FCPS School Board Meeting 9-14-17

001[Music] minute [Music] yeah if our guests would please take their suits if school board members would please take their normal seats our guests please seat themselves in the audience [Music] good evening and welcome to the swearing-in ceremony for our newest school board member Karen Keys Gemara [Music] performing the swearing-in this evening will be judge Bruce D white he is the chief judge of the circuit court of Fairfax County and also a distinguished adjunct professor of the law at the Antonin Scalia Law School of George Mason University and a graduate of Annandale High School excellent education Karen Kay's Gemara was elected on August 28th as an at-large member she will fill the at-large seat that was vacated by MS Hoff who moved out of the area last spring Miss Karen key is Gemara represents the interest

002of many at rests yet risk children as a court-appointed guardian at ledum at litem in Northern Virginia she is an attorney most recently she served as a member of the Fairfax County Planning Commission and has also been a member of the schools and parks committee miss Keith Kamara is a graduate of Tulane University and the Washington University School of Law her professional experience as an attorney includes family law consumer concerns employment discrimination union disputes regulatory matters in bankruptcy a well seasoned lawyer so to begin the process I would like to call mrs. Gomorrah and judge white to the podium for the official swearing in are you ready to receive your oath I am would you please raise your right hand and repeat after me i carrying keys Gemara I Karen Keith Gemara do solemnly swear

003do solemnly swear that I will support that I will support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully and impartially and impartially discharge discharge all of the duties all of the duties and come it upon me incumbent upon me as the at-large member as the at-large member to the Fairfax County School Board to the Fairfax County School Board according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations [Applause] it's now official I would like to officially welcome Miss Karen Keys Gemara to be our colleague and member of the Fairfax County School Board

004if my colleagues on the board would like to come we will have an official picture taken today and if Maris Keys Kamara's immediate family would like to join us as well for it to be included in the picture thank you thank you the regular business meeting will begin at 7:00 thank you we'll board members please come to the table [Applause] good evening this September 14th 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 South County middle school saxophone ensemble under the direction of a Tracy McGuire I pledge allegiance [Music] [Applause] thank you very much students that was excellent and thank you to the families who shared their wonderful musicians with

005us this evening in order to comply with section 2.2 - 3 7 1 2 D the Code of Virginia it is necessary for the board to certify that says the Fairfax County school board convened a closed meeting on September 14 2017 to the best of each members knowledge only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard discussed or considered by the board during a closed meeting was there emotion mu famous Corbis Sanders seconded by Michels all those in favor Evans Paul check Corbett Sanders Strauss Schultz dare net Koufax abstentions Wilson Heinz and Keith Gemara thank you before we begin mr. moon and mr. McElveen are absent this evening they are out of the country on travel

006few announcements before we begin first of all I believe Ted fell cough former school remember at-large is here in the audience Thank You mr. Bell cough okay if you would like to review a copy of these oh wait do we have any other elected dignitaries I saw mark team and fairfax city and okay John buttrum uh uh and Phyllis Pichardo yes okay we have any other elected officials Markus Simon was here and I think mark came was also here all right well thank you all very much for planning Commissioner Julie strand lays here as well thank you very much we wouldn't want to overlook anybody important thank you so a few announcements if you would like to review a copy of the agenda in any agenda item that is being discussed tonight that information is

007on the table by the auditorium entrance tonight's agenda is available by going to the school board on the FCPS homepage and selecting board Docs under upcoming school board meetings the meeting is also being streamed live online select the 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 misfit akanda for announcements sorry about that hi everyone I hope the first three weeks have been going well for all of you so this month we are celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15th to October 15th through the 2017 America's cultural diversity has always been a great strength of our nation the Hispanic American community has a long and important history of commitment to our

008nation's core values and the contributions of this community have helped make our country great during the National Hispanic American Heritage Month we celebrate the many achievements of Hispanic Americans and recognize their contributions to our country this year's theme is shaping the bright future of America in 1968 Congress authorized President Lyndon Johnson to proclaim National Hispanic Heritage Week and this observance was expanded in 1988 to a month-long celebration to honor our nation's Hispanic heritage during this month America celebrates the traditions ancestry and unique experiences of those who trace their roots to Spain Mexico the countries of Central and South America and the Caribbean throughout our history Hispanic Americans have enriched the American Way of life and we recognize the millions of Hispanic and Americans whose love of family hard work and community have helped unite us

009as a people and sustain us as a nation we are also celebrating September 17 2017 Constitution Day and citizenship day are observed each year on September 17th to commemorate the signing of the Constitution on September 17 1787 and recognize all who by coming of age or by naturalization have become citizens recent legislation has renamed the day as Constitution day and citizenship day and urges proper observance of the day this year the official observance day is Sunday September 17th and is a two hundred and twenty ninth anniversary of the nation's founding document in observance with Constitution Day and citizenship day all schools in FCPS will be observing this day with activities that recognize the adoption of the US Constitution and those who have become citizens under the Constitution schools will use a variety of curriculum resources

010to teach students about the importance of the Constitution and responsible citizenship throughout the service year high school students will have an opportunity to participate in service-learning projects related to responsible citizenship which can lead to a civics to seal on their diploma and speaking of responsible citizenship I would like to welcome Boy Scout Troop 1523 who are in attendance this evening with the troop please stand and be recognized [Applause] and that's it for announcements tonight thank you very much I will call on miss Evans for a recognition Childhood Cancer Awareness Month thank you madam chair the American childhood cancer organization or Akko has designated September as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month to spotlight the types of cancer that largely affect children survivorship issues and to help raise funds for research and family support according to AA co

01115,000 780 children under the age of 21 are diagnosed with cancer every year in the United States approximately a quarter of them will not survive the disease a diagnosis turns the lives of an entire family upside down Akko offers support information and advocacy through their community of families survivors and friends affected by childhood and adolescent cancer they are dedicated to improving the lives of children and families living with childhood cancer and engaged in this life-altering struggle FCPS students who are being treated for childhood cancer participate in homebound instruction while they are undergoing treatment or recuperating we are joined tonight by some of our FCPS family who have been personally impacted by childhood cancer longtime teacher Jake Oakley retired from FCPS after 30 years of teaching physical education and returned to FCPS as a part-time elementary

012physical education teacher at Woodburn elementary school it was at Woodburn where John met a little girl named Ellie who had been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in the spring of 2013 by the time she entered kindergarten that fall Ellie had lost most of her hair and was wearing hats to school every day Jane noticed her affinity for fun and cheery hats and organized a hat drive to provide Ellie with a broader selection of hats and Ellie's hats was born now thanks to the hard work of individuals who like Jay took an interest in Ellie and her hats thousands of kids across the country who are battling cancer have received new hats and so much more on behalf of the board I'd like to encourage everyone to visit the site for Ellie's hats at Ellie's hats

013org and the American childhood cancer organization a taco org to learn how you can help at this time I would like to invite Jake Oakley Ellie and her mother Jenica Whitfield to join the board of the dice for a photo thank you thank you from Subway [Music] [Applause] I will call on Miss corporate Sanders for a recognition in 1979 President Jimmy Carter officially proclaimed the first Sunday after Labor Day each year as national Grandparents Day this year September 10th marks the 38th year anniversary of national Grandparents Day this special day was created with the purpose of honoring Grandparents and to help children recognize the strength wisdom and resilience that can be learned from older generations Grandparents Day is a way for the whole family to spend time together by volunteering together Grand involve received the

014outstanding community organization award at the governor's volunteerism and community service awards ceremony this past summer grande involved began in 2014 when a group of 16 volunteers met and began a pilot program in Crestwood Elementary School involving Grandparents in volunteering in the school grande involve has taken this very important concept of building up our communities by involving grandparents in the lives of younger people and have implemented this model in a number of fairfax county public schools throughout the school year grande involved has grown to become a hundred and eight volunteers serving at six schools with three thousand and sixteen hours of classroom service just this past year currently grande involve is planning the expansion into all title 1 schools in the Mount Vernon district during the 2017-2018 school year grande involve serves as an exemplary model

015of volunteers working together for the betterment of our fairfax county public schools community they have taken the initiative of building intergenerational relationships in our school communities and will continue to make a significant positive impact on our students on behalf of the board I would like to recognize the tremendous efforts of Grand involve and encourage grandparents in the audience to consider joining Grand involved this year at this time I would like to invite dorothy keenan and all the representatives from grand involved in the audience to join the board for a photo at the Dyess [Applause] now it is my pleasure to read a recognition of dr. Ricardo Stockwell and dr. Saukville I'm gonna ask you to stand and at least come to the front so that people can all enjoy your wonderful visages we say thank

016you to you we would like to take a moment this evening to recognize one of our valued employees who is retiring with almost 20 years of experience with FCPS dr. Ricardo sack well when Ricardo first arrived in FCPS 18 years ago he brought the concept of accountability and strategic targets targets to the school division his impact started with drafting the original 10 targets to streamline division level instructional focus these later evolved into the three student achievement goals and more recently into the instructional goals in ignite in each case the legacy of Ricardo's original vision for target reporting that is publicly reporting on evidence for set metrics and making judgments about whether we are making progress has been continued Ricardo also impacted the way FCPS conceptualizes its management of programmes and budgeting for programmes he pioneered

017the concept of an identified program manager for each program who would be officially responsible for providing guidance about each FCPS program and the use of resources allocated to the program implementation of the program manager concept by the school division then allowed FCPS to develop a program budget document that captured the funding for in the use of funds for each program for the first time program budgets were developed by financial services and directly linked to the program manager the program manager concept was further solidified when the office of program evaluation took on the task of developing the school board suggestion to create a system to evaluate all programs the outcome of this request was the institution of the quality programs assurance system q PES developed by ricardo and his this cube has had several levels that

018gave responsibilities for both Ricardo's office for the evaluation of programs as well as to program managers for documenting and reviewing their programs in relation to set goals the transparency project with the county linking - FCPS program evaluations and program profiles would not exist if it were not for his work Ricardo was also the genesis of FCPS adoption of Demmings plan do study act cycles of continuous improvement over a decade ago PDSA has been adopted by FCPS schools as a way to improve instruction and continues on as well at the division level and FCPS is current approach to decision making the list of other tools surveys and processes that Ricardo developed himself or made better through influence is too long to mention in its entirety but includes less AG performance bands a survey to track the

019development of PLC's in our schools a taxonomy of different stakeholders - data evidence questions a set of research-based standards for professional development and a process for systematic selection of teacher leader grant recipients the impact of the myriad tools surveys and processes continue on and their present or evolve or evolve form for many years to come his legacy includes an office staff with individuals who have always been pushed to think beyond the surface of the work - what would be the most impactful in moving the division toward improvement that was best for students he always provided whatever level of support was needed to ensure office products exceeded expectations and always gave the credit for the final product to staff not himself Ricardo will forever be the one and only director of the office of program evaluation

020and the reason its name was appropriately changed the office of research and strategic improvement the new name represents the broader and strategic impact he always brought to any task his office took on and may represent the most long lasting legacy of his tireless work over two decades to help FCPS think and act more strategically we wish dr. sock well and his family all the best in his retirement and thank him for his years of dedication to the students and staff of Fairfax County Public Schools and at this time I'd like to invite dr. sock while he's guest and all the rest of us to join us in a picture in dr. sock well you took us to the next level and the next chapter that we needed to go to for accountability and strategic planning

021and we are very grateful thank you [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] No [Music] yeah okay okay dr. sock well if you'd like to share a few comments thank you very much to the board the superintendent and the other administrators I just want to express my appreciation for the opportunity given to me over the past 19 years to serve in Fairfax County Public Schools and the community I especially appreciate the willingness and courage and the courage of the administration and the school board to has very difficult questions that many school divisions simply would not have asked I also appreciate the confidence that was given to my staff and me to help you answer some of these very difficult questions sometimes our answers were partial sometimes they were unpopular sometimes they were too technical but

022they were always in the spirit of supporting two divisions best decisions along the way I met the most committed knowledgeable and good people than one could a very imagine meeting some of these folks are here tonight and I thank you for coming out I also thank you for helping to shape my own personal growth as an educator our special thanks to my wife Denise who is also here who is also in public service with the Health Department for constantly reminding me during my most stressful moments that I did not come to Fairfax just for a job I came to try to make a difference and I hope that I have done that I hope that the division will continue to rely on a very committed and talented office of research and strategic improvement to help

023guide the important decisions as the board pursues the promises in its strategic plan and lastly once a member of the Fairfax County Public Schools community always a member so I will be looking for opportunities to continue to support the school division but not full-time and so again thank you for this recognition this evening I appreciate it thank you again dr. sock well the next item is citizen participation tonight we have ten citizens who signed up to address the board 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

024should refrain from using personally identifiable information in connection with an individual student speakers are expected to deliver their comments with the decorum and respect appropriate to the conduct of the public's business please be mindful that there are often young children in attendance that these meetings are watching at home so language should be appropriate for all age limits thank you for your cooperation and thanks to those who have come out to speak to us tonight the first speaker is Mary Mathison to be followed by Ruby not do to be followed by Allyson Munchie sorry good evening my name is Mary Mathewson and I'm an English teacher at West Potomac high school and a parent in the same community I wanted to speak to you this evening because of the discrimination that I've witnessed against transgender students

025by teachers and even worse administrators while FCPS has a clear non-discrimination policy that includes gender identity there is not a specific set of regulations so there isn't any direction for how to move forward in eliminating discrimination so what should I have done when an administrator wondered out loud why kids just can't use the right bathroom to whom should I have gone to ensure that comment didn't come out of a closed office and into the hallway for kids to hear and how should I have addressed the PE teacher who refused to use a requested pronoun and then publicly complained about the request what should my answer have been when that PE teacher told me that I personally was making their job more difficult because I did honor the request language and society are changing sometimes faster

026than even I can keep up with but I do my best because I've seen how difficult it is for a young human being to feel marginalized and disrespected because of something that was biologically determined I admit that I didn't understand how being transgender works so I did my research the magazine Scientific American says that a host of factors figure into whether someone is female or male or somewhere in between humans are socially conditioned to view gender as a binary attribute from before were born we were definitive we are definitively labeled as boy or girl yet science points to a much more ambiguous reality dr. Milton diamond to the University of Hawaii studies transgender issues in identical twins he concludes that yes there is a clear indication of genetic likelihood that identical twins will both be

027transgender in Catherine Wu at Harvard University says that transgender identity has long been associated with poor mental health but prompted by studies separating the mental and physical health problem experience by transgender people the New York Times reports that the World Health Organization among others is moving to Declassified transgender identity as a mental disorder more and more science is proving beyond a doubt that gender identity is almost entirely genetic and that the psychological component is a result of an adversarial environment often outside the family structures like in school science can only give us the factual information what we do with it is up to us witnessing direct and overt discrimination by the adults in the building forced me to evaluate and inform my own thinking and then behavior but since we don't have a clear set

028of regulations that will encourage maybe even demand that the adults in the building do adjust their thinking discrimination will continue I left a copy of the articles that I referenced with that beautiful blonde lady over there thank you the next speaker is Ruby McDowell to be followed by Allison Munchie okay family life education otherwise known as sex education leads the young to become sexually active which can lead to depression and suicide an article posted on beyond today states teenage sex linked with serious depression and I quote a survey sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development along with 17 other US federal agencies has revealed a startling link between teenage sexual activity and depression and suicide the study revealed that a quarter of teen girls who said they were sexually active also

029said they had been depressed a lot of the time for most of the time in contrast most refrained from sexual activity were never or rarely depressed researchers concluded that sexually active teens are far more likely to be depressed than those who hold off until marriage three million of the 19 million Americans afflicted by mental depression are teenagers commenting on the study dr. Meg Meeker a physician for adolescents tells us that this is no surprise because teens are target's of a loose culture promoting promiscuity and excess dr. Meeker goes on to declare that when you look at sexual activity and teens and you add the losses they endure they have lost their virginity they have lost their self-respect they have lost of a sense of control over their body they have a sense of shame the

030National Campaign to Prevent teen pregnancy sexually active teens if they regret it early sexual activity results show that three-quarters of girls wish they had delayed sex and a majority of boys and girls regarded their first sexual experiences something they would have preferred to avoid regret the satisfaction and guilt together with the losses previously mentioned leave teens vulnerable to serious mental depression but what does the depression among our young sometimes lead them to do the answer is heartbreaking because prolonged mental depression can easily lead to suicide just in the past decade the rate of teenage suicide has risen 200% researchers also found that 14 percent of girls who had had sexual intercourse had attempted suicide almost triple the percentage of sexually inactive girls among boys the differences were even greater with six percent of sexually active

031boys having attempted suicide compared to only one percent of sexually inactive boys this kind of link is cheaper found to ignore parents teachers and public figures desperately need to set our youth a better example in self-respect and personal discipline in conclusion I recommend parents opt their children out of family life education to protect the risk of their children from becoming sexually active which can lead to depression and suicide for more details please seek concerned parent and educators org and parent and child org for more details of the shocking and offensive material and FLE indefinitely so parents look and decide for yourself thank you the next speaker is Alison Munchie to be followed by Tina Williams I've been told several times that it's our stories that change minds so with my daughter's permission I will tell

032you hers she's 11 years old and transgender she's not a threat to anyone safety she's not confused or mentally ill and trust me she's not allowed to be whatever she wants to be she must be kind and helpful she must be a respectful and responsible student and member of society but accepting that she is a girl has been the easiest part of parenting for my husband and me as a matter of fact being transgender is the least interesting thing about her I promise she's creative funny talented obsessed with American Girl dolls and brave she's so so brave my daughter is happy and healthy as her mom and as a proud teacher here in FCPS I'm committed to helping to create a future where all kids are accepted and supported regardless of their sexual orientation or

033gender identity while they believe there are so many more important issues we should be talking about I know that first some when they do not feel protected and supported these issues mean everything and their lives are at risk when we talk about suicide we all know that the best prevention is support from home and school when we feel supported and accepted we are far less likely to want to commit suicide and this is a truth we can't ignore I'm not asking you to understand what it's like to be transgender or gender non-conforming I've come to realize that none of us can understand it unless it is who we are it's not necessary to understand only to support our brave students who are they aren't asking to be treated differently or with any special care they

034are only asking for the same protection and support that we all students we can't risk leaving it up to it the leadership of individual schools while my daughter has been incredibly supported at her school before during and after her transition I speak not just for her but for all transgender and gender non-conforming students who may not be as fortunate and need protections that enumerated regulations would provide there are many districts throughout the country that have successfully implemented similar policies we can and should look to them for guidance our kids are counting on us and for them and of course for my daughter I'll keep telling our story their lives are depending on it thank you the next speaker is Tina Williams to be followed by Kevin dickerson good evening school board members chairwoman Strauss and

035dr. freer and I'm Tina Williams a school counselor and president of Fairfax County Federation of Teachers local 24:01 thank you for this opportunity to speak on behalf of my members effective management and allocating funds to directly support high quality education in our schools is necessary research by the Commonwealth Institute revealed that over the past eight years FCPS enrolled enrollment increased 11% for eighteen thousand three hundred and forty nine students fewer staff are in our schools nine hundred and thirty six less relative to student enrollment in Oh 8 oh nine while state direct aid per student has increased only nine point eight percent for FCPS shares on funding for school operations has declined these factors have a significant impact in the classroom on a daily basis for teachers as well as our students some of the

036impacts are fewer teachers in larger class sizes recruitment and retention challenges as a result of underfunding salaries over time students support staff and services have decreased due to staffing cuts facilities and but and buildings are declining with issues such as leaks molding and deterioration impacts just mentioned result in teacher concerns such as less support staff and student and teachers impacts student behavior and increases discipline issues less staff results in heavier workloads more stress more duties and responsibilities less unencumbered planning time and even lower staff morale larger classes without support produces harmful effects on student learning outcomes and performance an answer to overcrowding is deteriorating trailers trailer communities where students and teachers feel detached from their school communities and uncared for non competitive salaries keep our county kind in the job market and behind as a

037viable location to work and reside as teachers we can all agree that a high-quality education is crucial in preparing our students for their future I believe that we also can agree that our excellent teachers make it make it happen supporting our teachers equates to supporting the future for children in this County working together with dr. Bray bran along with that concept in mind we can fully fund our schools harmful cutbacks from 2009 on have caught up with MCPS for far too long educators shouldered attacks on their pensions for gone step increases while getting more work larger class sizes more responsibilities and all the blame it's time to invest in our schools by directly allocating funds that support our educators thank you the next speaker is Kevin Hickerson to be followed by an Islamic school good

038evening chairman strauss fellow school board members superintendent brave an NFC PS staff my name is Kevin Hickerson and I'm president of Fairfax Education Association it's good to see you all again and the FBA looks forward to working with you as the school year progresses tonight I speak on the strategic goal number for resource stewardship FCPS is the heart and soul of this county our community expects us to keep with what they give us with the utmost care and due diligence anything less would be irresponsible but we must be wary of cutting too much in the wrong areas so far instruction has been mostly protected via reductions to support staff but there's only so far those types of decisions will take us before undermining the internal foundation that is necessary to keep instruction top-notch to be

039good stewards of our resources we must ask whether we are programmatically being effective as possible and if new programs are not effective we need to be have better mechanisms for shifting resources are we wasting upon our employees down programs that may or may not work when we could be organically growing our very own ideas from the talented people you have hired perhaps before embarking on new initiatives we need to pause take a breath and take a good hard look at our internal resources and the returns on the programs we already have your educators are thirsting to use all of their skillsets to educate their children it could be argued that the professional autonomy can she be just as important as salary in the discussion of employee retention return on investment sounds great in theory but

040it also needs to be have the surrounding context to be an effective tool for example cost per pupil may show efficiency but does it show efficacy with close to 200 work sites are we holistically looking at programs are we digging in and seeing if schools are utilizing the resources given to them as effectively as possible I am hoping that the decision to cycle created for at resource allocation delves deeper into these questions it is an understatement to say that it is important conversation to have with all the stakeholders of FCPS buried underneath the cold hard unforgiving numbers of FCPS is bottom line lies the heart of 200,000 people that are directly affected by the decisions based on allocating those numbers with that in mind we should be considering a solution that is already being implemented

041across the country from Oakland California to Cincinnati Ohio to New York City Community Schools Community Schools offer a way for FCPS to be able to take local communities into account about how they see their schools interacting with them it takes the county of resources and FCPS resources and combines them not only for efficiency but effectiveness the great thing is there is not one correct way to do a community school there are countless examples of how community schools can be implemented Herndon's needs could be different from Annandale 's Chantilly is different from Mount Vernon the point is that the innovation you are looking for doesn't have to come only from gatehouse but from the very communities you serve thank you the next speaker is masala Masood to be followed by Debbie Ratliff hello I would like

042to talk to you about the name change for my former high school JB Stewart the key to any good business as many people here might know is good branding you have to have a name that represents what your business is about and I know that running a school like a business is a terrible idea but in this one case the idea makes sense we wanted a name that represents the school the school I grew up in was a diverse community full of all sorts of loving people and as also a side note for the people here supporting trans students I can say I would not be alive here today if it weren't for the support of my fellow peers at Stewart high school of my both my ethnicity race and sexuality so please also keep

043that in mind I would like to ask you to rename the school Barbara John's high school that is a name the students have chosen I'm sure you've probably already heard about Barbara John's is the campaign going on but her fight to desegregate right here in Virginia is what the students need they need someone who can inspire them because they're ready to work they are ready to make the world a better place they are ready to go off to college and succeed in ways that we can't imagine but that effort is being undercut by people on the outside demanding that we keep a monument to a Confederate General that makes no sense to the students but the students are also being told that their humanity the students of color in particular are being told that their

044humanity doesn't matter compared to how much money a name-change cost and being fed lies like the fact that it would cost a million dollars that's like ordering a $50 burger that just doesn't make sense and I would like the school board to keep in mind the students wishes keep in mind that they were at the meeting last Saturday they were the most mature ones in the room the people are the people demanding to keep a Stewart name didn't really have that much to do with the students and in fact you know I was talking to my sister who was a current student there they're kind of terrified of the frankly older adults who are showing immaturity and projecting their own feelings on an issue that doesn't matter and I've heard the argument that words are

045just words as a writer that makes no sense and we need to teach children that children are saying that that means we need to invest more in their education in English and also keep in mind that that argument has been were used to defend bigotry and we need to teach them that is not right words matter Barbara John's high school thank you thank you the next speaker is Debbie Ratliff to be followed by John Murray thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts tonight the school board will consider the actions of other school systems across the country as you decide on the new name for Stuart high school for the strategic plan goal for which states that benchmarking processes will waive organizational operations against other school systems the majority of school renaming across the

046country are very similar to ours based on removing confederate names from schools and the majority of the new names in these other school systems are in honor of people whose life's work advocates for the greater good for public education students diversity and inclusion and people who has all have also reasonable connections to the state and the community as a means to both heal and inspire I'm here to explain that the new name of Stuart high school should be Barbara Rose Dawn's high school or Thurgood Marshall High School or Luis Mendez high school to be consistent with the decisions of other school systems and adhere to our own policy each name has the healing potential to stand for racial and cultural inclusion the genesis of the name change consideration which will have immediate significance both in

047our community and our country inspiring abroad outside philanthropic support to help pay for name change costs all three of these names stand for the rights of students of all colors and all backgrounds as one speaker noted last Saturday Hispanic Jewish Muslim african-american Native American and so on any one of these names of these individuals will always reflect our student body no matter what its demographic makeup is because of the far-reaching impact of their life's work that touches us all just as Thurgood Marshall civil rights Giants Supreme Court justice community member Barbara Rose John's students civil rights leader from Virginia who bravely helped change the law and integrate public schools Colonel Luis Mendez World War two hero Stewart high school parents and the first director of the national right to read program FCPS would actually go

048against what other school systems have done if we were to rename our school after a person who happens to have the last name Stewart but doesn't have any connection to public education diversity or inclusion and naming the school Stewart with no connection to an individual at all also goes against what other school systems have done and FCPS practices given the recent events in Charlottesville in fact any name associated with the Confederacy including Stuart should not be an option for us additionally and perhaps overlooked because it's self-evident the school is already known in print and digitally as Stewart high school the suggestion Stewart high school as a name change therefore is not a name change FCPS regulation states that school names should be consistent with other school names at the same level since many FCPS high

049schools are named after people naming Stewart high school after one of these three people will be consistent in fact 74% of the names nominated by our community last weekend are in honor of people so the community agrees honoring a person is the way to go the regulation asks us to avoid but does not prohibit names that might be similar to other schools so if the selected name is Justice Thurgood Marshall High School the school board could decide that the school will be called justice high school to wrap up one more sentence as I've explained the inspirational names barber eyes robber rose John's high school Justice Thurgood Marshall High School and Luis Mendez high school are consistent with new school names and other school systems across the country they adhere to FCPS policy and each name

050has a healing potential to stand for racial and cultural inclusion the genesis of the name change consideration which will have immediate significance both in our community and our country thank you thank you the next speaker is John Murray to be followed by Joe vashanoo good evening John Murray with parent and child org let's say you're the parent of a 14 year old who's a suffering from one of the serious setback of adisyl adolescent life maybe academic failure failed relationship personal turmoil whatever the situation your child is in a state of emotional distress so one day your highly stressed child walks into eighth grade health class and reads the following each ugly phrase deepens my resolve and makes my decision easier the latest posting on the school website has a picture of me hanging from a

051noose the animated image swings back and forth so peacefully I think I'm ready ready to escape it's not like I really want to die what I want is to stop hurting what I want is to end the pain my life is nothing but a lie anyway I'm ugly and stupid and I deserve to die today is my birthday and I'm 15 I'm not even sure why limes why I'm still alive I've been writing suicide plans for over a year guess I'm too chicken to go through with it I should have just killed myself when I first thought about it I'm a worthless dog get it over with already each of these excerpts is from the eighth grade health as taught in Fairfax County Public Schools now this is your 14 year old or a friend's

05214 year old or a neighbor's 14 year old currently in the throes of a personal crisis the crisis of the same magnitude as the account I just read an account that makes a powerful case for doing the unthinkable will your child in despair be moved by those words of despair will will your child and despair find that solution enticing now putting those words in context the storyline is about a girl who was relentlessly bullied in school and the searing pain that results that makes a powerful case about the evils of bullying it also makes a powerful case for doing the unthinkable I ask you to think about the effect of such words on an emotionally troubled student I'm ugly and stupid I deserve to die I've been writing suicide plans for over a year I

053should have just killed myself when I first thought about whatever those words may accomplish in deterring bullying could also encourage an oath an emotionally overwrought student to do the unthinkable this is health class you can't opt out a parent whose child is emotionally troubled has no option their child will read or hear those words do you want any trouble child exposed to those words please take a look at eighth grade health and see if you can find a better alternative thank you thank you the next speaker is Joe fachada to be followed by Christopher Prince that's Pisciotta dr. Bray BAM hmm and school board members thank you my name is Joe Chiodo I'm a resident of Lake bar crowd community and serving Jeb steward high school as you know the school board has wasted two

054years and spent thousands of dollars of precious school resources and has proposed committing up to somewheres of 700 to 900 thousand dollars in a name change for Jeb Stewart that's a that is overwhelming majority of the students and alumni and community do not support because there's just not a compelling need the name change takes away the needed academic resources not improving them the real issue for many of the name keepers is not the change in to the name but the lies the deceit and the lack of trust and integrity in the renaming process with with all due respect to comments posted previously the Freedom of Information Act documents obtained by the taxpayer protection Alliance tells a different story a true story the original text by by texting of some of the school board members and

055the collusion with the n-double-a-cp as well as other persons about origins of the Jeff Stewart high school name change taxpayers voters students alumni and constituents are entitled to know the facts behind the issue because they will ultimately pay not only for the financial cost of what happens at Jeb Stewart but also enduring the psychological harm impacted by the name change movement as it finds its way across the county for the renaming of other targeted schools in Fairfax County Lee Woodson and even Thomas Jefferson will that be safe from the history burners the righteous ones there was no stewardship the strategic plan without common-sense physical discipline and courage July 17th 2017 the school board work session had the preference County Public Schools staff put together and estimate the cost of the name change which would be

056four hundred thousand to nine hundred thousand dollars for the name change four hundred thousand dollars is the cost that it would take away from just just having Jeff Stewart taken away and renaming the school Stewart Evans stated in her motion that in the spirit of compromise and the recognition of the need to minimize cost as a desired consent continuously by alumni staff she requested that the staff selects Stewart and consider Stewart as a new name also it is supported by chairman Jayne Strauss and at-large Ryan Evelyn other names would put the cause much higher thank you very much the next speaker the last speaker is Christopher burns good evening my name is Christopher Bern I'm a resident of Fairfax County and a taxpayer here in the county I'm not here to talk about the merits

057of a name change I'm here to talk about an allocation of resources issue which each of you must face every day and that brings us to the fairfax county money tree which you all are very well aware of I don't see a glimmer of recognition and I think that's because there is no money tree in Fairfax County and I think you all know that very well I think you all know that every day you have a limited budget that you have to deal with some of you are more akin to budget than others believe in it more than others but the fact is is that your budget is limited you don't have a money tree so what does that mean for Fairfax County for those schools who are having accreditation issues when you're making money

058choices and you don't have a money tree and you have to look at the student who is going to an unaccredited school what are you going to tell them I've taken the money away from your education quality because there's this other pressing issue over here like a name change is that what you're gonna tell them because they only go to school once they only have one shot at it and when you're allocating money you have to look at those students in the eye and you have to say I have discharged my duty to the greatest extent possible for the quality of your education I'm not saying that a name change is unimportant but you have to assess where on the ladder of possible soar of spending the money can it be best spent for the

059students education how can you look at teachers who take money out of their own pockets and tell them I'm not making money and resources available to you because I think it's a higher priority to change the name of a school again I'm not denying the obvious issue that has been brought to you with regard to the name of a school but I'm asking you to think twice because these kids have one shot at it and you have a limited budget and the taxpayers are not a money tree so you have to make some tough choices please keep that in mind when you're allocating your budget because you know you're not operating at a surplus thank you thank you to all those who came out to speak to us this evening our next item is student

060representative matters and I will call on Miss feta Conda thank you madam chair as many of you know September is Suicide Prevention Month and as we reflect on some of the losses we've had as a community this past year I urge all of you to consider suicide prevention and mental health support policy as quite possibly the most important thing any of us will ever work on it's our job as a school system to make sure every student who is hurting has a safe place to talk to an adult and receive help for whatever they may be going through and it's our job to eliminate toxic environments in school that harm students mental health it's also our job that to make sure that we stop treating mental health disorders with stigma our students have to be

061able to talk about whatever they're going through without fear of being judged and part of our mental health efforts has to start in reducing student stress which is a precursor to some of the more serious mental conditions mental health conditions we've seen in our community in such a high-pressure academic environment like Fairfax County we see more and more of our students suffering from anxiety and depression over the intense workload created by school work extracurricular activities jobs family obligations and more believe me I know feels like to go home after a long school day and extracurricular activities only to face what seems like an impossible amount of work to do and I know that many of my peers feel this overwhelmed or even more on a daily basis and end up feeling defeated exhausted and miserable

062when they could feel excited about learning and as a school district we need to understand that academic and personal success doesn't and should never come at the expense of students mental health and we need every stakeholder on board with this we need to create grading and homework policies that promote project-based learning while preventing students from being overwhelmed by schoolwork students should be able to self-advocate when their workloads are too extensive like when they have a few exams on one day it's always possible for them to make one up in advance or to distribute it so that they're not up until 4:00 a.m. studying for a math test and feel like it's going to be an impossible task and we need to listen to them we need to be there for them and we need to

063stop the notion that a few bad grades will derail a student success and a student's future will be over if they fail a math quiz we eat instead be focusing on how to help students learn to recover from these kinds of failures which is in my opinion a much more important lesson than any of them will probably ever learn in the classroom but beyond a levy aiding student stress we need to make sure that our any students in need of more structured mental health resources have a vast array to choose from we need to work with counselors school psychologists and social workers to make students to help students understand that there's a team that can support them at school and beyond and they don't have to feel ashamed or worried about coming forward to a

064trusted adult and more importantly we have to look to the students to guide our work on what we're doing with supporting mental health students have driven many of the changes especially at the high school level regarding mental health like in some of our schools we have mental wellness week where we discuss what how our diet and physical exercise can help us maintain our mental wellness and we also discuss awareness of some of the more serious issues that are going on in our own schools like depression and eating disorders and we learn how to identify if one of our friends or peers is suffering so we can tell a trusted adult and one initiative at some local high schools including my own at my school it's called TJ minds matter we have peer counselor to help

065students with non-emergent problems our peer counselors are all certified and youth mental health first aid and work with students who are struggling they can just talk to them over Facebook or Instagram or whatever they want and just work with the students to help them feel like they're not alone and they're able to refer them to more immediate resources like the national suicide hotline and trusted adults if necessary but most importantly I implore all of you both on the board and in the audience to realize the impact your words and actions have on those around you we've seen the negative impact bullying has on students who are seen different from their peers believe me I grew up in a school where I was the only one who looked like I did and trust me it wasn't

066really fun to feel that different and I implore all of you to take the time to stand up for your peers and even someone you don't really know no one deserves to feel uncomfortable or threatened at their school or in their communities because of who they are while some of our students who are suffering from mental health conditions may need specialized help that we all can't give them never doubt that your kind words and actions have a significant impact thank you thank you miss feta Conda our next item our next item on the agenda is 4.03 the strategic plan goal for resource stewardship and I do remind my colleagues that we will have a work session coming up at which time there will be the opportunity to ask many questions and for prolonged conversation where

067is this evening this is a presentation for for new business and I will call on dr. Bray brand first for introduction Thank You chairman Strauss the goal for resource stewardship presentation is across departmental collaboration involving many of our staff members its purpose is to show that Fairfax County Public Schools is using its resources with fiscal responsibility and with transparency before I turn it over to Kristen Michael the assistant superintendent for financial services who's going to lead the team presentation I want to remind this board that in July I talked about the one-pager trying to really distill for you and for our community the essential elements of the presentations that were bringing to you I had been in the job maybe just a week or two but we've had the recess and you will be seeing

068moving forward all of our presentations will still have narrative and the additional reporting detail that you've come to see in the past but we'll be presenting here at the board meeting the essential elements on a one-pager that really gets to the crux of the issue and tries to identify the key issues or decisions that need to be made by this board I hope you find that feedback helpful and I look forward to getting your feedback on this approach so that we can communicate more effectively with each other and with the community on issues of public concern around our school system so without further ado it's my pleasure to have Kristen Michael come up and begin the presentation thank you so much to begin the presentation tonight I would first like to start with a video

069that features my colleagues in Action supporting resource stewardship [Music] so on behalf of my colleagues on the leadership team thank you for the opportunity this evening to present the strategic plan goal for resource stewardship as dr. brandt indicated tonight I'm thrilled to be making brief remarks using our new one-page summary format then at the work session on Monday September 18th my colleagues and I will present key information from the slide presentation that is posted and we'll also be able to answer any questions that the board has regarding the presentation and/or the full report that's also posted so for goal four we have two overarching strategies strategy 10 is to maximize and align our resources to be accountable and transparent with the community regarding the resources that are entrusted to FCPS strategy 11 is to promote

070the values and benefits of the community's investment in FCPS in order to increase the community's understanding of the divisions operating and capital needs in order to support student success so when we look at the goal of the goal for report the majority of the information is really reflecting back and we've worked to not duplicate any information that was presented in the other goal for reports so tonight I'm beginning to cover the key points as shown on our one-page summary and the first which is critical is our cost per pupil and that's shown under the summary background section in the top left graphic so the cost of educating at pupil really reflects the efficiency of our instructional delivery across the system cost per pupil calculations provide an overall view of the cost of all programs and

071it can be used to compare how school systems across the region spend their funding so with an FY 17 cost per pupil of fourteen thousand four hundred and thirty-two dollars FCPS is ranked in the middle of the school systems in this metropolitan area so our cost per pupil has consistently remained in the middle of the region but if we compare ourselves to our closest competitor in terms of size demographics and also with similar student achievement Montgomery County if we were spending the same amount per pupil as Montgomery County our budget for FY 17 would have spent two hundred and eighty nine million dollars higher when we look historically over time at our cost per pupil from 2009 to 2013 creased by one thousand ninety two dollars that's 8.2 percent but if we adjust for inflation

072in FY 17 were actually spending less per pupil than we were in 2009 so we look at how our pure pupil expenditures impact the region as part of goal for a report prepared by George Mason University Center for regional analysis that was presented to the board earlier this year showed that F CPS is the largest employer in the county and that we contribute 2.2 billion to the Fairfax County economy and were one of the most important sources of local economic activity the reports author dr. Steven fuller found that F CPS accounts for four point one percent of countywide employment base and our budgeted spending accounts for two percent of our gross County product making us the second largest source of economic activity in the county following the federal government this report demonstrated that FCPS provides

073a significant economic benefit to the community so the funding provided to FCPS by our local and state partners has a positive impact that goes well beyond the classroom when we look at the chart on the top right this is a new chart that we haven't previously shared with the board but we think it shows a clear graphic representation of our focus on instruction and how we've tried to protect our instructional program during these last economic years so the chart shows in the bar on the Left student enrollment that's the green bar our student enrollment increased fourteen point seven percent during this period that's an increase of twenty four thousand one hundred and seventy-nine students that's nearly as many students as Arlington County has in total at the same time the bar in the middle is

074our school-based positions and they've increased nine point one percent so that growth in school-based positions is due to the fact that we use formulas to allocate positions to schools based on student enrollments if we hadn't made budget reductions you would expect to see that growth being similar with our growth in students but with the impact of budget reductions we see an increase of 9.1 percent then in the bar on the far right with a focus on protecting a classroom you can see that our non school-based positions during this same time period decreased by 10.1 percent or 176 positions so while we have 24,000 more students who use more technology who have more square footage and while we're serving an additional 1855 school-based positions our non school-based positions decreased by 10 percent so as we all

075know through challenging economic times developing a budget that meets our educational needs of our students the expectations of our community the needs of our employees while having limited revenue and increasing expenditures has required strict adherence to our strategic plan and our priorities through maximizing our limited resources funding the instructional program has always been our highest priority and with budget reductions during this period that have totaled over a half a billion dollars we've made every possible effort to ensure that we're directing our resources towards the classroom so when we look at this page the information below this line is really forward-looking information and you're going to hear a lot more about this on Monday from our experts so if you remember in last year's goal for report we included a description of the initial development of

076return on investment that framework has been developed by leading arruda who's leading our new office of research and strategic improvement and she's going to help share more information about this on Monday so last year we talked about ROI was really an early stage along that pathway to the development of a decision-making framework since last year Orsi has taken the lead in developing that initial stage of the decision-making framework so as you can see in the graphic on the right they started with a framework of plan do study Act which many of you know was originally developed by Deming which was to focus on a series of systematic steps to decide how you improve a process or in the case of our strategic framework for how we can allocate funds and resources to best support our

077success of our strategic goals and actions through a series of meetings the leadership team has actually begun to use this plan to develop our strategic prioritized streamlined plan to help us look at our programs services projects and initiatives and to identify and rank those that have the greatest potential of impacting our strategic plan ultimately after multiple years of work the strategic decision-making framework is intended to be used at multiple levels within the school division for example by our leadership team our departments in our schools and offices so in conclusion efficient organizational stewardship is more critical than ever in terms of achieving our academic excellence and the strategic initiatives of our division division as the goal for report shows and in the video you saw tonight the need to demonstrate resource stewardship spans all of our

078departments in FCPS and responsible stewardship must be understood and exhibited in all levels of FCPS in order to generate and preserve the necessary resources for organizational success again I'd like to conclude by thanking my fellow leadership team members and the staff in all of their departments whose efforts truly do promote resource stewardship and our commitment to accountability open communication and transparency thank you thank you miss Michael and again I remind my colleagues we will have an opportunity for in-depth discussion yeah I will entertain any clarifying questions you have if not we will proceed any clarifying questions No thank you very much the one pager was very much appreciated dr. Bray brand and miss Michael you thank you the next item is confirmation of action taken and closed meeting this is the portion of the meeting

079where the board will confirm any action regarding issues that were discussed in the closed meeting these issues may include action taken regarding student disciplinary matters board members have discussed each individual case and at this time we'll make several motions to confirm the recommended action for the first motion I will call on Miss Schultz I moved to excused from attendance at school a certain student identified in closed meeting pursuant to Virginia Code section 22.1 254 be one second - Corbett Sanders thank you all those in favor that is Evans Paul check corporate Sanders Strauss Schultz during at Koufax those opposed those abstaining Wilson McLaughlin Keys Gamera thank you and away from okay yes thank you miss Hines is away from the table thank you for the next item I will call a miss Evans for emotion

080I moved to deny the school reassignment appeal of a student who was charged with a serious criminal offense related to an alleged community based incident and to confirm the disciplinary decision of the division superintendent second second second by mr. Nicole facts all those in favor heavens during at Koufax Corbett Sanders Strauss Dera neck Koufax did I do that Paul Jack yes I'm sorry yes those opposed or abstentions Schultz Wilson Keyes Gemara is abstaining yes thank you and McLaughlin did I catch everybody mr. Wilson are you abstaining yes thank you very much I didn't see all the hands the next matter I will call on miss Evans I moved to grant in part the school reassignment appeal of a student who threatened to harm staff and students at school and to modify the disciplinary decision of

081the division superintendent second second second plainness Schultz thank you all those in favor that is Evans Wilson Paul check Corbett Sanders Straus Schultz those opposed abstention mr. Wilson are you abstaining see your hand you voted yeah you did okay thank you because I couldn't see Thank You McLaughlin and deer net Koufax in keys Gemara did I get everybody yes thank you very much all right [Applause] the next item 5.02 is modification of a contract and I call on Miss corporate Sanders I move that the school board approved the modification of sprinters contract to include performance of additional site work involving the stabilization of the subgrade of the field at Sandburg Middle School in return for payment of the additional amount of four hundred and twelve thousand two hundred and ninety dollars and upon such receipt

082of such funds from the park Authority hereby authorized the division superintendent or the assistant superintendent of facilities and transportation services to execute deliver and administer the modified contract on behalf of the school board is there a second second second I really miss staring at Koufax mr. Overton's would you like to speak to your motion yes thank you first I want to thank the facilities staff for the excellent work that they have done on this issue this has been a very stressful issue for the Fort Hunt community because of the in availability of a turf field the only turf field that they had available to the fort Hunt youth athletics for the fall season because of additional work that needed to be done on the field I also want to thank the Parks Authority who has

083already transferred the funds over to Fairfax County Public Schools so that this work can be done expeditiously so to make it clear we are not allocating additional funds these funds come from the Fairfax County Park Authority and the work on this field is being done at the behest of the park authority but by our subcontractors that is why we are having to do this contract here Thank You mr. nickel fix would you like to add anything I have nothing to add great thank you for the explanation as well all those in favor I'm sorry miss Schultz I'm sorry I didn't know thank you very much so I do have a question I don't know if mr. plantain burgers the appropriate individuals in Madrid to address this in the world of construction building contracting with which

084I have a lot of familiarity one would hope that everything always goes neatly and smoothly and there's no additional work and no no problems and no delays and the weather cooperates what happens just on the off chance that that doesn't happen and it isn't four hundred and twelve thousand two hundred and ninety dollars and there are delays or there are problems what are there any anticipated difficulties with the schedule with the hitting asbestos in the dirt etc etc well thank you mr. Schultz for asking that question but absolutely whenever you have unforeseen conditions that you discover it's kind of an evolutionary process out in the field and usually generally you have a plan for certain contingencies during the process in this case we had done soil samples and done some test bets to anticipate that

085we're within industry standards to identify any unsuitable soils but it was so in the area of being so low lying in that region it was so infiltrated and saturated that there was well beyond what was the original estimate but it's sort of like you know preparing for a wedding of the first day of school no matter what the kids are coming so we've got to get this filled back up and going and we certainly appreciate all the support you've given us so what what will happen if we run into if they run into drainage issues weather issues installation issues I mean are are we on the hook as a school system to make up anything beyond that is this a firm fixed price contract is it time and materials contract I mean I don't know

086the particulars of this contract so is it four hundred and twelve thousand two ninety no matter what yes ma'am this was just for this individual change order we do have the internal controls in place which is the reason why we're bringing it here it is in fact as was stated a contract that we're facilitating for the park authority on their behalf and as I said this contract was pretty much it was competitively bid we've got the pricing we were going ahead with the work and we discovered a situation on the field so we anticipate this is the last of the reason why we're bringing to you this evening is because time is of the essence not only for use of the children that have been displaced but also for the community as a whole we're

087trying to get it done as quickly as we possibly and as a parent of students who are regularly using turf fields like yeah I definitely appreciate that I just want to make sure that we're immunized against any cost overruns I mean it's great that the Park Authority is paying for this but I don't want to do is get to the end of this and all of a sudden somebody's bringing us a bill that's come due for a oh by the way I don't want anyone listening to having this part of the partnership between the schools and the Port Authority thank you very much mr. Wilson thank you madam chair mr. platen burger purchased we could ask another follow-up question since it sounds like maybe there was some unexpected site circumstances that are requiring the additional

088funds is it anticipated as the contractor assured us that this is a final fix and that we won't be coming back to repair the field again 18 months from now or something like that yes sir that's the plan I'm sorry I said yes sir that's the plan do they provide any warranty on suitable soils it's based upon the measurement they anticipated it's done by it's basically third-party verified of the actual quantities that are displaced removed and then re emplaced to make it so it's a stable condition for the field that we're putting in this isn't the first time this is a partnership but this isn't the first time that we've ever discovered unsuitable soils on any of the multi-billion dollar projects that we've had over the years our process of remediation and corrective action because

089of our experience is something that the park Authority is benefiting from thank thank you for the entry I just not sure I totally understand I guess what I'm concerned about is that we we put the money into this you know with some expectation that we've got to fix that we're not gonna have to refix again since there is a location issue what is do we have an expected lifespan than of this room of this fixed for the use of the field oh absolutely the approach of this is definitely engineered by our civil engineers so they took into account especially this region as you know Sandburg Middle School is our school and this the property is our property this just happens to be their field that they pay for on our property and when they when

090it was constructed initially the technology was a little bit different back then and when we go to replace them we find the saturation making sure like we've done at other Western four high school is another perfect example when we went back and did the replacement of that we built up the underlayment of that and built up the filtration elements because they're much more advanced for the artificial turf nowadays thank you yes miss Keith chimera I hate to shoot a dead horse is there a clause in the contract that determines if there is additional cost who will pay it without having the contract right here in front of me what I will say that's a very good question in our contracting we always have individual statements within that our partnership with the park authority on this

091whole deal was we would go ahead and bid this project and they would pay for it we would also administer it because we've done over the past couple years over seven or eight different artificial turf projects in fact Kevin Sneed the director of design and construction has come up with the most the cost effective way of getting artificial turf fields done as a part of the longer or larger extended joint turf task force project that's gone on throughout the county both with the county in the schools project so within each of our contracts we have a very very solid and very grounded history I'll be happy to continue the conversations about our contracts offline and have legal counsel also there we do use schoolboy legal counsel to review our contracts and it's a very sound

092sound process but again I'd be happy to meet with anybody and talk further in greater detail about each of our individual contracts okay seeing no other requests for informational discussion will come to a vote on this item all those in favor Evans Wilson Corbett Sanders Strauss Hines Schultz dairy Nek Koufax those opposed we're abstaining miss Keith camara and miss McLaughlin is away from the table thank you as is Miss Belle check thank you okay our next item of business is a consent agenda our adopted rules of parliamentary procedure Robert's Rules provide for a consent agenda listing several items for approval of the board by a single motion many items listed have gone through board review and documentation has been provided to all board members and the public in advance items may be removed from the

093consent agenda at the request of any board member prior to the meeting 6.01 approved the minutes of the July 27th 2017 regular school board meeting 2.0 to appoint individuals to serve on committees as detailed in the agenda item 6.03 approved the revisions to the strategic governance manual as detailed in Nia in the attachment and the agenda item is there any objection to approving the consent agenda seeing and hearing none the consent agenda has approved new business the following our new business agenda items there will not be a vote tonight on these items but action is scheduled at a future meeting 7.01 award the contract for the rooftop air handling unit replacement at Chantilly High School to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder and authorized the division superintendent or the assistant superintendent of facilities and transportation

094services to execute and administer the contract on behalf of the school court 7.02 approved the strategic plan goal for resource stewardship report has detailed in the agenda item 7.03 award the contract for the automatic temperature control system replacement at Flint Hill 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 and behalf of the school board 7.04 award a contract for the portable classroom trailer purchase to the most responsive and responsible offer 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 7.05 approved the suicide prevention risk assessment post vention policy is detailed in the agenda item 7.06 appoint

095individuals to serve a one-year term on the challenge materials interdepartmental review committee as detailed in the agenda item 7.07 adopted the newly revised 2017 fairfax county purchasing resolution previously adopted by the board of supervisors subject to the conditions detail in the agenda item superintendent matters dr. Bray brand Thank You chairman Strauss first of all I'd like to welcome Karen Keys Kamara to the school board I look forward to working with you as you know I'm new to its my rookie year so welcome and I'm sure we're gonna have an exciting time and a productive time together so thank you for being here and I look forward to working with you I want to thank our financial services team we've already talked a little bit about finances and resources tonight they have received Fairfax County Public

096Schools has on behalf of their work I'm a meritorious budget award for excellence in the preparation and issuance of the FY 2018 budget from the association of school business officials international they were also given an achievement and excellence in procurement award for their outstanding practices I want to congratulate krysta Michael and her team for being one of only nine school districts in Virginia and one of only 26 districts in the entire country to receive that designation so congratulations to her and her team I think a round of applause is in order for that the virginia technology and engineering educators association has recognized the row middle school with its program of the year for its education technology program we're doing a lot more with technology in our schools and it's great to see one of our

097schools getting acknowledged that way they also recognize Braddock elementary school teacher Joyce Matthews as the Virginia elementary technology education Teacher of the Year so Miss Matthews is just doing an outstanding job at Braddock Elementary and it's great to see her work being recognized finally look at the time and you it may not be going where you think it is this is the first year we've not scheduled back-to-school nights on school board meetings so that we could start meetings on time and hopefully end on time and I want to thank frankly all the principals who've worked hard to make that happen you know I was a principal of course in the school system trying to get the right date to balance principals and athletics and activities and just community events it's a thing to do and

098also create the opportunity for school board members to really get a chance to be out of these events and be in the community so thanks for everybody for doing that and thank you very much chairman Strauss thank you dr. Brown next our board reports and I'll call on mr. Arnett Koufax for report on governance yes thank you madam chair the Governance Committee met yesterday for the first time this year September 13th at that point staff shared the status of their review of policy 8335 on wireless communication facilities and an additional update will be presented to the governance board at our October 11th meeting on this topic and dr. Bray ran he shared his agenda for the September 25th school board retreat and I think it's going to be a great retreat for all of us

099so that's it Thank You mr. net Koufax board matters again with miss Evans I just want to say welcome back to school everybody I've enjoyed going to the back-to-school nights and meeting with principals and getting back in the swing of things and beyond that I just wanted to give a warm welcome to our new colleague miss Karen Keyes Gemara we very much look forward to working with you welcome mr. Wilson thank you madam chair and just echo miss Evans comments welcome back to the schools and welcome back to the school year parents as always you are the most important educator of your child so please stay involved and to all the students out there I hope you have a very good and productive school year and I also would like to congratulate and welcome miss

100Karen Keyes Gemara to the board and I look forward to working with you mr. poolcheck yes I will I'll cook also excuse me I call the thoughts welcoming everyone back to school I myself have returned to teaching full time that says miss Hines so it's been a special back to school this year I also want to welcome and congratulate miss Keith Kamara for joining us on this board we are all very lucky to have her and also want to echo thoughts of staying engaged in your school especially if you're not sure how or haven't before maybe think about this year an intention of trying to find a new activity or a way to get involved and finally I want to thank our wonderful student rep for recognizing so many things happening and especially for Hispanic

101national Heritage Month it is an honor to represent our community here where fourth of our kids one out of four are Hispanic or Latino so I hope you take the time to learn a little bit more about the great diversity within the Hispanic community in Fairfax County and I want to wish everyone a safe happy and wonderful new year and thank dr. Barry Bradford and his staff for a really excellent start to the year very very calm we haven't heard much so that's a great thing thank you Miss Korbut Sanders yes I would like to echo my colleagues warm welcome to our newest colleague miss Keyes Gamora it is a pleasure to serve with you I was able to serve with you on the school's Committee of the Planning Commission so I know that this

102group will benefit greatly from your participation in on the board I would also like to send out a very special thank you to all of the teachers staff administrators and principals that have made the opening of this school year such a delightful start of the year I have heard parents and students excited about learning and the warm embrace of our caring culture this year is definitely being felt in the community so I thank you for that but I also want to thank the facilities staff because they had a shorter summer than expected and in the region 3 we have a significant number of schools being renovated and they went through some Herculean efforts to get those schools open and ready for students so thank you very much for that and last of all I want

103to wish the class of 1967 from Mount Vernon High School a wonderful reunion this weekend they will be first at Mount Vernon High School where they will be doing a service project in getting cleaning up around the stadium and they will follow up that activity with a photograph in their original Mount Vernon High School on route 1 and so I am just wishing them a wonderful Saturday filled with events miss Schultz yes I have a couple of thanks in particular I want to thank the transportation staff I feel like I have to go back and watch my opening notes but I feel like every year I say this is smoother than last year and I want to say almost without exception this this is the smoothest start to a school year in terms of Transportation

104the one community that really did struggle my West Springfield high school community had an immediate response I mean just an absolute immediate a response and a solution from the transportation staff so I'm not sure what's going on over there but what you are doing is working so well that we're not seeing any problems it's just it's an amazing thing and I look back to you know in six years on the board sort of this chaotic start to the school year and everybody sort of braced for those first couple of weeks and it just keeps getting better so any any parents that are having difficulty in school communities that are having to certainly let us know but I really do want to thank the people that are behind the scenes a little bit we saw this

105is a video I actually liked miss Michael miss Michael that was for you where you see the people behind the scenes that are making things happen so that was that was phenomenal I do have I do want to acknowledge that I have a couple of administrators in some schools particularly Elementary schools who have some very sick children this year and the difficulty in staffing and managing and providing for the needs of the families the children and I mean truly very very ill children you see not only the the heart for academics and the academic success for children but for the whole child and I want to thank them because when when I get to deal as a board member with some of these very complex and difficult issues you see how much goes into serving

106and meeting the needs of individual students individual families in individual school communities and this is something that I don't think you necessarily sign up for when you become an educator or an education administrator in a building and so thank you I know that's hard you know to handle the emotional needs also of your staff who are who are dealing and trying to meet and have a more successful academic experience for very ill children I do want to welcome miss Keyes Gamora I don't know if you know what you've signed up for you're about to find for mr. Toad's Wild Ride but welcome to all my families and please feel free to contact me but most importantly the one thing I would like like to emphasize because I don't think we do enough I want to

107get a PSA out there dr. Barry brand for your regional offices I don't think parents I don't think families understand that we have these five amazing regions that are almost anywhere else in the country that's a superintendent does a superintendent for about 25 or 30 schools at least in our individual regions and that's the first place that if you can't work out an issue with an individual teacher an individual building administrator a principal the next place that you go is your region assistant superintendent or you reach an executive principal and I look forward to working with dr. Brown to sort of elevate that that role and advertise the ability for our families to connect with their regions moreover this coming year Thank You mr. Koufax I too want to welcome back all of the students

108and teachers administrators also thanking dr. Bray brand his staff for a smooth opening it is not easy to get all of our students in and I have received zero complaints about the start of school and that is I know raise your hand do you deserve it and and your team behind you as well so thank you all for your hard work and your caring and getting our children safely starting a week earlier this year and so we had a little less ten less working days for you to get it all done so thank you so much and another welcome to you miss Keith Kamara I have had the opportunity to work with you over the last few years in various capacities and I am thrilled to have you as my seat partner and thrilled to

109be working with you so welcome and I know you're going to be a great asset to our to our group here thank you miss Keyes Kamara well I'm happy to be here and I feel quite welcomed by everyone so I'm looking forward to getting an opportunity to work with dr. Bray brand and our wonderful staff and my children have all attended Fairfax County Public Schools so I'm just looking forward to really joining hands with every of my colleagues and seeing what we can do thank you so much miss mcLaughlin yes thank you I to my colleagues I stepped away from the table because the Boy Scout Troop that was here this evening is from my district and they are working on their citizenship badge and I wanted to give them an opportunity to ask a

110few questions from tonight's meeting and the issue they was the Stuart High School renaming so it was very interesting to spend a little time out there with them about their impressions and so just really bright young men and wonderful to see them committed to that I too just wanted to add my quick welcome back to our Braddock district families that have children near schools and to the teachers and school administrators for a very smooth start I had very few emails contacting me about any challenges they had in in that beginning and to mr. platenburg our assistant superintendent of transportation facilities I especially want to thank you it really was such a smooth opening to schools and that is a Herculean effort to not only get the buildings ready but then to get those bus routes

111going and just a remarkable job so thank you to you and your team dr. braver and I also wanted to just say that I really appreciate everyone on your leadership team who's helped us with the opening of schools any emails that I've sent I feel staff's been very supportive and answering questions that have come from my district and so that's been appreciated and then as a parent I went to my very last back-to-school night so that was very bittersweet as my youngest son is now a senior at Whitson high school and I've been a parent at Woodson for over eight years now so just there alone and an FCPS parent now this is my 17th year so it's uh it's really wonderful when you go to a back-to-school night like I did and met all

112seven of his teachers and I left the evening thinking can I just go back to school with him the teachers were amazing and I want to give a shout out to mrs. Carroll who teaches ap environmental science she teaches it in such a way that I came out of her 10 minute of that back to school speech saying every student in Fairfax County needs to take this class before they leave it is cross-curricular and if we are truly whine of raise global citizens before they leave Fairfax County I am telling you that class and the way this teacher delivers it was fascinating I'll send a detailed email to my colleagues and dr. Brown about it but as you can tell I left that back-to-school night really excited for my son and very proud to be

113a part of this this excellent school division and so I hope everyone has a great school year and as Miss Schultz said we hope you will work with the people in your school building to help you address any issues but do know that this board in collaboration with our amazing administration will do our very best to create the caring culture that you deserve and you you want us to help deliver thank you and again I echo all the thank-yous to our staff and our teachers and our principals and everybody that I have made the opening of school so smooth and again our facilities and our transportation people who in the end just have incredible tasks to get us up and going I also have to say dr. braver and that when we've community has asked

114questions staff has been very responsive and very quick and I know that our parents truly appreciate that in some cases they've been long and involved answers but they've come rapidly so I thank everybody for that I would like to share some interesting news many of our schools and communities have projects whereby they collect food help to redistribute to food banks or to we know where we have children and families who who don't have enough to eat I went to an event in Reston Herndon a brand new way of organizing food collection and this is masterful it is called hunger is closer than you think they have a website www.investmentpitch.com is active in collecting food and redistributing it I recommend that you take a look at this this was organized by some folks that have heard

115in middle school and WWF odd for neighbors work it is a new high-tech way of organizing spreading out volunteers it is a great system so anybody out there because I know lots of schools are involved in this this is a great way to do it very efficient so highly recommend it right with that the board will be returning to closed session so the board will now make a motion to go into closed meeting to protect the privacy of individuals and personnel matters not related to the public business pursuant to Virginia Code section 2.2 - three seven one one a four and three consult with legal counsel regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such counsel pursuant to section two point two dash three seven one one eight seven of the Code

116of Virginia specifically personnel matters and next discuss and consider personal matters specifically the assignment appointment promotion performance demotion discipline or resignation of a specific public officer and specific public employee pursuant to section 2.2 - 3 7 1 1 a 1 of the code of the Virginia is her emotion moved by Miss Korbut Sanders seconded by Michelle's all those in favor that is unanimous with miss Hines away from the board that board is now in closed session thank you