FCPS School Board Meeting - September 22, 2016

001yeah if there are any Boy Scouts in the audience oh sorry can you please approach me if there are any Boy Scouts in the audience yes that includes Cub Scouts would board members come to the table please the September 22nd 2016 regular meeting of the Fairfax County School Board will now come to order please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance a moment of silence on the performance of the national anthem by the Spring Hill Elementary School chamber orchestra under the direction of Ruth Donahue okay thank you so much Spring Hill Elementary and Mrs Donahue this that was beautifully done Miss Evans if I'm also we want to thank all the parents for bringing your children out tonight my goodness this is the best way to start a meeting is to get to enjoy the wonderful

002Talent of our students at FCPS so thank you for bringing them out tonight thank you so much item 1.02 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 to be discussed tonight that information is on the table by the auditorium entrance tonight's agenda is available by going to school board on the FCPS home page and selecting board docs under upcoming school board meetings the meeting is also being streamed live online select school board from the full menu then click on the watch live button on the school board meetings webpage please turn off or silence your cell phones I will now call on Ms Chu for announcements thank you madam chair the month of October is bullying prevention month

003in an effort to promote awareness of school bullying the Virginia School Board Association board of directors has designated the month of October as vsba bullying prevention month childhood bullying is a significant problem worldwide it can cause School absenteeism mental and physical stress poor school performance poor self-esteem and in some cases School violence statistics show that 160 000 children in the United States miss school each day as a result of being bullied school board members superintendents teachers and parents play a critical role in creating a climate where bullying is not tolerated and has been proven that when adults and children Stand Together bullying ends Fire Prevention Week 2016 focuses on the importance of smoke alarms the official theme don't wait check the date encourages citizens to replace smoke alarms every 10 years working smoke alarms cut

004the risk of dying in homes Home Fires in half so during Fire Prevention Week October 9th through 15th fire safeties around the county will work with citizens to teach them about fire safety tips encourage them to regularly test their smoke alarms and to install smoke alarms on every level of their homes and provide activities featuring Sparky the dog that is all thank you Miss Chu the next order of business is citizen participation speakers are requested to limit their remarks to not more than three minutes the school board will not hear statements involving issues that have been scheduled for public hearings such as capital Improvement program budget and boundaries complaints regarding individual students or school-based employees should be directed to the appropriate School principal or other school official speakers should refrain from using personally identifiable information

005and connection with an individual student speakers are expected to deliver their comments with the decorum and respect appropriate to the conduct of the Public's business thank you for your cooperation and thanks to those who have come out to speak tonight 10 citizens have signed up to address the board the First on their list I'm going to let you know the first three so you can be prepared to come up and speak to us Monique buruti is our first Speaker Mike Nye is the second and Robert Rigby III so miss peruty thank you Madam clerk is the speaker okay the non-discrimination policy 1450 was amended to include the words gender identity let me remind you that before making this change FCPS was meeting the needs of students and Educators grappling with gender confusion and doing so

006on a case-by-case basis without a single complaint you owe an apology to every member of the public that you misled when you said this change was required by law you owe an apology for taking it upon yourselves to decide that gender no longer matters and for pushing that idea on every student and family in FCPS you owe an apology for unilaterally deciding that transgenderism is a core value of FCPS and therefore by extension should be the core value of all families that send their children to these Public Schools you owe an apology for every time you've sent Communications to FCPS families and didn't mention the sweeping changes you were trying to make in our school system thus neglecting to inform these the people these changes affect the most you owe an apology to every parent

007in FCPS that believes that parents should be their first their children's first Educators as you are trying to take away the option for parents to decide what and when to teach their children about human sexuality what happened to the caring culture you espouse in your strategic plan what happened to quote we commit to foster a responsive caring and inclusive culture where all feel valued supported and hopeful I along with many other parents I talk to don't feel our interests or opinions are being represented valued or supported by this board our voices have been marginalized by your blatant disregard you still have not deemed to create a public forum for discussion on this topic and seem to be trying your hardest to limit public engagement on this issue you are not creating a caring and inclusive

008culture for the vast majority of families who are not struggling with gender confusion this school board and administration have not been responsive at all to myself or many other stakeholders who have asked for more information about why these changes are being made or the Practical implications of these changes I don't feel hopeful about the path of FCPS because most of the members of this school board appear to have their own agendas and are deaf to the opinions of their stakeholders I urge you to repeal the changes to policy 1450 and start down a path of true Community engagement so your stakeholders can be hopeful again about the path of FCPS thank you thank you Mike Knight respectable school board members good evening today I'm going to talk about strategic plan of our County School System

009the ultimate goal of our education is to develop a foster a loving caring and nurturing environment for our students to grow to learn and to develop unfortunately policy 1450 runs a foul of our strategic plan specifically it creates intrusive and abusive volatile hostile environment to the students especially girls in open access to the gender dysphoria people in the public restroom public bathroom public change room especially to the girls secondly the school board vows the pressure to the funding trade the student's privacy security and safety to the dollars and pennies it's immoral is irrational and irresponsible I talked with a friend who lives in Japan happened to be a teacher in Japan I said about what happened here we all know our American System published far from perfect because we are our students lag behind from

010other countries in terms of science technology engineering and math after that my friend said she shook his head head into disbelief widening his eyes in despair he said Mike we Japanese generation will bypass and surpass you because your school system with so much time and resources on the known on the strange issues and strange matters what he said shook my heart rocking by bone and make me shame why not why you spend so much time in the resource on the non-sensical and anti-commonsense topic why not use our resource limited resource to the class instrument instructions teachers training and students education so I strongly urge you number one to reconsider the policy 1450 the dire consequence number two to realign our Focus to our strategic planning and lastly to re-establish the loving nurturing and caring environment

011for our children to be happy to be healthy to be well balanced and well educated remember our children are in your hands thank you thank you Robert Rigby good evening my name is Robert Rigby tonight the board is considering a committee to deal with challenge materials over the past two decades these materials have included several books related to LGBT topics and the resulting discussions have included Vivid testimony my friend Meredith and I are concerned about this as well as the increasingly bitter tone of the discourse during these board meetings and we rise today to remind the public of the necessity of Civility while discussing topics before the sport we must remember that the greater number of those who address topics of public concern have genuine interest in the well-being of all students it is crucial

012that we recognize and acknowledge the good faith and valid concerns of those with whom we disagree even though we may have worked to refute those concerns with this in mind it becomes clear that invocations of bigotry hatred phobia and intolerance are not helpful as well as are not attacks onto via social media or blogs they have the effect of coarsening the debate needlessly antagonizing those with whom we must work and live and making the necessary discussion more difficult this reminder is especially Optical to members of this board who must set an example for all of us by respecting the opinions of all sides and refraining from words and labels that seem to serve to put up barriers stakeholders May disagree without being hateful bigoted or dangerous to Children Meredith I'm Meredith blankenstein I'm a mother

013to two FCPS Elementary School students and a Conservative Christian while Robert and I disagree on the substance of issues we agree that something must be done about the increasing bitterness between opposing factions we recognize that there are people of Goodwill on both sides who deserve the respect that we expect ourselves um and I want you guys to remember this that no matter what we argue about whether it's gender identity Jeb Stewart bathroom rights all of those things we need to remember that we are all formed in the image of God and we all hurt we all cry we all care and we all feel just like everybody else and we struggle with Brokenness and none of us is worthy of judging others personal attacks poison the environment we must all share it filters down to

014our schools falling on the backs of our most vulnerable children this is especially true of students who identify as transgender as their already burdened with so much and they do not need additional stress so many of our LGB children are hurting and we need not make it worse similarly the students and parents and faculty who disagree with policies regulations curricula and controversial materials should not have to face demonization and name calling by others if we truly value our schools and our children we have to remember that we're all members of Fairfax and we should respect each other accordingly thank you Ms blankenstein and Mr Rigby our next three speakers are John kochka Laszlo pentek and Kathy Roos Mr kochka the mission statement of Fairfax County Public Schools strategic Vision reads Fairfax County Public Schools inspires

015and empowers students to meet High academic standards lead healthy ethical lives and be responsible in Innovative Global Citizens Ms Hines the Fairfax County Public Schools Family Life education curriculum has ninth graders viewing the gonna make it video the video implies that a father rapes his daughter at the edge of her bed how is bashing fatherhood going to positively ignite our community ninth graders are smart enough to know the inappropriate touch is an appropriate touch whether it's received from a stranger or a family member my high school biology teacher would resign if he was compelled to facilitate this dubious curriculum I am I am thrilled Jack Reeves enjoyed teaching me about the kreb citric cycle rather than crabs sexually transmitted disease and paternal rape Mrs Krause how is discussing anal sex with an eighth grader going

016to help them live responsibly making students discuss these Topics in groups makes many students uncomfortable gives Wise Guys an opportunity to go straight to the gutter and provides teachers with too much latitude to discuss sensitive topics Mr Moon the Family Life Education teaches 7th graders about oral sex how will this encourage healthy lives I learned about human reproduction in the fifth grade when I went to the school library the World Book Encyclopedia described intercourse which resulted in a zygote which resulted in a child it did not describe a sex act for the sake of describing a sex act which does not result in a child the world book explanation was anatomical and innocent enough to allow for a more thorough conversation with my parents so why does the fle feel compelled to teach students about

017oral sex Mr mcilvaine the fle shows fourth graders erect and flaccid penises how does this make them an Innovative Global citizen fourth grade boys are familiar with their own Anatomy so what educational benefit occurs the underlying assumption here is that if a respected Authority approves an activity it must be acceptable it is clear the fle is designed to desensitize sexualize and promote alternative Lifestyles to children at a younger and younger age starting in first grade the Strategic vision is a non-starter as long as the Family Life education curriculum exists it is time to scrap fle and start over thank you Laszlo pintech Laszlo pentek Mr pentek here we'll go on to Kathy Roos thank you and good evening I'm a lawyer and a resident of Fairfax County and the caring culture section of the Strategic

018plan States students will be encouraged and supported in making healthy life choices one life choice that a majority of this board supports is transgenderism in children I have a lot of compassion for a child struggling with gender dysphoria but the medical profession is deeply divided on this issue and the proper response there too this board is not a medical board it goes well beyond this board's competence to address this issue not to mention certainly Beyond its mandate as a lawyer I am troubled by the process I will mention two points the board has no authority to create new categories of non-discrimination that is a power that is vested in the general assembly in the state of Virginia yet the board did it anyway also the measures passed by this board and promoted are proposed by

019this board hold people accountable for policies whose terms and consequences are undefined or ill-defined this would never fly in the adult world but maybe you can get away with it in a world of children I'm a mother of young children and I'm deeply concerned about what these measures will mean for the children of Fairfax County now several doctors groups have written this board urging you to reconsider the gender regulations these groups include the American College of Pediatricians and the association of American Physicians and surgeons among others representing over twenty thousand Physicians and medical professionals in this country and I now quote from their letter affirmation of gender dysphoria has no basis in science and is highly controversial among experts highly controversial elsewhere in the letter they State 80 to 95 percent of Youth with gender

020dysphoria before puberty will come to accept their biological sex by late adolescence end quote so for most children this is a transitory condition and that's why affirming a child's rejection of his physical body is quote according to this professional letter considered by many to be cooperating with a child's mental confusion and shepherding him along the path to a mental disorder in fact all children are put at risk by these policies quote normalizing the myth of innate gender fluidity is a powerful and pathological way to weaken children by making them question their sense of safety security and certainty about anything and everything end quote as a taxpayer as a lawyer as a mother I implore you don't play gender politics games with children it's not a fair fight thank you the next speaker is Alice Duo

021to be followed by Bonnie Burkhart Alice Duo nine-year-old Lily screamed as she'd run out of the bathroom face pale with fears a man just exposed himself a 23 year old teacher was walking by in the dark alley beside her apartment and she heard the painting she turned around it was a man leaning over pants at his ankles good evening ladies and gentlemen these are parents worst nightmares Lily is my best friend and the 23 year old is me Alice Cole standing before you I'm here tonight because I don't want this to happen to our children I'm here tonight to challenge the lack of the school board in creating a caring culture as outlined in your strategic plan I'm here to challenge also to to express my compassion for the transgender students rights and promote the

022win-win's solution now as parents my kids go to school every day happy ready to learn and want to change the world when they grow up and as parents we believe that they are in the right hands but with a policy 1450 that opens doors to a subclass of male transgenders who are still erratically attracted to females that belief has been reduced to a mere dream is that too much for a mother to ask we want to protect our children from the threats not increase the exposure so I work with the transgender every day my company created a separate bathroom for her we did not cut off our right arm in order to please the left arm in 1960s America started the Disability Rights Movement we modified the streets the buildings with ramps for people with

023disabilities what a progress but we didn't flatten all the steps all the stairs it was a win-win situation so why can't we focus on a win-win solution add more unisex bathrooms why can we create a caring culture regardless of one's sexual orientation as Mike mentioned earlier other countries are focusing there's precious resources to develop their children in a competitive World Japan has classroom has no AC not because they can't afford it because they are training their future generation for grit for endurance for physical and mental toughness and here in Longfellow several hundred seventh grade teachers students have no science teacher no English teacher because the best the good teachers are leaving for private school so without a focus on the fundamentals of Education what's our chance as a great nation to stand on the world

024stage so ladies and gentlemen Lily and I had to endure the embarrassing sexual exposure but I have a question like many of our children will be and I have a question for each one of you do you choose to expose our innocent children to such a haunting experience at elementary school middle school or high school is this an American dream or a nightmare thank you thank you next speaker is Bonnie Burkhart to be followed by Cheney Mullins hello my name is Bonnie Burkhart and I've had two daughters go through the Fairfax County School District my oldest daughter became seriously ill in her freshman year it was mono but it went undiagnosed for a year and a half during that time my daughter received no education whatsoever for nine months straight spanning two school years she

025was prohibited from entering school buildings because she had a fever over 100 degrees and no diagnosis she was discriminated against because she was considered a threat to the physical well-being of the other students because she might make them sick as a parent I wanted my child to go to school but I also respected the rights and physical health of the other students and their parents my heart goes out to students who have gender identity issues and their families just like I cared about my own daughter however your approach to the transgender issue is totally different students are not just physical beings they're also also psychological spiritual and moral beings your policy allows a transgender child to use whatever bathroom locker room or shower they choose can cause psychological moral and spiritual harm to the other

026children who need to use those facilities as board members you are elected to care about the culture and morals of the community that elected you and your non-discrimination transgender policy violates that trust that we placed in you in my daughter's case the school didn't care if my daughter got an education only that the rules were followed so nine monthly into it we hired a lawyer to go after Fairfax County schools that was the only reason my daughter finally received access to a few online classes and an occasional home teacher there were other ways to accommodate transgender children and provide them an education without via violating the morals and culture of this community I would like to remind you that Fairfax County has one of the highest number of lawyers per capita in the country and

027you are messing with their children if you think you have legal fees and budget problems now just wait till a girl athlete is injured when she's tackled by a boy three times her size because he's on the girls team just wait till a girl gets pregnant on an overnight school trip because she's forced to share a bed with a boy who just claimed he was a girl that week the teachers are also prohibited from telling the girls or her parents because they risk being fired for discrimination to the nine of you who voted for this transgender policy you're obviously incapable at discriminating between the cultural morals of this community and your own political agenda you're incapable of discriminating between the wants of a child who needs help and the right to privacy of the rest

028of the student body we the parents and voters of Fairfax County are capable of discriminating between those board members who care about our community's culture and morals and the nine of you who do not shame on you [Applause] next speaker is Cheney Mullins to be followed by Christopher Ayala thank you hello I'm Cheney Mullins representing concerned women for America the nation's largest public policy women's organization and tonight I would like to explore why your right to have a strategic planning process include a caring culture and I believe a synonym for caring could be the word comfortable it's important that all our students are comfortable LGBT activists care that students struggling with gender identity feel comfortable concerned parents want their children to feel comfortable by protecting same-sex bathrooms we all agree Comfort is important especially in

029these formative years I can imagine it being very difficult if I felt like a boy inside I can imagine feeling like a boy that using the girl's restroom would be uncomfortable it would feel unsafe feeling like a boy I would want to be where the boys are I would feel like I didn't belong in the girls restroom naturally there would be something in me wanting to be matched to the same sex in terms of intimate spaces and experiences like changing and using the bathroom so under one scenario solution would be that I since I identify as a boy would go use the boys restroom to feel comfortable but there is a problem in the logic here by going to use the boys restroom I am unwittingly subjecting the boys there to the same kind of

030discomfort that I am there to escape though I would feel like a boy to them I could look like a girl and that would make them uncomfortable again I am leaving the girl's bathroom because I feel like a boy I don't want to go to the bathroom with girls then I turn around and go into the boy's bathroom making them uncomfortable if they see that I am biologically a girl I don't think it is fair to them to make them uncomfortable when I know how bad being uncomfortable feels and I don't think it honors the privacy and experiences of each student sufficiently now the school board may feel that the boys in the boys restroom don't have the right to feel uncomfortable with the transgender student others believe that as a biological girl a transgender

031student should be encouraged to feel fine in the girls bathroom because it's her sex at Birth and her Anatomy but regardless of your opinion on how both groups of students should feel for now can we work together to come up with solutions that stop idealizing the should and start really realizing that discomfort is very real on both sides there are ways to accommodate both the uncomfortable transgender student and the vast majority of gender conforming students who would be made uncomfortable by this bathroom policy change there were accommodations being made with the use of Staff bathrooms now the non-discrimination policy remains in effect and a lack of procedural guidelines only means the policy can be interpreted willingly now we have uncomfortable transgender students uncomfortable gender conforming students and now uncomfortable citizens who feel slighted in this

032process in this way the school board has added more discomfort and division to our community thank you thank you Christopher Ayala chairman Evans superintendent Garza and members of the school board I thank you in advance for the opportunity to come before you today on a topic of significant concern to the at-large parent community with regards to their children attending Fairfax County Public Schools that topic being the recent and ongoing approval of applications to install cell towers on Fairfax County Public School property for the reasons I'll further articulate in my statement I propose that the school board take three actions first the board should adopt an immediate moratorium on the processing of any pending or in-process applications to erect cell phone towers on Fairfax County Public School owned property second the school board should rescind its

033current delegations of authority regarding cell tower applications and exercise direct authority over this controversial business activity to ensure a full and appropriate consideration can be given to community and parent input on a pre-decisional basis third I'd recommend the school board revisit its initial decision to allow the application and approval process for the application pertaining to building a cell tower at Crossfield Elementary School to proceed as its impact is adverse and inconsistent with the Fairfax County comprehensive plan in quickly educating myself on the policies processes and entities involved in cell tower applications on FCPS owned properties I've learned the following there's a board policy 8335 entitled Wireless telecommunication facilities that provides access to school properties for the location of mobile and land-based facilities in part to obtain revenue for the benefit of FCPS the same policy

034states that such facilities will not be installed on elementary middle or high school buildings and that Community input will be solicited prior to any decision on telecommunication facility applications further the same policy delegates the decision-making Authority on these applications including their approval or denial to the Department of facilities and transportation services based on my attendance at a September 20th local land use committee meeting at which one of these applications was presented it was abundantly clear to me that the community at large had been denied the opportunity for pre-decisional input further I've also learned that section 4 of FCPS School Board policy 8330 entitled granting as easements and permits for construction on school property indicates that the easements and permits can only be granted when Construction in no way will permanently damage interfere with or limit

035the present or future use of the property and will not endanger the general health safety or welfare of individuals using the property this requirement cannot be met if cell tower construction on school property is allowed to proceed as their presence so proximate to school buildings creates potential health and risks including risks associated with fire due to lightning strikes or equipment explosions risks to safety associated with possible Tower collapse possible criminal activity and vehicular dangers in closing I want to state that I am a proud member of the Fairfax County community and relocated here 11 years ago in large part because of the reputation of the school system I believe that the school board has stated that it is firmly committed to Citizen involvement and sees it as the backbone of their school system being successful

036however I do see a disconnect with the actions taken recently by the board with regards to cell towers being located on school property and their written policies in word and would ask for your reconsideration thank you [Applause] to see if Mr Penn Tech has arrived all right Mr pentek if you would like to uh come and speak I I understand most of us were at back to school nights tonight as well okay begin okay I'd like to address the board about an important piece absent from the Strategic plan for FCPS the basic design of f FCPS is fundamentally flawed and as a result there's much waste Fraud and Abuse that occurs and must be stopped a recent example illustrates a dismal state to which things have deteriorated currently frankly this is about the saddest story

037I've ever heard my apologies to Ford Maddox Ford please keep in mind it is not the problem but a symptom of the problem that has manifested and I'll give you a solution at the end shocked yes so am I before you object please note that these were not my words they are yours I was what I was reading was quoted verbatim the source is the opening of a book that is mandatory reading English class assignment for my daughter that was given here at FCPS thus objection on your part would be dishonest and hypocrisy the board expects that speakers will deliver their comments with decorum Etc and so on and those requirements are listed twice in your publication regarding citizen participation there's also a 38-page guide concerning students rights and responsibilities to navigate a safe really

038blah blah blah which require which for explicitly forbids vulgar profane obscene and patently offensive looter and decent language in all forms the reason I said blah blah blah and skipped some is this my we wrote this my daughter wrote some of this and I'm not gonna have time in three minutes to cover it all this language is banned here and the children can be suspended and punished for using such language the syllabus for the very same English class forbids the same yet the assignments cannot be read aloud without violating a class school and board policies you should at an absolute minimum be required to abide by your own rules and standards experience shows that SP FCPS does No Such Thing moreover this is not an obscure isolated or one-time occurrence it is the third consecutive

039year we have endured debase and worst perverted garbage of all kinds in the curriculum one such Book used was deemed inappropriate by the author himself despite complaints your degenerate teachers and reprobate staff regularly assign multiple offensive inappropriate materials without any risk of of consequences it is simply conduct Beyond The Pale my child described the experiences not just unsettling not just undermining any respect for the schools but being mind raped by the teacher how about discipline and dismissing these incorrigibles how dare you for those of you shaking your heads and getting ready to cite your favorite celebrated offers authors that so forth and so forth that use vulgar language consider this adult material if anywhere belongs in college if you want to bring a university level adult material into English class start with authors like Strunk

040and white until then get the smut out of the classroom FCPS claims that kids come first the white elephant in the room is that the emperor has no clothes not just on this topic but on many others this disgusting State comes from a broken system that allows Infamous acts I will not continue on with uh I will wrap up the solution is to create an office of An Inspector General an independent IG with investigative Powers will more than pay for itself such an IG is not only required but is the gold standard for every government bureaucracy idiocracy gone wild thank you very much I appreciate it I don't know anyone else here I call on the next item is student representative matters and I call on missed you thank you madam chair um to start

041off I would like to recognize two Scouts in the audience Joshua from Spring Hill a club Cub Scout here to support his mom who spoke recently and Quentin from Oakton High School completing his citizenship in the world of Merit Badge if you could please stand to be recognized [Applause] thank you So within this first month of school it's exciting that we've already have many academic achievements uh recently it was announced that 213 of CPS students were named National Merit semi-finalists 100 of 19 of which came from my home school TJ I could not test as well as any of you can but I commend you on your great academic excellence in addition I have made my final nominations to the citizen advisory committees and would like to note that I took extreme care specifically for

042the family life and education curriculum advisory committee I do believe that this year the student representation on the committee will reflect the views of the student body across the county in addition this Monday will be the launch of the superintendent's student advisory committee I'm excited to discuss these three topics this year on mental health school environment and student balance and wellness and having heard all this today I believe that these three topics will truly Encompass the issues in the upcoming years in addition to any students watching tonight I would like to take note that the 2016 to 17 student leadership development program application is open this is an absolutely wonderful way to gain insight into the governance of our school system and for any high school or Alternative High School sophomore or Junior I encourage

043you to take Opera to take this opportunity in addition the Fairfax County student Human Rights Commission has applications open this is the Region's first commission comprised entirely of high school students with a mission to promote diversity and Foster a greater understanding of differences among youth in Fairfax County through various activities so to students who would like to assume leadership roles in the community and gain better understanding of how our system works I encourage you to check out these two applications in addition as my school visit starts this year I make taking it upon myself to visit every High secondary and Alternative High School and I will be meeting with the LGBT students in these communities as well as student leaders who feel differently about these topics to understand how students feel so I would just

044like to make it known that having taken all this into account today I will be valuing the students opinions for the entirety of the year that is all thank you Miss Chu we move on to item 2.03 the opening of schools report and I call on Dr Garza thank you madam chair members of the board um and members of the FCPS Community I'm delighted to report that we had a great start to the 2016-2017 school year we welcomed over 186 000 students and we welcomed also over 1800 new teachers to our system I want to congratulate and thank all of our wonderful FCPS staff throughout the division our principals our facilities custodial teams our transportation department which I understand our buses ran smoother than ever our human resources department clearly that did a lot of

045heavy lifting this summer all of FCPS for the planning and the work that was done to prepare for the 2016-2017 school year and it made it one of the best starts ever we have some exciting and important instructional initiatives underway this year such as project-based problem-based learning our new assessment Universal screener pilot that is going on in 15 schools very excited about that our FCPS on work around instructional technology and the continued very successful work with our project momentum schools we have prepared the traditional PowerPoint for the opening of schools report it looks like this this report is available for our board and the public on board docs but we are doing something a little different this year and I will not be walking through the PowerPoint our Communications team pulled some highlights from the

046report and prepared this video and so we're showing that video right now [Music] thank you my host for the first day are to just really get to meet everybody and make connections and get to know the students because it's their first day it's my first day and I'm just really excited to be here the first day is going very smoothly we had 18 buses come in this morning and about eight or nine small buses as well so everything was smooth we had a great staff to make sure everybody got in and where they're supposed to be for their first period classes foreign [Music] we are actually going to be the largest elementary school in Fairfax County Public Schools and I ventured a guests probably in the D.C metropolitan area over time we can anticipate having

047about 1600 students come through the threshold of our doors each day we all know that in today's world technology must be a part of the learning experience while technology is only one many resources our teachers use to provide students with meaningful learning experiences it is a powerful one technology not only allows our teachers to personalize different learning activities for students but also opens up a world of creativity for our students to demonstrate what they have learned everybody tries to find what's a single fix what's one thing I can put in place to turn a school around and there really isn't it's really a combination of high-yield strategies and structures with a tight Focus that are really helping us to achieve the results that we are we've learned that through research that kids that have access

048to fresh fruits and vegetables will consume more we've learned that you can modify eating behaviors and serve as Educators in helping to develop lifelong healthy eaters thank you work hard to earn the internship because it's not given this is not just freewheelingly given to anybody you've got to show that you really want it and you're dedicated and it just makes us want to compete knowing that we will get the skills needed to be in a professional environment foreign [Music] thank you and as I pointed out the traditional PowerPoint with a lot more information and it is available to the school board and to the public should you wish us to to go through the full report and then just finally I want to convey to this board all of our employees and our overall Community

049my deepest appreciation I know that I shared some surprising news this past Monday and since the announcement announcement I've received hundreds of very thoughtful notes wishing me well thank you for all your wonderful support it really means a lot this System Fairfax County Public Schools it's truly remarkable in every way and we thank you very much for this opportunity to talk about what a great opening we had for this school year thank you madam chair support thank you so much Dr Garza it was a lovely video we now turn to item 2.04 FY 2018 fiscal forecast including use of potential meals tax revenue I call in Dr Garza to introduce the fiscal forecast presentation this report was shared with the board there's been some updates since our work sessions and minor updates to reflect some

050of the conversations the board had but we felt like the chair of our chair and others on the board felt like it was important for our public to also see the fiscal forecast so they have a good picture of where we think fiscal year 18 and Beyond I think our video is showing again there we go okay um so I'm going to turn over to Kristen Michael our wonderful assistant superintendent for financial services she will walk through our fiscal forecast and then talk a little bit about some of the um information that we know is important for uh consideration Around the Mills tax all yours Chris thank you so much I appreciate the opportunity this evening to go back through the fiscal forecast for FY 18 for our school operating fund so with the support

051from the community the county and the state FCPS was able to avoid reductions to instructional programs in this school year in fact we began the process of rebuilding making an initial investment of 40 million dollars to begin to close the gap between our teacher salaries and the surrounding Market average and in addition we were able to invest significant dollars to eliminate large Elementary classes of 30 students or above as we look forward though we do face continued challenges compensation will continue to be a priority and additional investments will be required student enrollment growth is still projected to continue to increase and the state's revenue shortfall for FY 16 will impact the school system's budget for both this school year and our FY 18 fiscal forecast so on July 8 2016 Governor McAuliffe announced that the

052state's general fund Revenue collections for the year that just ended were more than one percent below the state's official revenue forecast and as a result of that the state is required to reforest revenue for both FY 17 and FY 18. as a result of that the revised revenue forecast will reduce Revenue by 1.2 billion over the next two fiscal years of the biennium and that state revenue shortfall and rip forecasting will impact fcps's Revenue the interim forecast um did note that increases for state workers faculties teachers and deputies while those priorities remained a priority that the state would redirect 125 million that they had set aside for the state share of pay increases to help address the fiscal shortfall for FY 17. so as a result of that the funding that was included in the

053state budget to provide salary increases for fcps's teachers will not be funded that includes 4.4 million in FY 17 and potentially 7.6 million in FY 18. due to the uncertainty surrounding that state budget though FCPS will continue to honor its commitment to providing our employees the salary increases that were adopted as part of the school board's budget for this current school year as we look at our revenue forecast moving forward in each year's forecast we assume the County transfer will be level to help us project our need then if we look at the forecast for our state funding for both sales tax and state aid this fiscal forecast reflects the state's projection that was included when they release their biennial budget so both of these increases were projected prior to the state needing to reforecast

054revenue so both of these items may be overly optimistic we were projecting a three percent increase in sales tax which totaled 5.8 million and we were also forecasting an increase in state aid of 18.8 million when we look at our other Revenue categories federal aid which is primarily impact Aid was projected to remain level and our other categories of Revenue Fairfax city and other tuition totaled 1.3 million for our beginning balance funding FCPS currently has 22.2 million set aside but because we have beginning balance funding in our current year budget of 33.1 million that does leave us with a gap of 10.9 million as we look to begin our FY 18 budget expenditure side of our projections we're projecting continued enrollment growth for FY 18 of 470 students for a total of 4.3 million we're

055also projecting increased costs for retirement first the Virginia retirement system the state accelerated the rate increase from FY 19 to FY 18 and that will increase FCPS costs by 25.5 million in FY 18. we're also projecting retirement rate increases for our local plan erfc and for the county plan which some of our employees participate in for health rate increases we're projecting an increase of 7.2 percent that's a three percent increase which is lower due to the Cost Containment we've put in place and our recent claims experience lastly we have contractual increases of 4.1 million when we look at our projected compensation needs for FY 18 we have a step increase for all of our employees totaling 44 million we have another investment in our teacher scale we're working to increase our teacher scale and this

056is an investment of 44.3 million and that represents a continued phase in as we work to get our teachers salaries to the market average next we have a market scale adjustment for our non-teacher scale positions of one percent that's 7.9 million and the market scale adjustment for the teacher scale was included in our teacher scale phase lastly we have our base savings which is savings that we recognize each year from recurring position turnover and that saves us 20.7 million so I'd like to take just a minute to talk a little bit about our teacher salary scale a new teacher salary scale has developed and shared with the school board as part of our compensation study we're looking to have Market competitive salary range salaries with a target range between 95 and 105 percent of the

057market we're also looking to implement faster career earnings while maintaining our annual pay step progression so we look at our teacher scale investment that we're recommending as part of our FY 18 budget as I said earlier that totals 44.3 million and that recommendation will close the gap between our current pay range and the projected Market average over a period of three years for this recommendation now each year that projected Market average is going to continue to shift as our surrounding school districts continue to make salary increases so while we were able to fund 40 million dollars in FY 17 that was to help us begin to close the gap with our FY 16 Market average so to look at that in a slide this slide shows teacher salary scales and it's a complex slides while

058walk through this graph starting with the bottom line through the top the very bottom line in the green colors are FY 16 salary scale the next lineup which is a maroon color shows our FY 17 scale and you can see there the investment that we made that 40 million dollars how it increased teacher salaries during the mid portion of their career the next slide up is our FY 18 implementation plan so with the 44.3 million dollars we've included in our FY 18 forecast that would increase our salaries to that dashed yellow line the next line up from that is a blue line and it's the FY 18 projected Market average so you can see even after we make this investment in FY 18 we're still going to be below the projected FY 18 Market average

059now if we're looking ahead to the Future you can also see on this slide in the dashed blue or purple line are projected future scale right and that is above the FY 18 Market average because we are having a phase in approach and it will take us approximately three years to get there and then the last lines on this graph do show two competitor school districts that is in the red and the green lines and those were their salaries for FY 18. so while you can see we began to make progress in FY 17 we still have a ways to go as we continue to improve our teachers salaries we also have in our FY 18 fiscal forecast Key strategic investments in the classroom totaling 15 million there's funding for textbooks including the purchase of

060textbooks for social studies and FY 18 and additional funding is needed to begin a seven year replacement cycle for math science language arts and World languages we have funding for student technology one of our key initiatives is FCPS on which was shown in the back to school video this evening this continues that phased in approach we have funding for assessment tools a universal screener which will help provide us with targeted intervention and acceleration for students and we have funding in our forecast to continue to reduce the waiting list for preschool so in summary FY 18 had required expenditures of 58.4 million the salary increases that I went through for FY 18 after being offset by base savings total 75.5 million and the identified strategic Investments that I just discussed totaled 15. when all of those

061expenditure increases are offset by that projected Revenue increase which again may be overly optimistic based upon the state it does show that we have a projected gap of 134 million for FY 18. so I'd also like to note that while that fiscal forecast shows the Gap we still have many unfunded needs that were not included in the forecast it includes additional adjustments needed for compensation to bring our salaries to the market average funding to address large class sizes at middle and high schools to enhance Elementary autism and fund a learning management system the forecast doesn't include additional support for students through parent liaison psychologists and social workers and it also doesn't reflect additional funding that we need in order to implement a computer and bus replacement cycle and to enhance our preventative and major maintenance

062so as we look towards FY 18 we know that we have many fiscal uncertainties the state's economic conditions may impact our budget both for this fiscal year and next we have meetings scheduled with the Board of Supervisors and School Board to begin our discussion for FY 18 and we will continue to watch as our enrollment continues to grow so that's our fiscal forecast for FY 18. I'd now like to go through a presentation on the meals tax that was also shared at last Monday's work session Kristen before you do that let me let me just make a couple of comments at the bottom of each of the slides there's a statements asterisks and it's very important a physical forecast does not reflect any decision points it's simply a projection of what we may have ahead

063it projects what kind of Revenue IT projects what kinds of potentially what kind of required increases will have to include in the budget and it also looks at projected Investments now we know that we're very early in the process so when we get to the final budget adoption period in May the budget may look very different than what we just showed you just now this is the beginning process where we start to outline what those challenges we may face kind of what the financial picture looks like and as we move forward we'll refine and get more specific about some of these decision points but it's just to really set the stage for the development of the fiscal year 18 budget which is we know a very long process of about nine months so we're just

064beginning that process right now thank you Kristen thank you so now I would like to share some information and facts regarding the meals tax that are from the County website as well as the school board's priority for any potential meals tax funding so a meals tax is a tax on all ready to eat prepared foods and the Board of Supervisors does not have the authority to implement a meals tax unless it's approved by the voters so in the November 8th general election Fairfax County voters will be asked to vote yes or no on a meals tax question the question asked voters to allow the Board of Supervisors to impose up to a four percent meals tax on certain prepared foods and that would be paid by residents commuters and tourists if the majority of Voters

065approve the meals tax the port of Supervisors would dedicate that Revenue to two purposes first seventy percent of the revenues would be dedicated to Fairfax County Public Schools and second 30 percent of the net revenues would be dedicated to County Services Capital Improvement and property tax relief the meals tax if approved by voters is estimated to generate 99 million in the first year with 28 percent of that Revenue coming from non-county residents so the Board of Supervisors is seeking the authority to impose a meals tax to reduce the County's dependence on real estate tax currently about 65 percent of Fairfax County's general fund Revenue comes from real estate taxes and state law limits what the county can tax and how it may otherwise raise revenue a four percent tax is equivalent to four cents on

066the current FY 17 real estate tax rate and when the real estate tax rate is increased it impacts all property owning residents and these tax rates are typically passed on through renters if a meals tax is passed it would apply to tourists commuters and travelers as well as residents who dine out and a meals tax is a common source of revenue for other local governments in Virginia so if approved four percent meals tax will add four cents to every dollar spent dining out in Fairfax for example a 10 fast casual meal would cost an additional 40 cents and a hundred dollar restaurant meal would cost an additional four dollars when are Fairfax County residents go out to eat many times they're paying a meals taxed on other local governments for example other jurisdictions who charge

067a four percent meals tax include Arlington Alexandria Falls Church and Fairfax City Herndon has a 2.5 meals tax Vienna has a three percent meals tax and the District of Columbia charges a 10 percent meals tax if approved the meals tax is projected to generate 99 million in the first year again with 28 percent of that coming from non-county residents of that Revenue FCPS would receive approximately 67 million the school board commits to dedicate funding from the meals tax to these two areas first the vast majority to ensuring competitive teacher salaries and second the remaining funds to critical classroom resources thank you and then finally I want to add the reason we felt it important and this was stated at the work session last week about if the meals tax were to pass how would the

068money be spent I know school board members and members of the leadership team have been asked that question and I think we owe um that answer to the public and so the board spent a good bit of time talking about if in fact it were to pass you know how how could we articulate to the community communicate to the community how those monies would be allocated so that's the purpose of this portion of the presentation thank you Kristen and thank you madam chair I thank you Miss Michael I have a first question from Mr Moon thank you for the presentation again I have a couple of questions one of which was already asked at the work session but just for the public that I'm going to ask the same question again but let me start

069with something that I did not ask at the work session that's on slide number 14. the 14.9 million dollars the productive Revenue increase where can I find the 14 9 on from in other slides so 14.9 million is the total of the revenue adjustments that appear on slide six and slide seven six and seven correct so it's the increase projected increase in state funding from sales tax and state 8 on slide six right as well as the adjustments on slide seven to Fairfax city tuition and other revenue and those are offset by that decrease in beginning balance funding so the net of all of those is the 14.9 million okay thank you so much that answers my question and then I'll go to slide number 12 when where we see many different lines let me

070let me go to that verb okay uh that dotted purple line proposed future scare and the few we're not going to get there until FY 2020 is that correct that is correct so that's what you do through your implementation correct you will take us three years on so that won't happen until fi 2020 and that dotted line is above FY 18 projected Market average which is that blue line however by 2020 that blue line may be above correct above the purple Dotty line that is even though we can never tell what the other jurisdiction might not do but if you assume that they will do their regular step Plus cost of living adjustments that can easily go above our purple dotted line that is correct that purple dotted line is projected to be within that

071target range of 95 to 105 percent of where that market average will be in in fiscal year 20 2020. is there any way for you to give us another line not chunai which may show based upon past history you can use last five years last 10 years you know if the other jurisdictions did the same for the last couple of years well that projected Market average for fi 2020 I just want to see what the game might look like between the purple dotted line and projecting Market average correct and absolutely we'll be able to use a historical Trend data to project out where the other jurisdictions will be after they Implement a market scale adjustment in those future years to show you that projected 2020 Market average and how it will line up with our

072projected future scale thank you so much may I add to this line of questioning Mr Moon you made a point and it's a correct one this is a dynamic you know dilemma that we have you know as we're trying to catch up you know the Market's also moving every year so that's number one secondly your first question you said that we will be phasing this in over a three-year period we're projecting to do it in that way Mr moon but ultimately that would be the decision that the board would have to make in the budget development process whether that be a two-year implement a three-year implementation or whatever so we can't definitively say it would be 2020 tonight but throughout this process I know the board wants to aggressively implement it it depends upon how

073much revenue we have available absolutely absolutely absolutely I was understood and of course you know large you know factor for this to happen might be whether you know what what will happen to a million stocks referendum in November do I have other board members who have questions or comments I also want to remind the public there was a lively discussion about this presentation at the board work session earlier this week so this is a little bit of a repeat for our board members so if you're not seeing a lot of questions tonight uh please it does not connote lack of Interest I will assure you of that we just felt like it would be a good presentation for the public to hear in this way have Mrs Schultz did you queue me up Dr Garza

074see so um never to reject the opportunity to be Lively I guess I see that as a golden invitation although I did flip the button before you said what you said so um look you know the the key phrase here um is certain prepared foods and and um uh the demure reference to liveliness at the earlier meeting um was uh I'm sure reserved for yours truly um in that I am astounded uh and said so at the work session on Monday that this board Endeavors to spend one second of time um opining on what it might get for Christmas if you taxpayers and Endeavor to open up your wallets and give us more of your money and I I am frustrated on your behalf as a public student as a public servant when we've just

075had a presentation where we're talking about you know teacher lanes and trying to become comparable and that we've spent a year and a half or two years ringing our hands about losing teachers because we don't have comparable pay in some of the salary scales and yet we spend time looking at the potential of money the potential of something coming our way without having the discussion in-house about how to do it with the resources that we already possess a report just came out that said for the last 16 years more than 50 percent of American households are earning the equivalent of less money than they did 16 years ago more than 50 percent and I know that Fairfax county is generally recession-proof but that doesn't mean that the average homeowner and average taxpayer isn't going to

076be um heavily hit by something like this because it isn't the question of whether you go out to a restaurant it isn't the question of you know treating the the the individuals within your family to an extravagance or a luxury this is every single restaurant meal and every prepared food that you would buy in a grocery store and you know we are and have the most expensive grocery bills in the United States of America in Fairfax County already and I don't think it's fair um at this point um without a a real discussion about what we're doing in-house with the um generous 2.7 billion dollars and nearly 54 percent of the County's budget that FCPS already takes when 75 percent of the people in Fairfax County don't have children in the public schools that we

077don't talk about the return on investment to the taxpayers that we already um are accountable for but have no taxing Authority and this is a long way around the bush I think it's a very dangerous thing for us to be throwing up G wouldn't it be great if if you give us this look how much better we'll be at at handling your money um and I I was not happy about it Monday and I'm not happy about it tonight and the reason I'm not happy is for you not for me Mrs Strauss thank you um Virginia is a Dylan rule state and that means that local government in Virginia has only those powers specifically given to it by the general assembly and in Virginia Fairfax county is an urban County form of government cities and

078towns such as this city Fairfax the town of Herndon they actually have more power to create a balanced menu of revenues to support the services that are required to be provided to Citizens there's been a long discussion that in Fairfax County the Board of Supervisors are forced to rely unusually on residential real estate tax to provide the services whether it's school police fire whatever services are required to maintain the quality of life that citizens expect in Fairfax County there was a list earlier of all the other surrounding jurisdictions who have a meals tax that is a common Revenue in Virginia it helps to relieve the pressure on the real estate tax and the Board of Supervisors to go ahead and decide to put that on the ballot for citizens to decide the uh there's also

079been many opportunities and we have asked the general assembly to allow the Board of Supervisors in the past to be able to uh have a little more authority to create what would be seen as a fair menu of taxes and that request is is uh has not been granted and consequently the only way that the Board of Supervisors can create a more balanced menu of taxes is to have to go to a referendum um we know that we've had tough times with our school budgets and we do have to somehow find a way to increase always for our teachers because we are not we have lost our Competitive Edge but this is an opportunity um for Fairfax citizens to relieve some of the pressure that many people are concerned about on the real estate tax

080um this is an opportunity and for better for worse we will get to decide yes or no we've also many of us have been asked well because we know that a lot of parents um there have been many parent advocacy organizations that are very much in support of a meal stacks and we have been asked if it passes and the Board of Supervisors have been asked if this passes how would this impact schools and you will find when you read the referendum on the ballot it indicates from the Board of Supervisors their intent as to how the revenues would be used and 70 percent would come to Fairfax County Public Schools it is only fair that the Board of Supervisors indicate the language that is on the referendum so it is important that people become

081knowledgeable about this proposal it does provide us an opportunity to I think provide a fair menu of revenues for the entire County so um I am pleased with this with the presentation today it answers a lot of questions that are being asked and the Board of Supervisors have also wanted to know if this passes how this would be used and again our need to pay our teachers more we have lost our Competitive Edge and it is difficult for us to go forward so I welcome this presentation and the information that it contains and I do urge citizens to become informed to read the referendum carefully and understand how it will go forward it is a meals tax it is not a grocery tax thanks Ms McLaughlin I very much appreciate the additional information that Ms

082Strauss just shared I think it's very important for the viewers to understand why it is in fact that we included this in tonight's business meeting before I say anything more Mr Foster apologized to be calling upon you as our division Council but one of the things I think the board has been very careful of is how and where each of us individually as board members and elected officials speak about the meals tax because I do believe there is some sort of guidelines or restrictions to what we can say in advocacy or support of a meals tax or not similar to the school bond and so um in in listening to some remarks being made by our colleagues at the table before I engender to do the same I wanted to get clarification from you in

083our roles and in this setting here tonight in our business meeting is it appropriate for us to speak individually about our beliefs about this meals tax or are we supposed to keep strictly to this is what's going to be on the ballot and this is how the school would um you know try to allocate the funding if it were to come in um I appreciate the the question Miss McLaughlin because we're in public session I'm not going to get into a lot of a lot of detail I will say this uh really two things um I think that for tonight's purposes because the presentation from Ms Michael focused on this is how the money would be spent under one scenario which is the passage of the of the meal tax that it that that really

084should be the focus of the discussion um the second point is that just like with um school bond referenda you know my advice to you and this has been provided previously I want to reiterate it the advice to you is that you not um as in this case State your individual positions in favor or against a particular meals tax referendum you don't do that when there are school bond referenda pending and my advice is you'd similarly not do it with respect to the pending meals tax okay thank you so to the the audience who is probably wondering about maybe the differences of opinion among myself and and our colleagues up here I do want to at least State my viewpoint that I think it was entirely appropriate that as voters are trying to better understand

085the purpose of the meals tax that when you see something that's being designated 70 percent to go to schools as Miss Strauss very carefully articulated the board supervisors and the public do want to understand why is there a need and what would you actually spend that funding on and so I sort of differ with one of my colleagues in that I don't think this is a Santa Claus Christmas list I think instead it's actually being as transparent as we possibly can with our voters to say this is how we would hope to talk Target the these very important funds that that would be coming in from the ballot measure and not to do so I think actually would be a disservice to our public so as Ms Strauss said Dr Garza Ms Michaels I appreciate

086that in my mind what you presented at the work session on Monday what you're presenting now is simply factual about where the school system would hope to Target the money and then it's for the voters to decide whether they think that has Merit or not and the the final echoing point is that we're not going to be up here telling you whether it's a good tax or a or not a good tax we are imploring every single voter please become as informed and as knowledgeable as you can and understand that the supervisors put it on the referendum not because they are trying to tell you what to do they're saying that this is a choice and a decision that they they understand by law the County residents need to decide thank you Miss Hines yes

087thank you um so as long as we're trying to help the public understand better what the meals tax could do for the school system and what we might do with it I just had a few questions um it's my understanding that if the meals tax is passed it would provide the additional Revenue that we would need to reinvest in our teacher salaries and in critical classroom needs so that's what you have presented today thank you and I just wanted to make sure that people understand kind of how we got where we are now with these unmet needs and so this may be review for some people but since 2008 revenues have not met growing enrollment and costs in the school system so that in FY 2016 the year that the fiscal year that just ended

088the school system was spending a thousand dollars Less in real dollars per child than in 2008 is that correct Miss Michael that is correct if you look back since 2008 FCPS has cut nearly a billion dollars from our budget right and that has come through central office Cuts significant central office cuts and it has come by raising class size unfortunately only three times over that time and also by freezing teacher pay which is how we found ourselves in the position we're in in FY 2016 we were fortunate that our I'm sorry for this FY 2017 we are fortunate now that our funders at the local and state level particularly the local level gave the school system some added Revenue so that we are not only able to meet increasing enrollment and cost but we are

089able to make some reinvestments particularly in our teacher salary scale is that right that is correct so at this point we are no longer spending a thousand dollars less per child in 2008 but we are still I believe spending Less in real dollars per child than we were in 2008 is that correct yes when you look at our cost per pupil adjusted for inflation we are spending less than we were prior to the economic downturn okay so we have begun our reinvestment and we have begun to turn the corner in recovery for the school system and I just wanted to also mention um when there are questions about the efficiency of the school system Miss Michael three years ago we had had an efficiency study done by Gibson consulting which as I recall took a

090look at the whole school system looking for a fish found about 10 million dollars in Opportunities For Greater efficiency is that right correct that was 10 million dollars over a five-year period of implementation right over a five-year period of implementation in a 2.6 2.7 billion dollar budget and is it correct that the school system has made all of those savings the school system implemented all the Savings in the very first year in the very first year so we actually did better than we were asked to do a consultant and that consultant was paid by the state that is correct okay all right and when it comes to our return on investment for the school system in this community that is a very good question and in fact we have um a report that we have

091just recently published by Stephen Fuller who is a world-renowned economist at George Mason University and I believe he will be coming to speak to the school board in October but I have a one conclusion from that report that I thought I would check with you which is Dr Fuller looked at the economic impact of the school system on the local economy and found that Fairfax County Public Schools is second only to the federal government in our positive effect on the local economy is that correct that is correct okay thank you um uh Mrs Corbett Sanders thank you and along the same lines in understanding a bit more about the meals tax I understand that 70 percent will go to the schools and 30 percent will go towards Parks libraries infrastructure and tax relief for seniors

092is that accurate their exact language is dedicated to County Services Capital Improvement and property tax relief excellent thank you do you have a understanding of what percentage of school funding comes from property taxes as a national average versus here in Fairfax County so I know when we look even just within the state of Virginia Fairfax County we're very reliant on our local government in terms of providing us with Revenue right the average jurisdiction in Virginia receives less than half of their funding from their local government and we're receiving two-thirds about 75 percent and when you look at the funding that FCPS is receiving from our local government the majority of that is coming from property taxes somebody suggested that 65 is that accurate so the average jurisdiction in Virginia I should say is receiving more

093than half of their funding from the state here in Fairfax County in Fairfax County it's more than 65 percent of the revenues coming from property taxes okay so if we were to receive money from a meals tax would that be rolled into how the state values how much they would reinvest in Fairfax County through the local Composite Index or is the meals tax something that would fall outside of their formula so it will fall outside of the formula so as a result of the meals tax we do not expect that the state will lower the funding that they're providing so actually any meals tax revenue would actually stay here in Fairfax county is that what you're saying that is correct so instead of us sending money down to Richmond and then getting a very small

094piece of it back about 22 cents is that correct correct then in this case we would keep the 100 here in Fairfax County correct excellent thank you very much Mr Wilson thank you madam chair um I wanted to just clarify one point on the teacher scale Master Lane slide I think it's slide 12. just could you tell me the two comparatory districts yes compared to districts one and two are Arlington County and Alexandria City okay um just I mean you have to describe it because it's not here but other counties where do they fall like can you describe like where Prince William would fall or where Loudon would fall on the so when you average all the surrounding school districts together that is the line that we show as being the market average the projected

095Market average for FY 18. so it would be the light blue line if you go back we can go back to the compensation study and we do show our each jurisdiction Falls relative to FCPS is there are there is there an outlier District that is folded in or more than one outlier at the top and bottom that sort of are outside of a bunched range so when we look at all the surrounding school districts when we look at all the districts that have salaries that are higher than FCPS in total less some of them are smaller jurisdictions they have more teachers in total than FCPS uh so combined all of the districts whose salaries were above fcps's when we did our FY 16 Market scale those districts combined have more teachers in total than FCPS

096has uh I'm not sure that answers what I was getting at what I was getting at is if if there's one outlier District that pays substantially more than say any other District or if there's one that falls significantly below it would make sense to me to sort of throw out the outliers and average the other District compensations to sort of get a truer sense of what a real Market average would be because it could be skewed is my is my question did you think about that or is that an analysis you could provide the board we certainly can provide the board with each of the surrounding jurisdictions I don't recall any jurisdictions being outside of what you would consider a normal range as we were calculating that average okay so there wasn't you didn't sense

097there was any outlier District particularly not particularly okay um I appreciate um Ms Heinz bringing up the report from Dr Fuller because that sort of goes to my questions on the meals tax um uh and maybe the answers are in that report Ms Michaels are you familiar with the report enough to to know whether or not you can speak to whether something is in it if I ask it sure I don't have the full report in front of me but I'll tell you if I know so so one of the concerns that I have um is that we've heard tonight that we have nearly 30 percent of our students are free and reduced meals um so do we know uh from the economic analysis what segment of the meals economy will be generating most of

098the tax dollars or is there or is it an even distribution where I'm getting at is that segments of the socio-economic scale will eat at different places than other sections of the socioeconomic scale so is that analysis available to know how much it impacts so the economic impact study did not look at the meals text at all right and I don't have any of the projected sources of of meals tax revenue with me yeah so my concern is with the meals tax is that well it makes a lot of sense in the sense that it spreads it to just everybody who has meals or buys prepared meals I'm concerned that it impacts actually the those who have the least capacity to pay additional tax revenues amounts in taxes and and it may seem like small

099change to uh to those who are able and can afford to go out to dinner frequently but for many people who maybe don't have those resources a small change could make a significant difference um go ahead I do know that they're projecting that 28 of the meals tax revenue will come from non-county residents okay do you know if the economic analysis includes anything sort of uh beyond the just the projections of income does it talk about impact on the business Community do we have input from say the Chambers of Commerce on the if that might interrupt Mr Wilson the economic study that Dr Fuller did yeah it had nothing to do with the Mills tax it was just what what happens when the the taxpayer here in our County invest in the school system what

100does that translate into in terms of economic impact so we would not what have I mean we would not be able to answer any more questions but was there any economic analysis provided by say the chamber or the Restaurant Association in terms of you know what is the impact on jobs what is the projected impact on business the business Community itself because this goes to an issue of part of Fairfax County's attractive attractiveness nationally is is our tax structure on businesses so we need to I guess I feel like that would be helpful because we have to compare and balance because other options um you know may make more sense I'm going to help Kristen here I'm not sure she's one of the brightest Minds you'll find anywhere around you know the finance and fiscal

101management but I'm I'm not sure that she came prepared tonight to you know if she doesn't have the information and I'm not sure yeah I'm not sure that she would be or we would be the right people to answer some of those questions okay they may be available somewhere I'm sure the chamber you know if maybe the county may have done some of them supervisors has done some information I think it'd be helpful for us to see it as well as particularly if we're going to be talking about it in the public forum I think it would be helpful to have as much information as we can gather to discuss the merits because it's all part of in particular how it impacts our families in in the Fairfax County Public Schools is an important element

102that I'd like to drill down on a little bit thank you Mrs hap thank you um thanks Miss Michaels one of the things I really appreciated about the presentation on the meals tax how we would spend it it's really that it highlights what we desire to spend in our fiscal forecast which is on our teachers and critical needs in the classroom and I agree with my colleagues that we really want to make sure that those who are going to be going out and voting on this that they are knowledgeable and how is it going to go to the schools and what percents are going to go to the schools but um I do want to just make sure in that that we are that we are giving the full story as well um you know

103I know a lot of phrases were used that this will affect those that are dining out but as a matter of fact it will affect those who are going to pick up a rotisserie chicken on the way home because that's prepared it'll a deli sandwich on the way home a salad at the salad bar at the grocery store so I think that's an important fact also is referred to as an additional revenue and we discussed on Monday that we actually are not sure it's going to be an additional Revenue because there's not a non-supplant clause in it for the Board of Supervisors meaning that there's no set transfer amount for the operating fund so they could transfer Less in in substitution for what they're transferring in the 70 of the meals tax so I think

104that's important as well I was also mentioned that this is an opportunity to relieve pressure on real estate tax and you know obviously one of the big needs of the county is the schools and the board supervisors realize that and they've certainly invested this last year and they had to raise the real estate tax to do that and if this meals tax passes and we get the additional 67 million dollars if it actually ends up being additional the following year because of Baseline budgeting that recurring revenue is already going to be spent and we'll need additional Revenue again which the meals tax won't relieve which probably means it's going to fall on real estate tax again so I do appreciate the conversation and and all my colleagues comments and that we can just continue to

105inform and figure out how we can help our kids in our schools thanks Miss Patrick thank you Miss Michael a couple questions I think some have been asked I'm just trying to get a big better picture for us of the funding at the state and local level is it correct that I don't know if you have the answer to this that in Virginia while we are at the top 10 for GDP we are still at the bottom 10 for funding on education that is correct thank you and currently it's about 15 of our budget that comes from the state um that's stated when you add sales tax to that it would just be just over 20 percent um I've been trying to take a look a little bit at the history of our County budget

106I don't know how familiar you are with it um and the trends and it seems to me from the graphs I've been looking at that um since 2008 and before the percentage of the county budget coming from real estate taxes has increased at least seven percent is that correct I don't know if you know I don't have the trends of what source of the County's revenue is coming from real estate taxes but I know currently it's about 65 percent apologize I was distracted by a colleague is it oh I can't even hear it okay thank you sorry would you mind repeating that Miss Michael so I don't have historical Trends with me in terms of the County's Revenue Source but currently real estate taxes makes up about 65 percent of the County's revenue and when

107you look overall the state limits are caps 90 percent of the revenue that's coming from non-property Texas that the county collects okay perfect yeah from what I see it use it was below 60 for many years um and I know you shared this um before say a person went out and and um spent you know five to nine dollars on a meal which is maybe the price of a a takeout meal what what would be the amount of meals taxed sure so a five dollar fast food meal the meals tax would cost an additional 20 cents and if that was a ten dollar fast casual meal it would cost an additional 40 cents turned out perfect and someone you know was able to go out and spend 50 to 100 on a meal what would

108be the tax on that correct on a hundred dollar restaurant meal it would be an additional four dollars okay so um so a few cents a few dollars at the most for a large meal and just to reiterate I know you said that before all of that 100 remains in the county correct and my understanding is that um because you know uh and I my mom's a caterer and I know um that there are things related around collecting and passing on taxes has the county decided um the the relief they would give or the support to um to restaurants and others collecting the tax in order to do that sure if the meals tax referendum is passed by voters the Board of Supervisors May hold hearings in February of 2017 to adopt the ordinance establishing

109the rate for the meals tax and the terms of the tax including allowing businesses that must collect and remit the tax to retain a small percentage to compensate them for their efforts and costs businesses you know surrounding Us in the city Falls Church city of Fairfax Vienna Henrico County passive years ago did we know if it hurt overall sales in their restaurants I know when you look Emil's text is very common on the presentation itself we share the local surrounding jurisdictions the charge of males tax but when you look Statewide there are many other jurisdictions that charge attacks as well as the District of Columbia that have that 10 percent tax thank you and this I believe and I'm very glad that we've made the decision to really focus on on teacher salaries I know

110we you mentioned this Dr Amy here Dr Amy how many openings did we have this year for teachers in our schools Miss McLaughlin we started the school year with 169. openings okay I know this was brought up in a earlier schools such as long as long church and to have good candidates are even struggling this year so um Miss McLaughlin again I'm sorry so the understanding you know how many openings is there any way for us to track you know candidates that our principals lose to other districts and how many we can we can track our attrition rate on an annual basis and one of the things we're working on is part of the Premier Workforce is uh is enhancing our exit interview and how we do that with our staff that are on staff

111and leave but in terms of candidates that are not employed by FCPS and take jobs other places that's that's much tougher to track but there was a principal survey last year that's about the only way we can collect information like that and we're not unique in that in that um challenge you know other school systems across the country are challenged with that too how do we collect that kind of information best we can do is ask our principals right and and I understand that I know what Dr Garza was saying and even that was the principal's perceptions it wasn't like they had sat down with every single one of their staff members and had those those conversations and so while we can ask our principals you know commonly the most the the most common reason

112we hear people leaving is for personal reasons um and that's what they usually give us and so then we sometimes have to read between the lines and decipher what they might mean by that right now I understand and so leaving but also you know in this national teacher shortage I know that if we are not competitive locally it even compounds that even more I believe correct okay thank you very much um I think that's all for now thank you Miss Michael all right let's see no go back so I'll just make a couple of brief comments myself so I wanted to make sure I was clear Miss Michael that the two jurisdictions where uh you're showing the the highest pay scales there in our competitor jurisdictions that's Arlington and Alexandria that is correct okay I

113just wanted to to make note that both of those jurisdictions do have a four percent meal Stacks um I also wanted to say that I appreciated the conversation at the work session I um I thought that it was important that we as a board made clear that the um that we remain committed to going on the path of investing in teachers salaries particularly at that mid-level range where we know we need to be getting that up and of course we made the first investment this year and so for our commitment that if um if the meals tax does pass that that will be our top priority for the van I believe we said the vast majority of the revenues would go to continuing that investment in our in our teachers salaries and I think that

114that was an important statement to make and I can certainly hope we can continue to make that investment Miss Michael thank you so much we appreciate the excellent presentation we now go to action items item 3.01 Fairfax County Public Schools strategic Plan update by Colin Mrs Strauss promotion thank you madam chairman I move that the school board adopt the changes to the four goal areas of the Fairfax County Public Schools strategic plan Student Success caring culture Premier Workforce and resource stewardship is there a second second seconded by Mr Moon Mr Strauss would you like to speak to your motion yes I will speak very briefly we had an in-depth report on our strategic planetary work session on Monday the um it is Our intention to review the Strategic plan every year it is it is

115not a static document it is something that needs reviewing and updating regularly um this time the the recommended changes um were not significant it did not change the direction of our strategic plan in any major way however two items I think are of Interest one is on the summary tables a information regarding revenues per each proposed project going forward was added and it now it shows in those cases where a project will be funded by reappropriating money in other words no additional revenues needed they're also through symbols of dollar signs just as when you go to a restaurant and online and find out if it's an expensive or inexpensive restaurant our strategic plan now can show if a a project would be a low-cost to medium cost or potentially a high cost item so that

116it gives the school board and the community an idea of a at least a range of costs needed or perhaps no cost no additional cost at all so it was something that the school board did ask for when we were in our Retreat last summer another item that was recommended but raised considerable discussion was the passages report report that has been presented to the board a number of times in the past at it was initially recommended that the passages report no longer be presented at the information be subsumed in the other reports however many of my colleagues are very interested in the same information and so we've asked staff to come back to us with an actual plan as to how we can get that same information that was contained in the passages report so

117those were the particular changes and the board does need to affirm the changes this evening and I encourage my colleagues to vote for it thank you thank you Mr stress Mr Moon would you like to speak to your second I actually uh it was pretty well covered by Mr Strauss but I just want to reiterate the request made by some of the board members at the work session to a superintendent the other step about passenger support Dr Garza did you want to speak um yes I just wanted to add a couple of things um the the board spent 14 months developing the plan initially and I just thought that was an important point a lot of community input I think we had over 30 000 people that weighed in so it wasn't the intention of

118the board to you know dramatically rewrite it but to update it that it is a living document I am proud of the fact that the document does clearly articulate the things that we're working on so it is a guiding document that our public can read to know that what we're thinking about in terms of the future of the school system so I think it's a wonderful document for our for our community to see kind of the direction and where we're headed but it is a living document and it does change on an annual basis the board also in terms of updating it this year spent some time at the retreat some this July and then spent some time at the recent work session discussing the changes so I just wanted to point that out to

119the to the public thank you Mrs Corbett Sanders I wanted to take the opportunity to thank you thank you for including the numbers I love the dollar signs and I know this is a movement towards what I am [Music] deeply committed to which is having a close linkage between our budgeting and our strategic plan and I think this is an excellent First Step so thank you very much for doing that Miss palcik thank you I want to thank you and two of your new leadership team members for updates that I'm very much a fan of one of them being improving our focus on our employees so thank you Dr Ramey for leading on that and the other is including the update on having our Community Partners join us in ensuring that we improve family engagement

120so I believe Dr Duran helped make that possible so thank you for those two all right seeing no further request to speak I will call for the vote the vote is on the motion that the school board adopt the changes to the four goal areas of the Fairfax County Public Schools strategic plan Student Success caring culture Premier Workforce and resource stewardship all in favor please raise your hands that boat is unanimous with Mr Wilson away from the table the motion passes we turn to item 3.02 governance committee recommendation regarding hrac and I call on Mr mcelveen for the motion I moved to the board approved phasing out the current human relations advisory committee and incorporating their work into other advisory committees such as the minority student achievement oversight committee and the school health advisory committees

121do I have a second and by Ms McLaughlin Mr mcelveen would you like to speak so over the past couple of years anyone that's been following this board has witnessed our efforts to streamline and focus this effort has taken some work and it's certainly not over yet but this is a first step in trying to align our citizen advisory committees with our strategic plan and better reflect and be useful to the board and so um this change was communicated to the members of the human relations advisory Council last night and as I communicated to my fellow board members the members of the committee fully understood the the need for the change they of course had plenty of input um both on or on the scope the structure and composition of um the new um what

122is to be called The Human Resources advisory committee uh and that feedback will be communicated um to miss McLaughlin and our her fellow members of the governance committee um and Ms Heinz who will be championing that new committee based on my understanding so in the coming months we will have that exciting project before us but I would tell the members of the human Relations Committee here tonight what I told them last night which is that this board truly appreciates all the work they have done for this system over the years and we will continue to listen to them we will continue to make sure that those organizations that were part of the HR former hrac will be somehow incorporated into the work of this system so that we don't lose those vital voices so with

123that Ms McLaughlin I guess uh in addition to Mr mcamaine's important remarks and expressing appreciation to the current members of hrisc I do want to just emphasize that the goal here really was to try and make sure that the work of our advisory committees really can help our school board do its very best in in governing the system and the for many many years the human relations advisory committee has helped this board be more responsive to all of its stakeholders and so that is to be absolutely appreciated but when we did as governance committee members this past year look at how we could streamline the work of the board we recognized that quite a few of the areas that human relations focused on is also an important part of the work that some of our

124other committees do and yet we did not have a human resources advisory committee for the over 24 000 employees that serve full-time in Fairfax County schools and so I do hope that my colleagues tonight will join Mr mcelveen and I in supporting this motion before you I do think this will help our boards work in a very positive way and I very much look forward to his governance chair receiving the input from the human Relations Committee on how we can ensure that the great work they were doing continues to be a focus and attended to with our other advisory committees thank you Mrs Corbett Sanders oh do you oh I see okay Mrs palchuk Ms palchuk did you wish to speak Ms Patrick did you wish to speak my mic seems to be buzzing um

125no I forgot that I'm I'm beg your pardon all right well technical issues all right that's that's quite all right um so I I was seeing no other um individuals wanting to speak I did just want to thank Mr mcilbean for meeting with the committee last night and um and talking with them about the transition and getting their thoughts which is very important I do want to reiterate that the work that the HR AC has been extremely valuable over the years and we we value it greatly and we we are committed to continuing that that with that work just in in another place so with that I will call for the vote the vote is on the motion that the board approved phasing out the current human relations advisory committee and incorporating their work into

126other advisory committees such as the minority student achievement oversight and school health advisory committees all in favor please raise your hands Heinz pal check Schultz Corbett Sanders Strauss Evans Moon McLaughlin and mcelveen all opposed all abstaining Miss Mrs Huff that motion passes we now turn 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 the documentation has been provided to all board members in the public in advance items may be removed from the consent agenda at the request of any board member prior to the meeting 4.01 appoint individuals to serve on committees as detailed in the agenda item 4.03 adopt the lactation support programming policy as detailed

127in the agenda item and I just want um I'm sorry did am I on a different I think okay so that was um that was 4.02 okay 4.02 adopt the lactation support programming policy is detailed in the agenda item 4.03 confirm the separations for the period beginning July 1 2016 and ending July 31st 2016 and for the period beginning August 1st 2016 and ending August 31st 2016. 4.04 appoint individuals to serve a one-year term on the challenged materials and Department interdepartmental Review Committee as detailed in the agenda item is there any objection to approving the consent agenda hearing and saying no objection the consent agenda is approved item five is new business the following items are new business agenda items there will not be a vote tonight on these items but action is scheduled at

128a future meeting 5.01 award the contract for the chiller Replacements at Chantilly High School 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 5.02 award the contract for the White Oaks Elementary School renovation project to the lowest responsive and responsible binner 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 5.03 approved the addition of the guidelines and application for school board recognition of outstanding student teams ensembles and Publications as appendices in the Strategic governance manual and send annual notice to staff we now go to superintendent matters and I call on Dr Garza I'm

129going to pass tonight thank you all right well then we go directly to board committee reports the next agenda item is board committee reports and I call on Ms McLaughlin for a report on the governance committee thank you Miss Evans um just briefly for my colleagues I just wanted to update you on the things we covered at the September 14th governance committee meeting uh one of the first things that we talked about was the governance work on the student recognition program we have basically as a committee unanimously agreed to the draft procedures and they will be detailed for you in Chairman's notes they will be posted as new business and then placed on the consent agenda because we really don't foresee that there will be any debate on what's being proposed however as all of

130our colleagues know if at any time you see something on the consent agenda that you would like to move over to an action item we can do it at that time right now our first student recognition process is tentatively scheduled for our October 20th business meeting uh we also then talked about as uh you might recall from our September 8th board meeting the sponsorship policy corporate sponsorship policy and uh because the board has deferred uh that uh to it's just December 1st board meeting we did have a conversation with staff about ensuring that we will be soliciting information from the Chambers of Commerce the High School athletic directors and directors of Student Activities as well as current business partners regarding the allocation of funds in in addition uh I was very pleased that for the

131three of us who were there at governance we unanimously support a revision to the language it's a small revision but an important one where we will be bringing to the board that it's important in terms of where there is the revenue sharing Beyond ten thousand dollars that the revenue sharing begins after the first ten thousand dollars so this way the schools aren't finding themselves that at ten thousand and one dollars they suddenly are only going to get um thirty five hundred dollars in in one penny or so anyway or one dollar so that's that was I think an important change that we caught in the language but also I wanted to make sure my colleagues understood that we recognized looking at the uh the draft policy that it's probably one of the most detailed we've

132ever um had and part of it is because not having a framework for corporate sponsorships we kind of put everything including the kitchen sink in it so after speaking with staff which we had both Mr Foster and um uh Mr Smith Murray Smith was there that the governance committee requested that staff draft an actual regulation for corporate sponsorship and they would take some of the detail language from the draft policy that you all have seen put it into a regulation streamline the policy to match more of what a typical board policy looks like governance committee will review it and if we think it's appropriate then of course bring it for the board's full consideration before it would be voted on but we think that actually might put us in a better position to following sort

133of the board's standard protocol for what policy looks like versus regulation and then we also had a conversation about one of our Forum topics the process for school board advocacy letters and the questions basically talked about would we want to add something in the governance manual about the use of letterhead or anything about notice Provisions to give adequate time for board members to consider these type of advocacy advocacy letters we did not have consensus on that issue so I will be visiting with chairman Evans on how we might bring that to an upcoming work session where the full board can decide if there's any sort of guidance surrounding those advocacy letters that the board would like to see since we couldn't get consensus at the governance committee and so that was the the three things

134that we talked about at governance this is my first time ever reporting as a chair so I apologize to my colleagues if I'm giving you too much information but at least there's no doubt you know now what we talked about at governance excellent thank you Miss McLaughlin and I call on Mr mcelveen for a report from the public engagement committee uh thank you Miss Evans and Miss McLaughlin's report reminds me um how much I missed the governance committee um so um at Peck this past Monday we had a very exciting 13-minute meeting at which we discussed two issues the first was the AAP Summit which was um forwarded from a forum to to the to the PEC and so in discussing that issue we believe we will have a proposal coming to the board at

135a works at the October full day work session as part of a PEC work session so you have that to look forward to and then secondly we discussed our student leadership development program which you can see is being widely blasted out my my colleague Miss Chu even mentioned it tonight thank you missed Chu and that program we will be receiving applications and um we will be choosing participants in the coming months so look forward to that thank you very much Mr mcelveen Mr internet kopex I know you were at a back to school night you've arrived just in time to make your script report unless you'd like Miss McLaughlin to make it for you while you settle in uh well I will I will make it but yes thank you I wasn't my daughter's back

136to school night so I apologize for my lateness but the skipped executive committee met um this month and um what we will do is um we will talk about um we it was a planning meeting where we talked about um what we will do over the following months we have the first thing the issues in the topic for the coming year are going to be the Pre-K strategic plan Community Schools more about our Equity policy for the uh for the um the equity uh statement that we both of our boards passed and the attendance our attendance issues in schools and the system of care implementation so we had some other things talking um what possibilities but that's a very full agenda actually for the year already but other topics that were mentioned were the restoration

137restorative justice the digital divide um you know and the issues that poverty and how that impacts our educational system so it was a very um the the just so people know what um the executive committee meeting is um a smaller group that meets and then and that's about uh seven people in that group and then the larger skipped committee has approximately 40 individuals from around the county and this is something that we feel like we are in the place now where we're moving forward at a good pace and we will be reporting out Miss McLaughlin or I will be reporting out on a regular basis to all of you thank you we now go to board matters and I call on Mr mcelveen um I I pass thanks Ms darrenia Kovacs as I you had

138just heard I was at my daughter's back to school night I just want to thank I've attended several back to school nights and I want to thank all the parents who are coming out and being supportive of your children getting to know your your children's um the teachers and um we have several um yet next week so please continue to do that because as I say on my back to school message that the more we know the more our teachers know about your students the more successful they will be and you are there where we together as parents and teachers the administrators were all working Partners in our in our children's education so please come out please continue to support join your PTA boosters all of those things and thank you um Mr Wilson I'll

139pass thank you Ms McLaughlin just a couple things uh first of all I want to extend my appreciation to all of my colleagues as you know we were presented with a request from the director of the Keller Center that we help support their application to receive some funding from the Virginia Department of Health so that we might extend more Psychiatric Services here in Northern Virginia and so I just wanted you all to know that Not only was your support meaningful the fact that the Board of Supervisors also agreed unanimously to issue that letter of support I think it's absolutely critical that we all come together and as Ms dear net Koufax noted earlier with the successful children youth policy team this is just another example where we're bringing the public bodies along with our non-profits

140and other community organizations together to speak in a unified voice about the needs of our County and our citizens and I also had the opportunity to tour the Anova hospital where they do offer the psychiatric facilities and have an even deeper appreciation for the need here in our County and so I wanted again just publicly thank you all for that I think it is another example of how we can do important work Beyond just the school board governance and then I also wanted to speak a little bit tonight to some of our guest speakers I always appreciate our citizens who come out to speak regardless of where they are in their positions because that helps better inform the board of where our public is but I did want to provide what I believe is just

141an important clarification which is this board continues to be absolutely committed to public engagement and while we did update policy 1450 about non-discrimination and the important message that sends to every citizen and child in this County about our commitment to not discriminating against anyone beyond that we remain committed to the public engagement on any changes that would then come out of what it means for non-discrimination protection as some may be aware the United States Supreme Court is reviewing this issue and so this the school system recognizes that while we will continue our commitment to public engagement our school system as well as many around the country do need to see where the courts are going to come down on this issue and it's it's prudent therefore that we use that as part of our guidance

142but it is concerning to me that we have citizens who in speaking tonight even are concerned that that this board has been tone deaf and I I do believe that this board continues to honor its very important commitment to being engaged with our public and so I absolutely encourage any citizen if you're watching here tonight and you're concerned and you believe that we haven't been engaged I personally would welcome any emails I can better understand that and we can help have better dialogue so with all of that I will just say as a parent with a junior in high school it's my last one in the nest I like all the other parents are definitely still trying to adjust to the new school year and all of the things that administratively come with having your

143children especially in high school multiple teachers so to all of our our teachers and administrators in the building thank you so much for making the start of the school year an exciting one for our kids and uh please know that this board is always here to listen and understand if there are concerns that we can really help and engage in and strengthen our children's experience in their educational process Mr Moon Mrs Strauss pass Mrs Corbett Sanders yes I just wanted to um let the community know that on October 1st we will be opening a brand new Teen Center in Mount Vernon at the original Mount Vernon High School this provides an excellent opportunity for our youth in that area to take advantage of sports and other activities so just come on out on October 1st

144Mr Schultz um yeah a couple of things um I know um and I've gotten a very few and I think that's um a testament about a few emails concerning the fire small fire that we had that was a construction fire at West Springfield High School this week I do want to compliment staff my phone started ringing just after six o'clock in the morning or maybe a little bit before um to advise me about the status and that the decision was made that the um the fire chief was not able to clear the smoke out of the building and to in an extremely rare I think the first time maybe in five and a half years I had a single school closing just for those issues we had multiple conversations over the course of the morning

145and I was particularly concerned for special education student students who could potentially already be on their way to school and a couple of people expressed concerns because there were students who were on their way walking they are high school students and parents were at work I really don't know what we could have done better but we are exploring it and I am talking to staff about ways in which communication went and if there's any way to improve that but I appreciate overall the understanding of the responsiveness of the West Springfield Community as they get through a very difficult year with the start of construction I want to thank there's a host of community members that I met with about some activities at the new national museum for African-American history and culture and I look forward

146to continuing to work with them and with expanding that work and congratulating them for the opening of that new Museum and I imagine that I look forward to um activities happening within FCPS as the museum gets up and going in I had a community meeting last night with residents from Fairfax Station Lorton Burke area and I want to thank them for that invitation and several other actually Mr Wilson made the Trek over and I appreciate that I'll be meeting this weekend on Sunday with some members of our Korean community and I want to thank them for that invitation I want to highlight out of the back to school nights again to show the grit and determination not only of FCPS parents but of FCPS administrators and teachers the back to school night at Robinson was

147done without electricity there was a major blowout at a neighborhood transfer station and all of the parents walked along with our cell phones lighting the hallways and I actually sat with a teacher in in absolute dark thickness in inside classroom and it was just amazing nobody just nobody would give up we Contin we conducted a silent auction for the cheerleaders and I mean the whole thing went through and I really um it was just a testament to um how committed people were to meeting their their kids teachers so that was a a terrific activity and finally you know I know that there's been a lot of news out in some commentary that's out there things have been going on on this board and and Dr Garza is going to go on to New Paths and

148we wish her well it's going to be a trying time for for this board certainly engaging in a national search and hiring a superintendent was probably one of the most grueling things I've been through as a board member and I don't wish it on our four new board members and the rest of us are veterans cutting our teeth for the second or third or however many time but I I do expect and had as a part of my back to school night message and I've had extremely good feedback except for one odd exchange with one teacher who somehow took it as I hate teachers I love teachers and I love parents and and the whole point is to get you engaged and frankly I think a lot of people have been anesthetized to what's happening

149with their kids what's happening in the school system and this is your opportunity to to be engaged and you know we need to hear the good and the Bad and the Ugly and as we embark on this process I Endeavor that this has as much Community engagement and as it was reflective because it's your it's three billion dollars of your money and and that the parents stay engaged with your children's education and it doesn't mean that I don't like teachers it means that I believe in Parental privacy and that parents are the first and primary educators of their children and if you're not engaged in your child's education the Bill's going to come due sooner or later and it's much easier to be engaged up front and and be working with actively on a part

150of your your child's education even if it means holding up your cell phone and doing back to school night in the dark thank you um just a couple quick things uh first of all I want to thank Ms blankenstein and Mr Rigby for reminding us about the Civil and civil discourse tonight really appreciated that um second I really want to give a shout out to my 12th grade English teacher Miss Nelson who had us read The House on Mango Street and it changed my life and helped me find my voice and I was very touched today to see Senator Cisneros receive the National Merit award at the White House so um to all of our English teachers and all of our teachers who Inspire our kids every day thank you and thank you for doing

151that and finally a quick shout out and thank you to the very energetic and fabulous World Language team at Kilmer Middle School I helped walk a parent over to one of the trailers and popped into their classrooms realized it's my first time in the classroom back to school night not being a teacher so I know it's a scary time but you've all pulled off really amazing back to school nights and I look forward to coming and co-teaching and hanging out in your classrooms the science yes thank you just a few things I'm looking forward to the Reston Multicultural Festival again this year on Saturday um at the Lake Ann Plaza there historic Lake Ann Plaza it's always a wonderful time we have a celebration and a ceremony for those who are just becoming citizens so

152it really is a celebration of our Multicultural culture in this County which is a great strength for the school system I also am looking forward to attending Fairfax education associations put kids first event next Friday September 30th and I see Mr Hickerson in the back there thank you for being here tonight the head of FEA also would just mentioned since we talked a little bit about voting this year election day is November 8th but early absentee voting starts very soon in fact tomorrow I believe it starts tomorrow at the central government center Fairfax County Government Center and it starts at the satellite offices in different parts of the County on October 1st you can find out more about that and you can still register to vote as well you can find out more information at

153fairfaxcounty.gov slash elections thank you and this meeting is adjourned the board will now make a motion to go into closed meeting to one protect the privacy of individuals and personal matters not related to public business pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2-3711 A4 of the code of Virginia two discuss and consider the employment and appointment of specific public employees for soon to Virginia code section 2.2-3711 A1 and 3 consult with legal counsel regarding specific legal matters