FCPS School Board Meeting - March 9, 2017

001[Music] e e e all right would board members come to the table please this March 9th 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 Lorton Station Elementary School strings Ensemble under the direction of Maggie Linsky flag the United States of America and to the rep for stands one nation under godis [Music] people G that's T make ch one two the [Music] wow thank you very much that was beautifully done and thank you parents for bringing your wonderful students out to join us tonight also like to say thank you to principal Joanne Jackson she's here with us this evening as well from lordon station thank you thank you students the

002board held a closed meeting earlier this evening and certified compliance immediately upon reconvening in public at The Forum work session which preceded tonight's regular meeting for puru to Virginia code section 2.2 372b the school board uh will hold closed session meetings at undisclosed locations within 15 days for the purpose of interviewing candidates announcements a few announcements before we begin tonight's meeting if you would like to review a copy of the agenda and any agenda item that is being discussed tonight that information is on the table by the auditorium entrance tonight's agenda is available by going to Schoolboard on the FCPS homepage and selecting board docs under upcoming Schoolboard meetings the meeting is also being stre streamed live online select school board from the full menu then click the watch live button on the Schoolboard meetings

003web page please turn off or silence your cell phone I will now call on Miss Jew for announcements thank you the American Alliance for theater and education has designated March as theater in our school's month to celebrate and increase public awareness of the benefits of theater education for Youth Development the theme is fostering a culture of creativity theater education has the power to raise academic achievement and to simulate Innovation and creativity among students the alliance encourages citizens to celebrate the positive impact of theater in the classroom and to remember that all students should have access to Quality theater education in their lives in addition March has been officially designated by the National Association for music education for the observance of Music in our schools month the time of year when music education becomes the focus

004of schools Across the Nation this year's theme is music inspires and it is designed to highlight the importance of comprehensive sequential music education taught by exemplary music educators for all children and to remind citizens that school is where all children should should have access to music it is also an opportunity for music teachers to bring their music programs to the attention of the school and the community and to display the benefits school music brings to students of all ages finally March has also been designated as youth art month art education contributes powerful educational benefits to all elementary and secondary students art education develops students creative problem solving and critical thinking abilities teaches sensitivity to Beauty order and other expressive qualities gives students a deeper understanding of Multicultural values and beliefs and brings to life what

005students learn in other subjects the theme for youth art month 2017 is the power of art the Fairfax County School Board believes that support should be given to art teachers as they strengthen art education in schools and communities and all citizens are urged to take an interest in and give full support to Quality school art programs for Children and Youth thank you thank you Miss Chu item 2.04 2017 Virginia School Board Association business honor rooll resolution I call on Mr Wilson for the resolution thank you madam chair whereas the Public Public Schools and local businesses are an integral part of this community and whereas many local businesses play a crucial role in in supporting our schools and whereas the economic health of our community State and Nation depends on a strong public school system and

006whereas collaboration between local public schools and local businesses strengths in schools and the business Community alike by providing a well-trained and highly educated Workforce and whereas an excellent public school system is vital to the quality of life in this community and fundamental to preserving a strong Democratic Society now and in the future and whereas employees have dedicated their time energy and resources in support of increasing student achievement in college aware awareness enhancing the education of students with disabilities through meaningful work experiences and improving multiple School athletic training programs now therefore be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board named Capital 1 crop metf and Virginia Tire and Auto to the 2017 Virginia School Board Association business honoral showing appreciation for their ongoing support of Fairfax County Public Schools I so move is there a

007second seconded by Mr Moon um Mr Wilson would you like to speak to your motion thank you madam chair um I think that um in the several uh budget meetings that I've attended and most recently hosted a town hall last evening it's become clear and apparent that the um uh the business economy in Fairfax county is crucial to um the well-being of our students in the educational system through their support uh through the tax payments they make for their real estate properties um that's a big source of uh Community revenue and that Revenue comes directly to the aid of the public schools so um I'm I'm very honored to be able to bring this resolution to the board and I'm grateful for their support Mr Moon would you like to speak to your second I

008show you know are a lot of businesses in FX County who provide a many of their employees to as as a mentors and Volunteers in many of our schools and we thank them for thank you very much and um before we take the vote I want to mention that these businesses will be recognized at our June 22nd school board meeting as as well so we will have um them in uh in attendance with us seeing uh no other hand hands or lights um I call for the vote on the motion all those in favor raise your hand and that is unanimous the motion passes item 3.01 citizen participation the next order of business as citizen participation speakers are requested to limit their remarks to not more than 3 minutes the school board will not hear

009statements involving issues that have been scheduled for public hearings such as capital Improvement program budget and boundaries complaints regarding individual students or school-based employees should be directed to the appropriate School principal or other school official speakers should refrain from using personally identifiable information 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 the audience at these meetings and watching at home so language should be appropriate for all age levels thank you for your cooperation and thanks to those who have come out to speak to us tonight um we start with Kathy Roose to be followed by Al um Alan toi uh to be followed by marahan elhadi Mrs Roose

010is Mrs Roose here tonight uh we'll go to Alan uh uh toi good evening chairman and board members my name is Alan tki and I am a resident of Fairfax County thank you for allowing me to speak to you tonight since it appears that some board members are actively seeking to censor and restrict opposing voices and opinions from concerned parents and citizens I here tonight to provide a feedback on the newly proposed audit Charter and I hope you do not find speak speaking about creating a system of increased accountability as somewhat redundant or irrelevant as some people have recently claimed or implied first I oppose the new Charter in its current form based on a detailed analysis by a Consortium of local professional subject matter experts in this field from Fairfax County they pointed out

011that the biggest flaw and deficiency gencies in the new Charter is that the new proposed audit Charter removes the investigative authority of the office of the auditor general the problem with the new Mission and the new audit Charter is that it removes the auditor's Authority for flaud waste and abuse in accordance with the Virginia code 15.2 d2511 do2 the duties of local government Auditors and these duties can be found online at HTTP colon slant slant vac co.org SL1 15.2 d2511 D2 slant they also found that the new audit Charter does not provide for outside legal console to the office of the off of the auditor general when division counil is involved in a potential wrongdoing another problem with the new audit Charter is that it does not include the standards for Investigative Services which incidentally

012was raised by School Board member Wilson at the February 16th work session but is now been omitted in addition to the new audit Charter which allows the audit committed to approve changes to the annual work plan that usurps the uh school board's approval of the original annual work plan this is the audit that is give me the audit committee can bypass the approval of the full board furthermore the new audit Charter provides no requirements to communicate audit reports to the full School Board so that they remain hidden and out of sight lastly the audit General description has been redefined to narrowly focus solely on financial wrongdoing whereas the auditor general should be empowered to investigate fraud waste abuse which should include ethical wrongdoing procurement wrongdoings and so forth which there have been much which there

013has been much Revelation and discussion of late it is what does disos Please wrap up in a sentence or two please okay um it is okay it has been with this disclosure of these problems and deficiencies that has been advised that the new Charter be rejected in its current form until the auditor general is restored and fully empowered to act on behalf of parents and taxpayers thank you very much good evening thank you mayor Han elhadi to be followed by Eileen spots to be followed Follow by stos stamulis Miss elti yes hi so she's going to speak three minutes um first this is th thya Hussein hi um my name is Thia Hussein and I'm a Fairfax County resident and I have five children who go to Fairfax County Public Schools um my son goes

014to Luther Jackson um first of all I just want to appreciate the I want to talk about theit uh chart and um really appreciate that there is U the general uh audit Charter that's um make the school sufficient and help you know like um investigate fraud and U misuse of of things and money and everything I'm just going to keep it short um I'm here to talk about the the school board passed the controversial policy 1450 without any impact analysis input and consideration of for most Muslim American Community which represent 200,000 residents in the county and roughly 40,000 students in the public schools um uh personally um I'm not against um homosexuality the thing is we are not supporting uh we feel like discriminated against us when this policy being passed because um it's not

015being considered as Muslim faith that we don't support our children to learn about homosexuality in early age or be um like um to know about it and the other thing is um uh the transgender when they use the bathroom we really don't feel comfortable that my daughter used the bathroom with you know somebody who's transgender and we feel like we're really being discriminated against as a Muslim Community for passing this laws and for our children to be forced to be learning about homosexuality even though we don't support it in our religion thank you thank you uh Eileen spots oh wait I had three minutes yeahor she still has a minute left I believe right yes hi my name is maryan aliti I'm a medical practitioner here in Fairfax County I'm also the Outreach director at

016the Muslim American society and I commend the Fairfax County Public School System I'm sorry uh have you signed up to speak to me yes we had uh six minutes so we divided it 3 minutes and 3 minutes I see so oh you are an tell I'm Mar Haiti I see all right yes um so I have uh two minutes left so I I just want to thank you for uh uh having an audit Charter I really appreciate um I really appreciate that and uh uh I like it I think this it's a great idea uh I think also in addition to the audit Charter uh we would like for uh Fairfax County Board to audit also the Muslim discrimination within the county uh including uh uh just like uh um the mother of my Community

017member just said um all of the hate crimes uh discrimination um and not just against Muslim children uh we want to audit their emotional well-being uh how are they feeling uh what they're going through are they um are they happy with all of the changes as children um I as a medical practitioner uh do not discriminate against anyone of course I hold this oath and um and I will continue to hold this oath and uh I pretty much what I'm trying to say is um the audit uh Team the charter that's going to um be formed um should pretty much include everyone uh we felt um secluded not not included uh when uh certain policies were uh being put in place so I think now uh we're well aware of these policies um because we're

018hearing a lot of stuff from our communities and uh the Discrimination is ridiculous uh we want that to be audited um the islamophobia is ridiculous we want that to be audited um the the children feeling uncomfortable regarding the 1450 policy we would love that to be audited so um that's all I have to say uh I appreciate your time uh I appreciate what you're doing uh as board members um my children are uh proud Fairfax County Public School System uh public school students and uh we really appreciate your hard work and effort I understand that this is not an easy job for you and uh uh we just uh we want to say thank you on behalf of the Muslim American society thanks a lot thank you very much Eileen spotz my name is Eileen

019spotz I'm a community organizer among the Asian Americans here in Fairfax County I'm an educator I'm a small business owner in North Weston where Pat Hines is our representative we belong to a fine community of professionals at Aldrin El Elementary School our PTA has been nationally recognized for parent involvement so while the f CPS audit has led to a discovery of more than $25 million spent on substitutes maybe we can think through more appropriate funding um I also asked to serve on the diversity and inclusion committee last year and I spoke to a number of teachers parents and staff concerned about the growing number of children in hearnen and who are not receiving adequate coun cing I think more funding could be appropriated there to have counselors dedicated to the schools in this area not

020a floating relationship but a dedicated one to make a difference I also wanted to express concern as a former corporate training director that all funding be appropriated to address professional development goals relevant to improving results for children I was greatly distressed to learn that the teachers of our County had to endure a professional development program called cultural proficiency the professional development program cultural proficiency covers an appreciation for a diversity of cultures from different nationalities Creeds and gender this training vendor erroneously describes continuums that break down barriers and those who do not share these are going to be labeled as rigid and need to be over come in other ways now the problem with this kind of training is that most of the young teachers in this County have huge hearts and they don't understand those

021nuances that are being imparted they leave little room for conscientious objection of parents who do not want to wish to don't want to raise their children in communities to embrace same-sex marriage like the person who just spoke or transgenderism as a new normal it's just not appreciative of diverse cultures especially in a rich County like Fairfax County with we're an international uh Capital it would be more results oriented if this vendor would stop with FCPS would stop funding this vendor and when policy 1450 was forced on us I had to leave my business and determine a private school selection for my son I really didn't want to do that I want to work with you all and help these children that are struggling with gender dysphoria we need more counselors and we need more professionalism

022and we need leadership that's respectful of the constituency right now we have taxation with no representation of our ideologies this isn't fair not to our children and not to all most of us who are taxed at 56,000 maybe $10,000 a year for property taxes thank you very much much for listening and you have a tremendous challenge to do the right thing and I hope you do and repeal 1450 statio stat I'm sorry stamulis statio stamulis greetings uh greetings and salutations thank you ladies and gentlemen for having me to uh giving me the opportunity to express myself today um i' just like to start with uh supporting fairfox County Public Schools having a strong independent auditor general uh in particular to investigate the processes and inefficiencies I'd like to bring up two points in particular um

023one point in particular regarding the policy 1450 the transgender bathroom policy the second point also bringing up the education policy as well um to begin with the policy 1450 um as many of the people already mentioned you can tell there's a lot of not happppy people about the policy in particular because the policy and I'm trying to be very respectful here but um everybody has civil liberties everybody has civil rights and rightly so these transgenders children they also have their rights and it has to be observed and appreciate it as well but the policy definitely it although it observes their their civil liberties it definitely infringes on the other civil the students the the the opposing civil liberties of the other students um I mean can you imagine that a student um excuse me sorry

024um so there's reports actually I've received reports of students who actually refuse to use the bathroom just because they do not their level of comfort has been disrupted their Liberties there their freedom has been disrupted because of the policy itself um so are we willing to disrupt the liberty of the majority just because of the liberty of some are infringed and again rightly so these these Liberties of the transgender students needs to be needs to be um appreciated but the the policy that's in place does not reflect the M the the Liberties of everybody in particular and I'm just asking that it be revised so that all everybody can be appreciated and their Liberties can be exercised um the second point I want to reflect is just regarding the education regarding how young students regarding

025transgender education and sexual education are exposed to young children at such a young age and they have no right to opt out um as parents we definitely have the right to choose uh what we want our children to be exposed to um if I don't want my child to be exposed to certain types of food I have the right and I should be respected whoever's taking care taking care of my child they should be able to respect that uh and treat my child as so uh when it comes to education even in the college level in particular we do have such educational classes but we these classes are optional and unfortunately in the high school elementary school middle school level these types of social sciences they don't have the option to opt out of these

026classes uh and with such a uh young frame of mind where they're struggling with their own identity um you know it just becomes very difficult um so just to wrap up I know I'm already out of time but I understand that there was probably a lot of pressure from the previous administration to with the executive order so I don't blame anybody here uh however with the Cur with the current Administration as you know probably the they Reen the order and the Supreme Court as well also pushed back on that so basically the ball is back to wrap up I'm done already but the ball is back on your court and I just want to just say that uh just remember who basically who when you pass a policy who does it affect and who are

027you supposed to represent thank you thank you uh Bethany kosma to be followed by John Murray my name is Bethany cosma and I support an honest independent and strong auditor general to investigate fraud abuse and mismanagement there are many things needing investigation and Improvement two weeks ago a citizen speaker made the charge that non-residents frequently appear at school board meetings he was referring to speakers critical of school board action I am a Fairfax County resident and to my knowledge all the speakers who have shared my concern concerns about the gender identity policies of this board have been Fairfax County residents the gentleman claim that Resident Lowden County residents were testifying here perhaps he thought that I was from Lowden since I testified before the Lowden County School Board I spoke as a Fairfax County resident

028and a sexual assault victim to warn them that allowing boys and men into women and girls locker rooms showers and bathrooms is not only disrespectful but dangerous I actually had to withdraw my daughter from her Fairfax County Public School elementary school over concerns for her personal safety and privacy her former school is currently allowing a biological boy to use the girls facilities without any parental notification Miss Evans when you say the transgender guidelines are on hold that gives a false impression they're not the transgender policy is being implemented and right now behind parents' backs this board does not seem interested in listening to constituents who do not share your political views Mr mine is planning a meeting for Monday to discuss citizen speaker process one citizen mentioned it and now there's a meeting hundreds of

029parents have stood in this room dozens and dozens have spoken about our concerns over adding gender identity to policy 1450 yet no meeting has been called you haven't even showed us the respect of acknowledging that you've heard us all we've heard from you is silence and now you want to silence us you have a great ability for silencing people like the girls who are uncomfortable sharing Lockers in shower rooms with boys they no longer have the right to speak out as a Fairfax County resident I ask for respect and for response this and many other reasons are why I support a strong honest auditor general thank you thank you uh John Murray to be followed by Robert rgy to be followed by uh Andrea Delio good evening my name is John Murray thank you for

030the opportunity to speak tonight I represent parent and child.org a group that has reviewed the Fairfax County Family Life education curriculum I have been a resident of Fairfax County for 40 years and I'm the father of three adult children all of whom attended and graduated Fairfax County Public Schools kindergarten through 12th grade this regulation about the audit uh uh regulation 1450 about the audit guide is the subject of my talk and actually brings up some very good points the uh all the regulation reads that all Fairfax County Public Schools programs departments and functions are subject to audit agreed that means family life education is subject to audit let's look at some promising areas to start when you have a class I have heard stories about this perhaps I'm sure you know better but when you

031have a class of 30 students and somewhere close to half of them opt out because of offensive unhealthy emotionally harmful or politically charged lesson materials you don't need an auditor to tell you that lesson needs work or needs to be eliminated you don't need an auditor to tell you it's a waste of taxpayer money because the students who opted out are sitting in the library doing busy work but you haven't recognized by the efforts that parentchild org and many other parents who have spoken before this group tonight have done to uh to alert you to this students opting out on lessons being taught to empty classrooms are a waste of money an auditor who follows the Fairfax count County audit Charter should be able to find the lessons that have the highest opt out rates

032and report them to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Fairfax County taxpayers Fairfax County parents of school children and of course you the Fairfax County School Board every student who sits in the library because the materials and fle lesson are offensive to religious faiths that have endured for Millennia or promote sexual behaviors which even the most secular medical authorities recognize as extremely risky and unhealthy or at o at odds with the very educational philosophy that Fairfax County reports to follow are a waste of taxpayer money but they're much more than a waste of taxpayer money there are money being wasted to create lessons that students don't want parents don't want think of the money those lessons could that are being wasted could be used for school programs activities and teachers salaries an auditor would be

033able to discover these problem lessons and make recommendations to elimin or change them an audit policy should include auditing the Family Life Education thank you thank you Robert rby good evening board members Dr locker and staff my name is Robert Rigby and I'm an 18-year veteran teacher in FCPS I want to be clear about how I signed up tonight I waited until Wednesday evening when the window for signing up on the agenda was closed uh and three of the 10 slots were available for speaking off the agenda so I arrived early tonight to acquire one of those spots under this process which has been the same since I've worked here I'm permitted to speak off the agenda uh so I'm not going to talk about the audit uh I would encourage others in a similar

034situation to follow that time- tested process and give first did to those who are addressing topics which are actually on the agenda thus as president of FCPS Pride I would like today to address the recent news about transgender students my organization is group is a group of LGBT and Allied staff and also parents of LGBT students in the county first we heard from the administration and then we heard from the Supreme Court about delaying or denying accommodations for Trans kids parents and students who have spoken may have expressed anger fear and grief the depth of the response surprised me teachers have talked to me about confusion can trans kids use the restroom or can they not use the restroom should we call them by their chosen names and pronouns can they still play on their

035teams the statement two weeks ago by the Schoolboard chair and the statements by individual scad members are profoundly appreciated yet we have sta as staff need further guidance Dr Lockard we may not be looking for detailed regulations but guidelines or clear policies sent by email to employees or in a found out message the principles may help a lot I've learned through hearing about experiences that when a kid is denied access to a restroom that can be devastated we may think that trans kids are inured to being called by the wrong names or pronouns but each time it happens at Hearts kids May spiral down not be able to access their studies and not come to school I don't need to say what the impact of in school bullying or cyber bullying can be not each

036of these incidents may lead to a parent being so upset as to contact a school board member of the superintendent's office but quite frankly I'm becoming increasingly panicked by what I'm hearing on a day-to-day basis I don't know what to tell people schools are top- down institutions faculty and staff need indications of what to do and what from our perspective maybe traveling times thank you for listening thank you uh Andrea Delio thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to you all this evening I would also like to speak with you about um the Family Life curriculum but before I do that I just want to let you know my name is Andrea dveo I am member I have been in uh an a citizen of Fairfax County for 30 years I actually worked

037with Fairfax County Public Schools as an occupational therapist many years ago and have gone on to rece to get a master's in curriculum development and that's what I'm here to talk about today um the curriculum that I'd like to just discuss um is the curriculum about uh it's the 10th grade Curriculum lesson three on unplanned pregnancy the essential question that is asked in this well-written curriculum is how the student is asked how can I make healthy choices about my reproductive Health to ensure a happy and healthy life and then the qu the key question for the lesson is what options are available for an unplanned pregnancy as I said I think this is a well-written curriculum it could be developed in in certain areas and and that's what I would like to propose with you

038this even evening um the students are are given three Clear Choices on what to do if they are faced with an unplanned pregnancy that is parenting the child adop offering the child for adoption after the child is born or abortion now I would like to just let you all know that currently there's been a lot of um studies done about the effects of abortion and it has been found that 64% of young women report that they have been coed or forced into abortion dare I say they've been bullied into abortion this this um understanding is not really conveyed to these students when they're in this particular lesson about how to face an unplanned pregnancy and I believe it's an important point that they need to be made aware of there are there are there is

039a list in here the teacher fact sheet does go over the the um the risks the possible physical risks of an abortion it also goes over the possible psychological risks of an abortion but I think this list could be expanded there are certainly uh evidences to prove that uh young women who have experienced abortion have increased uh dependence on um drug drugs and alcohol to to assuage their guilt their terrible guilt and of course the physical repercussions of abortion um can certainly sometimes lead to death and and infertility which we are all a lot of people are struggling with now in their lives so my point tonight is to just suggest to you that um these these detriments of abortion be highlighted a little bit more and also on a more positive note to for

040you to know about all the positive pregnancy support centers that are here in Fairfax County for our students because I'm sure they could make good use of them if they were faced with an unplanned pregnancy and I have a list there's eight pregnancy support centers in Fairfax County alone there's two more down in Manasses and Woodbridge and I would be happy to share those with the board just so that you know that there is a better option out there for our young girls than than abortion okay thank you very much thank you we next turn to student representative matters and I call on Miss Chu thank you uh first I would just like to welcome I see a Boy Scout in the audience working on the citizenship in the community merit badge if you would

041like to stand to be [Applause] recognized if you like to ask a question we'd ask that later you are welcome to ask a question uh so first I just like to thank all the speakers it's always hard to follow all of our citizens speaking um but again um as I mentioned previously in the last meeting I am very excited to be judging the real food for kids culinary Challenge and wellness Expo this Saturday um in addition to some other schools that will be coming we're glad to be welcoming West bomic Lake bradic Glasgow chinelli Academy Marshall Academy South County High School and many other schools will'll be having their students prepare very healthy nutritious and delicious meals that we could one day offer on our own School nutrition plan so I'm very excited to be

042judging this competition uh in addition in accordance with the Fairfax County policy 1802 the superintendent student advisory Council will be holding its annual convention to elect the next student representative to the school board on Monday April 3rd at Hayfield Secondary School so to any students who are watching I'd urge for you to reach out anytime time if you have any questions about the application or the process um all of which can be found with details online and interested students do not have to be a member of the superintendent student advisory Council currently um so just in light of the really busy agenda that we have tonight I'm going to keep my comments brief but again just like to thank all the speakers in the audience today for coming I was really moved by a lot

043of the speeches today thank you thank you uh we um m welcome yes I had a quick question for our student representative Miss Chu all right um Miss Chu I was just wondering uh if you had sort of just a brief summary or update of the most recent topics of conversation that the sa has been sharing with you uh since it is the superintendent's student advisory Council I thought it would be helpful for the board as well as the audience just to kind of hear the most recent issues you guys have been talking as a as a County um so just very quickly our next meeting will be um this following Thursday so it has been a bit of a while before since our last meeting but at the last meeting the main discussion that

044we had in addition to some distracted driving discussions were um family life and education programs and student concerns about the curriculum as well as in general um a lot of mental wellness and how it relates to policy 1450 and Family Life Education so those two topics have been discussed in tandem in the sa um within the students we had presentations from those who have been crafting the affil curriculum and students provided to those members um how they think the curriculum can be changed um would you like some details as to some of the students views um so there was definitely some differing and very diverse views from the students on how our curriculum can be changed some of which believe that um with regards to some of the unplanned pregnancy options and expansion of the

045options that we can list such as one of our speakers mentioned some of the centers in this County or um options outside of that how to deal with an unplanned pregnancy in addition to that some students believe that the curriculum could be modified and that students should not be learning as much as they are currently at a younger age some students believe that we should expand so they learn more at a younger age it was really a divisive population as to what they would like to see in the curriculum um and I'd say that the biggest takeaway from that disc discussion was an increased awareness within our curriculum on how students from different gender identifying backgrounds or sexual orientations are at higher risk of certain diseases um um or they're at higher risk of different

046mental illnesses um in addition to how we can connect mental Wellness with Family Life Education better so those two topics I'd say have been introduced as one cohesive issue that have to be discussed together and combined in the curriculum and that's kind of where our discussion launched at our last meeting all right thank you Miss CH appreciate that Excuse Me Miss mclaughin we do have an agenda to go through tonight she's on the agenda and I have a question about the the topic so I'm trying to just understand process wise Miss J so with that discussion at the most recent sa meeting will you all be pulling that information together and bringing it to the board because I know you represent all 25 high schools I didn't know if it was just a conversation that

047took place and that was just an informative dialogue or is that actually then compiled so that we hear from the 25 high schools what percentage you know feel one way or another way about um things related to curriculum I mean these are we serve students and so I I think it's helpful for the board that we definitely understand the input you're getting and then it allows you to be that that vehicle for the board to hear it so thank you for the question a lot of the info that um the students have been discussing and a lot of the suggestions that they have will be in the end of the year presentation that they deliver here at the board in addition to that a lot of the students we've been able to at every single

048meeting offer their suggestions to whoever our presenters are so whether it be from the Josh Anderson Foundation we provide suggestions for them on how they can be working with our schools or to the director of our F curriculums and who's actually constructing it or to the Fairfax County Police Department we've offered suggestions to them as well so a lot of the suggestions have been crafted into who's been coming directly to our meetings but um if it would be helpful um before that presentation for these suggestions to be Consolidated for the board I'd be happy to work on that at this next meeting great thank you very much Miss CH we go to agenda item 4.02 regulation 1420 audit Charter I call on Miss Hines for the motion thank you um I move that the school

049board and um Madam chair I have to let you know I've just um realized that there is a language change that needs to be made to this tonight before we vote on it so thank you Mr moon for pointing that out but I will go ahead and read it and then propose an amendment that's all right um I move that the school board revoke the current version of Regulation 1420 internal audit Charter and approve the rewrite as a revision of policy 1105 auditor general Authority s second seconded by um Mrs Corbett Sanders um Miss Hines would you like to speak to your motion yes could I now make the um proposed amendment certainly right thank you um on if you look at the attachment which is the policy itself page three um under audit work

050plan it says the auditor general shall submit annually to the audit committee a work plan for the coming fiscal year which is to be presented for approval by the school board period the plan serves as a guide and proposed changes to the plan shall be approved by the audit committee I'm sure that at our work session we actually agreed to change that to school board so what I'd like to uh propose is that we amend uh just replace the last two words audit committee with school board I'll second I'm sorry Could you um tell us where where in this you are I'm on page three it is f f all right um Madam clerk could you please put this up for us to see so it's under uh page 3F um and so your Amendment

051would change uh shall be approved by the audit committee to read shall be approved by the school board so school so audit committee would be replaced by school board and a second okay uh so so you've made that motion and Madam chair or Madam uh clerk if you would um put that up on the board if you can you can't okay okay I think the amendment is fairly simple do is there a second for that um motion uh seconded by Mrs Huff uh you want to speak to that your sure just quickly um yeah I want to apologize I I should have noticed this before it came to the board um but I I did not and I appreciate somebody noticing it that was the clear intention of the board as my recollection so um

052I think with that change the policy is ready to go Mrs Huff do you want to speak to uh your second of the amendment yeah I'll just I we absolutely discuss this at the work session so this is an appropriate Amendment um I'll speak fully once the motion's back on the table all right uh see seeing no other hands on this uh how many um uh oh um Mr Wilson and Mr Wilson are you speaking to the amendment uh yes Madam chair all right I'm a little worried my light wasn't working over there um uh this is a minor change and I think um it's just really offered for clarifying um I I think I would propose a slight modification so that it would read uh and propose changes to the plan shall be submitted

053by the audit committee to the board for approval because I think as a matter of process the audit committee would would entertain proposed changes and then make a decision as to whether to bring those board so you're making a substitute motion a substitute Amendment yeah or just a or a friendly amendment to her to chair amendment to am uh Amendment to the amendment uh Miss Hines did you want to accept that change or did you want us to vote on on this as I really hate drafting at the table because I'm trying to think what how could this not work you know if we put um approved by the school board we know that our practice is for everything to go to the school board as a proposal from the audit committee um I don't

054know if there's situation where the school board might be presented with an audit plan amendment that did not go through the audit committee but if there were a time when the school board wanted to do that I think we should leave that as a possibility so I hear what you're trying to do you're trying to clarify but I um I don't know that it's necessary all right so Mr Milson Wilson does have a a proposed substitute motion is there a second for that substitute second second by Mrs Schultz all right um Mr Wilson if do you have um did you want to speak to that yeah I think I want to make sure everybody first of all understood the the modification that I proposed so I don't know if that can uh maybe I should

055read it again the the final line of paragraph F uh starting with the word and proposed so it would read and proposed changes to the plan shall be sub shall be submitted by the audit committee to the board for approval um one of the things about the proposed um policy is it does take care to to establish the reporting the lines of reporting uh pretty carefully by the auditor to the audit committee uh and and then to the board so that's that it so this is really just to make the consistent I agree with Missin there certainly will be circumstances that we might need to um have the auditor bring things directly to the board directly to bring changes to the plan to the board so I actually think that's a a relevant um con

056consideration and and uh you know perhaps if that was the intent um we should we you know maybe I should withdraw my modification my my intent was really to just sort of clarify process um um Mrs Schultz do you want to speak to your second uh no thank you uh I have Miss Corvett Sanders Mr Wilson thank you I understand why you introduced your Amendment because of numerous hours of discussion about how the process would work you know for those in the audience who don't know um the the role of the auditor general and the development of an audit plan is a relatively new process for the school board and so we have been trying to be very deliberate in um ensuring that whatever we do increases transparency and allows for um good sound work

057to take place I am not going to support the amendment because of the concerns that uh Mrs Hines raised and I will give you an example uh last year when we were working on the work plan there were some modification minor modifications to the work plan that took place at the board table and we went ahead and made those changes at the board table and so I want to preserve the option for the board to make changes without having to refer something back to the audit committee to adopt those minor changes at the audit committee and then bring it back I am and I think I share this with you Mr Wilson I sometimes get frustrated at the amount of time it takes for us to uh move things forward so I would like to

058allow this to be a more streamlined process when necessary all right with that I'll take a a vote on Mr Wilson's motion which uh if I have this correct do we have this up now so Madam chair I will throw my motion there doesn't seem to be support on the board for my motion so um that draw thank you Mr Wilson uh Mr Wilson's withdrawn his motion so uh we are back to the original Amendment uh from uh Miss Hines as seconded by Mrs Corbett Sanders to uh that's what we're doing I'm sorry Mrs Huff seconded it uh which would replace the audit committee with the school board um all those in favor of that Amendment raise your hand and that is unanimous that Amendment passes so we're now back to the main motion um

059M could I speak to the main motion is that all right yes you certainly may miss hin thank you um I just wanted to say a few things um I just wanted to appreciate the work of the audit committee and Schoolboard members whove spent a lot of time on this foundational document it's gone through a lot of changes um and the folks in the audit office as well have worked very hard and division councel um we've had very good support I I would just point out that um this audit Charter One of the speakers tonight seemed concerned that it removes the authority um under the audit the auditor general removes the auditor General's Authority for investigations of fraud waste and abuse and that is simply not true um so I don't know where that information

060came from Mrs H did you want to speak to the second okay I'm sorry I'm just looking at the lights oh okay I just want oh okay um Mrs Corbett sander sure thank you um I share the uh thanks and commendations I'd like to thank chairman Hines and the rest of the audit committee as well as the two citizen members and staff for all of the excellent hard work that has gone into the development of this Charter it has been a uh long process of getting a charter in place that um seems to allow for uh a more a growth of the audit function within uh the school board but the audit Charter represents the commitment of this school board to being more transparent to be willing to undertake audits that are um contained in

061the work plan and to develop a work plan that includes uh recommendations by uh members of the staff and the uh the school system as a whole as well as taking in input from each of the school board members and certainly if community members have concerns they should Express them uh and make recommendations that will then be brought together into an audit Universe which will um have a lot of discussion I'm sure and a uh new work plan developed next year or every year and um um I did want to address the citizen members cons or citizens concern about the ability of the auditor to investigate uh fraud waste and abuse that was not the intent by not including it in the audit Charter um the concept was that the audit Charter is a framework

062document and you don't have to get down into the very specific of uh specifics of existing regulations or new regulations s that will um uh be addressed by the auditor and ongoing and so we are committed to transparency we are committed to the auditor general function and I think this is a um excellent step in that direction Mrs up thank you um I guess I have some similar comments and uh possibly some questions uh given some of the comments made tonight and I do also want to say um to to reiterate what Miss corett Sanders said is we specifically um paired down this Charter to say what we as a board are anticipating is under the authority of the auditor general and actually even was glad under Section B where we say the office of

063auditor general shall have unrestricted access to all School Division activities and we as a audit committee um parts of that were taken out and we did put that back in and I think that was a good move and important um to maintain the independence of the auditor general but I would ask the citizens to to stay focused in because we are going to have regulations coming forward and as a matter of fact we're going to be discussing the fraud waste and abuse regulations specifically at our next audit committee meeting um where I do think some of those comments are going to come into play and we all need to discuss um but there was something else that was mentioned that I don't remember us discussing the audit committee meeting and I think was a valid

064point brought up by the citizen in terms of the audit reports I don't know that it's appropriate for it to go into the audit Charter itself but I do think as a board we need to keep it in mind and figure out how we want to make sure that reports do come to the full board and the reason I say that is cuz I remember just two weeks ago go when the asset management audit came to the full board it wasn't actually indicated that we would come to a full work session but then we as a board did decide that and I feel like it happened that way but it doesn't always and do we as a board want to consider what it would look like to say what is our framework for making sure

065um important audits are coming to the full board and and I I know that many will probably say that's typically what we do and I and I know that but I don't know that there's any process for that a defined process for that so I did want to um just point that out and for something for my colleagues to consider but otherwise I am uh pleased with this and look forward to the support for it m Schultz so I'm really glad to hear The Echoes of um from the community seeking transparency and accountability on the part of the board um we aren't our board we're your board um I I wish that IID heard this same uh kind of discussion um an hour and 15 minutes ago when we were in a room across the

066hall that's a part of our open meetings um they're called our Forum topics and it's how new board uh new topics um that the board members want to introduce to get onto the work plan um occur and the public may not be aware of that um but I had a forum topic um that asked that our Foy is um the Freedom of Information Act requests that occur from the public that the public pays for that becomes public information um be placed on our website that's a reasonable I think that's a very reasonable thing to say that if a member of the public follows Public Law and we um respond and you've paid for it as a member of the public it becomes public information that we should make that available that makes it easier for

067other members of the public who may have queries about the same information um and it got bogged down in the most bizarre conversation um frankly that I can't explain and um and we were goat roped around into me having to bring it back to Forum again it some point in the future when we get more information from staff that's precisely the type of reason why we need a good auditor a good audit plan is to look at the work of the board and do we now create more work for staff in the very thing that we're trying to lessen the work of Staff if staff has to respond to the same um Freedom of Information request over and over and over again to tell people that they already have it and then they get the

068information for free wouldn't that be easier if that was just on our website and you could just look it up yourself um so um we do need a strong audit plan we are in the middle of hiring not only a superintendent but in in hiring a new um auditor general and at some point all of this is going to come together and I greatly appreciate the members of the public coming and continuing to present themselves it's difficult it's hard um we're a diverse community of diverse Faith diverse languages um but those three minutes in front of us are important for us to hear you saying please please be accountable to we the voters we the taxpayers um this is a positive step forward the the the the audit um structure um is coming together um

069once we have an auditor general I think that the members of the public are going to be better served and um the work to get to this point um has been tremendous on behalf of the board but we're not finished yet and I look forward to the public continuing to seek accountability of us as stewards of your money and your resources Mr Wilson uh thank you madam chair um first of all I'd like to make it very clear to my colleagues on the audit committee that I greatly appreciate the pain and suffering you endured in terms of getting this document to the Das tonight for us to discuss uh having spent 14 months on the uh governance committee meeting the governance committee I can tell you that um I feel your pain um and it

070is sometimes very difficult in a small room with even a few of us uh analyzing uh issues to get to a conclusion that is we We Believe on the committee is appropriate to submit to the board and in the case of the uh governance committee uh on one significant occasion the board turned it right back around and said this is not uh what we uh want and please go back to committee and work on it some more um so I actually um was amazed that when the document became uh public and posted for this meeting members of our community spent the time to think about and really deeply analyze um the work that came out of committee and the issues that they've raised U frankly are not trivial um and rather than um make amendments

071at the table to address and clarify the the issue issues that were raised um I would like to make a moment a motion Madam chair to to table this uh motion until after a future um work session uh maybe we could take it up at a at a board meeting in May uh so that we have time to go back and look in depth at the issues that were raised and and have a discussion and an opportunity to dig into what was raised both at the Das and and uh before the meeting to me directly so that's that's my motion so you're moving uh to defer uh to table to a date certain I guess it would be maybe postponed till two meetings hence or something to give us a chance to uh to discuss

072it is there a second seeing no second I'll second all right uh seconded by Mrs Huff Mr Wilson would you like to speak more to yeah so just just um briefly the the the points that were raised m madame shair point of order could they have an exact language of the amendment uh we we'll need to put up um your uh your motion um we we need to be able to see it um in front of us oh they want to have it a date okay so maybe we could maybe the clerk could pull up the calendar and we could I would be happy to identify uh a date certain okay April 6th or April 20th would be our next two April board mad Madam chair the motion would be to um to propose postpone

073our decision on this uh until the April 27th so post action is that postpone action until the April 27th uh board meeting April 27th all right and U Mrs Huff you're still seconding that motion all right Mr Wilson so um several points were raised and um and and I think some of them were were answered in part at the table by uh my colleagues on the the um audit committee the the the first question about independent authority to conduct investigations um it sounds like that wasn't the intent of this uh and um but I did notice in my review that that what we are looking at appears to be sort of a significant revision of the former regulation that was in place uh which we are now revoking and and we're putting the revised regulation

074in place of of policy 1105 as the new policy so I can I I think that perhaps that may be the source of some of the confusion in terms of that I think it would be helpful to call that out with with more clarity so that it's it's abundantly clear to the public I agree with Miss Schultz we have we have an issue of uh promoting transparency to the public and recognizing when concerns are raised so that that I believe um probably could be addressed in the mission section um and uh the second point that um was raised was uh about fraud waste and abuse and and I I when I heard that uh complain and I looked at the policy that's proposed I I couldn't help but noticing that they're correct um and so

075then I I flipped to the back of the proposed policy and it references regulation 1410 which is the procedures for reporting investigating investement fraud waste and abuse but it there in nowhere in the policy does this this proposed policy does it reference 1107 uh policy 1107 which in fact I believe is the policy that is titled for or captures the concept of fraud waste and abuse uh so again I think that's probably something we can uh you know through modifications to this proposed policy we can do that at the table um however I think we'd be best served to do it in in a more uh atmosphere less you know less pressured for time so I I would like to to do that but I do think that that um calling that out and making

076that clear in the auditor General's policy is certainly worth uh our discussion and the third point that they raised that I found um uh I was I actually I guess I overread when I had looked at this earlier was the point about what happens uh when can the auditor general when do they consult with uh division Council and the the point that was raised at the Das was well what if the division council is subject to the investigation then what and and that's a great question uh because in that circumstance uh it may be that uh there has to be some capacity for the auditor general to receive legal advice uh in through some other source so I don't I may perhaps the committee already dealt with that issue but I I don't recall discussing

077that at our work session and finally um uh the last point that I appreciate them raising was the the the issue I raised at the work session having to do with referencing the um accepted generally accepted auditing standards uh in in the world that I work in for my um law practice the the term generally accepted accounting principles is commonly used and and uh it is a sort of a term of Art and we always qualified in the documents that I work on to say as applied in the real estate industry and I think here I would like I we talked about it briefly and I know that I asked staff for input on that but but I think that it is a fair criticism to say that the what what that means is difficult

078to Divine from the one sentence and so perhaps other additional sentences could be added to clarify where where one would go to find those generally accepted audited standards so those are just a few I do appreciate the fact that the the fifth point on my list was uh the Amendments the changes to the audit plan and I appreciate that we've that we've made a change on that um U my strong preference would be that the board support having this discussion in the context of a further work session and then bring this back to the table after we um have addressed the points that have been raised but we can do it by serial amendment that I'll need to make as we go forward so funny enough I just seconded as a courteous to Mr Wilson

079and now I find myself somewhat convinced so I guess that's why it's always good to allow our colleagues to speak um given the discussions we've had in the audit committee I think I'm probably coming at it different from Mr Wilson and I feel like we discussed all of these concerns in audit committee however one place I'm feeling held up on is regulation 1410 is still out there it has a lot of red line in it and if we are not clear enough in here and then regulation 1410 passes with a lot of restriction that we specifically said we didn't want in the audit Charter um are are we going to end up tying our hands and would it be wiser and better governance to really be doing these both of these documents together and passing

080them together to make sure that we are asking for what we want and we're getting what we're want and that we are able to govern over the auditor general office well um so like I said I I was really only giving my second as to be courteous but I actually think it might be in our best interest to bring this back with regulation 1410 and I I don't really see a harm in that thank you Mrs Corbett Sanders thank you um there's been this audit Charter has been discussed and rediscussed and gone back and forth since probably 6 weeks after I got on the board last last year when I was on the uh and I was assigned the audit committee and the question has come about as to why we need an audit Charter

081we don't have a superintendent Charter but we do have an audit Charter which is to provide the framework from which the new auditor general will and the office of the auditor general will conduct its business this is really a um broad policy framework to indic to indicate to the public as well as to indicate to the new auditor general who will soon come on board um as to what they can expect as their roles and responsibility in the general way we will do business but because this is a new relatively new function within the school board and frankly it's a relatively new function within the parament of school systems across the country most school systems use an independent auditor to audit their accounts we are going beyond the role of an independent auditor to audit

082accounts to one in which we are bringing someone on board and Staffing that function to help us focus on continued process Improvement help us do the investigations into um situations which weren't investigations and more importantly to have a disciplined approach to how we are going to do um audits going forward not only financial audits but um audits as far as performance Audits and uh Enterprise risk assessments so this is really a overarching a Capstone in which we are going to continue to build build on next week we will be talking about the um the fraud waste and abuse regulation and we have other regulations and other policies that will I am sure evolve over time and so from my perspective I think that we should go ahead and get this adopted it sends a powerful

083message to the community it also sends a powerful message to those that we are hoping to attract to the system and a uh potential auditor general and um so I'm just a little concerned that we keep kicking the can down the road whereas let's go ahead and move forward Miss mlin uh I sort of look at this one as it's a win-win whichever whichever way we go at it because on the one hand is as Mr Wilson is proposing um you don't necessarily create one in a vacuum and then you know go to the next one because they really are intertwined uh on the other hand uh as Miss Corbett Sanders pointed out there has been a lot of review and Analysis on this to date and uh while the board then can and the

084audit committee tackles regulation 1410 there's certainly nothing that prevents the audit committee from recommending in light of any changes to 14 1910 we would also now like to propose changes to the audit Charter so as someone who serves on uh and leads the governance committee uh with Mr Wilson I do know what it's like to have things that um languishing committees Miss Schultz has often described uh letting Perfection be the enemy of good so uh I I really appreciate Mr Wilson's um proposal I do think that because we have uh the flexibility and the ability to revise as needed I would be more comfortable that we vote on this tonight if we believe it's it best represents our efforts so far I would strongly hope that Mr Wilson will um provide the audit committee with

085input about the 14 the draft 1410 regulation so they benefit from his insights which I often find highly persuasive and and informative and then we can you know again revisit the audit Charters needed and just for the public who's listening um this board is working extremely hard not just to find a great superintendent to lead this division but also to find an outstanding auditor general uh to help this board in its deep commitment to ensuring that we have the most effective and efficient oversight of the operations of what is still rightfully so regarded as one of the best public school systems in the United States that can never be lost can we continuously improve absolutely and to the speakers who came tonight and who've been coming every two weeks your voices matter no matter how

086many of you share a point of view whether it's a few whether it's many whether it's a vast majority all voices matter in Fairfax County and if more people were willing to come forward we might even have a greater breadth of understanding of where people are so yes if you're sitting at home email away let us know what's Weighing on your minds but for tonight I'm really proud and I want to Echo the appreciation that Mr Wilson said to the audit committee members this is tireless work having to uh carefully examine the audit Charter I I think we're in in good position right now to approve it tonight and then again uh revisit as needed Mrs Schultz so um it's funny um Miss uh Huff brought up that she only seconded to give courtesy to

087our fellow board member and I I do think that that's a good practice and the reason I think it's a good practice is is that I wasn't going to vote for Mr Wilson's um Amendment and the more I think about it we haven't hired an auditor general yet um there is nothing pressed about an audit Charter before we have an auditor general in in play and to intentionally pass something that we now know has a dissonance with another policy I think is bad governance and uh um it would be frankly a perfunctory vote um come the second meeting of April and it wouldn't take any time on our calendar so it doesn't take any time and in the meantime you can straighten out 1410 um and have Clarity in passing the a audit Charter so

088we've done the heavy work but then why passing um uh something that we know already has something wrong with it go fix it and then you're passing an audit Charter that um is aligned to the policies that support it um from the outset so um I think it sort of keeps the house in order um and doesn't take our time and it demonstrates on our part good good leadership and good governance uh we wouldn't want a curriculum or a textbook to be published with something that we know is an error and say well we'll just fix it with you know with our subsequent work um it's not something that we would expect from our administrators and our buildings or our teachers in our classrooms so I think we model good governance and good leadership by

089just saying that we'll just place this on the agenda and have a profun vote later Mrs TR thank you uh I agree with uh Miss McLaughlin and Miss Corvett Sanders this policy I think is quite appropriate um it is the broad um uh broad defining Charter for the audit work uh and certainly the audit committee will um uh take on other investigations they have another regulation and there are also other policies that they may be looking at in addition to the actual audit reports so um I am quite prepared to vote this through tonight a great deal of thought and work many months actually have gone into the preparation of this audit Charter and um I believe that it is it is quite appropriate and I think ripe to move forward thank you Miss Hans

090yeah thank you um I also think that we should go ahead and adopt this policy tonight um we you know we can't let speed be the enemy of the good either but I don't think after months and months and months of looking at this that we're in any danger of that um I what I hear I I don't hear concerns that there's anything wrong with the policy I hear concerns that there may be um minor changes that a board member would like to make right now and um you know I would welcome Mr Wilson to try to do that at the table here um my own feeling some of the concerns that Mr Wilson has brought up um I think have to do with um you know we were going from a regulation to a

091policy here which definitely means that we streamlined quite a bit and took out quite a bit and that uh the the concerns that I hear really have to do with um regulation 1410 which as others have mentioned we will be looking at very soon and the entire board uh will be able to Dive Right into that um there's nothing that staff can write in regulation 1410 that we will not see the audit committee will look at it the school board will look at it so if there's anything in 1410 that we think is missing that has to do with investigations and fraud waste and abuse um we'll make sure that it's in there the questions about um you know whether the auditor general can consult with division counsel or outside counsel um what what happens

092when uh leadership team members and superintendent or whoever might be under investigation what happens then that will be in regulation 1410 so we will dive into all of that as a board and I think it's appropriate that that all be in regulation rather than in policy um so I because the audit committee has done these cartwheels now for months um I do think think that um this as a policy is where it needs to be and not that the questions should not be answered but that they should be answered in our conversation about uh regulation 1410 so I would like us to go ahead and put the policy to bed um and then move on to the next step all right um with that I would ask that anyone who does not want to go

093back to turn their light off uh I see a few all right thank you Miss mclaughin I I apologize but I feel as if we're we've got a little bit of who's on first What's On Second and I don't know who's on third because um uh We've we've got policy 1105 we've got regulation 1410 we have regulation 1420 so when I read the language of what the motion is I I will have to say it's not as clear as I um thought it was initially so we're going to revoke 1420 regulation well sorry we're going to revoke regulation 1420 which was our audit Charter and then approve the rewrite as a revision of policy 1105 the so yeah the auto General Authority so 1105 is is this motion basically trying to say that we revised

094policy 1105 auditor general Authority and that now the one that was tied to that was a regulation 1420 but we now no longer call it a regulation we're just going to call it the audit Charter and the word regulations removed from it to whom are you addressing that question Miss mlin well I guess it would be to miss Hines who's the audit chair or it would be to staff who helped um craft these titles for the work that's in front of us because I sort of feel like we've I've listened to my board colleagues now reference regulation 1410 regulation 1420 audit Charter and then this is saying policy 1105 so so miss miss Hines are you in a position to answer the question I'll try and maybe Mr Foster can help me out because he

095helped us with uh drafting um the audit committee made a decision as we went along that the audit Charter really belonged at the policy level and so that's why it's so streamlined and um as we paired it down and paired it down we finally got it to the point where we feel like it reads like a policy and like a charter and at that point uh we knew that we needed to give it a policy number and since there already was a policy 1105 that dealt with the audit Charter um we decided that the uh appropriate way to present it to the board um and to recorded as a policy was to replace 1105 with this language is that right Mr Foster you've accurately summarized it that's exactly right so I'm not sure why that's

096does that explain okay uh so maybe it's that we started talking about 1410 and 1420 uh I do understand that something is being done differently than what existed and I and I can follow the logic that the audit Charter never should have been a regulation because it is something at the board level and we try to Def to help distinguish regulation being superintendent Authority policy being Schoolboard Authority so that being being said in terms of voting tonight then many of us have said if the charter being shifted from regulation to a policy which then makes it far more high level streamlined it means that we see a value though of having a regulation that operationalizes the audit Charter and that means that we're as we transformed the name of the audit Charter out of Regulation

097into policy Mr Wilson's concern understandably is when it ex existed as a regulation it was far more detailed so perhaps for Mr Wilson for myself for some of the other colleagues it might be helpful Miss hin if if you feel like you and the audit committee kind of discussed this next steps that the details that have been left out of the revised a Charter will then become your work product for create for revising regulation 1420 which is no longer an audit Charter but it will be a regulation that relates to the audit Charter so miss Hines can you answer that yeah if I could and I'd like any other audit committee members who want to also recall our conversations um what we found in looking at regulation 1420 is that it was getting really crowded

098with information that was also in regulation 1410 so basically Reg ation 1420 I think was trying to um Carry um it was becoming um kind of unnecessary um because all that it was trying to do was to explain what was in regulation 1410 basically so when we pulled out all that um out of Regulation 1420 to make the policy we did it because we realized that all that could be and should be in 1410 that that was the um uh that that's the implement in regulation that we need for the policies so that's my recollection so I want to make sure that I understand this before I vote and and Mr Wilson I would actually like for you to comment on this and M Miss H you did a great job thank you for trying

099to provide that Clarity but what I am a little worried about is 1410 as I understand that is under the superintendent's purview it's not the boards who controls 1410 1410 is being revised by the audit committee um which as you all know is comprised of four school board members and then two citizen appointees um and as several members have talked about this evening that revised 1410 is going to spell out in some detail um how investigations by the auditor general will be conducted under various scenarios including when leadership team members are subject of Investigation um the superintendent is subject of investigation and um you know members of my office are subject to investigation so I don't know if that answers your question Miss mcclaflin but it it it the the revisions to 1410 will provide

100guidance separate and apart from the superintendent or his or her office and provide guidance directly to the office of the auditor general on how investigation should be conducted okay so if it turns out that as the audit committee begins its next phase of its work in saying okay we kind of um deconstructed regulation 1420 made some of it part of the audit Charter at a policy level there might be some things left over in the existing 1420 regulation that we might want to make sure gets captured in 1410 if it's not already there they could could either decide to shift whatever got left behind in the existing regulation 1420 could be moved into 1410 or they could say you know what we certainly didn't want to leave that information off the table even though it

101wasn't policy level it is operations that the audit Charter Andor the audit the office of auditor general should have as guidance and so they could either collapse it into 1410 or make uh corresponding regulation to capture anything that got left behind in regulation 1420 so to Mr Wilson's concern we could still vote tonight on the audit Charter knowing that it is highlevel language but anything that Mr Wilson or any school board member thought was in the existing 1420 regulation that is very essential very important to the scope of the work of the auditor general and the school board we certain certainly then it's not to be lost forever and can be then brought forward through these two regulations one to two regulations depending how the audit committee reviews it and sees fit Mr Wilson what

102do you think of my description of that uh Miss mlin um uh probably like many people watching tonight uh the convoluted tying in of the various regulations is very confusing to me uh so I don't know that I'm prepared to comment either in favor or against what you've just proposed perhaps you could clarify okay so one of the things I heard you saying Mr Wilson and why you thought we should postpone the audit Charter vote tonight is because it's being taken from the existing regulation 1420 and there's a lot of Redline version language in there that you see valuable to the office of the auditor general and the oversight that it provides and since the charter policy that we're voting on tonight leaves behind important language of the existing 1420 your point is why don't

103we wait and not vote on the audit Charter and make sure we've captured up all the language that presently exists in 1420 and my suggestion was that our work isn't done since some of the language in 1420 that you you noted you don't see in the charter maybe it's because we're going to carry it over into the reg the new revised regulation so miss mlin U Mr Wilson is uh next on the list to speak so um if uh he he wants to address your question to him um yeah thank you madam chair uh and miss mlin the um uh I think that you know in our sidebar perhaps you captured part of what I was thinking it it wasn't so much that I saw in reg in the what will be the former regulation

1041420 language that should have been picked up what I saw was a was a a fairly convoluted process where we were taking an existing regulation 1420 rewriting it or revoking the old one rewriting it and approving it as a new policy 11 05 for the auditor general but um there were a number of things that were raised both at the podium and as I looked at sort of the universe of policies and regulations that aren't picked up uh in the proposed new I guess policy 1105 uh and and so um I've been sitting here trying to make to Crib in to the various places that I think they need to go uh because these are not minor um connections these are pretty significant connections so for example we have a policy that is entitled fraud

105waste and abuse that specifically calls out the auditor general um it says in on P top of page two paragraph B There is a fraud waste and abuse hotline available to all employees and individuals that is managed by the office of auditor general the office of auditor general will involve the division Council the office of equity and employee relations department of human resources M manager Department of finan service Etc that's not referenced at all in the new policy which we're calling the charter for the auditor general that's a significant component that was correctly raised by a citizen to say what about fraud waste and abuse we have a policy on fraud waste and abuse that references the auditor general but the new Charter for the aitor general doesn't include a reference to the fraud waste

106and abuse policy so so and that's why I say it is it is I can do this process I happy to do it at the table if we want to market up and do these various things um that I've listed here and I've got my notes but I rather do it in the context of a work session where everybody can weigh in and people can participate so so that's so that's an answer to to to what you raised um but just to make sure that the the folks that are watching we have a we have a regulation 1420 we have a uh policy 1420 which I don't think anyone's mentioned yet and that policy is on accountability for public funds and property uh it's very brief policy certainly it falls into the high level category

107uh but again presumably it ties into the role of the auditor general uh and it it's again not referenced in the proposed policy which is a rewrite of a regulation uh 1420 that we want to replace another policy which is 1105 which by the way is the auditor general Authority document which was put together fairly recently if I'm not mistaken I think may we voted on this may of 2016 um and I would like to maybe have a discussion about why did we throw that one completely out since we had that uh auditor general Authority document already in place so there's there's it's I think a difficult conversation perhaps the people watching might be scratching their heads like what are we talking about up here but my point is let's take it back let's get

108it right and then let's bring it back Mrs Corbett Sanders yes um I'm going to try something slightly different because I think what this conversation reflects is a confusion as to where the various piece parts are on this policy the regulations and how it all fits together in an effort to be brief the recommendation tonight was perhaps overly brief in saying you know replacing let me uh the school board revoked the current version of Regulation 1420 and approved the rewrite what we don't say here which those of us on the audit committee know and some of some people may be more aware than others is that on April 24th we are actually going to have a discussion about regulation 1410 and regulation 1410 will be a uh a Cornerstone of the Implement implementing regulation for

109the auditor general I fully expect over time as that function becomes more mature and we have uh a bit more understanding of how it will evolve we may have more regulations but at this point what I would suggest is that we try to address the concerns of Mr Wilson by adding a line to the um recommendation to say and instructs the audit committee to address the concerns regarding um the independence independent authority to address investigations and fraud waste and abuse in regulation for in regulation 1410 which will be discussed on April 24th and put forth for adoption to the whole school board Mrs Corb Sanders are you recommending a follow on motion to I'm just recommending a slight modification so that we capture the concerns of Mr Wilson that we will include all of the

110stuff that we've talked about in regulation 1410 and we can move on so are you suggesting an amendment to yes please all right so we we do still have Mr Wilson's motion on the table so um if if you'd like to so we'll need to act on Mr Wilson we need to act on Mr Wilson's and then what I'm suggesting is if we did something like that that should address Mr Wilson's concerns okay thank you um I have uh Mr Moon thank you madam chair hopefully I do not a to off the confusion that might be amongst us uh tonight I I sort of vaguely shouldn't say vaguely I I do remember uh having a you know started you know discussion of AI Charter from long long ago I think I was the Audi committee

111chair at the time uh that so it's been going on for a while it's been going on for a while yeah I think I think we can vote on the main motion tonight we may need a little further work to do later on but I think we got enough on the table for us to take on action if you could uh just go back to the audit Charter where it is it is page two second paragraph it is stated there this policy serves as a guide to the office of auditor general uh in the performance of its duties and does not include nor is it intended to include all of the officers duties or responsibilities as they may exist from time to time this was exactly what this is intended for just give a broad

112broad umbrella uh in know guidance to what the auditing function of auditing will be in in Fest County Public Schools so I am not going to be supporting a Mr Wilson's motion but I will support the motion uh I have a few Gob backs Miss McLaughlin so I and listening to um Mr Wilson's um analysis I think one of the things that um looking at this proposed Charter that I don't now understand why is the absence of addressing investigations that relate to fraud waste and abuse so can someone on the audit committee explain why something that was a key piece of Regulation 1420 why is that nowhere captured in the audit the auditor general Charter so miss Hines would you like to answer that or would you like Mr Foster to answer that is a

113legal matter um Mr Foster you want to give it a try I I feel like I feel like we've already but we'll give it another try I mean I think the idea as I recall from the audit committee was that we um felt like that was operational stuff um that should not be at the policy level but Mr Foster you may remember better right and just to um drill down on that a little bit more I mean there were several audit committee meetings um where um as members of the board have noted who were at those committee meetings um 1420 in its original form was much more detailed and much more complex and the consensus of the audit committee after a lot of discussion uh and input from staff was they wanted to um really

114pair it down and move it away from being a detailed um document to more of an overarching guide guidance document and therefore move it from a regulation to a policy and so one of the things that fell out Miss mofen as a result of that process was the detail that You' referenced regarding investigations and that will be um addressed that detail regarding investigations will be addressed in the regulation 1410 that's going to be brought forward I appreciate that explanation um I do uh philosophically believe that that's a very important component of the office of the auditor general it's always been there um the fraud waste and abuse line is housed there it's very important for employees and the public to know that it's there within that independent office so to my colleagues I I am

115actually going to suggest that uh we really do consider supporting Mr Wilson's motion because I I I can appreciate that you don't need level of detail and that can be captured in regulation but for the audit Charter to make no reference at all in terms of the author authority of the office of the auditor general to oversee the waste Fraud and Abuse role um I don't understand that AB could I point out the at the very end of this it says also say the current version of Regulation 1410 but this a very no I I do appreciate that and that is one of my frustrations sometimes what we do with some of our policies where we say go see this somewhere else if we don't believe at the very highest level the charter level of

116the auditor general to Simply delineate that this is a key piece of that office role we're communicating something differently and so for that reason alone I think it's one thing if there was some minor revisions that could come up through the audit committee's work on a new regulation but I strongly urge my colleagues that given the fact that we there isn't a time-sensitive nature to this and it is the audit Charter I think Mr Wilson's brought forward some substantive reasons for its premature to vote on it tonight so I'll be supporting his motion um Miss Hines oh I'm sorry you um uh Miss Huff um so a couple of thoughts have come as my colleagues are talking um I we already have regulation 1410 on the work session agenda for um April 24th so I

117just am not seeing the harm of bringing this back at the same time um I don't anticipate that we need to do word smithing and and as an audit Committee Member I do understand the conversations we've had but I think enough concerns are coming forward that let's just cross reference them I just think it's bad governance to pass and then change later if we know that we're having a conversation about it right now um CU I would support adding to the policy a on liner about the authority and responsibility to include investigations and then under that regulation we're stipulating the operations of that um the other piece I'd like to mention is we have just appointed a new citizen to the audit committee who has not been part of this conversation and does have extensive

118um audit uh experience and work and that I think again just the better work we can do I'm not I don't I don't want to slow this down but it is on our work session for April 24th and so I think actually as a um slight change to the amendment from Mr Wilson would be to postpone to the April 24th work session I don't know if he would be amenable to that Mrs Schultz so I think the conversation that we've had here tonight demonstrates why taking a work product even if it's been the work product for months um this is a complexity we don't have an auditor general we have been absent and a member of the uh a Community member of the audit committee because we had one suddenly resign and have just gone

119through the process the interview process and selection process to appoint a new Community member um and we have 1410 coming up and this is th this is difficult but you don't finish a project just because you're tired of dealing with it you what you do is you get it right and again you're you're modeling good governance to say that you're going to align the policies and we talk a lot about when we pass something it has meaning that it sends a message and if we pass something that we're already hearing before we pass has sent the message that we've revoked a key component and we're saying no no no no no don't worry about it we'll settle it in committee we'll fix it later that does not imbue in the public the confidence that we're

120going to get it we are in fact going to get it right the members of the public don't show up even though you can and you're welcome to show up to any of our committee meetings our committee meetings are public um they're usually held across the street Street at gate house center and the the calendar is online um although the foas aren't um that they don't attend um and it is not as transparent to them about what happens in commit in committee meetings and the other thing is is that what comes out of a committee meeting is the recommendation to the board but not the full board is a participant in that conversation so once a recommendation comes to the board then if you want to undo it you have to amend the recommendation to

121the board and then you're reverse engineering something that you didn't even have a part of in the first place I it this is not that complex we're making it more difficult than it is some good things have been pointed out by members of the public there's been confusion at the table there isn't an alignment necessarily with the policies that are behind it and it's not it's not compelling to finish tonight we can do it in concert with oh by the way the structure that we already have set up which involves our new um audit Comm uh Committee Member from the public so let's just do some smart governance and say we're going to fix it between now and uh the point determined and everything will be aligned and we'll be good Miss daret kopex I

122would like Miss Corbett Sanders to restate her position on what she would like to do instead of going down Mr Wilson's Miss Corbett Sanders you had an amendment that you that if the if Mr Wilson's motion fails you uh had a suggestion for if Mr Wilson's uh Amendment or would fail what I would suggest is that we let me pull it up in front I'm sorry I have a point of order are you making a motion to I just answer ask her to answer the question Mrs uh Corbett or uh Mrs daret cofex asked uh for clarification about uh what Mrs Corbett Sanders had talked about before and so I'm recognizing Mrs Corbett Sanders to answer that question it would read revoke the current version of Regulation 1420 internal audit Charter and approve as a

123revision of policy 1105 auditor general Authority this and then instruct the audit committee to present for adoption revisions to regulation [Music] 1410 no this is regulation 1410 we haven't deleted regulation 1410 okay so to address the con to ensure that the revised regulation 1410 addresses is the independence of authority Independence of the auditor general to address investigations uh of fraud waste and abuse does that answer your question Mrs Dar Miss Dar kov yes thank you all right um Mr Wilson did you have a go back yeah very briefly Madam chair so just to just to um respond briefly to the proposal um uh uh that's just been presented um regulation 1410 is is the regulation promulgated under policy 1107 um it's so it's it is so so the placement of clarifying in 1410 the authority

124of the auditor general with regards to fraud waste and abuse I I don't believe that actually goes to the issue of putting it into the charter because because that regulation 1410 ties only to policy 1107 I'm sorry Mr Wilson if you look at the existing draft at the very end on page four that we're talking about tonight says see also current version of Regulation 1410 right but you're you're talking about future amendments to regulation 1410 correct I mean I'm not I'm not disputing that the the reference to 1410 at the end of the proposed policy is incorrect it of course is but also should be listed there are the other relevant policies and regulations that relate to this proposed new policy and and just to you know to to the point that Mr Moon raised

125uh that there's a catchall in there um that doesn't make up for sloppy drafting right we don't put catchalls in so people can can go on Easter egg hunt to find where other policies and regulations apply we we put those in there that that catchall is intended to say to mean I believe that we can't delineate every single aspect of what we want in the auditor General's policy so we're going to put this catch on in so that things that fall within the general nature of what the auditor general would do but aren't described are picked up and so I guess I dispute the idea that that Clause was intended to pick up other regulations and policy within FCPS is uh you know spectrum of documents the library so um I don't understand why there

126is concern uh because I believe that the issues that have been raised are real uh they are substantial and we are not under any time pressure we just have found out about them at the last moment and so I believe that there's perhaps just some resistance because we didn't know about them I have my notes in order so that we can go through and and vote on each individual amendment to address them I just don't think that's the best way because we're going to end up discussing each end amend Amendment and the possible changes to it here at the Das tonight miss Hines okay um we really do need to move on I think right so um I would just say that um the reference at the end of this policy I think we do

127that in a lot of our policies and we cross reference other policies we cross reference other regulations that makes sense that we don't cross reference regulation uh policy 1107 is probably um something that we should put in there I agree and I think we could certainly ask staff to go back and make sure that we are cross referencing all related policies and regulations in here um but to my mind I don't think that's enough of a I don't think that's enough to Warrant tabling this for some time I don't think there's new information here tonight so thank you all right um our board member if board members are ready to vote a question clarify the question uh Miss mclin so I had raised the question earlier and and I I didn't hear an explanation from

128anyone on the audit committee so before we vote I would still like that explanation be provided why does the audit Charter make no reference at all to the authority of the audit the auditor general having over fraud waste and abuse why why is that not captured anywhere in the charter so miss Hines when it was there in the regulation I I I think the the reason probably is that that's already set down in policy 1107 is that the um auditor general has authority over that um but uh I I don't know Miss Corbett Sanders did you want to add anything frankly it was recommended by our citizen member that we didn't want to bog it down with every um everything and as long as we had a reference at the very bottom which clearly stated

129that there was a linkage to the regulation we didn't need to repeat the contents of the regulation in the policy okay so I will just give it one last ditch effort um I I implore our colleagues to understand this is not bogging down the charter it is a key component of the office of the auditor general no one's made a convincing statement tonight and I think I really hope our board members understand when you vote tonight to approve this Charter or if you vote tonight for Mr Wilson's Amendment voting for for his motion to postpone means we recognize that having fraud waste and abuse embedded in the charter at a very high level is essential component of this office if you vote for the to go ahead and put this in place tonight I I

130do want everyone to understand what message that gives to the public so I think there's a a lot of Merit for what Mr Wilson's asking us to do to postpone I don't think that there's a merit for leaving that out of the charter and voting in it voting for the charter in its current form leaving out waste Fraud and Abuse I I I'm actually troubled that people think it's okay to just reference that in some other policy it's a key component of the job Mr Wilson yeah and I this is actually a clarifying question for someone on the committee so if if we approve the proposed new policy um would there be a new regulation 1420 that would also be drafted I can try to answer that that has not been contemplated by the audit

131committee I think because as I mentioned before when we were working on regulation 1420 we realized that we were just we were trying to combine an audit Charter with uh the investigation in language that was really already in 1410 and we were bogging 1420 down with a lot of stuff that belonged in 1410 and honestly a lot of things that probably don't belong in any regulation we had a lot of pairing down to do so I don't believe from my I don't believe that there's anything left to 1420 at this point that we need to do I think all the regulation that we need now is in 1410 if someone on the audit committee disagrees we can we can bring it up but our decision as the audit committee was to make 1420 the audit

132Charter that was the original idea but it was not reading like a charter it was not reading like policy it was reading like a very jumbled up regulation so we turned it into a policy and have have just discarded the rest of it thank thank you um U Miss Hines I I appreciate that and I and I just want to reiterate what I said earlier I understand and that the difficulty of of working in our committees and trying to prepare documents with with three or four uh board members present and and in your case a citizen members um the reason why I asked that is because there actually is a policy 1420 uh under pursuing to which regulation 1420 was prepared presumably and that that policy um presumably now doesn't have a a corresponding regulation

133and that policy provides and deals with accountability measures regarding the Integrity of funding provided to the school system and in security of buildings grounds and other property shall be implemented regularly and reviewed every effort shall be made to recover or seek reimbursement from responsible parties for losses of funds or property resulting from vandalism theft Breakin fraud or embezzlement so it clearly also ties in to the Charter for our auditor general so I would submit that in fact um certainly at this point since we don't have a plan for a new regulation 1420 and it doesn't sound like there was a review of policy 1420 in the context of the development of this policy that we at least add as a reference within the new policy a reference to policy 1420 which presumably remains in effect

134unless we put it on the table tonight to also uh revoke that policy Madame chair yes M I moved call the question I think we've discussed is there a second for calling the question seconded by Mr movine uh that's a non debatable motion uh the question has been called all those in favor of calling the question Hines P Corbett Sanders Strauss Evans Moon darnette kofax mine all those opposed Huff Schultz McLaughlin and Wilson uh the question has been called so the motion is um um Mr Wilson's motion to postpone action on this item to April 27th all those in favor I'm sorry point of order um a call to question requires a 2/3 vote was that a 2/3 vote it was it was 8 to four okay uh all those in favor of Mr Wilson's

135motion raise your hand Schultz I actually was proposed a friendly amendment in light of the scheduling by Miss huff and so I'm just to make sure that we're clear I would be willing to accept her suggestion that we discuss it at and deal with it at the at the proposed April work session Madame clerk uh parliamentary inquiry uh we've had this motion on the table we've been debating it um Mr Wilson now would like to uh change it to uh is he is that acceptable for him to change the motion at this time all right so the motion is to PO postpone um action to the April 24th work session is that correct that's that's fine and are you saying action or consideration or something else yeah I think we could act on it at

136the work session if we can make the changes we need well we would still have to bring it back to the board table then that's fine too so move to um bring bring the motion back to uh work session on April 24th so that is Mr Wilson's New Motion all those in favor of that motion raise your hand Huff Schultz mlin Wilson all those opposed Hines Paul Corbett Sanders Strauss Evans Moon Dar kofax and mine that motion fails um I have um Mrs Corbett Sanders who has made a suggestion Mr Wilson let me ask you you you've suggested that you have a series of amendments that you want to propose is that cor that's correct Madam chair I will um call a 15minute recess so that U Mr Wilson and Miss Corbett Sanders can work

137work with the clerk to um put together their amendments so we can consider them in an orderly fashion e e e all right I believe we've got everyone back at the board table um so uh the situation is that um we now have a series of amendments on uh the motion that's on the table we also have a follow-on motion which um Madam clerk I believe that's in board docs and so board members should refresh their um uh they should refresh board docs to see the follow on motion um Mr Wilson has a series of I believe five amendments um which are um in red um in front of us or behind us as well so Mr uh Wilson is going to offer each of these motions in turn and um at that point uh

138that we would have we would need to uh pass the uh motion and then Mrs Corbett Sanders's follow on motion would be in order at that time so I'm going to call on Mr Wilson for his first amendment uh thank you madam chair I move that the um the proposed uh uh audit auditor general Charter be modified um such that section 3 mission is revised to read the mission of the auditor general is independent is to independently determine a whether the ongoing processes for controlling fiscal and administrative operations and performance throughout FCPS are adequately designed functioning in an efficient effective Manner and fully accountable to the citizens of Fairfax County and B to investigate reports of fraud waste and abuse pursu to policy 1107 so Mr Wilson to clarify you're adding B to investigate reports

139of fraud waste and abuse pursuant to policy 1107 second that's correct yes I'm sorry is it uh I'm sorry who is seconding uh Mrs Schulz is seconding all right Mr Wilson would you like to speak to your motion uh Madam chair I believe I've already um expressed uh the reasoning for why we should call out um the the authority uh and and mission of the auditor general to be the entity the office that investigates uh reports of fraud waste and abuse and uh that is reflected in policy 1107 so I don't have anything additional to add Mrs Schultz I think that um the the notion that this if we're going to pass this tonight that it is fundamentally important that the message that goes behind it that we're not stripping this function out of even

140the charter the charter is the the direction that we're going to send this position and send to the community um and if we put this in here tonight I think we much more um clearly communicate to the community that this is something that is a fundamental inherent role of the auditor general that we're about to hire Miss Hines um yeah I don't think it's necessary but I also think it's accurate and it is not confusing I don't think so I can support this and I hope that we um approve it and move on quickly Miss mlin just briefly I appreciate um Mr Wilson bringing this uh to the board as I shared with other colleagues in earlier comments comments tonight um I do think it's important how we communicate to the public uh and including

141anywhere from Key stakeholders like the board supervisors this addition is an important piece of this office and if we don't put it in there the public and key stakeholders have no idea if how it relates to this role and the work that gets done in this office unless they go searching for other policies and regulations and I don't think that serves us well so I hope people will support this amendment M Huff um yes I will support this I would ask Mr Wilson if you be okay with taking out pursuant to policy 1107 um I do think it's a apprpriate that one of the things we're asking staff to do is at the bottom of this policy to appropriately cross reference all things um pertaining to this Charter and I just think it's neater don't

142want to word Smith otherwise I like it thank you I'll accept that as a friendly Amendment all right then you uh to restate your Amendment you are adding to paragraph uh paragraph 3 mission B to investigate reports of fraud waste and re and abuse that's correct Madam chair all right uh Mr Moon uh thank thank you for the amendment I'll support the motion Miss Corvett Sanders I too will support the motion all right um and I um I do believe it was understood in the uh original but um it's certainly it's always good to have more clarification that uh this is an important function of this audit so I too will support the motion um and uh in that case uh all those in favor please raise your hand and that vote is unanimous and

143that vote passes uh that motion passes I call on Mr Wilson for a motion excuse me Madam chair um I move that um the proposed um new policy 110 uh 1105 be um modified such that uh section is it 3B 5B uh be modified as follows in the third paragraph to read the office of auditor general shall be entitled to consult with division Council as needed and in the event that division council is the subject of an auditor general investigation with outside legal council as approved by the board is SAR a second I would check on that seconded by Mr Moon Mr Wilson would you like to speak to your motion yeah again Madam chair I I I believe this was raised by one of our speakers tonight and I think I talked about it

144um briefly but uh it seems to me that there is a gap because the auditor general has to have the capacity to investigate all aspects of FCPS including the division council's office and so if that office is in fact the subject of an investigation I think that it would it would be be uh appropriate that the board would be able and we should call out that the board could approve uh the use of outside legal counsil by the auditor general Mr Moon would you like to speak to your second no ma'am Mrs Schultz um I just want to I want to offer my support for this and I I want to do it um with difference to because our current division council is here that has nothing to do with our current division Council and

145that this would be such an extreme circumstances as I would hope to never be in the position of but I also think that having the clarity um there that we would afford an auditor general the opportunity to legal counsel um should the need arise um is is is a wise thing to place in a charter and again Imus to the public the trust that we've heard their concerns and that we're appropriately taking the measures in a proactive way um and we believe it enough that we're willing to um memorialize it in the charter for audit Miss Hines um I'm going to disagree with this one um I don't think this belongs in policy um I I think that it's a a matter for regulation and I I noticed that um Mr Moon seconded so I'll

146wait till Mr moon is sorry I noticed that you seconded and so I'm not not asking you a question right now I just wanted to make sure you were listening while I was talking because I'm I'm not sure that this belongs in policy um I think this is something that we should hammer out as we talk about regulation 1410 um I think that um we should absolutely respond to concerns of the community I agree but um you know it's it's a bit random who shows up here on a particular night to talk about certain issues that they believe we're facing um and for us to respond to really one speaker who who raised several issues by changing the charter um on the same night um and putting specific uh what I think is really regulation

147level information in the charter in response to one Citizen's um concerns I just don't know that that's good policy or good practice for us um so I I would rather that we save this and discuss it when we um debate regulation 1410 which we are going to do in the next few weeks uh Miss PCH um um thank you I I think if I were to support this I want to be assured that the way it's written is clear that there must be prior approval by the board in order to go to Legal councel that's a good point so not retroactive but um so I don't know if Mr Foster friendly am well or a recommendation to say I guess with prior approval by the board is that adequate um change with what's on there

148yeah I would accept that that that's appropriate I'm I'm sorry could you restate what you're suggesting M I guess it would be with prior approval by the board um I think is the only way I I'd lean to toward supporting this I'm not um 100% Mr Wilson is saying that he uh will accept that as an uh as a friend Amendment yes Madam chair all right with prior approval by the board uh are you finished Miss P I am thank you okay M Strauss yes Miss PCH raised exactly the issue that I was going to have because again the auditor general reports to the audit Committee in the school board and um uh the school board always has the option to um seek additional Council outside the school system and uh in the case that

149is laid out here um the auditor general would need to come to the school board and then me a discussion as to what to do so um uh I agree it would have to it would have to come to the school board um because that is the direct report so all right with that I would I would support it but not without approval of the school board Miss Corbett Sanders yes um although I don't believe it needs to go in the Charter I think that it uh belongs in the regulation and um but I can understand where the clarity may help uh for some but I do believe that this level of detail should go into the regulation um the other aspect I want people to understand is that the general Council actually has dual

150reporting am I correct Mr Foster that you report to the school board as well as the superintendent and you actually serve as the general Council to the school board that's correct I'm general counsel to the organization Fairfax County Public Schools and its constituents the two primary constituents are the school board and the superintendent um there are situations where um I report to the board but not the superintendent um but those those situations are are rare but you're absolutely right as a general matter I report to both the school board and the superintendent and if there were a conflict you would you would recuse yourself that's correct right no I appreciate that and I know that uh you do your job honorably um I just wanted to make sure that that was clarified for people that

151may not know that and um I do think that a prior approval is a good policy before resources are expended um by the AG or any other senior leadership if it's out of the norm and so um you know I'm mixed on this I really believe that it belongs in the regulation and would prefer it in the regulation but if it's the will of the board that's what we'll do Mr Dar kex in listening to what my colleagues had said earlier particularly those that sit on the audit committee and it was your desire to streamline um the this particular um document I believe that this should be part of the regag and not part of this and I uh will make a comment that I I see uh why that you feel this um is

152needed Mr Wilson I'm wondering if it would have the same impact to Simply take the parenthetical piece out of there and simply say um the office of auditor general shall be entitled to consult with division counsel as needed or with outside legal council with prior approval of the school board and then that would allow for any eventuality in which we would need to go to outside legal councel so I would like you to consider that possibility Mr Wilson as a uh yeah Madam chair that sounds um that sounds acceptable to me um if you could just read that one more time it would simply say uh the office of auditor general shall be entitled to consult with division Council as needed or with outside legal council with prior approval of the school board yeah that

153that sounds that sounds very good mam chair all right well thank you Mr Wilson uh with with that um I have some gocs Mr Moon yeah I I haven't spoken on this second Amendment from um Mr Wilson I actually prefer this greatly um the prior language that wasn't revised I felt created uh it for me uh a very unnecessary uh implication and there's and it almost felt like it was signaling out one particular Department within our whole division so I think this is wholly appropriate and and therefore it's it's not making any um negative uh you know inferences at all because there don't need to be it's just simply saying there's going to be times we might have to use outside Council so I appreciate you Miss Evans for uh bringing your journalistic skills to

154uh clarifying something that I hope everybody sees is just beneficial thank you and now I have Mr Moon thank you madam chair as a partial response to um the point Miss Hines was making I I do have a tremendous respect for Miss Hines uh as a board member and also as a chairman of all committee and I give a deference to the work of a subcommittee uh when they make recommendations to the full board and you know so long as I do not have you know tremendous heartburn on on any part of The Proposal I generally want to support the work of the committee there you know we have a four committee members and we had you know one citizen uh Committee Member as well but if in B I actually felt that I actually

155felt that what's in the proposal the office of aor General should be entitled to consern with the division Council as needed that I thought that probably you know belong more to the regulation them policy too but that's in there but I was going to support I was going to respect the work of the committee and as long as that is in there I I don't mind supporting additional language being proposed uh by Mr wson that is why I was just supporting it Miss PA oh a big okay uh with that um I we're ready for a vote all those in favor of the motion to add in um section B the words or with outside legal counsel with prior approval by the school board all those in favor raise your hands PCH Huff Schultz Corbett

156Sanders Strauss Evans Moon McLaughlin Wilson um uh daret kofx all those opposed Hines and mine that motion passes I call on Mr Wilson for a motion thank you madam chair um I mve that um the proposed uh new policy 1105 be modified uh such that paragraph is it five 5e uh first paragraph would read as follows the office of auditor general will carry out its responsibilities in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and then additional language would read as may be established by by a reputable by reputable National associations such as the association of inspectors General there second seconded by uh Mrs Schulz Mr Wilson would you like to speak to your motion yes mam chair just very briefly I did already discuss um this um this issue both at our previous work session and

157then again tonight um I do believe that that um uh without some clarifying uh resource that can be referred to um the the the the notion of generally accepted auditing standards is left at uh too vague of a level and uh this I think this entity this organization Association of Inspector generals does promulgate um what are considered best practices and auditing standards Mrs shelz I think with the um creation of this role uh and as the board continues to um sort out and refine the role of the auditor general even as we get ready to hire um or go through and complete the process for hiring a new auditor general this is um what the measure that you always look to is you know reasonable and prudent is it reasonable and prudent to have this

158language in there because this is a measure that is accepted as an industry standard um and if we Norm our Charter for audit to an industry standard um that is uh nationally recognized um as opposed to more vague language when we've a little bit gotten off with fits and starts uh to the concept of incorporating um I think we're really leading the conversation of uh in education and certainly for an organization our size um to establish the role of an independent auditor um auditor general and to say what that means to the public in the charter I think um is uh is a wise thing to do miss HS well again I'm going to push back against this one um I and I'll rely on other audit committee members for my memory if I'm not

159remembering correctly but we did talk about this and we don't have audit staff here tonight as we did at our our meetings and as we did at our work session the Schoolboard work session during which we could have brought this up but we did not um and when we had this conversation as an audit committee um that in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards is something that people in the industry understand um and I think it may just be confusing to the public I don't think it would necessarily be confusing to an auditor general because they would know better but to say to pull out in particular the association of inspectors General when we don't have an inspector General we have an auditor general and those are very different things so um again I I

160think this is confusing um and I we don't have anyone here tonight from the auditor general office to um tell us what I know I heard in the audit committee which is that this language is perfectly clear as it is Mrs St thank you um yes we have an auditor general Not An Inspector General and the association of inspectors General is different um and on this I will not accept this this amended language um in some of the previous um uh policies and regulations there was a great deal of language about yellow book standards and it is the generally the reference to the El standards that are that are the accepted auditing standards um and I agree with Miss Hines on this um I think the language that is there is is uh certainly clear

161um and again the association of inspectors generals this is not applicable to this position those would not be the appropriate standards that that we would be asking her auditor general to follow thanks Mrs Corbett Sanders we had extensive conversations about the difference between an auditor general and An Inspector General in the audit committee uh both last year and this year and the uh citizen members both the uh uh the one who has been with us since its Inception of the audit committee um including citizen members as well as our newest member has made it very clear that there is a difference between inspector generals and auditor generals and uh as one of our citizen members is want to say inspector General's carry guns and um we do not want to have that happen with our

162auditor general and so I would I will not support this I think this is something that has been uh discussed multiple times and um so I think enough is said Mr uh Madame chair uh for the reason same reason stated by Miss Hines and M uh corvus Enders and Mrs Russ I'm not going to support the motion all right and with that uh we um move uh the amendment that uh we add as Madam chair um if if the chair yes Mr Wilson yeah if the chair would permit I I would be um uh bermiss if I didn't allow for the possibility that we vote on this language without the Clause such as the ass ation of inspectors General um just putting the period after uh as may be established by reputable National associations you

163know Madam chair you know point of order uh well I I have a question for you then Mr Milson what what national associations do you have in mind then those those that provide the nation with uh the standards for auditing principles Mr Mo you have a point of order yeah point of order you know on I mean I took parliamentary rules courses long long ago so things might have changed uh but once the motion is made and then second it the motion belongs to the table the maker of the motion cannot just unilaterally without without the full consent consent of the board change the motion so uh if if Mr Wilson wants to amend his own Amendment he can do that but just just as a friendly friendly Amendment that's now what I learned Madame

164CH that's what I wanted to point out I wanted to do that even you know half an hour ago but I reframe myself but I think I mean if this is going to continue this way I'm going to have to point it out as a point of order all right I think Mr Moon makes a a good case um for his point of order um Mr Wilson would you like to amend your Amendment need to on uh Madame clerk do we need to vote on this first Mr Foster what what is your what are you it um we're sidebarr here I mean it seems to me that the two immediate options are you either vote on the amendment that's before the the board um or you uh consider uh on consent allowing U Mr Wilson

165to amend his Amendment um those seem to me to be the two options all right well this motion is on the table let's vote on this motion if you want to offer a separate motion you can offer that separately um Miss mclin it's my understanding with Robert's rules that the person who puts forward the amendment can and we already did it earlier tonight they can choose choose to amend their own language before we vote on it there's no reason to have to vote on this and even if we say we want him to amend it first and we can vote on his amending it but it's the amendment to the amendment it's not vote that down now bring forward another one he wants to amend his Amendment on the table so he can amend to

166amend but we certainly don't need to vote this one down and then start all over again okay so Mr Wilson if you'd like to amend your to make a motion to amend your amendment to remove those words then why don't you make that I thought you had to amend with consent you had to vote on whether or not he could I Mr Foster Madam clerk we need Clarity on Robert's Rules I know we do yes we do all right yeah I think that if there's going to be an amendment to the amendment it needs to be through a formal motion to amend um and and then seconded like any other motion all right Mr Wilson Madam chair I need to you're saying that I need to propose an amendment an amendment to to remove this

167this language uh Madam chair I propose an amendment to my proposed amendment uh such that the Clause such as the association of inspectors General would be deleted is there a second second seconded by Mrs Schultz all right let's uh take a vote on that all those in favor of allowing Mr Wilson to amend his [Laughter] Amendment am P Huff Schultz Corbett Sanders Strauss Evans Moon mlin and Wilson all those opposed Hines darnette kofax and mine that uh Amendment to the amendment passes so we now have removed that language and we're back to uh the motion um to simply add at the end of e as may be established by reputable National associations um is there further discussion on this amendment Miss Corbett Sanders I feel like we've got the department of redundancy Department here um

168sorry because we say in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards as may be established by reputable Nation associations we also have a government organization called the GAO that may establish standards I just think we keep it short to the point in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and I uh will speak to this amendment I I won't be supporting this amendment I don't think we um received we've just removed uh the uh specific ass Association that was originally proposed in there and uh We've realized that this is not an inspector General it's an auditor general um I'm not hearing of any specific Association that um is being referenced by this so I don't think it adds anything to where we are so I will be opposing the amendment Miss McLaughlin I'm actually very glad that

169Mr Wilson has put forward this language um having having the existing language that says generally accepted auditing standards who's generally accepted auditing standards by putting just the additional phrase and it's a phrase it's not even a whole new sentence that it's established by reputable National associations I think it just shows that the board understands the importance of being able to frame out for uh this office what the expectations are and communicating to the public that it is our expectations that um their responsibilities are in accordance with reputable National associations is just a good strong statement and I'm I really hope people aren't going to get so hung up on oh we shouldn't be changing this anymore it's good language and I hope people will get behind it Mr Wilson Madam chair I have nothing further

170to comment on with that we'll take a vote on uh this amendment all those in favor raise your hand Huff Schultz McLaughlin Wilson all those opposed Hines pulch Corbett Sanders Strauss Evans Moon darnette kofax mine that motion fails I call on Mr Wilson for an amendment Madam chair I believe that maybe the uh the final proposed amendment to the policy I believe the references at the end are not an amendment to the policy itself second okay uh um this is um a motion by Mr Wilson seconded by Mr Moon um so I'm sorry I didn't understand what you just said Mr Madam chair I think what I said was that adding the references to the end of the policy is not in fact a modification to the policy it is just references to the applicable

171related policies and regulations so I I we can vote on it but but I believe that's that's nonetheless an amendment to what we have in front of then then I'll propose uh that the uh the policy 105 as proposed to um uh for tonight's consideration be amended such that references to policy 1107 fraud waste abuse and policy 1420 accountability for public funds and property be added to the end of the proposed policy okay and seconded by Mr mood Mr Wilson would you like to speak to the motion uh Madam chair I I believe this is an obvious uh reasoning for why we want to include references to the related policies thank you Mr Moon nothing further Miss Hines yeah I'm just looking at it and um maybe it's just the way it's written there it

172looks confusing to me I think what we're trying to do is put those two underneath see also the current versions of right because it looks to me like we've got see also the current version of Regulation 1410 and then we just have those other two things hanging out there you're suggesting that the formatting needs to be consistent the formatting be fixed and then say current so Madam clerk is it possible for you to format that okay is this is this formatting clarifying that for you yeah and if we said versions that would help me too thank you all right um Miss mclin I I support this change I think it's uh speaks well to the board's work that if we've got these policies or regulations or Charters that the public knows all the associated uh

173policies and regulations that relate to it so I hope people will support uh Mr Wilson on this one all right and with that I'll call for the vote all those in favor of the amendment raise your hand and that passes unanimously so we now we're back to the main motion um as amended um the main motion is uh to move that the school board revoked the current version of Regulation 1420 internal audit Charter and approve the rewrite as a revision of policy 1105 auditor general Authority Is there further discussion on the main motion Miss mclin no Mr okay uh seeing no further discussion I will call for the vote all those in favor of the motion raise your hand and that is unanimous uh that motion passes Madam chair I'm sorry point of order I

174think I'm looking at what's on board docks right now yes which is the motion and voting on the bottom and um I believe that the main motion has been changed here uh where it says revoke the current version of regulation for 1820 internal audit Charter and approve the rewrite blah blah blah and instruct the audit committee to present for adoption yada yada um that is not if you look at what's on unless I'm missing something if you look at what's on board docs um what's on our on our script well right now we have we have not considered the follow on motion I have to refresh okay I'm sorry I just want to make sure that what we have voted on is just the main motion yes we have we just we just approve approved

175the main motion and so um Miss Corbett Sanders had a follow on motion Miss Corbett Sanders are you planning to offer your follow on motion pull back because we no longer need it that's right okay so miss Corbett Sanders is not going to offer her followon motion um because it's uh been superseded by the Amendments that we just made to the main motion and and approved so um Miss Hines does that take care of thank you yes okay so with that we have concluded our work on uh the audit Charter we now move to item 4.03 social studies basil instructional materials approval and I call on Mr moon for a motion thank you Madame chair I hope that you this particular motion doesn't take two hours uh I move that the school board to approve

176the titles listed for kindergarten through grade 12 social studies which does not include grade for Virginia studies as recommended by the social studies bejor instructional materials adoption committee and the selection advisory committee Sarah second seconded by Miss P Mr Moon would you like to speak motion as as a brief background uh in 2015 the Virginia Department of Education revised send J learning for history and social studies and since then our social studies team uh from instructional Services has been revising the curriculum documents to align with the new standards the contracts for instructional resources currently in use in felis County Public Schools expire during summer 2017 and as a result students and teachers would no longer have access to these resources without some action therefore in January of the last year instructional Services began the process

177for new baser instructional materials as defined in FCPS regulation 3 2004 our current resources were adopted 7 years ago in 2010 in June of last year the school board approve the committee members committee members appointed committee members to the social studies based instructional material adoption committee to start reviewing and recommending basor instructional materials the committee in convened in August and September of the last year to review uh to review resour for K through 12 that were submitted by vendors in respons to RFP for conservation as basal instructional materials for social studies however for uh grade four Virginia studies no titles were reviewed by the committee because uh there wasn't any submission to RFP instructional Services plans to issue a new RFP later this year for grade four the title is listed in the attachment to

178this agenda which is on the bulog what the adoption committee and selection of the bud committee are recommending to the B action this evening and I ask for my colleagues of for for this motion Miss PCH would you like to speak to your second um yes just very briefly um I think Mr Moon gave a very good recap um and I want to thank Dr Presidio um Miss clco Miss Riley for all their work on this also I really um appreciate it and for the public if you would like to see um the community input summary has been posted as well as the timeline which shows um the the the work of the committee and want to thank all of our community members who served on that um in addition to the rationals of the

179committee and the recommended titles put forward so I I think they've done some excellent work in in doing this um strategically mindfully and in communicating the results to the public so um I want to thank them for their work and I'm happy to Second this motion Miss mlin so I I do appreciate um Mr Moon first of all U providing for the public who's watching uh the essence of what we're about to vote on and I do want to thank staff for providing all of the attachments that was very helpful to me as a board member um but I do just have a few questions that uh hopefully uh won't be too difficult um the first one was about the actual vetting process as noted in the attach ATT M the Review Committee itself met

180in August and September um but I was wondering just in a very brief summary what did that actually entail in terms of I noticed you had a diverse committee that included teachers and um other key stakeholders but when you're looking at K12 social science that's a lot so it was it that they were given a presentation on each of the options and then they studied it I mean I just again very briefly how would this committee ultimately say okay this is the the the company that we're going to adopt for this particular grade level and this particular subject yeah thank you very much for that question so we did have a pretty large committee about 60 members uh that included teachers uh community members and then also content experts and typically what happens which is

181what happened in in this particular adoption process is that we have an opportunity to hear from each of the vendors um we have a lot of support from our procurement office so we write a very detailed uh request for proposal that you know really limits um and details all of the requirements that we have and then vendors have an opportunity to submit um their materials and we have an opportunity to review all of those and see presentations but we have an opportunity to look at the materials in detail as well so um here we have an opportunity to review the various GR grade levels of the text and then all the ancillary uh supporting materials um media um and additional supporting materials that come um from each vendor the second question I have has to

182do with uh the delivery model as um Dr Presidio you may well remember uh when you joined the division you arrived at a time where those of us were who were new to the board had just approved a math adoption and we sadly discovered after that math adoption that the board was not made aware that um your your predecessor's department had decided to go with a pure online delivery subscription so we didn't have hard copy textbooks for for the math textbooks we went online with a set in the classroom and what that ended up being is that the community had to come forward to us and say regrettably the online platform wasn't working families were having to go out of pocket and spend several hundred dollar per child to find the textbook if and when

183they could and many principles were running through their um paper uh budgets you know xeroxing to try and figure out how to get uh the written material to students because the online versions weren't working and even my own son experienced this um degree of frustration so could you just describe what's this going to actually mean in terms of what we're purchasing what's the the delivery model or is that something that has yet to be determined so this is really a hybrid delivery model um we definitely like the online materials because those are able to be updated on a regular basis and they provide opportunities for students to um have more engaging and more relevant um learning experiences through the online uh components of of the adoption but we recognize that many students need a hard

184copy textbook as well and many students prefer to learn in that way so the way that we've set up this adoption is to get the online licensing for the titles and then purchase 35% hard copy books that would be available for students to use to take home check out um and then use in in in the classroom and at the high school level for the AP classes um where students really do a significant amount of content area reading um we're choosing to purchase hard copy books in all of those courses um I really appreciate that last statement you just said um shared because uh again my colleagues I hope you're really paying attention um social studies is about reading it's it's history and it is a lot of reading and we uh heard from our

185students that when you're looking at that volume of of reading material they really don't like staring at a computer screen for that length of time they prefer to read it in a textbook so I I do have concerns when we're talking about extensive reading so at the elementary school level where homework loads should be 10 minutes per grade level I'm I'm not as concerned with the model you've described I appreciate that you're going to go with hard copy for all at the high school level I think that's absolutely essential Middle School um I I do have a little bit of concern um with the 35% because I I think the volume of homework especially in our honors level Social Studies classes they could find themselves doing a lot of reading um could you speak to

186that a little bit on how that might present as a challenge yeah one point of clarification um tonight the board is just voting to approve the titles um and then the ultimate adoption would be part of the budget that um the board will vote on in May so we could always choose to purchase more or purchase less so the board has time to um make that determination and consult about that as well but tonight we're just approving the titles um and the recommendation is really based on conversation with principles and teach teers about how they see um the need for instruction in their classrooms and and that's where we got at the high school level with those AP courses really needing to ensure that every student would have a hard copy book okay thank you

187um Dr lockart I would just make a request this evening that as we move toward the budget and as Dr Presidio mentioned that the the delivery model and the comp the cost components will be something we'll be looking at as part of the budget um I would appreciate maybe that we have a couple of options that staff might present saying if we were to bring this model of hard copy for the Middle School level what would be the additional cost doing it that way or is there a way we could have a reserve that in the event we determine 35% hard copy is not sufficient at the middle school level that we could address that as needed um and then I guess uh finally to my colleagues on this one um I I I do

188think that we'll want to have just this you know overall conversation at the budget in terms of cost it might be helpful to know what has been our prior social study adoption costs to what this one now is um and other otherwise I I feel comfortable at this time but my one last question Dr Presidio is we discovered during the math textbook adoption with the online that certain vendors had really great online platforms that worked L and others they didn't so is that something that's part of your vetting process you know which publisher has a good solid reliable online um platform because for my colleagues who aren't aware if they have a bad platform the kids can't get on and then they can't get their homework and then they get all stressed out and frustrated

189and trying to go in and tell their teacher I couldn't get my work done because I the platform wasn't working is just a very real challenge that we we need to be aware of so is that something you guys are able to have determined in advance I mean Beyond just you like the content but they're reliable was that a piece of your vetting so that definitely was part of the vetting process and you know we learned I think a number of important lessons during the math textbook adoption and one of the lessons we learned is you know the load testing and Fairfax is really really important for us so that's something that we've had conversation with vendors about as well and with our timeline bringing the approval um to the board tonight on the titles

190um is part of our Contracting process uh we would have the ability to start to actually put the materials in the hands of teachers um before students would come back so that we could start to work out those kinds of issues and if there are any issues that we discover have time to actually resolve those with the vendors before students actually would be back in school okay and one last clarifying question on the AP World History textbook is this the same textbook we've been using or is it different and the only reason why I ask is because if if this School Division were to survey the students who've been using the AP World textbook uh it is been exceptionally dense uh I both my husband and I happen to be history majors at the undergraduate

191level and we were blown away by the textbook it is not one to develop a passion and love for history and so if we've got a a newer textbook that I hope is is really going to be a a a more 21st Century Learning which isn't cram facts in but you know knit together critical events in history and why they matter I I'm just I'm I know you guys vetted it so hopefully people looked at it but obviously the last textbook was adopted by somebody who thought it was good and the student reaction I heard was not the same right so I do think AP uh history is a is a very challenging AP course just in general in terms of the breadth of the material it's really the most comprehensive course that we have

192so that's a challenge no matter which vendor you go with um this is not the same text but I'll have to check on the vendor to be honest with you just to see if it's actually the same publishing vendor or not um we had uh our social studies coordinator Miss Riley here but um she had to go home a little bit early um this evening so I can get back to you on that pretty quickly though that's okay I just thought I would go ahead and share the input with you all as you're going through it and and to my colleagues I appreciate you uh indulging me with these questions but I really feel like we need to pay attention to this sort of stuff in the end it's our vote on on this selection

193and again I want to thank the work of the committee I want to thank Dr Presidio and your team and for working on this and uh I really I do hope that our students will find we've done our very best work for the materials they'll now be studying Miss Corbett Sanders yes I just wanted to uh thank all of the uh staff and uh the citizens that work diligently to uh to go through uh the curriculum and the text and I very much appreciate my own citizen uh appointee to the task force because um they brought to it the expertise of being a curator at uh gun Hall and uh so it's a good example of utilizing the uh citizen experts that we have experts throughout Fairfax County and you name the issue and uh

194we can find an expert for it so we appreciate their volunteer time the other thing is that I wanted to clarify that uh superintendent Locker you had indicated in a superintendent's update that part of these materials would be covered out of um funds at the local level for instructional materials and others would be um paid for out of the budget and I just wanted to make sure that uh people watching understood that we were looking for greater efficiencies to uh and being um fiscally prudent Mr Schultz um I just uh what Miss mlau brought up and I I hate to keep asking Dr pidio about um some of these issues but I I do in the approval of this and the question of about the availability of hard cover textbooks came up in um and

195uh Miss Michael might be able to correct me if I'm wrong I think it's budget question three or nine response the concern that I have um is and if I could just get an assurance tonight that the indiv idual schools are provided the funds and maybe they're not provided the funds anymore and it's become centralized I I know we're in a transition with some of it on acquisition of textbooks for students who want them and the reason I asked this and I want to clarify this um in the approval of of um basil materials like this is there were so many trades that were exhibited um by administrators of buildings trading resources and resources really means dollars trading resources that are line ited as textbooks that I'm concerned that even if we say we're providing

196the money um whether it's uh money locally to the building or ultimately um through Central acquisition that it remains that you cannot trade away dollars in textbooks for other choices in a building to the point that a student who wants one of these textbooks should be afforded they should not be forced into online textbooks for a myriad of reasons and and miss mlau and I spent a lot of time with students and student town halls and buildings and the reaffirmation not only from the students themselves but from from uh parents at home that if they want a book they can have a book and the funding is there you're absolutely correct that the last time we made an option available that we would purchase a book for any student who wanted one we did pay

197for those centrally so we didn't allocate that funding out to schools that way we could ensure that every student who wanted a book did get one okay and so that's going to remain because if I total up and and I did I don't have the figure right here but if I total up the total dollars traded out of school tools um that were ostensibly for textbooks and the stories that I get and I know I we swear oh no no they can have a textbook I I have as long as both arms stories of students who say no no no no I my my teacher said I can't have a book my my principal said I can't have a book you know and they want one but we're reiterating we're going to clarify you get

198a new you get new basil materials and if you want a book if you want a book moms dads students if you want a book you can have a book okay great Mr Wilson uh thank you madam chair um first of all I want to um um give a green card to miss mlin uh for bringing up love and passion for history in our meeting tonight um I think that's wonderful uh so I'm going to give her a green card um for those in the audience who may have not watched our Retreat um that was one of the things that we uh we did at our Retreat recently where we commended each other for the positive things we uh appreciated about what they did um there was another card for things we didn't appreciate so

199much uh so I have a couple of questions um of Dr Presidio the F the first one is is is very basic the in the list of courses included is are the are the subjects the same as in the the previous iteration for social studies are there new titles no we don't we don't have any new titles in this adoption cycle okay and and in terms of if I am I understanding it correctly to say that when you have a title you you order a certain number of subscriptions is that correct for each title that's correct yes so um so where you have the electives um uh there's I think seven electives um how much drop off is there in terms of the number of subscriptions that are ordered versus the ones that aren't the

200so that you've got one that's called sociology in you is the last one how many subscriptions would you buy for for that do you think so th those are really dependent um on the number of students that are enrolled in those courses by school level so the subscription is purchased when the class size is determined no it's based on enrollment Trends and patterns but um you know our process right now I mean schools are going through their Staffing and scheduling process right now so at the school level um a Lake bradock Secondary School might vary from a Fairfax High School in terms of how many titles they would need and that's based on how many sections they're going to teach and average class sizes in those sections so are there I mean I guess what

201is there are there potential savings for the school system if say we roduce the number of elective um uh titles by one let's say we we did what what there is there any magnitude of savings if we if we just sort of say well let's approve them all except uh sociology and you um if I'm following your question correctly um there would be a cost savings obviously because we would not incur a cost because we would not purchase that material but um that course then would not have the materials necessary to to support teaching and learning in that particular course yeah I understand I'm just I'm just trying to quantify like for the board what what is the level of savings we might see if we were to reduce the number of of those elective

202courses that we buy subscriptions for um we'd have to do some analysis um I mean we have you know we have projected numbers that we need to purchase for each of those courses but off the top of my head I I wouldn't be able to answer that question tonight I'd have to get back to you on that one is it possible after night if we approve these titles if we if we were to find that information and find it compelling Visa all of the other things that we're considering to say hey let's let's take a look at reducing the number of titles would would we be able to reduce it after tonight if we were to so decide yeah because tonight we're just approving the titles themselves not the actual number of purchase in the

203budget um so what we can do is I mean we could provide you if you're interested cost breakdowns per title okay and then just this is just an if this is the same title this the one that called law and action it says Street law a course in Practical law that's the same law title that was included previously um we're checking right now give us just a second and um back to miss mclin's question earlier on the AP US History that is a different publisher than the company that we're currently under contract with okay world I'm sorry AP World yeah sorry I guess on on that particular title law and action I guess the what what I just wanted to find out if there's was there thinking um in a consideration of of putting in

204a constitutional law um AP course in lie of the street law course so the street law course is a course that's approved um through our regular course approval process and um um you know that's a course that is staffed right now and students are enrolled in that course so if we were to replace that course with another course then um that's something certainly that we could do but at this time that's a course that we offer in our curriculum okay um all right well thank you very much yeah thank you all right and with that I will call for the vote um that the school board approve the titles listed for kindergarten through grade 12 social studies which does not include grade four Virginia studies as recommended by the social studies basil instructional materials adoption

205committee and the selection advisory committee all those in favor please raise your hand that is unanimous with Mrs Huff away from the table we now go to the 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 consent agenda at the request of any board member prior to the meeting 5.01 approve the minutes of the February 9th and February 23rd regular school board meetings 5.02 authorized staff to issue a notice of award to multiple contractors for electrical installation services for portable classroom trailers and author the division superintendent or the assistant

206superintendent of facilities and transportation services to execute deliver and administer contracts on behalf of the school board 5.03 award a contract for the anandale high school roof replacement project to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder function Enterprises Inc in the amount of $530,500 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 5.04 award a contract for the shantell high school roof replacement project to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder Interstate Corporation in the amount of $465,000 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 5.05 award the contract for the automatic temperature control system replacement at Marshall World Elementary

207School to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder bowan trained Services Inc in the amount of $399,900 and authorize the division superintendent or the assistant superintendent of facilities and transportation services to execute and administer the contract on behalf of the school board 5.06 approve the titles listed for Latin textbooks for levels 1 through three is recommended by the World Language basil instruction materials adoption committee and the selection advisory committee improved the title listed for upper level materials levels four five apib as recommended resources for these levels is there any objection to approving the consent agenda hearing and seeing none the consent agenda is approved we now turn to new business and I call on Dr lockart to introduce the FY 17 third quarter budget review thank you madam chair I'm G to due the time turn

208things right over to Miss Michael good evening Miss Michael I think your microphone may not be working or are we having a technical difficulty there all right is it working now okay there we go okay good evening the third quarter budget review offers us another opportunity to revise the budget based on current year Trends and new requirements the agenda item this evening as always is organized with descriptions of the recommended changes followed by updated fund statements for each of the Schoolboard funds once the third quarter budget review is approved by the school board it's forwarded to the county for inclusion in their third quarter budget review packet which provides any necessary supplementary Appropriations for FCPS in order to um coordinate the time frame with the County's thirdd quarter budget review the analysis in this review

209tonight is based on approximately seven months of actual activities so if we move to the top of page one um in terms of Revenue the first item is our annual adjustment for the national board certified teacher stip ens each year the state provides pass through funding to FCPS which FCPS is then required to pay to teachers who are eligible for this state stipended So based on the actual number of teachers receiving the typen this year as compared to the state's projection we'll see a decrease in both our revenue and the related expenditures of 190,000 so in total our Revenue adjustments are 190,000 on the top of page two in addition to the national board certified teacher adjustment the other recommended expenditure adjustments are as follows Item B is Public Safety radios during fy15 FCPS was

210advised by the county that the public service radio system that was used by FCPS and the County's non-public safety agencies would need need to be replaced as it was an older analog technology that would no longer be supported by the vendor with FCPS using about 50% of the public service radio devices the county estimated that FCPS is share of that replacement upgrade would be 7.4 million and to address that as part of the fy15 midyear budget review one-time funding in that amount was set aside to cover that cost the county has implemented a Broadband push to talk system to replace their Public Service radios however FCPS was unable to Pilot that system because we were waiting for a legislative change to give us that ability um now that we've receive that ability we'll go ahead

211and pilot that system but at the same time we were waiting um FCPS is transportation office has been conducting Research into other alternative technologies that could also be used in place of a push to talk device and the savings from those other Sav um other devices will be at least $2 million so we're recognizing 2 million savings this evening and after the testing of all of the radio options is completed any additional savings would be recognized at a future quarterly budget review item C is based on the actual fuel prices that we've paid this far this year and projecting the rate through the rest of the fiscal year we're anticipating Savings of 1.3 million on fuel so as of February the Blended rate that we've been paying is $183 that is an increase from the

212beginning of the year when we were paying a $156 but based on our estimated savings for the rest of the year and we believe we'll save 1.3 million item D is Savings of 1.4 million in our bus driver salary accounts due to vacancies that we've experienced this year our expenditures are trending lower than we projected the last item e is 1.8 million in health expenditure savings based on the enrollment changes that occur during our open enrollment the employer cost for health insurance for calendar year 18 will be 1.8 million lower than projected this is a recurring savings because half of the savings from calendar year 18 um half of that plan year occurs during fiscal year 18 so when we look at all of these expenditure adjustments together they total 6.7 million so on the

213top of Page Three in summary after accounting for both the revenue and the expenditure adjustments there's funding of 6.5 million of available we recommend that this funding be added to the beginning balance for fy18 with that additional funding our beginning balance will be 33.5 million which is just slightly more than the 33.1 million included in our fy17 budget so this really maintains a consistent use of one-time funding from 17 to 18 as we considered possible uses for this funding available at third quarter based on the fiscal challenge that we're facing for fy18 We Believe using this fun funding for beginning balance is the best use of this funding um this will also allow the school board to prioritize any one-time funding needs including equipment major maintenance and strategic plan Investments um to look at at

214as part of our fy17 final budget review I'm looking to the long term we will continue to work to reduce the amount of one-time funding that we use to balance the budget but we're very hopeful that in future years we could decrease our beginning balance through an increased use of Revenue um the other funds begin on page four we have no adjustments to the school construction or the food nutrition services Fund in our Ace and grants and self-supporting programs fund were recommending changes in both Grant and state revenue and the corresponding expenditure adjustments that accompany that and then finally in the school health and flexible benefit fund we're reflecting the changes in projected revenue and expenditures as a result of open enrollment so thank you for the opportunity to present this to you this evening

215we have a work session scheduled on Monday um which is March 13th to discuss this agenda thank you thank you very much Miss Michael um I have a couple of board members uh Miss schules don't oh okay uh Mrs St um thank you very much and I would like to thank uh Mr plattenburg for the work that your um uh department has done on the public safety radio system because I know in FY 2015 when the county indicated that we were going to have to purchase the public safety radios there's there was a lot of concern at the time the high price tag and I believe you had indicated that you thought that you all could come up with a better purchase which you've done so to save us $2 million we're very grateful for

216that so thank you for continuing to pursue that um certainly all this helps us um get a little closer with our our budget issues for um for this next year so a good example of efficiency and Effectiveness with patients so thank you very much Miss mclin uh so I guess my first question is um when we sent our proposed budget over to the Board of Supervisors that we voted on February 9th um originally if I recall we uh anticipated a budget gap of about 66 million correct so there was a gap of 61 million between our requested increase in County funding and the funding included in the county Executives advertised budget so that was a gap of 61 million okay I I'm going to just go back to the conversation we had on February 9th

217where as we were trying to figure out the the proposed budget by the superintendent and then what we would advertise for our budget I recall the number 66 million then I recall that the board then said we're not sure what we want to do on ER RFC changes which was another 4.7 million I recall so the question is was it 66 million plus 4.7 Million by the end of that night or was the 66 million because we added in the 4.7 million that night um I don't have my notes in front of me in terms of that date I don't remember the 66 million I know um when erfc was not included in the advertised budget um you're correct that that did increase a requested ask of the county but that should have in increase

218that Gap to 61 million okay so that basically we were at 61 million so here tonight what you're showing us is that through third quarter savings for fy18 if we were to follow this guidance and take the 6.5 million put it to the you know beginning balance then that 61 million not not bringing in what the county executive said just what we did our 61 million now gets dropped down to about 55 so and then in addition to that we start with a 61 million we need to recognize the impact of the final state budget so that was 4.2 million so that reduced that Gap and then with this funding it's not only the 6.5 million in beginning balance but it's also the um 1.8 in recurring savings from health so that brings our gap

219down right about to $48 million and and we'll go over that in Monday's work session on fy18 budget so I I I do appreciate that I just wanted to know before we went into the work session some of the numbers we're talking about here um I I think it's great that we'll be having a work session conversation uh I will just share with all my colleagues that given what we know fy8 looks like already uh to me this is just really great news because whatever the number is and hovering somewhere around 60 and then how we chip away from there um this is you know a a means for us to find uh ways that we don't uh have to create some really painful Cuts in in programs and services that are very important to

220our community so I I appreciate you presenting this tonight and I I also appreciate the guidance that let's not go find other things let's just try and close that gap for fy18 Miss signs yeah thank you just did want to um make sure we understand that what we're talking about is taking this one-time savings right and you you spoke to that a little bit just now but I think it's maybe important to reiterate for people that um one-time savings which most of this is um is is if we put this into the beginning balance for fy18 um it will then be spent on recurring costs because that's how we do the budget um and so then we'll have to find it again so we're we're sort of rebuilding that deficit that we were trying to

221chip away at um and so while it is good news right now um we have to recognize that we're spending savings that we don't really have is that accurate that is correct um we will be returning our beginning balance to the same level that we used in fy17 so you're right we won't be chipping away at reducing that beginning balance but looking at the Gap that we're facing that seem like the best um recommended use of this funding yeah thank you Mrs schz could we [Music] not um to address your concern Miss Hines um and I think we've been less than Artful maybe with the explanation that it goes to recurring costs if we transfer it over to the beginning balance could we not effectively obligate or encumber ourselves to attribute that 6.5 million only

222to one-time costs that occur in fiscal um 2018 we could if we had 6.5 million in onetime costs built into our fy18 budget right well we certainly do because we do Contracting costs for example that we could choose to contract just for that year what we would need to do is reduce our budget um by that reoccurring amount and then appropriate onetime funding to meet those needs knowing that that funding then wouldn't be available that's what I'm yeah that that's what I'll be suggesting Miss PCH um before I ask my question would you mind repeating that Miss Michael what's the way that that would have to happen so in our fy18 budget the items we currently have in our budget are recurring right in order to use this funding that we're setting aside for a

223non-recurring item for a onetime item right right we would have to reduce our fy18 budget by 6.5 million in recurring items and instead fund 6.5 million in one-time items okay I'd be interested to see what that would mean um beyond that my question was um thank you I my understanding is in in our past joint meetings um and last night with on the county side I believe they have chosen not to use um the third quarter budget for fy18 the county was able to eliminate their use of onetime funding a couple years ago they were able to close that Gap with recurring Revenue right and we too are hopeful that we'll have eventually recurring Revenue that we could use to close this Gap okay I I guess my question is but they have a gap

224this year for fy18 their fy8 budget is balanced as the county executive presented it okay but they've chosen not to use any additional third quarter revenue or I guess that's coming out soon so their third quarter budget review won't be shared with the board until Tuesday so I don't know what's in their third quarter budget at this time on Tuesday and so if we want to know whether or not they're they're making similar decisions for next year um that should be presented on Tuesday correct it'll be shed on Tuesday okay thank you MH all right and I see no other um board members wanting to speak so I want to M mlin quick clarifying question again we can talk about this at the work session but we talk about recurring funds one-time funds in a

225$2.8 billion operation we have anything from one-year contracts oneye Consulting fees that could easily be 6.5 in onetime funding so I I I don't think we we can necessarily just dismiss and say oh the 6.5 is it's fine but it's just onetime funding I mean the bottom line is it's savings we have it we'll bu put it toward the beginning balance uh for years and years this is what how we have to piece it together because we're not a taxing Authority and we don't have any other choice but to do it this way but we're still building or creating an fy8 budget that will be balanced by the time we vote on it in May 28th and it will every year we could end up saying this will end up being onetime funding because we're

226just not going to pay for it next year we'll have to make choices along the way so I I I don't want us to get lost in the fact that this is still $6.5 million that's going to make things a lot better than cutting something else all right well we will see you on Monday and have a further conversation about this thank you so much Miss Michael thank you so we continue with new business um I'll read um the one we just had a presentation on 6.01 approve revenue and expenditure adjustments as reflected in the FY 2017 third quarter budget review scheduled um and as detailed in the agenda item 6.02 award the contract for the boiler replacement at Virginia Run Elementary School to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder and authorize the division superintendent

227or the assistant superintendent of facilities and transportation services to execute and administer the the contract on behalf of the school board 6.03 award the contract for the boiler replacement at popper Tree Elementary School to the lowest responsive in responsible bidder and authorize the division superintendent or the assistant superintendent of facilities and transportation services to execute and administer the contract on behalf of the school board 6.04 award the contract for the boiler replacement at Penman Hill Center to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder and authorize the division superintendent or the assistant superintendent of facilities and transportation services to execute and administer the contract on behalf of the school board 6.05 award the contract for the boiler replacement at dun lauring Center to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder and authorize the division superintendent or the assistant

228superintendent of facilities and transportation services to execute and administer the contract on behalf of the school board 6.06 approve the HC bylaws is detailed in the agenda item and attachment uh we now go to superintendent matters and I call on Dr lockart thank you madam chair just a couple of uh things to share this evening the center for Juvenile Justice and reform at Georgetown University mccort School of Public Policy awarded a Fairfax County team the 2016 Capstone of the Year award for their efforts and success in redesigning and enhancing a youth diversion and restorative justice program 449 youth participants were placed in the diversion process with a 95% completion rate last year recidivism has also been reduced the partnership includes the school system Police Department the county courts Northern Virginia mediation services and the county

229department of neighborhood and community services this week is National School breakfast week um so I thought I'd just give you a brief update on our most recent statistic we now serve 22,000 breakfast to students each day I had a a great time last week reading to some of our students uh for read across America America day on Thursday I visited Old Creek as well as Pine spring have to admit I got a little Tongue Tied on a few of the Dr Seuss books but I managed I want to thank uh principles Armando Perry and Dustin Wright for welcoming me 77 FCPS students have been named to the 2017 all Virginia band and 52 FCPS students have been named to the 2017 all Virginia Orchestra both groups perform on Saturday April 8th at High School in

230Manasses FCPS students from 23 high and secondary schools were named to the band Orchestra um sponsored by the I'm sorry the All State band Orchestra sponsored by the Virginia band and Orchestra Directors Association six students were named alternatives to the all Virginia band and two students were named alternatives to the all Virginia Orchestra thank you thank you Dr lockart agenda item eight board committee reports I call on Mrs Strauss for an update on the Forum held earlier this evening thank you at The Forum we discussed um whether or how uh we could post the contents of foyes on the FCPS website um the board asked for some additional information where that information comes back we ask that um the information and the proposal be further discussed by the board's um public engagement committee thanks thank

231you very much uh board matters and I call on Miss PCH um sorry I was not ready I will just be very brief I want to thank every all the Providence community members who came out last night for a joint budget meeting with supervisor Smith um and our financial teams also um want to thank um principal Novak um for a tour and a visit um he's really doing a great job and enjoying being at F Church High School um and finally want to let people know that this Saturday morning from 9:30 to 11:30 I will be hosting a um funding 101 Workshop um an advocacy conversation and we'll be joined by the Vice President of advocacy from the FCC PTA um that will be at the Providence Community Center over close to Vienna Metro this

232Saturday 9:30 to 11:30 M Schultz yeah just very briefly um I want to say thank you to um I'm making my rounds um starting with uh my High School principles so uh I'm going to pre than uh principal Eline at Robinson and uh principal Goldfarb principal P at um Woodson and principal uh Thomas at uh Lake bradic um I've been making this tour very specifically to talk about complex B budget issues as we just heard um somewhere between 55 and and $60 million gap and and how to best go about that so that we don't wind up closing um The Gap really on classroom size and uh and teacher compensation uh as we look for innovative ways around that and I appreciate the time and the time of the other principles um as we have

233the opportunity to get to them and um wonderful news Dr Lockard on the uh Juvenile Justice award um I will say that um you know anything that we can do to continue the path of restorative justice um implementation um is definitely I think in long run a winter in Fairfax County and finally um I I just want to say that in Fairfax County I was amazed on Wednesday that our call out rate for our teachers um was no different um for our Educators our staff in the building than any other Wednesday and I think that just model um how committed to uh really world class education um Fairfax uh staff and educators are and I am profoundly appreciative of that Mrs Corbin sandes great thank you um just wanted to thank the Mr Kerr in

234the rest of his class at West pomac who hosted me on for the combating intolerance uh classes last week where they talked to alumni of the west pmic building that attended the building as groon students uh during the 70s and 80s and it was a great uh dialogue about how uh we embraced differentiation and diversity at the school during that time period And how it's led to the inclusive schools environment uh today at West pomac tomorrow I'll be at West pomac again speaking with the theat classes and I encourage people in the west pic Community to support their first annual bathon to raise funds for the Outdoor Learning uh Center The Wolverine green want to thank the PTA at waywood for hosting me on Tuesday night it was a great uh discussion about the renovations

235uh that are planned for that building I want to encourage people on Saturday to attend the real kid real food for kids expo at Lake bradic and on um just want to announce two additional pieces we will we had a meeting this past Tuesday night about the forthcoming principal selection for Walt Whitman if you have uh ideas or comments about the perfect characteristic of a great principal someone who uh would be very similar to our previous beloved principal uh Roger vanderheide please send them to Mr Dade and on March 20th we will be having a community meeting at 6:30 at West bomic High School to get input on the forthcoming um principal selection there as well Mrs trous thank you I want to thank Aldren Elementary School for inviting me to participate in read across

236America always lots of fun um I had the honor of presenting Awards to a group of sophomore students at Thomas Jefferson for a uh stem con uh stem contest that they won that was sponsored through Verizon and um thank you Verizon for sponsoring the it was a state competition and for the awards that they gave to our students and I want to congratulate Melanie pinkas who is the mlan editor and chief of the mlan newspaper the Highlander she has been named the Virginia journalist of the Year quite an honor um I believe there was a uh very nice interview from one of the TV stations and uh numerous other um uh presentations and explanations at mlan high school so congratulations Melanie and Saturday I will be at the real food for kids event at Lake

237bradic thank you Mr Moon uh thank you madam chair I'll be joining Mr Ryan mcin to go down to our Richmond on Saturday at the VCU there will be two state finals Oakton girls and Woodson boys M mlock yes I want to uh certainly Echo uh what Mr Moon just said it's pretty impressive that we have two Fairfax County uh high schools going down to compete for the state finals both men's and women's for for basketball and as the mother of a former State semi-final uh player in men's basketball I'm very excited to see Woodson returning again and um certainly wish the Cavs every bit of success and and hope to be down there myself but not quite sure on some other family commitments first uh a couple things I do want to say thank

238you to Cardinal Forest Elementary and little Run Elementary my children's Alma moer for inviting me for the read Across America it was absolutely delightful to spend time reading Dr Seuss with the fourth graders as well as the kindergarteners um their Joy of being read to is is really wonderful and especially with my grown children I don't get the pleasure as much anymore so it's it's really was a great experience I'm so proud of our teachers and our principals for creating such a special day um for the students I also want to thank uh principal Chad McCrae of North Springfield Elementary for the tour of the newly renovated Elementary School I'm sorry Mr plattenburg is not here I just want to give a shout out to design and construct ction um Mr principal McKay said they've

239just been wonderful and he was so happy with um the entire process of that renovation project and I encourage um our leadership team to go through North Spring Field because um principal McCrae has done some really creative and Innovative things uh with that renovation and it might be something want to consider for future Elementary Renovations um I also want to thank the bradic residents uh almost 30 residents came out to my community hours last Friday and spent over two hours with me while we talked about issues like the budget uh parental concerns about U Elementary School recess and how can we get more unstructured time for students uh for learning in play uh we talked about homework loads and also the importance of uh creating an environment that's welcoming for all students and concerns about

240um recent developments at the federal level and how that uh May translate to our transgender students feeling um protected uh within Fairfax County Schools I also wanted to let the community know that I will be hosting a budget town hall on Wednesday March uh 22nd uh at the Kings Park library and uh I do look forward to attending the real food for kids uh this coming Saturday as well at Lake bradic and really appreciate all of our parent Advocates and and everyone involved in real food for kids it's been a wonderful transformation in our County uh to see something as important does uh you know our student uh meals and uh what that does for health and well-being Mr wlson thank you madam chair um so last week and I traveled to the Virginia Beach

241area and my wife and I were staying at the Double Tree Hotel and we walked in through a crowded Lobby and got our keys and uh when we got off the floor we had to step over the bodies of high school students that were strewn through the hallways um and my wife immediately said um we're not staying here tonight so we we checked out but the but I but the reason why we saw those high school students was it was the um the Virginia Deca State leadership conference was happening down there so I want to give a big shout out to all of the S the the the students from Fairfax County who went almost 400 I believe 225 of those earned the right to attend the DECA International Career Development conference in April um

242and another 20 five a couple dozen were first place winners and so uh shout out to all those soly students who worked so hard and all the other students across the division who went down and and did and represented Fairfax so well down at that conference I also wanted to uh thank U the community that came out to the uh budget Town Hall this week um I too um had a town hall with supervisor Smith uh although not the same supervisor Smith um thank you supervisor Smith for hosting that and and and and and organizing that thanks to Ed long for coming and and uh explaining the county side of the budget to all those in attendance and and thanks also to our own Alice wiggington for for coming out and and eloquently uh defending

243and And discussing uh the schools budget so thank you very much to all of you who came and and hopefully it was a informative and helpful evening Miss Dar kex thank you madam chair I had two have been as many of my colleagues have been um talking to uh community members as well as principles and teachers about um the budget and their expectations and just hearing and listening to them um I also had the pleasure yesterday of going to um Edison who um is has a new Global stem program um as a result of a collaborative Grant and um this is a program where kids self- selected into it as a steam initiative and I went with my colleague Miss Corbett Sanders and um we got a tour of the it's about 70 kids they

244are pioneers in this they will be taking a curriculum like this through three years of their high school they can integrate it with the IB curriculum um right now there and and everything is integrated the math the science um we have a couple you know I I know TJ does that very well but this is the first program within a school that we we are doing it that way at such a great extent and um it was great to visit there and see that and if any of my colleagues would like to go there I'd love to come with you to to show you what what we're doing there because I think it's going to be a model for other schools who want who want to do that um and I too will be having

245a budget Town Hall um on March 22nd with uh Jeff McCay and I look forward to um any Le citizens who want to come out and hear more about the budget and I just want to thank uh several schools in my district for their Hospitality um I I went to Stuart High School to discuss the budget uh with a number uh teachers and uh parents and that was um uh good discussion there uh I want to thank Glenn Forest Elementary School and way o elementary school I had a great time uh reading to um the children there at read Across America day um Mason Crest I want to thank the U principles there as well as the teachers for having um a good conversation about how they uh do uh AAP level four there and

246uh you know doing magnificent work in that area woodb elementary school they had a wonderful concert by a Fairfax Symphony pianist for their children there and um that was that was certainly enjoyable as well as a visit to anandale Terrace Elementary School where we had a conversation about the use of Title One funds so uh thank you for uh for those schools for um inviting me and hosting me and with that this meeting is adjourned