the audit plan serves as a guide for the audits to be performed during that year and other tasks to be completed in order to promote the achievement of the division strategic goals especially in the area of resource stewardship the OIG will present the fiscal year 2021 audit plan to the full School Board on July 9th thank you very much miss Keyes Kamara the next order of business on our agenda is typically bored matters but knowing that we have well over a hundred people waiting for a public hearing I am going to just

109to dispense with the board matters this evening and I apologize to my colleagues for having to do so but we do have people waiting and this meeting is now adjourned and we will begin the public hearing within a minute thank you