FCPS School Board Meeting - October 12, 2017

001good evening this October 12th 2017 regular meeting of the Fairfax County School Board will now come to order please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance a moment of silence and the performance of the national anthem by the Marshall High School statesmen singers under the direction of Kelly Pierson [Music] [Applause] Oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Thank You Marshall high school that was beautiful and thank you families who have come this evening to share your wonderful students with us into the faculty who's also here I suspect for Marshall high school very very well done thank you and principal lits is in the audience thank you amazing work a few announcements before we begin tonight's meeting if you would like to review a copy of the agenda and any agenda item that is being discussed tonight

002that information is on the table by the auditorium entrance tonight's agenda is available by going to school board on the FCPS homepage and selecting board Docs under upcoming school board meetings a meeting is also being streamed live online select school board from the full menu then click on the watch live button on the school board meetings website please turn off or silence your cell phone I will now call on Miss Bennet Conda for announcements thank you madam chair this week October 9th through 13th we are celebrating National School Lunch week National School Lunch week is officially scheduled for October 9 through 13th by an act of Congress using the theme school lunch recipes for success National School Lunch week promotes excitement about the benefits of students consuming wholesome healthy school lunches of fresh fruits veggies

003whole grains and milk the 2017 event will encourage stup school food professionals to highlight the secrets to school lunch success healthy food choices and of course our students this national school lunch program is dedicated to the health and well-being of our nation's children that has been joined through the years by many other excellent child nutrition programs there is a continued need for nutrition education and awareness of the value of school nutrition programs and the school board encourages all residents to become aware and concerned about their children's and their own nutrition habits in the hope of achieving a more healthful citizenry for today and the future this week we're also celebrating teen read week teen read week encourages teens to go beyond the traditional book and explore poetry audio books books about music and more at

004their school and Oh library the 2017 theme unleash your story encourages teens to tell their own stories as well as find stories biographies autobiographies and folktales in their local library teen read week has been observed since 1998 in an effort to engage teens in reading for pleasure and fun and to use the services at the library recent research shows that teens who read for fun have better test scores and are more likely to succeed in the workforce the school board encourages all FCPS teenage students to take advantage of the resources in their school and public library and to become lifelong readers and learners this month is also Disability Employment and awareness month did you know that October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month this year's theme is inclusion drives innovation each year Fairfax County Public

005Schools participates in the National Disability Employment Awareness Month which promotes career development for individuals with disabilities through hands-on career exploration and job shadowing in the following fields administrative support animal care business management communications information technology Parks and Recreation and human resources the National Disability Employment Awareness Month strives to encourage students to explore potential or career the career or employment opportunities to learn more about businesses in their community and begin to plan to achieve more successful employment outcomes thank you very much next item on the agenda is the division wide comprehensive plan public hearing at this time we will open the public hearing on the division wide comprehensive plan on September 28th 2017 staff submitted a plan to the board to meet Virginia Department of Education standards which require each local school board to adopt biennially

006a division wide comprehensive plan the division wide comprehensive plan includes pertinent data from the FY 2017 student achievement goal monitoring reports which highlights academics essential life skills and responsibilities to the community additional information is included about enrollment projections technology parent involvement in cooperation with neighboring school bored action on the plan is scheduled for October 26th 2017 tonight we have three speakers please come forward to the lectern when I call your name you will have three minutes to address the board the deputy clerk will start the timer when you begin to speak and you'll be able to see the time remaining on the clock on the lectern the buzzer will sound at the conclusion of your three minutes if you have not registered to speak tonight but would like an opportunity to address the board please

007see one of the clerk's to sign up for one of the five extra reserved speaker slots but I believe we at the moment have three speakers the first speaker is Dianne Cooper Gould good evening i'm diane cooper gould president of fairfax county septa and a mom a mom of a daughter with dyslexia and a son with autism as a premier school system we need to be courageous enough to really look at we're doing well and where we are failing kids so let's start with what is working i want to congratulate the school board during dyslexia Awareness Month for investing in the Universal screener it will provide critical data to our County so thank you it is an excellent example of grassroots parenting identifying an unaddressed special ed need and how the leadership of FCPS and

008the school board worked together with them to address that need not just for special ed students but to improve outcomes for all students unfortunately it is our understanding that the county did not have the funding to implement the remediation portion of the Universal screener so my question now is now that we have been going to be obtaining this critical data how will we use it what is the countywide plan for systematically addressing the deficits once identified the Code of Virginia requires that the school board shall adopt a division wide long rage comprehensive plan based on data collection and analysis of that data and the required components of the plan dictate strategies for improving student achievement particularly the achievement of educationally at-risk students special education students have the widest achievement gap of any population in FCPS

009and yet nowhere in the FCPS strategic plan is their distinct mention of a plan to address the gap for students with disabilities to often special education students are looked at as outside the rest of the school population we are advised to be grateful for what our kids get because it is more than what special ed kids get in other areas but the message is clear that we are not to expect that our students are entitled to have an education and success rate equal to their peers there is still a large data gap in our understanding of low special ed achievement in FCPS there are many questions that need to be asked and answered comprehensive data collection allow us to drive improvements in a proactive rather than a reactive way do we know how many students

010leave the system and why how many students are unable to reach their potential because they are underserved or denied services how many twice exceptional children are denied access to either special ed support or advanced academics or both due to lack of understanding of programming for 2e students why are parents receiving conflicting information about available services from schools to school and teacher to teacher and how does this variation affect outcomes gathering the data is our first step in addressing the achievement gap then closing the gap comes when we had a unified and effective strategy as well as uniform implementation of that strategy across all settings thank you thank you the next speaker is is candor on to be followed by dawn Matthews good evening my name is a scandal gown I'm a fourth grader and the

011French immersion program I can't go into elementary school I am in the advanced academic program at school I am a level four competitive gymnast and the second-degree black belt in Taekwondo I'm in the artists my dream is to be a successful mechanical engineer but before this can happen I need to fight through the effects of dyslexia I struggled from kindergarten through second grade before I found out that I had dyslexia I struggled with my with many things for example in kindergarten and even in first grade I was it was difficult for me to sound out words like at and second grade it was hard for me to find anything interesting to read that was at my level I was getting more and more frustrated and I was starting to not like school and third grade

012I was teased by someone by saying that said people with the stuck to your dumb I am so grateful for the people that helped me in language arts and other things that I struggled in especially Madame Debra clauser and mr. John McFadden my um clauser my second grade teacher told my parents not to wait but at the school for help with my reading and writing skills mr. mcfadden my special ed teacher has been working with me for the past two years and working with him has made me being able to read fluently sound out words and memorize had to spell sight words I hope that every dyslexic kid gets the help that they need and knows that they were special I'm a very smart kid don't need a little of help from the world around

013me thank you with skander we're always very pleased when we hear from students after all that's what we're here for so thank you for coming tonight you did a good job next speaker is dawn Matthews I thought that was gonna be very hard for me but I'm back many of you have seen me before and even if you don't remember my name you know you I know you think dyslexia whenever you see my face you likely remember that my student with dyslexia no longer attends public school and yet I am still super passionate about improving services for the students that remain thank you for recognizing dyslexia Awareness Month this evening additionally I would like to thank miss mcLaughlin and the Schultz for their continued support and the entire school board for the changes that have

014occurred over the past two years including the hiring of a dyslexia specialist to revamp the literacy programs for both general and special education students and the X acquisition of a screening tool that will collect valuable data on struggling readers this vital data includes markers of dyslexia I will confess that I remain concerned that early elementary school teachers are receiving sufficient or not so sufficient training to correctly interpret this data and that for teachers who do completely understand the red flags before them that their voices will be heard by the local screening committee when they refer a student who appears to be at risk for dyslexia and then I worry about the day that a bracer utley dyslexic student qualifies for reading remediation this should be a victory to be celebrated yet as I'm an the

015decoding dyslexia table at conferences and workshops held by FCPS I continue to hear the same story I don't think the program my child is receiving at school is helping I don't think it's an orton-gillingham program I don't think he is receiving the program frequently enough to make a difference ladies and gentlemen things are improving but there is much work to be done as you evaluate the division wide comprehensive plan please continue to ask the hard questions such as our students with dyslexia being identified by the end of first grade is there an adequate number of staff trained in appropriate remediation programs please continue to fight for better more accessible programs for students with dyslexia these bright students like the one we just saw are the creative minds of the future and we can not let

016them down thank you thank you we have another speaker Samantha Schiller great another student we love this hello I am Samantha it's fantastic that we are recognizing dyslexia but I think we can help a little bit more one time I went to summer camp for a week um it was a dyslexic summer camp program and art for a month and it really helped me like I used to not like reading and now I really really love reading it I just have the time of my life reading and I think that I wonder why we can't get the same help in school that I got in the summer camp because I learned a lot there and I really really think that we can help and I like we're doing well and we can do more and

017I think that is really good Thank You Samantha thank you to all of our speakers came out this concludes the division wide comprehensive plan public hearing and I hope other students are inspired by a true student students student speakers tonight and that we will hear from our at other school board meetings it's great Thank You students the next items on the agenda are some recognitions and 3.0 for LGBT History Month I call on miss Evans thank you madam chair the National PTA the Fairfax County Council of PTAs and the Fairfax Education Association recognized October as LGBT lesbian gay bisexual and transgender History Month according to the National PTA negative attitudes toward lesbian gay bisexual and transgender students puts them at an increased risk for violence and bullying negative attitudes also impact a student's ability to

018learn at school LGBT History Month is recognized in October nationwide and in FCPS to acknowledge and celebrate that LGBT students staff and Families are an integral component of our nation and at Fairfax County Public Schools this special month was first recognized in 1994 October was chosen to commemorate National Coming Out Day on October 14th and the first march on Washington for gay and lesbian rights on October 14th 1979 hi some one of the first gay straight alliances in Virginia was founded at Hayfield high school in 2000 and now students are involved in clubs at many of the high schools in the county welcoming not only LGBT students but their friends and those interested in creating Safe Schools LGBT History Month in October is an opportunity for Fairfax County Public Schools staff and students to celebrate

019and to learn more about these important constituents in our schools and neighborhoods thank you thank you miss Evans next I will call on mrs. Schultz for a resolution sorry we have a lot of papers first of all I wanted to thank the speakers who came out tonight you touched me remarkably I don't comment on this as soon as I read the resolution whereas dyslexia is a language based learning disability that causes difficulties with specific language skills such as reading writing spelling and word pronunciation and whereas the onset and severity of dyslexia varies for each individual and impacts up to 15 to 20 percent of the population as a whole and whereas literacy is a critical skill needed for educational success and individuals with dyslexia benefit from effective teaching approaches that are multi-sensory systemic and explicit

020and whereas Governor Terry McAuliffe has recognized October 2017 as dyslexia Awareness Month in Virginia to acknowledge educators specializing in effective teaching strategies for individuals with dyslexia and to celebrate the many achievements of adolescents students and adults with dyslexia and whereas Fairfax County Public Schools has instituted dyslexia awareness training for all elementary and secondary instructional staff and administrators and whereas Fairfax County Public Schools is launching the FCPS online dyslexia handbook to provide information and resources - FCPS schools and families alike as they support their students with dyslexia and whereas parents educators and students will benefit from increased awareness about the nature of dyslexia and the combination of strengths and difficulties that individuals with dyslexia can have now therefore the Fairfax County School Board recognizes 2017 as dyslexia Awareness Month and encourages all students to learn about

021dyslexia and to offer support to parents educators and individuals affected by dyslexia I so move your seconded by Miss mcLaughlin it's been moved and seconded mr. Olsen would you like to speak to know I would I and I appreciate so much looking back just a few years ago we had one or two or three advocates and now we have many and being the parent of students with dyslexia the wife of a dyslexic I know personally the impact that it has the disparate nature that it can present for students who might be a general education student or a twice exceptional student or a student with disabilities and the ability to provide the tools for educators to better assess students in Fairfax County Public Schools is frankly a miracle I thank the predecessors - hello miss Johnson

022- miss Johnson and as she carries on the work that it took to get to where we are but please I'm asking don't don't let up on us advocates hold us accountable help us to help you serve our students and our educators better miss McLaughlin would you like to speak to your second just briefly not only to echo the words of appreciation that Miss Schultz said to our community advocates out there but to just reinforce again why this is such a dynamic community to live in Fairfax County is definitely blessed to live with some of the most highly educated individuals that any school system could hope for and it is your passion your knowledge your advocacy that helps this board our superintendent and our 24,000 plus employees truly serve the needs of your children and

023it's often been said when a system of our size it's like a battleship and you can't turn the battleship you know too severely and then vary in speed of a time as we would like however every day every month every year in a child's life is time that we can't give back to them so tonight's speakers especially I want to thank you for raising our awareness some more about while we've made some really great strides especially with the universal screener we do have more work to do and I do believe my colleagues and I we have heard that we're not as standardized across the county as we'd like and it is parent voices that help us understand where we need to then provide the extra supports and services I know that our assistant superintendent Theresa

024Johnson shares the passion that Jayne lipped it and we will get there but it is through this partnership thank you for partnering with us on dyslexia thank you for partnering with us about the needs of special education students we are grateful and again it's wonderful to be able to honor you and to honor this very important month and so thank you for being here tonight with us thank you all call for the vote on this resolution all those in favor of who as a realistic resolution presented that vote is unanimous and it passes completely and thank you all very much for coming out in support thank you the next item on the agenda is national school bus safety week I call on miss Paul Jack yes thank you it is my distinct pleasure to once

025again bring attention to this important issue into some of our staunch defenders of our children every single day our school bus drivers the week of October 16th to the 20th has been designated as national school bus safety week based on the theme stop on red the week focuses on student safety when waiting for and boarding a school bus school bus safety is an issue for all citizens of Fairfax County who need to be aware of laws requiring them to stop and wait behind a school bus when it is loading and unloading student riders the major responsibility for school bus safety in Fairfax County rests firmly in the hands of our school bus drivers and attendants who daily transport more than a hundred forty two thousand students in over 1600 school buses on more than 6500

026separate routes traveling over 17 million operational miles each year it's a huge number joining us in the audience this evening is FCPS bus driver and chrome bush and has always been driven to do great things for students outside of our school division with tremendous support from the office of transportation services staff and local churches and drove more than a thousand miles to personally deliver sixty boxes of school supplies to Dade County Florida students who've been significantly impacted by recent hurricanes and loves and looks out for kids the one she's fortunate to drive every day as well as those whom she will never meet at this time I would like to invite Ann and her colleagues from the facilities and transportation services department to join us at the Dyess for a photo with the board our

027next agenda item is recognition of Fairfax County Public Schools earning Virginia index of performance awards and I call on dr. Bray Brandon Thank You chairman Strauss good evening everyone thank you all for being here it's it's a wonderful wonderful opportunity tonight to share with you our VIP Award winners as many of you may know each year Governor Terry McAuliffe and the Virginia Board of Education named schools that receive the Virginia index of performance or otherwise known as VIP awards for advanced learning and achievement the VIP incentive program recognizes schools and school divisions that exceed minimum state and federal accountability standards and achieve excellence goals established by the governor and the State Board this year I am proud to announce that 67 of our Fairfax County Public Schools were recognized for one of their three awards

028the Governor's Award for educational excellence the board of education excellence award and the Board of Education distinguished achievement award the criteria for the VIP awards are designed to recognize excellence and to provide incentives for school divisions and schools to expand academic opportunities for all students and to adopt best practices that result in engaging safe and healthy learning environments we will recognize tonight schools in each of those categories we're so excited to have so many of our school folks with us tonight and when you hear your school's name I'd ask you to come forward and when all the schools in that category are named we're going to take a picture with the school board school board members I would encourage you now to go ahead and come on down to the risers and remain there until

029the end and I would also like to invite our region 5 assistant superintendent dr. Francis IV to be our presenter of our award winning schools dr. ivy [Applause] Thank You dr. Bray bran and members of our school board two of our schools Cooper middle and Longfellow middle schools were among nine schools in the state of Virginia that received the Governor's Award for educational excellence which is the highest VIP award presented I'd like to invite the following two schools to the front of the auditorium or the front for a photo copper mill Cooper middle school Arlene Randall principal and Longfellow middle school Carole King principal Wendy Eaton assistant principal and Jill Tucker director of student services [Applause] okay 43 of our Fairfax County Public Schools received the 2017 Board of Education excellence award of recognition of

030schools that have met all state and federal accountability benchmarks and made significant progress towards goals for increased student achievement and expanded educational opportunities set by the board as I read the names I'd like for the schools to stand at your seats and then after we finish the list of all 43 schools we'll ask that you come forward for a group photo okay so beginning the list Louise Archer elementary school Michelle macro George's principal Canterbury Woods elementary school barber messenger principal Carson middle school Gorton Stokes principal and civil terry assistant principal Chantilly high school Scott Poole principal Chester brook elementary school Connie Britt assistant principal Amy blanth fourth grade teacher Chelsey Landman fifth grade teacher and levena Gann wani kolosso PTA pressure Churchill Road Elementary School Mary Lynn hrabowski teacher Colvin run Elementary School ken young

031e Flores elementary school Gayle Porter I'd like to invite region two executive principal mr. J Pearson to come and continue the list of the 2017 board of education excellence award recognition thank you dr. Ivy Forestville elementary school Todd Franklin principal frost middle school Eric McCann principal Great Falls Elementary School Chris lits assistant principal Green West Pattee Grenada principal Haycock elementary school Jeremy Donnelly principal Heather Boyd assistant principal Scott Reeder assistant principal Keene mill elementary Renee Miller principal Kent gardens elementary pure McGrath and Tony Rose assistant principals Kumar middle school Ronald James principal Lake Braddock secondary school Dave Thomas principal Langley high school Fred amico principal Madison High School Gregg hood principal went to elementary school Jan Murray Fernandes principal Amy Ali assistant principal Marshall high school Jeff Lutz principal and Phil publican PTSA president McLane

032High School genre lon assistant principal I'd like to invite region 3 executive principal grace Taylor who will continue with the 2017 Board of Excellence Award recognitions Thank You mr. Pierson mosby Woods Elementary School Mari austie principal Navy Elementary School John Cook principal Oak Hill Elementary School Holly Devore principal cliff Cradle assistant principal Oakton High School Jennifer Hogan Director of Student Services popular tree Elementary School Pam Gomez third grade AAP teacher robinson secondary school Scott Turner assistant principal and Denise Lee Director of Student Services rocky run middle school Amy goodloe principal and Christine Shameka assistant principal Sangster elementary school Lisa R Adel principal Spring Hill Elementary School bill oak principal Springfield estates Elementary School Mary Randolph principal sunrise Valley Elementary School Tony Washington assistant principal Thomas Jefferson High School for science and technology dr. Anne Bona

033Thomas Wakefield forest elementary school Sharon Prindle principal way poles mill elementary school Greg Berta Marko principal and Wayne wood elementary school Alice Birnbaum assistant principal executive principal for region for dr. Eric Brent will read the remaining schools in the 2017 Board of Education excellence Gouri thank you mrs. Taylor West Springfield High School Michael Mukai principal Shannon Matheny and Kate Rizzuto assistant principals Westborough elementary school Mary tam principal and Jennifer sellers PTA president White Oaks Elementary School Brian Richardson principal Willow Springs Elementary School Dylan Taylor principal worth trap elementary school Teressa Colucci principal Woodson high school Karlin Floyd principal at this time we will take a group photo for the 2017 Board of Education excellence [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] we will now continue with the recognition okay 22 Fairfax County Public

034Schools received a 2017 Board of Education distinguished Achievement Award a recognition of schools that have met all state and federal benchmarks and made progress towards the goals of the governor and the board I would like to invite the following schools to stand and remain standing at your seat when your name is called we will take a group photo after all schools are recognized in this category cinebulle high school dave jiggles principal Crossville elementary school Connie Giovanni and Ann Weiss teachers Flint Hill Elementary School Jennifer Hirschberg principal Franklin middle school Sharon Eisenberg principal Hunt Valley Elementary School David fee principal Irving middle school Sean spear assisting principal lower Ridge Elementary School Tanya wasun Burke principal Lee's corner elementary school Bob de Mato principal Veronica Sloan and Laura tapper assistant principals lemon road elementary school Andy Kamara

035principal I would like to invoke I would like to invite dr. Ivy back to the podium to complete the list of 2017 Board of Education distinguished achievement award recognition rounding out the list for this category McNair Elementary Hannah Frank's instructional coach Oak View Elementary Sarah Brooker principal Oakton Elementary Christine Kelly principal Powell elementary Jamie Larssen principal Raymond Ravens worth elementary Roxanne salata and Patrick Boyd early assistant principal Franklin Elementary School Josh death miter assistant principal silver Brook Elementary Travis Thomason assistant principal South County High School Matt Morgan principal Stratford landing Elementary Marlene Marshall principal Thoreau middle school Josefa see me principal Union mill elementary Kathy case principal Vienna Elementary John Carmichael principal and West Springfield Elementary Kelly shears principal let's give them all a round of applause and now if if the group would come

036forward for a photo [Music] [Applause] I know the next order of business is citizen participation tonight we have ten citizens who have signed up to address the board and to video testimonies 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 complaints regarding individual students or school-based employees should be directed to the appropriate school principal or other school official speakers should refrain from using personally identifiable information connect in connection with individual students speakers are expected to deliver their comments with the decorum and respect appropriate to the conduct of the public's business please be mindful that there are often young children in attendance at these meetings or watching at

037home so language should be appropriate for all age levels thank you for your cooperation and thanks to those who have come to speak to us tonight the first speaker is Susan Dane wits to be followed by Susan Yoshihara hello I'm a 13 year Fairfax County alumna Stewart pyramid Honam owner and parent to three young students I adore Fairfax County Public Schools fully removing the name of the Confederate general from our high school and replacing it with a new uplifting name paints a positive news story for my high school district right now FCPS children can clearly hear the loud message sent by the high schools around them named only for white men old white men we must change our message of who counts in order to improve student achievement we have an amazing win win win

038in the name Barbara Rose John's she's a Virginian a passionate scholar a brave and responsible teenager who embodies the International Baccalaureate learner profile she's deeply connected to our beloved local Thurgood Marshall through the Brown versus Board of Education case he argued for her and she is both a woman and person of color in one fell swoop naming the school for Barbara Rose John's we can shift the balance of whom we valorize we can open doors to girls and boys who have been left out of the roster of the worthy through this issue I've learned about painful local Fairfax County history in the 50s Fairfax County bust our black children to the subpar Manassas industrial school rather than educate them Stewart stalled integration until seven years after brown v board and even then kept sports segregated

039my neighbor Elizabeth's parents had to have her moved to DC for high school to get a decent education during the Manassas busing years in the early 70s my neighborhood minister ken was hissed at in the halls of stewart and chased out of his white friends lake Barcroft yard by a mother yelling foul racial epithets these black men and women are alumni neighbors who are who live among us today they are not abstractions we have work to do to face the future proudly so I'm from TJ so I'm going to end with mathematical analysis our referendum reveals the community spoke and we are not irrevocably divided the community is not as deadlocked as it may seem from your inbox and we want to remove the name of Stuart from our school first this was a legitimate

040community referendum the 932 household turnout tracks very closely with a two hundred one thousand two thousand one hundred and twenty nine individuals who voted at our eleven district polling locations in the recent at-large school board election we came out to vote second using the vote data I analyzed who our households support the rejection of Stuart was quite strong with nearly two-thirds 63% dismissing and rejecting Stuart entirely for any of their three choices in fact Justice Marshall one greatest number of household supporters followed closely by Stewart and then Barbara Rose John's third as we know the Pro Stewart Road is passionate but I was surprised however that a mere 81 households eight point six percent were steward only meanwhile seventy homes who supported Stuart nearly the same amount also supported Marshall Johns or Mendes we are

041ready for a righteousness welcoming inspiring name that name should be Barbara Rose John's thank you the next speaker is Susan Yoshihara to be followed by Joe Fashoda good evening I'm dr. Susan Yoshihara a resident of Fairfax County mother of two young girls and one whose special needs and I thank you for listening to me speak about the audit plan I am a proud product of Fairfax County Public Schools as are my siblings and my mom's a former teacher here these schools gave me the skills and the confidence to embark when I was 17 to the Naval Academy and a happy and long career as a Navy helicopter pilot I'm very grateful for that my feminist friends and I often wonder why we see what we think is a role back in women's empowerment one reason

042I see as a mother of girls it's like girls today are barrage with confusing messages about gender fin little girls in their young minds today they hear that maybe being female isn't good enough maybe they could maybe they should transition into something else maybe to a boy I wonder for example about the girls in the schools today what it must be like for them to celebrate gender identity and how that's affecting them especially vulnerable girls and I wonder if that might be a study we could add to our audit plan I read recently from Lisa Marciano a psychotherapist she's politically progressive and supportive of transition therapy but she wrote recently that she's appalled by what she and her colleagues see has something called Gen social contagion of a new type of gender dysphoria preying upon

043teen girls they're calling it rapid onset gender dysphoria and they say it's even more damaging than other versions they liken it to what happened after bulimia was popularized unintentionally and that claimed some 30 million victims martiano gets frequent frantic phone calls from parents of girls who are rushed within weeks and to testosterone injections and double mastectomies by medical professionals that she says have abandoned their gatekeeping role in the face of pressure from activists and also politicians she says most of these parents have 14 or 15 year-old daughters who are smart quirky and struggling socially and many of them on the autism spectrum now why this sharp increase and this what she calls out of the blue gender dysphoria now she says preliminary research points to social media sites that valorize being trans and that that

044explains why clusters of girls are transitioning together Mariano says that the growing community of D transitioners mostly young women in their 20s and those are the ones she works with shows that loosening the standards and I might add an unmitigated affirmation an unexamined affirmation has not served everyone well so along with lifelong medical disability this contagion can rob our girls of health achievement and confidence at a time that they really need them to enter college embark on family life and good citizenship so I would just please ask that in the rush to celebrate gender and gender identity let's not forget about our girls thank you thank you our next speaker is Joe I showed it to be followed by Denis Pattyn superintended Rob an school board members and Fairfax County taxpayers new roofing for a

045for a school is a costly expense but a very necessary one and when there is a compelling need I have no qualms that my taxpayer dollars are being spent wisely to protect those facilities and those that are in them however when a school board decides to rename an existing high school such as Jeb Stuart high school and take on such a huge unaffordable expense it should be at the extraordinary urgent and compelling need you have yet to define the urgent or the compelling need to taxpayers Jeb Stewart is the first of possibly thirty other high schools or schools named in Fairfax County that are targeted for change and I wish with all those principles that were here I wish they could have heard all of this but anyway I yield my remaining time to a

046Chris Armas mobile good evening members of the school board and thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight my name is Chris Amos I am a father of a sophomore at Jeb Stuart high school concerns over the Jeff Stewart name certainly hit close to home for me as a parent of a Jeb Stuart's sophomore however I'm far more concerned about the peripheral aspects of the name change that hold critical impact for the school short and long term success after a community vote the second and third leading name contenders certainly honor people of great accomplishment cultural and historical significance they also however run up the cost associated with a high school name change the community voted for the least expensive and most popular name Stewart of paramount concern is the cost of this effort

047reported to be upwards of 1 million dollars for complete new branding some fairfax county schools like george Marcille have enjoyed recent renovations while newer schools like south county have yet to experience the challenge of an outdated inferior physical plant at 40 plus years old stewart falls into neither category no or insufficient air-conditioning in the school's main gym dangerously overcrowded hallways that raise safety and capacity concerns roaches and yes rats in the school building and perhaps more important a diverse but rapidly growing student population with equally diverse needs that must be met if Stuart is to keep pace with leading high schools in Fairfax County and the state of Virginia more broadly compounding the issue is the question of funding which must be raised by the school community itself given the overwhelming needs of Jeff Stewart

048the least expensive option is the best choice stewart high school there's pride among current students of alumni of all backgrounds for the stewart name substantial time human and financial resources have already been dedicated to the stewart name change while the motivation behind the name change of growths in high school was one that's different from stew I asked that you consider the Stewart name change as something of great importance to this community thank you thank you the next speaker is Denise Patten to be followed by Shia Ortiz thank you for this opportunity to speak with you tonight I read the o AG risk assessment and audit plan proposal for fiscal year 2018 it intrigued me that three years into the future there's a plan to audit the leadership and school board I believe it should be

049sooner and should include a communications audit a comprehensive communications audit would identify strengths and weaknesses in communication among the board members as well as the public the jeb stuart name changes you could be a case study as it has not been cohesive or transparent and has led to divisive 'no sand confusion in the stewart area despite clear rejection of a name change by the stewart pyramid the school board voted for change in a motion by sandy evans that offered a compromise evans motion stated that in the spirit of compromise and in recognition of the need to minimize costs as well as the desire for continuity by alumni staff requests that the stewart community considers stewart high school as a new name many school board members are on record favoring a stewart compromise in their discussions

050at the july 17 work session miss Hine said I listened to my colleagues talk about finding a compromise and I think that's a great idea miss Strauss said I'm willing to change the name of Jeb Stewart and I will again we clarify what I would support one is to remove the Jeb and it becomes Stewart which then becomes an English Scottish clan name just like mclean ms mclaughlin felt that after listening to mrs. strauss i really would like us to consider calling it stewart high school after the Stewart family mr. McElveen went on to say a woman who emailed me suggested we named it after Gilbert Stewart that's my humble suggestion July 27 miss Corbett Sanders made her choice clear we need to heal this community and I suggest that we need to come together

051with Stuart high school a list of 73 possible names was put to a vote on September 16 no matter how anyone chooses to slice or dice the numbers Stuart received the most points and Morris households voted for Stuart than any other name the clear and overwhelming winner is Stuart the fact remains that the residents of the Stuart pyramid still what financial prudence from their school board Stuart high school is the most economical choice as well as the most popular the students and community have embraced this change and are already tweeting messages about the new Stu always Raiders and the school's 2017 spirit we're now on sale proudly says Stuart the consumer community has taken your word that you want compromise and voted for Stuart and I hope you will find it in your hearts not

052to disappoint them on October 26 thank you thank you the next speaker is Chaya Ortiz to be followed by Vince Natuna hello everyone my face many of you should know well by now I am Chaya mohanty Ortiz Spanish instructor at Northern Virginia Community College and the mother of a transgender alumnus from Robinson secondary school yesterday October 11th was National Coming Out Day an event celebrated by many and one that also induces fear and grief to those who don't feel safe to come out today the National Center for transgender equality published their 2015 survey with a state-by-state breakdown please let me enlighten the audience with statistics on Virginia transgender students I quote 80% of those who were out or perceived as transgender at some point between kindergarten and grade 12 experienced some form of mistreatment such

053as being verbally harassed prohibited from dressing according to their gender identity discipline more harshly or physically or sexually assaulted because people thought that they were transgender 51 percent of those who were out or perceived as transgender in K through 12 were verbally harassed 21 percent were physically attacked and 12 percent were sexually assaulted in K through 12 because of being transgender 15 percent faced such severe mistreatment as transgender persons that they left a K through 12 school transgender students have always been a part of the FCPS School District and they will continue to be here they are not going away I thank the board for its previous affirmation of transgender inclusion by way of the updated non-discrimination policy however as officials elected to educate and protect all FCPS students and staff your jobs are not

054done there can be no effective policies if training and regulations are not put into place letting these issues be handled on a school by school basis is not effective and leaves too many opportunities for unequal treatment we are already aware of at least one transgender girl who was attacked by a classmate towards the end of last school year how many more cases of harassment threats sexual and physical harm will it take for the FCPS school board to create well-defined regulations that will protect all students and staff how many more transgender students will suffer in silence before the FCPS school board implements training for all staff i implore the school board to put into place regulations in education before any more transgender students within our district becomes a statistic thank you and I will supply the

055links to the survey when I email all of the board members tonight or tomorrow thank you very much for your time thank you the next speaker is Vince Nick - no to be followed by Christian Barbosa good evening I'm Vincent at UNO class of 71 jibs or high school before I start I was just wondering if I miss miss it missed it but I didn't hear as much as I commend the principal's that were here before I didn't hear of any Mason district schools in that list and I'm curious as to why that would be but anyway the OIG proposal for a risk assessment and an audit plan calls for a leadership and school board with three years from now within three years from now why wait the debacle over changing the name of Jeff

056surrett high school begs for an audit of the process employed and its ancillary expenses when a school board decides to rename an existing high school and take on a huge expense it should be for extraordinary reasons I believe that an audit will find the lab that a lack of extraordinary or compelling reasons to rename our school many school board members boarded the Jeb Stewart name change train late in the journey five of you even tried to hit the restart button with your July 27th alternative motion how have we got here remains troubling to us and that truly is the problem we are not here today because the majority of Jeff Stewart students or the community wanted change every single survey and pull whether acknowledged as official or not said no time and again by a

057majority of respondents yet the train kept rolling we are here because the school boards process went off the track sandy Evans and Pat Hines instead of turning to the Stewart community or to the board when the five students came forward reached out to the n-double-a-cp asking them to coach the students through the process long before the student community was even aware of the redrafting of regulation 8170 point seven to include renaming language n-double-a-cp members were involved in F F CPS business offering edits to regulation and crafting vague language like compelling need and significant support is that transparency we only found out in FOIA documents my guess is that the that an official audit would reveal much more please ask yourselves if I'm if the majority of my own community didn't want to change but I

058did would I be pushing for renaming a school in my district if our Mason district school board member was not for changed this would have never been what this would have been over long ago Jeb Stewart was for a heavy-handed judgment yet this sets precedent for 30 other Fairfax County Schools taxpayers pay attention yet this sets precedent for 30 other Fairfax County schools or do they need to worry if their school board member is for change this is important enough and emotional enough and expensive enough that the school board should make uniform decisions throughout the county the motion to change the name ask the community consider removing the jib from naming its steward hi and many of you raised the idea of Stewart in work sessions and school board meetings yes we know those comments

059don't necessarily translate into binding votes but many of you said you thought that that was an acceptable compromise we employ you to stick to your own recommendations especially since the community vote supported it by a solid margin it wastes the least amount of money taxpayer dollars and the change from Jeb Stuart's and Stewart will be easier transition for the students and community it's time for you to stand by your word and simply name our school Stewart thank you the next speaker is Cristian Barbosa to be followed by Sarah Daniela hello my name is Cristian Barbosa and I'm here regarding the fiscal year 18 risk assessment audit plan one of the stated objectives of the audit is to determine whether the ongoing processes for FCPS are adequately designed functioned in an efficient effective manner and fully

060accountable to the fairfax county citizens in some regards the school board has left down the citizens of this county in 2017 specifically those in the Jeff Stewart community by dragging out been going forward with the costly renaming of the Jeff Stewart High School against the will of the majority of residents and students the board has already pledged to throw away a substantial amount of money your moral obligation now is to minimize the adverse economic impact that squandering funds for a total rebrand of the school will bring I live two blocks away from Stewart in the direction of Cole more an overwhelming amount of families that are cannot afford to even provide their children with a school lunch many more pay reduce feet Estill imposes a strain on their finances further costs are levied on students

061who want to participate in extracurriculars 50bucks across the board and then on top of that they need to pay for equipment instruments materials trips to competitions no students should be told they cannot participate in enrichment because they can't afford the fees in the classroom the test books textbooks are falling apart and limited in quantity class sizes keep rising and teachers aren't paid enough to stay this is the state of things today for fiscal year 18 however you can slow the bleeding the change from Jeb Stewart to Stewart will cost a half a million dollars which is a lot but it's a half million dollars less than totally removing the Stewart name altogether and replacing it with another half a million that can go back into our school many communities in our in our country are

062working through these issues especially in Virginia l Douglas Wilder the first elected black governor in Virginia reflected upon Richmond's current crisis saying with the problems that we have in our schools today particularly education it's more important to improve the quality of education now spending taxpayers dollars more wisely now on the kind of things that we need to do now then this talk about destroying or taking down a Richmond team named Daquan I authored a new an a viral Facebook post on behalf of himself and four of his friends saying things that echoed the needs of the impoverished portions the Jeff Stafford family and really struck a chord with me everybody's paying the blame and Monument Avenue the statues that reside here but those statues never did anything to me or the people I care about

063it's the only thing that ever harmed lone some people in areas is the violence that resides there what I told you what if I told you that they were kids stop it in your backyards living and run down buildings the schools we go to are unaccredited and broke instead of using the money to knock down statute that most people in low-income areas never even seen how about using that money to improve schools fix up the community that we see every day why not protest in our neighborhoods that we see the violence and hate the most everybody wants to help and nobody's really help helping are they into the quote there's been a lot of talk in this very room tonight in the past about why we honor people and who we should honor right now

064it is your moral imperative to honor the folks who need it the most those living in the Jeff Stewart community please limit the cost and keep the name Stewart to show that you honor our neighborhood thank you thank you the next speaker is Sara's and yellow to be followed by Keith Arthur's goodnight good evening everyone my name is Sarah Xan yellow and I've been a teacher in Fairfax County for 18 years I'm also a board member and of FCPS pride and the sponsor of the gender and sexuality Association at Lake Braddock secondary school both organizations support the LGBTQ communities I would like to begin tonight by thanking the board in the county for recognizing LGBT History Month official recognition of this month grants teachers the opportunity to incorporate significant movements and events into their instruction

065events such as Stonewall and historical figures such as Harvey Milk they only received passing mention in history books but they can be explored further by the building's the teachers and the students further bolstering our LGBTQ students confidence we all know how important it is for all students to see themselves reflected in instruction but it is not only our LGBTQ students who need to know the history of the discrimination against LGBT people and their struggle to have the same rights as everyone else in our society I have worked with LGBTQ students through the GSA and as a supporter of Human Rights during the last 15 years throughout this time the hardest thing for me to hear is the students telling me that they do not have the support of their families as a mother this shocks

066me but this is the reality for many LGBT kids this makes it all the more important for the school system to make sure all students have a school environment that is both supportive of who they are and responsive to their needs if the school sends the message that the students aren't welcome where does that leave them we know that anxiety depression and suicide are all prevalent among LGBT youth due to a variety of factors including their home family and school communities as well as society at large though we cannot control how accepting students parents and peers are we owe it to all of our students to make our support for them clear and unequivocal students who done do not feel supported or valued often become unmotivated have difficulty concentrating and may have trouble asking for

067help a student's gender or sexuality does not change their ability to understand Shakespeare nor does it affect their willingness to speak German in class it will however if these students are neither respected nor protected teachers and staff have different differing levels of knowledge of the needs of LGBTQ students some of us may need guidance and modeling to make sure we treat all students fairly I urge the school board to pass and implement detailed regulations that support our transgender students I applaud the efforts that a fairfax county has made in the past and I hope we can continue moving forward to make Fairfax County Public Schools a model for cultural proficiency and understanding an ideal fairfax county graduate is capable of understanding the world around them and being a part of it and i would like

068to say that an inclusive environment benefits us all thank you very much thank you the next speaker speaker is Keith Arthur's to be followed by Lois Bendis [Applause] good evening I'm Keith Arthur's and I'm from Vienna and I have three children attending FCPS thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight on f20 fiscal year 2018 audit plan in the audit plan you state your desire to achieve strategic goals through resource stewardship the Virginia Department of Education vision statement is to create excellence in education that all students be capable responsible and self-reliant citizens to promote college and career readiness core goals need prioritized over non essentials to balance a household budget most homes prioritize the essential expenses and then eliminate all the nice-to-have items which nickel-and-dime your budget in FCPS pet projects often seem to take

069priority over the essentials two and a half years ago I met with Pat Hines about the f early changes in sexual orientation and gender identity and I was concerned that the FCPS budget was facing a huge shortfall and yet somehow you had money to prioritize these controversial curriculum changes in addition to spending priorities the reason behind controversial actions such as tonight's agenda item recognizing LGBT LGBT History Month States it's being done because as the PTA states because of negative attitudes that students hold the motive to change kids negative attitudes I challenge that motive since these kids belief towards LGBT comes primarily from their religious beliefs and doctrine where sexual moral lines are drawn in August the most well known and well respected religious teachers came together to create and sign the National statement this doctrine

070statement across faiths spell out biblical religious doctrine on LGBT behavior just under 50% of the families in Fairfax County belong to religions that align with the National statement the PTA would label the Nashville statement as having a negative attitude from the founding of our nation it was necessary to prohibit the government from meddling in church matters the Virginia Religious Freedom Act written by Thomas Jefferson also makes that prohibition clear at the state level the United Nation Declaration of Human Rights article 18 in 1919 extend this prohibition internationally our tablet article 18 begins with everyone has the right to freedom of thought conscience and religion article 19 says everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference as elected officials and government institution your attempts to

071coerce children's thought an opinion on sexuality by instituting programs in curriculum attend intended to abandon their closely held religious doctrine or family teaching violates the rights and is an abuse of taxpayer funds in conclusion any expense like this paid by taxpayers which is not a core goal of the Virginia Department of Education or FCPS in achieving workforce or college readiness needs to be eliminated first nickel-and-dime pet projects using County public resources need to be the first items audited and removed until spending is reduced below income improve class life teacher salaries test scores college readiness vocational training must always be the first priority thank you thank you the next speaker is Luis Mendez [Applause] good evening as you can see I am NOT Luis Mendez because I won the coin toss however I am Tina Morgan

072Mendes and I'm speaking on behalf of my family many of it's all part of our this is our huge family but this is a small part of our family the fairfax county public school risk assessment and audit plan focuses on achievement of its strategic goals my comments tonight address those strategic goals as stated in the 1 fairfax resolution a new model driven by equity that can be realized by naming jeb stuart high school after my father Colonel Lewis G Mendez jr. we'd like you to know a few highlights about our dad his life was a rags to riches one but not in the traditional sense of achieving financial gain what he accomplished was far more inspirational a mexican-american Navajo Indian rising from a humble hardscrabble beginning to become a West Point graduate earning an MA

073from Georgetown University a highly decorated war hero a diplomat and a dynamic educator dad was an inspiration to his family the men he commanded authors historians and so many others even the people of the small French town of puto and Normandy were so inspired by dad that they honored him by naming him their two main town square Laplace did Colonel Mendez for saving the town from the enemy in World War two he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions there we believe at the Stewart that excuse me that the students of Jeb Stewart well find my dad's story inspirational as well knowing that they too can rise up to be what they want to be and overcoming obstacles along the way dad's involvement in the Stewart community started in 1954 when he bought

074one of the original homes in Lake on stony Brae Drive I remember when we moved in stony brea was just a dirt road there was so little traffic we played ball and wrote our bikes in the street and we roamed through the woods that surrounded our house eight of us attended jeb stuart our family has strong strong ties here fairfax county is our home and we care about jeb stuart and the community we were part of for 58 years dad learned early in life that the most effective leaders have the courage to make the hardest decisions he always said that at the end of the day all one has is their integrity you have three exemplary people to choose from for a new name if you don't name the school after mendez marshall or jane

075johns you will have wasted a valuable opportunity renew remove the name of Jeb Stewart and name the school after my dad Colonel Lewis Chi Mendez junior thank you so much thank you we now have two video testimonies it will be played on the screen behind us as well as the monitors in front of us the first video is from Laura Miller good evening opportunity to provide fiscal year 18 audit question should an audit study be performed on processes cost and negative impacts caused by the name change of Jeff Stewart High School to answer let's start with just the facts Jeff Stern High School is 75% minorities from 80 different countries and praised for its diversity integration and harmony there was no documentation of any problems with its name for 60 years a 2016 poll found

07690% of the students either like the name or so no compelling need to change it many African Americans support keeping the school name of Jeff so now our why did this happen originally pushed by a handful of vocal students and teachers two years ago named James effort characterized by repeated false statements distortions and involved out of county residents name change process was marked by irregularities accusations and divisive --mess Stooges testified to being bullied threatened and intimidated into silence by name change proponents there was an in consideration of wasteful spending and poor priorities new name to cost up to $800,000 tens of thousands of dollars already wasted over the past two years students to pay an additional two hundred thousand in new spirit we're and many are poor private donation interest is lacking due to the

077divisive mmus this is a bad precedent for at CPS students are now divided and moralized sits poor precedents to change 30 more at CPS schools at a cost of up to twenty million dollars robert e lee Jefferson Medicine found burden in Fairfax high schools are all at risk teachers subject to wasting money while salaries are stagnant parents object to wasting money while class sizes are increasing and now the school board integrity is at risk on July 27th seven school board members approved to change the name of Jeff Stewart high school subject to the stood community to consider Stewart high school as the new dean in the spirit of compromise and in recognition of the need to minimize costs on September 16th the Stewart community overwhelmingly voted to select Stewart high school out of 73 names

078considered and by a two-to-one margin over the second place finisher students at the school have already adopted the new name calling it news too but school board members are now wavering on their commitment even though the community has spoken decisively so in conclusion yes it is recommended that an audit study be performed on processes cost and negative impacts caused by the name change of Jeff Stewart High School in order to ensure fairness equality and lessons learned in FCPS the last video testimony is presented by Debbie Ratliff the FCPS risk assessment and audit plan focuses on achievement of its strategic goals the one Fairfax resolution is part of FCPS strategic goals and advocates a new model driven by equity this new model can be achieved by the intentional renaming of Jeb Stewart high school for a

079woman or a person of color the time is now to move beyond embracing diversity as an asset and implement a new growth model driven by equity Justin fair inclusion into one Fairfax a community in which everyone can participate and prosper one Fairfax can only be realized with an intentional racial and social equity policy at its core a racial and social equity policy provides both the direction and means to eliminate disparities and work together to build a vibrant and opportunity rich Society for all the named Stewart high school honors Jeb Stewart in the Confederacy which does not support the one Fairfax resolution and the FCPS strategic goals it honors the Confederacy and it's Confederate constitutional belief in slavery white supremacy and a slave based economy which was driven by the domestic slave trade out of the

080Commonwealth of Virginia the Confederate flag has always been part of the school's brand as these examples show the gym floor wall mural leather jacket leather jacket close up and the football jersey the image of jeb stuart the cavalry rider the raider has always been in silhouette today the flag is in silhouette like the rider removing the colors of the confederate flag the Stars and Bars didn't change what the flag represents and it's connection to the school's namesake and the Confederacy removing three letters from the school's official name will likewise not change the school's namesake and it's connection to the Confederacy Stewart high school and the Raiders will always be dub Stewart high school just as a cavalry rider the Raider has always been Jeff Stewart and the flag has always been the Confederate flag FCPS

081has an exciting opportunity to choose a real new name for our high school a new name that will support the one Fairfax resolution and FCPS strategic goals a new name that will reflect our community our community's values and support the one Fairfax resolution unbelievably no high school in Fairfax County is named after a woman or a person or color so our high school can be first one the first high school in all of fairfax county named after a woman or a person of color that is the headline we want to see the superintendent has recommended these three names for the school board Barbara Rose John's Justice Thurgood Marshall and Colonel wuji Mendez jr. the school board can choose any one of these three names names that reflect our community's diversity the diversity of our country

082and more importantly our values of diversity and inclusion which are detailed in the one Fairfax resolution a new model driven by equity thank you that includes citizen participation thank you to everybody who has come out to speak to us this evening the next item on the agenda is student representative matters my call on misfit akanda thank you madam chair throughout the past few months I've talked to members of the superintendent Student Advisory Council and other students to determine what my priorities will be for the year ahead and the two main issues that have been brought up in the first part of the year include our current budget and the student fees and mental health so many of our students are concerned about not being able to take AP exams this year after the most recent

083budget that limited coverage of AP exams to six over the course of a student's four years this is particularly affecting our seniors and juniors who have already taken AP exams in years past that could cause them to exceed this limit this year but across the board not covering all AP and IB exams often hinder students ability to take these exams to gain college credit that will help them reduce overall college costs and to also get a leg up and pursue higher level classes in college looking ahead to budget discussions I hope that we'll be able to reverse these change and also reduce the fees that students currently have to pay for participating in extracurricular activities while we are providing waivers for students on free and reduced price lunch it's important to note that many families

084who don't qualify for these waivers often don't have the funds to pay for these exam and extracurricular fees which can total up to several hundred dollars a year and it is our responsibility to make sure that every student regardless of what their financial situation may be can pursue whatever extracurricular and academic paths they want to I know we're always strapped for cash in our annual budget but I hope we can make this a priority or if it's impossible to do with the numbers that we have if we can work with the foundation or individual high schools to set up funds where people can donate to support AP and extracurricular fees for students who can't afford them another major issue that was brought up was mental health it's incredible how our students are so committed to

085making sure that their peers never feel that they have no one to turn to at some schools we've seen peer counselors and student support groups have success in helping students deal with academic and social pressures particularly for freshmen who and and feel overwhelmed in the transition to high school and we've seen students eager to share information about suicide prevention and mental wellness tips with their friends and mindful mindfulness programs by his school social workers and school psychologists have been very helpful in teaching students how to deal with stress in a healthy way and our students also recognize how important it is to reduce bullying and discrimination within our schools as part of improving mental health especially for LGBTQ students who face higher risks of suicide and depression we must be committed to across-the-board reform of

086the policies we currently have to make sure that every single student never feels that they aren't loved or aren't part of the FCPS community we passed the suicide prevention policy last month but in order to make this a successful policy we must make sure that our mental health policy supports student initiatives rather than make them redundant students have continually expressed that programs run by students and their own peers are much more valuable than programs implemented top-down in a way that seems forced or artificial to many of the students and moving forward in the implementation of this policy and future policies I hope that we can utilize student initiatives to support our goals as a school board I look forward to continue collaborating with students to identifying the problems in their schools to see what we

087as a school board can do to help them solve their issues thank you Miss Bennet Connor we always appreciate hearing the ideas and end needs of our students through your representation thank you very much the next item on our agenda is the FY 2018 risk assessment an audit plan I call an ester Co our auditor general for the presentation Pisco good evening everyone first of all I would like to take this opportunity to thank the school board again for giving me this opportunity to serve and it Auditor General for FCPS and this evening I would like to take a moment to share with you the FY 18 risk assessment and the audit plan I would like to adopt a similar approach that our leadership team has adopted so I'm going to use a one-pager as

088well as a summary to share the key talking points with you then on Monday October 16th work session my colleagues and myself will go over other key information from the audit plan and be able to answer any questions that the board members may have the full FY 18 risk assessment and audit plan report has also been uploaded to the board dock for your review so to start off in order for us to have a successful audit plan we need to know clearly the goals and the objective that we would like to achieve just like when we drive we need to know the destination before we start so there are two key purposes for the FY 18 audit plan one is to promote the FCPS achievement of his strategic goals particularly in the area of resource

089stewardship and secondly the audit plan should accomplish the office of Auditor General's mission which is to independently determine whether the ongoing processes for FCPS are adequately designed functioning in an effective and efficient manner and be fully accountable to the fairfax county citizens so after we know the destination the next question is how to get us there the office of auditor general adopted a risk assessment approach to identify and prioritize audit topics I will talk about the risk assessment process in a little bit so first of all I would like to bring you to the outcomes of this risk assessments my office has identified ten audit topics to be completed in fiscal year 18 three of them our carry-forward audit from FY 17 and the other seven are new topics for FY 18 in addition to

090complete this ten topics my office will fall also focus on the following duties number one is to follow up on the other findings to ensure that artists findings are being resolved and remediated in a timely manner secondly we will start also the FY 19 risk assessment plan because before we know FY 19 will arrive thirdly we will continue to manage the fraud waste and abuse hotline and we will also increase the use of audit technology so that we can make smarter choices in other samples and be able to run audit analytics and reports automatically and in a higher quality last but not least my office will continue to meet the professional educational development so that we can stay on top of the local government audit requirements and any hot topics and be the subject-matter experts

091so ok let's come back to the risk assessment process I'm very grateful that before my appointment the school board the audit committee members and the leadership team have already identified 40 or so audit topics for consideration in addition to this topics my office perform further research into other school districts and to see what kind of other topics that they are interested at looking and myself also revealed a lot of my office past audit reports to identify if there are any remaining key audit issues that we have to address with all of these efforts then now it add to the audit universe of 44 topics so once these audit topic universe is developed my office evaluate the relevant financial reputational and operational risk related to each of the topic as well as what is the opportunity

092to improve on this are other topics as a result of this other priorities redevelop redeveloped audits into three different categories the primary other priorities will be completed cheering FY 18 the secondary audit priorities will be completed in FY 19 between f1 19 and FY 21 and then the long-term priorities will be considered after FY 21 the audit topics identified under the primary priorities again these are the priorities that we would like to focus during fiscal year 18 in the alphabetical orders are number one adult community education business model number two the business process turnover the audit that many of us are familiar with the third one is facilities maintenance audit the fourth one is school activity fun audits number five is private transportation perfect transportation is defined as two means to transport students outside of

093the normal school bus service to meet the daily educational needs of their students number six is the procurement and contract process oversight and number seven is the workers compensation process I would also like to take a moment to explain the audit process to all of you as you can see the graphic in the middle of the summary which describes the audit is actually a continuous process to my internal audit clients it doesn't mean that the audit would never end but it just mean that every time the oddest cycle should be a more information though and be a more effective one so that the audit findings and what we learn from each adit can feed back into the risk assessment process for next year so with that I would like to conclude by thanking two school

094board members and the leadership team and the staff in all the departments to contribute to the f1 at 18 risk assessment and the audit plan process so that FCPS will continue to embrace the resource stewardship and our commitment to accountability open communication and transparency thank you thank you very much misko we appreciate your presentation and thank you for being our auditor general we welcome you early and we look forward to our discussion at the work session on Monday and mr. moon did you have a clarifying question yes and also reminder to my colleagues on the board then I'll be managing the that person over the work session on Monday we have a one-hour set aside for discussion over this particular topic and if you're interested in offering any different topics for next year's audit please

095bring that to the table on Monday for discussion for the least of those four is some top we have 44 but we are welcome to have more right and they are listed in Appendix 1 is that is that correct yes okay thank you mr. Corbett Sanders I just wanted to congratulate you on a very thorough work plan I was thrilled to be able to read it and see the progress that has been made in your department job well done and I look forward to a discussion on Monday okay thank you very much then we will have our next discussion on Monday thank you very much [Applause] the next part of our agenda is a consent agenda our adopted rules of parliamentary procedure Robert's Rules provide for a consent agenda listing several items for approval of

096the board by a single motion many items listed have gone through board review and documentation has been provided to all board members and the public in advance items may be removed from the consent agenda at the request of any board member prior to the meeting 5.01 approved the minutes of the September 28th 2017 regular school board meeting 5.0 to appoint individuals to serve on committees as detailed in the agenda item 5.03 adopt the policies on the no change memo is detailed in the agenda item 5.0 for award a contract for the Robinson secondary school roof replacement project to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder Rd being incorporated in the amount of nine hundred and seventy three thousand eight hundred and fifteen dollars and authorized the division superintendent or the assistant superintendent of facilities and transportation

097services to execute deliver and administer the contract on behalf of the school board is there any objection to approving the consent agenda hearing and seeing no objection the consent agenda is approved new business the following are new business agenda items there will not be a vote tonight on these items but action will be scheduled at a future meeting 6.01 approve the fiscal year 2018 audit plan is detailed in the agenda item 6.0 to award the contract for the automatic temperature control system replacement at columbia elementary school to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder and authorized the division superintendent or the assistant superintendent of facilities and transportation services to execute and administer the contract on behalf of the school board 6.03 award a contract for the Luther Jackson middle school roof replacement project to the lowest

098responsive and responsible bidder and authorize the division superintendent or the assistant superintendent of facilities and transportation services to execute deliver and administer the contract on behalf of the school board 6.04 award a contract for the Chantilly high school roof replacement project to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder and authorize the division superintendent or the assistant superintendent of facilities and transportation services to execute deliver and administer the contract on behalf of the school board next is superintendent Mathers dr. Bray bran Thank You chairman Strauss a couple of things one I want you to know I continue to work around the successful implementation of my entry plan and in my first few months here I have completed all my meetings with the board of supervisors and I want to report to you that those all went very

099very well I've actually also appeared on the supervisor cooks TV show that he does and we've had some great conversations I also met earlier this month with the County Council PTAs and just earlier this week I met with septa who you got to hear tonight - fantastic groups really committed to wanting to support Fairfax County Public Schools but also take it to the next level and achievement for students I've also met with Fairfax County police chief Edwin Rossler to tape a joint message on our partnership for safe teen driving and I'm working on following up to have a one-on-one meeting with him to go over areas of mutual interest and concern between Fairfax County Schools in the police department as part of this entry plan I'll be holding or hosting five community conversations over the

100next couple of months to hear what students parents employees and members of the community are thinking about it's going to be done one of those conversations will happen in each region and then we'll have one in January for folks that couldn't attend any of the region's they'll all begin at 6:30 with a meet and greet and there'll be discussion and QA from 7 to 8 you can visit the web site for the upcoming dates each region is actually creating a one-pager about their region and what goes on so the community can learn more about that with information about how to contact the regional assistant superintendents in fact we've really updated the website to make it even cleaner and clearer or we're about to so I better be careful before I say it's been done to

101make it even easier to just click and get in contact with the regional assistant superintendent when you have questions about a matter at the school so I'm very pleased with that speaking of being pleased we had a fantastic all County principal's meeting last week I've already talked to principals we're getting formal feedback which I can share with you later but the informal is it's been very very good and it's the kind of feedback it's the kind of work that in professional development they want to be getting to help them leave their schools better we had dr. Shiraki Holly he's done a lot of work out in California in the schools out there and he presented six ways to know if you are culturally and linguistically responsive and then there were breakout sessions to dive deeper

102into that topic frankly we also had a second session on data literacy how to better use data to drive instructional improvement in your schools so honestly I went to both of those I didn't stay just for the introduction I stayed for both in Dovan and I'm really really pleased with the work that dr. durán and his entire team did to pull off the all County principals meeting Kathleen waltz - a big part of making that happen are my Friday school visits and department visits are going well I'm up to 28 schools I have a slew of schools tomorrow to visit have also been visiting departments I went out and visited all of di T operations starting at Woodson many of you maybe didn't even know that Woodson has a big d IT field services place

103over there and then went through Wilton woods and Nancy Sprague center really powerful to go there and I had never really seen everything that had been finished for Nancy just a wonderful wonderful tribute to a wonderful person in Fairfax County history so we're continuing to do that was we're gonna focus on excellence through school visits and I believe this will help us continue to be a school centric school system because the real core of what we do is between those kids and that teacher in the classroom and when I visit classrooms I have shared with principals I'm wanting to let you know I will be asking kids three questions what are you learning why are you learning it and how do you know you've learned it what why and how for those of you who've

104been around we also have a learn model in Fairfax County all that's been adapted to a learn model that will be shared with with principals so that teachers that already currently have lesson plans can already sort of embed some of those questions into it but we need to be sure we can articulate and we are articulating to our kids what are we learning every day and hopefully it's standards aligned why are we learning it what's the relevance and big idea and then how do we know and in fact part of improving schools the more this is an old phrase from a long time ago and skillful teacher that we had here called dip sticking we call it today form of assessment checking in at the end of a lesson through an exit ticket a small

105summary a journal do we truly did the kid understand the material that we covered in that day so I'm very excited about doing that and one of the other things I've shared frankly with our principals we've talked about it the because as I've rolled out my entry plan a commitment to excellence a commitment to equity and a commitment to effectiveness I am adding a word with the letter J I think I've shared this with you before but I'm saying it again and you'll hear me repeat it rediscovering the joy of being in Fairfax County Public Schools we have our challenges but I'll tell you what I've seen so many things coming back that just are absolutely amazing and I am loving every minute being superintendent in this school system and seeing teachers and principals and

106central office staff just doing amazing things so one of the things I remember when I was a principal and I was having a rough day and I'm gonna do it I'm doing it as a superintendent now I get to do it once a week is go out and see it classroom and see kids and that changes your whole perspective on things speaking of going out and seeing kids yesterday I had a great event that I got to go to at Lynbrook Elementary School for the opening of the 5,000th salad bar in the United States that was through a partnership with the chef and Foundation and the United Fresh Start foundation the whole Kids Foundation and the National fruit and vegetable Alliance we were the 5,000th and I've shared with you already my commitment to get

107all the rest of those elementary schools done over the next couple of years and Rodney and I are talking about how we can accelerate that work the kids did have already some ideas about how to up up the game at the salad bar we went around about favorite vegetables and one kid said all that's good but we need mangoes added to the salad bar so we'll we'll see what we can do and I was thrilled to have the first lady of Virginia Dorothy McAuliffe come who's been championing champing healthy food as well I do want to say again Rodney Taylor has just done an outstanding job with this so proud to have someone who really left the West Coast left California and came out and wanted to be a part of what we were doing

108here in Fairfax County since it's my superintendent matters I got two other quick things to say you already got to see tonight I know I have no credit I want to just thank you for giving us the most amazing auditor-general that any school system could ask for Esther Cole I am Telling You already and my estimation is going to be an outstanding addition to Fairfax County Public Schools she's been a collaborator she has asked for and received my full invitation to come to all of our leadership team meetings to learn more about what we do one leadership team and I have set up the opportunity for her to visit schools just like I am so she can learn more about the day-to-day operations of the school system from a classroom and school perspective to help

109her in her work so that work continues and finally I just want to end with you got to hear about Ann Cronin Bush earlier the school bus driver just want to give you a little bit more to that story she's been driving with us for three years three years she used the Department of Transportation staff with support of them some local churches and there's a restaurant where Ann works part-time she drove a thousand miles and delivered 60 boxes you already heard this of school supplies to the students of Dade County her van was loaded with 450 backpacks a hundred packs of paper 250 composition notebooks crayons markers pens pencils pencil boxes folders and other items you know there's so much going on around the world right now that is impacting all of us seeing one

110of our own people who takes the initiative and follows through and helps another school system in need is such a powerful powerful thing and I'm just delighted I'm humbled that we have people like and in our school system who are doing these amazing things I want to thank Anne again and thank you very much thank you dr. Baron and it's so good to hear your excitement with your Friday visits we all really welcome that and you're coming to my neighborhood okay you'll love it good next on the agenda are school reports and I call a mister neck effects for report on governance Thank You chairman Strauss the Governance Committee met yesterday and we received a brief update from mr. Platon Berg on policy 8335 which concerns our wireless communications and we will hear a more

111complete update at our November meeting where a preliminary update to policy will be presented as well as a look at our regulations and in addition at that time mr. platenburg and his team will be looking and providing us with some information from nationwide data on the health impacts of cell phone towers near schools we also briefly talked about Jack's request for two-year committee appointments and we will be bringing this to the full board the bulk of our meeting was spent on planning the agendas for the October 19th and November retreats so in brief this is what we decided the October 19th retreat scheduled from 6 to 9 will focus on the board's request that superintendent ray bram update us on the progress or give us a report card as we had called it on our

112strategic plan we will look at the leadership teams prioritization of the plan as well as the process they you we have also moved the retreat that was focused on board improvement that will be scheduled for November 27th and we will use the November 2nd date that was originally scheduled as a retreat to be used as a work session to have the board prioritize their goals in the strategic plan I spoke to miss Strauss about these scheduled changes and she has agreed to allow us to implement those thank you I would call on Miss Korbut Sanders for an update on the forum that was held earlier this evening Thank You chairman Strauss we had a very active forum this evening talked about two topics the first one was the impact of mobility on our schools and

113we agreed just working with superintendent Bray brand that staff would come back to us with an overview of mobility the definition of mobility the impact of mobility on our individual schools and possible recommendations on how to address mobility through either staffing professional development or even legislative recommendations we had a second discussion about the outcomes or the status of a 2014 report of the world languages internationalization working group and agreed that the staff would come back to us with the status update and possible recommendations on how it could better be aligned with our strategic priorities and that will be done in the next six months Thank You Board matters we'll begin with miss Keith Kamara thank you madam chair I will be brief I am enjoying my transition on to the board I have had the

114pleasure of visiting five schools now um especially enjoy the salad bar yesterday and was able to attend an event earlier today with our Braddock representative with respect to kids going to homecoming and alcohol use and parent and responsibilities so we did some brainstorming there about being able to get that message out a little bit in a more broad way I'm also going to be setting up office hours and calling each of you for assistance on how best to complete some of the duties that I'm still figuring out but I'm enjoying the process doing a lot of reading and thank you for the opportunity thank you Miss Darren echo facts yes I have continued to enjoy all of the events that happen in this early part of the school year last week I was able to

115watch a competitive game at hay fields homecoming where they played a great game against the Mount Vernon majors I believe Hayfield was successful in the end I attended my first eight pack meeting this is where I am the committee liaison and the focus of that committee this year will be the young scholars program and I just want to say it's always wonderful to see such dedicated volunteers when you when you work with these committees so thank you for all of those who came out and I look forward to working with you this year I also attended a skip committee meeting where we were presented with the preliminary strategic plan and this was something that we wanted to see for a while it was it focused on ages birth to eight early childhood education and I

116wanted to thank both the county and school staff under the leadership of Ann Marie Chui from the county and Maura Burke here at FCPS for who really championed this hard work and to get it to the skiped committee yesterday I also had the pleasure with several of my colleagues who have meant mentioned the opening of the 5,000th salad bar in the US this bar opened at one of my schools in Lee District Lynbrook thank you to two principal Janie Akko for hosting this event and thank you for Rodney Taylor for working with our partner across the country and dr. brand mentioned them but I think it would be I'd like to mention them again they were the United fresh fruit fresh start foundation the chef and foundation the whole Kids Foundation and the national fruit

117and vegetable Alliance and their whole desire was to bring healthy food bars to our schools and mr. Taylor's work digital intelligently with them to get that happen and we were honored to have the first lady of Virginia Dorothy McAuliffe she's been a champion while her husband has been in office working against childhood hunger and we thank her for coming to that of it miss Schultz yes just briefly I want to thank I continue to be amazed in miss case tomorrow you said you're gonna hold the community office hours I continue to be amazed I always think that I'm gonna hold them and nobody will come and a Wednesday morning Saturday morning you know the lines out the door so to all the parents who came either advocating on individual issues relative to your child to

118your school to your teacher I had a parent who came and advocated for help for her health aide in her school because she was so concerned because they have such a dedicated health aide and over a hundred new students in an elementary school for one of my schools but in particular the people who actually just came to say thank you I I'm humbled I will continue to do these and my Town Hall series for the fall will be scheduled shortly but I greatly appreciate the opportunity to serve you and and continue to work on individual issues that were brought to me with staff some of them are very complex some of them have been very easy and sometimes I'm able to get a win and sometimes I'm not but I can't do anything for the

119community unless you let me know what you need and so I appreciate you taking the time miss Hines yes I want to thank the Fox Mill Elementary School PTA for inviting me to join them over the weekend to greet their exchange students from Japan these are sixth graders from Japan who will be living in with families in the Fox Mill area Fox Mill has a Japanese immersion program so they had already in two days time they had run around all of DC and they were going out to Luray Caverns and I mean they had a very heavy schedule already and they were not even worried about sleep they were just going on energy kid energy I guess and principal Brian moose was working the grill there at the BBQ well that they were all enjoying

120themselves so thank you and I hope you all are having a wonderful week it's almost over unbelievably also want to thank Marshall Road elementary school for inviting me to join them to their steam night next Friday I understand this is quite an event and I'm looking forward to seeing all the wonderful things that the students are working on mr. LeWitt past month I'm sure Miss Korbut Sanderson yes I'd like to first thank Northern Virginia Community College for their excellent conference on Workforce readiness and education that was held in combination with the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the Northern Virginia Technology Council was a very robust discussion and I look forward to continuing those discussions I also want to congratulate Lindbergh Elementary on their five thousandth salad bar event it was a lovely event and

121appreciate being invited I want to thank South County Federation and the Mason Neck community associations for their events where they gave us an opportunity to talk about education in our community and would like to wish good luck to West Potomac High School for their homecoming tomorrow evening and finally I encourage people to go out on Saturday morning to Gumm Springs community center where there is going to be an a steam fall family carnival and you can experience all sorts of opportunities for STEM education in Northern Virginia mr. McElwee pass miss Paul checked yes I would like to thank Timberlane PTA and the Providence District Council for hosting two very informative meetings I had a chance to participate in those I will be hosting my office hours this month on Saturday morning October 28th right down

122the street at Panera mosaic at 9:30 a.m. so I hope you will swing by and join me for some coffee and chat about anything that might be on your mind this year I'm very excited to hear about the region one-pager so I look forward to bringing those to my future meetings and I also look forward to the Saturday morning having my first Providence partners meeting of the year with members of our PTA boards and Advisory Committee to talk about goals for the year and in addition this Sunday is the down luring picnic and I know I would be joining some of my colleagues there and finally I really just want to congratulate all of the schools that came out tonight and that were honored by our state our Department of Education and all the schools

123that are working really hard every single day for our kids I know it's a big job and we appreciate what you do for our kids every single day so with that good evening and we'll see you in a couple of weeks miss mcLaughlin a couple things first of all I very much enjoyed attending the welcome reception for superintendent Scott brand and his wife hosted by the fairfax county council PTAs it really is a celebration for our school division to have dr. Bray brand joining us and coming back to the family and it was just a wonderful turnout and they really did an amazing job showing how excited our community is for dr. Bray bran to be joining us here in addition I was thrilled to be with my colleague million moon and Karen Keys Gemara

124for the rededication ribbon-cutting ceremony for North Springfield Elementary's renovation it is truly amazing and dr. brave rain you're gonna be getting an email from me soon and looking this direction reminds me sandy Evans also was joining us and it was wonderful having sandy there we were able to learn some more about the fact that our principal out there Chad McCray and my colleagues you need to be aware of this he was so innovative that he did special Wi-Fi wiring of his own efforts with the help of I mean he won't bought the cable and all this stuff and and so they put special Wi-Fi in there so much so that one of I think it's Epson printers or something came and toured the building and I mean it's just incredible so it's a model for

125what we want to do and so dr. braver and and having Jeff platenburg go out will well look at that because I I think it's very innovative what he did so that they have that Wi-Fi throughout the building and it's so important to do that during the renovation when the ceilings are up and I see Jeff they're there so your awesome job the other thing is that the sport court that was donated by a North Springfield alumnus he's a world renowned soccer player who just retired but it's a very special sport court created by u.s. soccer and he donated and paid for that to be at North Springfield so we got to see that as well it just what a very special community that's been there for over 50 years the other things that I

126just wanted to touch on briefly is that this morning Karen Keith Kumar was mentioning she and I were at the dialogue on underage drinking and parent responsibilities it was an event that supervisor cook had gotten approved by the board supervisors during a board matter and dr. brave ran joined us as well and dr. Eric Brent from Region four but it was hosted at Lake Braddock with principal Thomas and the many of the Lake Braddock students in the gymnasium but essentially what the dialogue was bringing together your supervisor your school board members police chief at Rossler deputy chief of the county at Dave Rohr Fairfax County second lieutenant Daniel pang the senior class officer will Peters who spoke but the goal was to really help raise awareness for students about the perils of underage drinking as

127they are about to celebrate their homecoming this weekend but also to help raise awareness for the students and we were asking them all to go home and talk to their parents and say this isn't just a risk for your child or the other children in our community is a risk to parents you have a legal liability if there is alcohol in your home if you serve alcohol to your families and it's it's so important the parents don't realize sometimes they think they're trying to keep children safe but serving alcohol to minors is against the law and Fairfax County's message today was they will prosecute and as a school board member as a parent and social worker we do not want to see our families finding themselves in that situation and so that it was a

128really important public awareness campaign today and afterwards Karen Keys Kumar and I talked about how we as school board members could really help deliver this message to our families and so it's something that Shinar going to brainstorm about and then bring something to all of you perhaps maybe through a forum but we would like to partner with dr. Bray Brannon and and staff and really think about that and we talk about giving our public praise and so I'm not sure that Matt guilfoyle still here so hopefully somebody couldn't tell him if I was complimenting him but Matt did a great job coordinating with the public affairs official tawny Coast rally on the county side for today's amazing event you know Matt and Shope came through with some really great prepared remarks for me so I

129was very appreciative of their work on this event and it inspired me about what we can be doing more in positive public messaging for our families with the board supervisors I also then want to just make my community aware of a couple things first this Saturday in two days supervisor John Cook is holding an event called parenting in the 21st century your teens and it's something that he and the county officials are doing they have invited a Fairfax County psychologist I believe for one of their breakout sessions but it's something that he wanted to do in Braddock district with county services but that's from 9:30 to 12:30 on Saturday at the Junior Achievement Finance Park near Frost middle school in two weeks you will be hearing learn more about this and over the next two

130weeks but please mark your calendars October 21st Fairfax County Public Schools is hosting their mental health summit at Fairfax High School dr. Bray bran will be speaking there it's a wonderful time to get a chance to come out and meet and see dr. Bray bran but to really come together on something that affects so many students in Fairfax County Public Schools we spoke earlier tonight that we are a high achieving school district we honored so many of our amazing schools for it but with high achievement can come high stress and so I really hope families will have the opportunity to come to that event on October 21st and thank you my colleagues for your indulgences mr. Wilson no apology necessary mrs. mcLaughlin that was wonderful you have a little number of key points and some

131of them I'm gonna piggyback on and the dialogue on underage drinking it reminded me of something that I learned last week which was at the United prevention fund our Coalition has lost funding which impacts the youth council portion of that for the school system and so I hope to talk to dr. Bray brand soon about what can be done to keep that important student organization going at our schools because prevention is a critical part of what we need to be conveying to our teens and as a parent of two teens in Fairfax County Schools now I could have gone and potentially given a presentation at the teen teen parenting teens matter although I don't know I could add very much since they seem to confound me on the daily basis I would just like to

132underline tonight we took photographs with so many successful schools in our system and it really underscored to me what a terrific school system we have what a fantastic collection of school administrators in schools that are they're doing such great things that have so many schools honored tonight was just amazing I also wanted to mention tonight that I'm very envious of mark Greene Felder who is at the Nats game which I believe is in the third inning Nats have hit a couple of home runs and it's four to one so I'm very jealous but gonads my 14 is a 42 now which I think that's thank you mr. mr. moon for the bad news and this coming week are my office hours so just to underscore what mr. Schultz said please come out it's going to

133be Wednesday the 18th at 10:30 a.m. she aunt Tilly library I look forward to seeing as many folks as it can make it to come out and discuss any matter of interest to them with Russia to schools and lastly I just wanted to extend my prayers to miss McLaughlin's family who has been directly impacted by the fires in California and in a real dramatic way so you have my thoughts and prayers miss Evans yes thank you I also want to say how pleased I was to go to the North Springfield Elementary rededication and ribbon-cutting it was beautifully done it was a beautiful day and it is a beautiful school so that was a lovely event and I enjoyed joining Miss McLaughlin and mr. moon and miss Keith Kamara there I'm looking forward to Saturday going

134to the third taste of Annandale which will be going on all day on Thomas Davis Drive Inn in Annandale they're gonna be restaurants and food trucks and some entertainment so everybody's welcome come on out and and join us for the taste of Annandale and then a week from Saturday we'll be honoring Holmes middle school which this board did two weeks ago we passed a resolution honoring their 50th anniversary and so we are going to have a celebration at Holmes middle school on October 21st and I will join mr. Wilson and I'm sure all of the board in in wishing the best for your family mr. McLaughlin I know where we're all thinking of you and sending and sending new thoughts and prayers thank you yes I I also want to thank all of our students

135and employees who have reached out to help our the many people in need in Puerto Rico Virgin Islands Texas Florida and now we have California in our prayers it is devastating I would like to thank the Greater McLean Chamber of Commerce for recognizing an environmental program that our church our Road Elementary School has been involved in for a number of years I will be visiting the Clear View Elementary School PTA soon Langley high school buoy will be rededicating its library as they progress through their renovation it's very exciting Herndon High School has her own their homecoming on Saturday and I would like to give a shout out to Supervisor John Faust he is working very hard to make sure that our schools and new school sites are appropriately dedicated and sited as we work through

136the number of very large developments that are planned out in the Dulles area so supervisor Foust is really fighting hard for our community needs of our children in our school so I'm very grateful to that also we are now in the process of training hundreds students and teachers and parents to the begin our happy season and it is wonderful people to be back with our high school students I've had many nights now where I get to get back into the classroom with those kids it's lots and lots of fun so with that I believe this meeting has come to a close and we are adjourned