FCPS School Board Regular Meeting No. 22 - June 30, 2016

001this June 30 2016 regular meeting number 22 of the Fairfax County School Board will now come to order please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance a moment of silence and the performance of the national anthem by Sophie haray Cappy's nominee for best female vocalist for her role in Mount fron High School's production of Guys and Dolls United States of America by the dawn's early light what so proudly we ha at the Twilight last gleaming who broad stripes and bright stars through the perous fight or the ramp parts we watched were so Gallant streaming and the rockets red glare the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there oh say does that star spangled B yet wave or the land of the free and the home of the [Music]

002brave remarkable Madame chair if you will I would just like to say thank you to Sophie for that beautiful performance I have had the pleasure of knowing her for several years right now she and her family are constituents of Miss Corbett Sanders and just thank you for sharing your talents with us and being here at the start of your summer vacation we appreciate [Applause] it in order to comply with section 2.2 372d of the code of Virginia it's necessary for the board to certify that since the Fairfax County School Board convened a closed meeting on June 30th 2016 to the best of each member's knowledge only public business matters lawfully Exempted from open meeting requirements and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard discussed or

003considered by the board during the closed meeting do I have a motion moved by Mr mlane seconded by Miss Corbett Sanders all those in favor um Miss Daren kofax Mr mlan Miss Huff Miss Strauss Miss Corbett Sanders Evans Hines Moon Schultz and PCH all those opposed those abstaining Miss mlin thank you um uh item 2.03 announcements um I would just like to make one announcement I know we have a former Schoolboard member with us tonight Mr Ted velov if you could wave good to see you thank you for joining us um if you would like to review a copy of the agenda and any agenda item that is being discussed tonight that information is on the table by the auditorium entrance you may access tonight's agenda and related meeting documents by going to the FCPS

004website select school board and then upcoming meetings and agenda agendas the meeting is also being streamed live on the FCPS website homepage click on watch School Board live please turn off or silence your cell phones I remind you everyone that tonight is a business meeting and ask those in attendance to conduct themselves with the decorum appropriate to the proceedings loud conversation or outbursts will not be tolerated out of respect for your fellow citizens and the board please stand in support only during the public comment period and remain seated during the rest of the meeting we have made the gymnasium available tonight in case additional seating is needed um the gym is equipped with audio and visual at of the meeting so you will not miss any part of the meeting finally we ask that you

005please do not approach the de the table here during the meeting there uh is there an announcement from Mr press go ahead thank you madam chair I be I'd like to begin by recognizing two Boy Scouts in the audience here with us tonight Trang hang from Troop 1845 and Ian Neil from Troop 654 if you'd stand so we can recognize you thank you so much for being here tonight is also very special in that I get to say there are not one not two not three but four student representatives in the room today we're joined by Harris Latif the immediate past student representative Laura Chu the incoming student representative stand up Laura so we can recognize you she starts tomorrow and Reed Voss the student representative in 1999 thank you thank you we are truly

006blessed tonight that's exciting um item 2.02 a resolution honoring Linda El Burke I call on Mr moon for the resolution thank you Madame chair it is my great honor to present this resolution uh I'm happy that she's finally finding some time to relax but at the same time so sad to see her go but you're not moving out of Fest County uh uh and and we prohibit to from moving out of Fest County you better stay close to gate house because uh we may need your service from time to time even after your retirement that before I read the foral resolution that uh Madame Sher I have a few remarks to share with the colleagues and others in the audience and those who are watching TV it's not just my own remarks I have asked

007around the folks who have known Mrs spk for many many years and I have some of their comments as well it's only three pages so just relax uh by the way Mr spark I really appreciate the little gift you have given me for me to read over summer uh I picked it up today the title is what are we fighting for coming together around one Ms most I could possibly be a religious book but could also maybe relevant very relevant to what he do as a policy makers on public education as well so I'm going to be reading this over some and thank you so much this is from uh your old still colleague of yours Danny Meer in a former principal retired principal from Robin secondary he said being an old football coach and

008he was a shocked to see the principal Lake brother on the panel during his interview for Robinson principal position after all Robinson and Lake brother were AR drivers however in his in his first week as a principal he received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from her and he s he soon found out that because of the commonalities of the two extremely large secondary schools located in such a proximity there was much to be learn from each other and because Mrs Burke always saw the big picture she was always available for collaboration support and friendly advice Mr Mr myf states that a because of Mrs Burke's leadership the lake Brock Robinson rivalry was the friendliest rivalry that he has ever experienced and because of a sincere honest caring nature she became a dear friend and this

009is from your executive assistant Eva Rose Linda is a Grace Under Fire calm kind courageous gu to the bottom of things answered the questions does the research unique ability to calm down a parent or a family and I believe Schoolboard members as well and very good at explaining the rules so that the parent is satisfied and Co can go away happy of course that includes both members again good at working with a schools and the system to solve a problem this is from a gentleman sitting right behind you Mr mackan BBG always is always Guided by values and doing what is best for the kids as often said she wants her tombstone to read we not wishing to die anytime soon that she she was always Fair Linda is one of those people who can

010quickly assess a situation understand the factors iMed and find the best path to resolution often we would be discussing an issue and she would have insight into the situation that was unique brilliant and not readily apparent Linda always believed in empowering people she always wanted to put good people in positions to lead and then trusted them to make decisions but she was always there for support guidance advice and occasional redirection when needed Linda always fostered the kid First Family First atmosphere her family is incredibly important to her I see many of her family members around you tonight and this guided her in her work she always wanted to know about your family Wonder Woman it is amazing how she has done so much with the family church FCPS and all the volunteer community organizations she

011has served over the years she is just amazing and this is from your somebody who has worked for you for many many years a principal at Liberty Middle School Dr Katherine sipperly Linda always followed the rules she had high expectations for everyone teachers staff students parents and everyone wanted to rise to expectations because she was so professional and rewarding professional warm and welcoming you felt good working for her and this is from me I met you for the first time back in 1997 when you appli for a position at the lake Brad secondary school you know she you were at that time a principal at TW middle school for me at back then as a bread of District Schoolboard member had a pleasure of sitting down with you and having some conversation right behind you

012you remember that that was almost 20 years ago you know you I'm sure that you also remember the questions I did ask you whether you know coming from such much smaller School whether you could handle a l prct which is probably three four times as big you have proven more than enough for me very quickly that you could certainly do the job and much better than I ever expected anyone to perform you are the principle of my own two sons when they were at Lake Bradon middle schare and at one time I mean this is for both of my sons for the first for my first boy when he has some trouble with grownup or grownups at the lake Brad that you made a point that even the grown-ups make mistakes and when they do

013they should apologize and there was one particular incident you remember that that GR grown up needed to apologize my two son and you handled the situation really really well and that was personally my personal thanks as a parent to you and for my second boy for my second boy you are very flexible in exercising your judgment and discretion and allowed him to take a math class he wanted to take now uong my second boy is doing his PhD in physics his a third year doing physics PhD using a lot of his math he loved and thank you so much with that let me read the resolution I would like to in by Mrs Burke to step to the Leon well as Linda elberg has served Fest County public schools for 42 years with excellence and

014dedication throughout our career with FCPS Mr SP has effectively and energetically represented and serve the interest of students teachers schools and diverse communities in a variety of positions including teacher at Frost and Cooper middle schools assistant principal at Kilmer Middle and Hayfield Secondary Schools principal at TW middle school and Lake bre Secondary School the cluster 7even assistant super intendent and most recently the associate superintendent for regional leadership and where as during her tenure as a principal of Lake BR Secondary School Mrs Burke implemented a massive staff development plan that integrated Advanced instructional technology into each classroom introduced professional learning communities that supported Rising test scores for SATs Advan placement exams and standards of learning test at all levels with a dramatic increase in participation in AP courses by all students accomplishments which led to multiple

015years of recognitions that ranked Lake PR among the nation's top high schools while principle at Lake BR secondary Mrs SPG served as the president of the High School principes Association in 2007 and was the 2003 principle of the Year finalist and well as as the cluster 7 assistant superintendent Mrs spke inspired Excellence at 24 schools that served approximately 25,000 students through our individual and Collective efforts Mrs spur supported leadership initiatives at all cluster seven schools which included ongoing study and professional development the monitoring of each schools advances in the development of collaborative teams and assessment for learning how work endured ensured that teachers and students in cluster 7 schools increase their capacity with the daily opportunities in both Innovation and enrichment resulting in higher student achievement and well as during our tenure as associate superintendent

016for reasonable leadership Mrs sporg supported FCPS in successfully transitioning through a re reorganization to a regional structure of support to schools as the associate superintendent she provided leadership and guidance to Regional assistant superintendents and executive principles while sharing her systematic experiences and expertise as a member of superintendent cabinet and whereas in every leadership position in which Mrs BG has served she has modeled Integrity compassion and genuiness over the course of our FCPS career Mrs SPG has mentored a multitude of teachers ministrator support staff her ability to identify and hire talented leaders throughout the School Division has positively impact the lives of countless children families schools and communities the effect of her outstanding leadership will be evident for years to come now therefore be resoled that Fest County School Board extends its highest Commendation and deep

017his appreciation to Linda elberg upon her retirement and thanks for her inspirational leadership outstanding service and unwavering dedication to the students teachers ministrators and communities of Fest County Public Schools Isa move do we have a second seconded by Miss Corbett Sanders all those in favor that is unanimous unsurprisingly at this time I would like to invite the family and friends of Mrs SP to join us at the day for a [Applause] photo for that was a special w well thank thank you all so very much for your very generous comments I'm overwhelmed by your kindness hearing from so many people I regard so highly has made the past few weeks quite joyous I promise to be brief uh but I do want to acknowledge several individuals and and colleagues this evening first and foremost though

018my family that you've all had a chance to meet with the exception of Wesley char girls who is one and home sleeping the people I love most in the world are here tonight so that's quite an honor for me for those who know me well you hear me talk about my family every single day they have inspired me and supported me and made me a better person and leader my dad have to speak about him for just a minute who I hope is is looking down from above taught me about courage a World War II veteran on the front lines in Normandy he understood risking everything to make a positive difference my parents taught me to make good choices and I hope I never disappointed them I often told my principles one of my dad's

019favorite sayings which is really relevant to all of us and that is you can do a lot of good in the world if you don't care who gets the credit having been principal of of three FCPS elementary schools my husband's perspective helped me serve our elementary schools better his willingness to listen and support my work has been immeasurable our two sons FCPS graduates um continue to make me so very proud and they continue to teach me important lessons I've learned diligence and to tenacity from our oldest son Charlie his recent leadership work has provided new opportunities for us to enjoy sharing ideas and solutions Chris's passion is for music and worship and through his leadership my faith and my heart have grown our daughters-in-law who are here are incredible professionals and mothers they understand balance

020and believe like me and the import of keeping Family First my grandchildren wave you all Emma Colin Morgan and Wesley at home have put an unending song in my heart and with that kind of Joy at the center of your life working for all the children and FCPS became even a more magnificent opportunity Eric mccan sometimes known as my third son you are the most amazing work partner keep taking care of our kids Dr lockart and I walked down the hall not long ago and noticed that uh there were seven superintendents that I had served under and we we thought that was that was kind of in incredible uh uh I I I do want to to thank the board this evening and and you know with Mr velov here both past and present board

021members uh you know I I'm very very grateful for for your wisdom your dedication and the support that you've given me through the years my journey in FCPS started as a coral music teacher the Arts bring out our Humanity so we must always protect them in particular we know that music makes us smarter and nothing touches our souls like the perfect song I believe without question that being a principal is the most significant and rewarding position in our school system maybe in the world principles guide and Inspire their teachers to do their best and as a member of the leadership team I cherished most my work with principal selection and mentoring our FCPS principles are world class Dr Garza it's been an unbeli believable honor to serve with you thanks for your trust in me

022and all that you have done for everyone in FCPS Dr Lockard it's easy to describe you you're just simply the best I'm grateful to my Ras EP team and my other leadership team colleagues for your friendship your commitment to building our team and really enjoying our work together and I must mention all of the eaas and other support staff who have truly touched my life many of you are lifelong friends I began my LT experience nine years ago with a favorite quote from Michelangelo and it was I saw an angel in the stone and carve to set it free Dr Garza I'm not sure about angels but I know we have found and molded many outstanding leaders Scott Bray brand superintendent in Lynchburg and my former associate principal at Lake bradic recently reminded me of

023another quote by one of our teachers who said in your absence there is presence I know that all of you will Carry On by doing what's best with dignity and Grace tonight I end my journey with a quote from one of the first musicals I ever directed as a middle school teacher Scrooge the whole company is on stage singing the finale when Bob cratchet raises Tiny Tim to his shoulders and as the curtain goes down Tiny Tim removes his hat holds it in the air and exclaims God bless us everyone thank you and good [Applause] night Mrs Burke if you don't mind can't leave yet there are some other school board members who would like to fur embarrassed you with Tales of Joy um but Dr Garo do you want to start us off yes

024I certainly can and it it's hard for me not to get emotional when I talk about Linda I can't look at you Linda um you know this morning it was a little bit poetic that I was um headed to the uh Regional Offices because I was going in to visit with a panel that had been put together to talk about a principal selection so that was kind of poetic and I had the opportunity to go into Linda's office and it was really kind of hard to see that all of her things were packed and you know we looked at graduation pictures uh from a number of the high schools that Linda supported but you know I've been doing this for almost 30 years well I actually can't say almost anymore it's 30 years I've been

025doing this and Lena's one of the best I've ever worked with one of the best um she just brings out the best in other people and you know what that's what more can you hope for um is to be Wonder model Ro role model leader inspire you inspire so many people you know and I look out at FCPS and there are countless people in this system today that have been touched um by that wonderful lady right there um now she's also been join she has a dynamic there's a d they're really a dynamic duo because we also didn't say too much about Larry but Larry has also been uh done so much work throughout our system in supporting our principles they together have have been just this wonderful team um but Linda I will tell

026you that you you uh talked about um a quote and your how your father inspired you and and I will tell you that you have done so much good in FCPS and that your presence your impact um certainly is felt today but it will be felt for many many years to come so I just am delighted and proud and pleased that I had an opportunity to work with you and that I can call you a a colleague and a friend and just wish you the very best um in retirement and I hope I know you will have a lot to keep your time busy with these wonderful beautiful grandchildren um so I thank you for your support um throughout these past past three years Mrs stles thank you all the wonderful things that people have

027already said but your own words just made it all so worth it and as Dr carer Garza said you have touched so many and you have developed so many people and making the right decisions to help other people come forward and that's what we do every day with children in schools and we are so so lucky that you have been with us and been a leader for so many years in FX County that is somewhat unusual and it was almost as though we did not want to let you go we kept hanging on no Linda don't leave us don't leave us so um and of course you're welcome to come back you know we do that a lot of that but you have been inspirational and um you have been so dedicated to um not

028just helping children but helping all of us tremendous tremendous respect and very often if there were difficult decisions or you know should we do this or that um it was what does L Burke think about this and those quiet discussions always helped guide us and it's wonderful to see your grandchildren and the best part about schools is we never run out of children and it's so wonderful to see you happy and looking forward to the next sort of Adventure in your life but thank you so much on behalf of all the children and the families that you've touched you've been wonderful thank you and of course it's because you started down in music and theater that must have been what what did the trick so thanks Mrs Schultz I just I was so glad that

029you brought up Mr mccan in your speech because I thought what is it that you know um you you leave behind in a school system like how do you know you made a difference and he's sitting right next to you and that's the beauty is is that by fostering the people who come behind you you've you've planted the seeds of people like Mr McAn who I was such a champion for to become one of our principles and so you your crop is going to continue to produce fruit um after you go because of the time that you spent with us and so it wasn't just the time that you were here it's the time going forward where you're going to continue to make an impression on the system Miss DNA kofax um Linda I haven't

030been as fortunate as some of my colleagues who've worked with you all through the years um but when we did have the opportunity to work together the reputation that you were known for um one of a caring education professional someone who inspires others someone who knows how to mentor and to lead and to best deal with a challenging situation was always evident so I thank you for that um I wish you much happiness as we reluctant L finally allow you to retire and just thank you for your many many years of service and for the record I did try to dissuade my colleagues from their Antics at your retirement ceremony but at least now you have the fun picture to deal with so we will miss you and thank you for all that you've done

031for us and the many lives of the children and families that you've touched thank [Applause] you well it has been such a joy to celebrate with you and your family and many of your colleagues um a career long uh well and gracefully served and to wish you well in your well- earned retirement as well so thank you so much for everything you you can go now if you want to that's okay um okay I am actually going to hand the gavel to Miss Evans for the next part of the meeting thank you I call in Miss Hines for a motion thank you Miss Evans um I have the honor of presenting a revolu a revolution a resolution a resolution honoring Ben press our student uh representative who has been a bit of a revolution around

032here I think um I know that your uh my colleagues will have a lot of wonderful things to say to you so I won't steal all their Thunder but I will say um why for me you have been uh you have served as a leader actually on this board and a role model uh an example for me I know that I get really good information about what students in this school system are thinking even though there are 187,000 of them and just one of Mr press I know that I get good information about the student voice partly because he works as hard as he does to make sure that he gets that information um we we we don't really want to do the math to know how many days he has not actually been in

033school in his own school but instead has been out at every other school visiting with students um and and bringing back really important information for us um the other reason that I know we get good information that he really does bring the student voice is because Mr press really knows how to listen and I think that that's a lesson for all of us all the time you know that saying that we have two two ears in one mouth when when you listen you don't talk you know and I have seen Mr press do that I've been in situations where he and I were both in a room full of students and he's silent the whole time he is silent and um empathically listening he is taking everything in and I know for myself what a

034challenge it is as a teacher and then as a Schoolboard member when I go into a room sort of a captive audience full of students right how challenging it is for me to be careful not to talk too much not to be kind of the sage on the stage but instead to take that opportunity to listen and learn and so Mr press provides that example I think for all of us in what he does and it is such a great skill something I think we have to assume his parents and his wonderful family um gave to him and that he brought to us um and so I'm I'm very grateful to them and to him for that um now when it's time to speak Mr press does speak believe me he is not afraid to

035speak but he also definitely knows when and how to listen and how powerful that is so thank you so I do have a resolution some whereases that we'll get through here um whereas Benjamin G press our graduating senior at James Madison High School has served with dedication and enthusiasm as the 45th student representative to the Fairfax County school board for the 2015 2016 school year and whereas Ben has demonstrated his Keen interest in his fellow students by strongly advocating for their well-being and academic success has taken seriously his role as the board's student representative by regularly attending board meetings work sessions and public hearings and by engaging with and listening to student concerns and suggestions during his visits to almost all FCPS high schools and secondary schools and has effectively shared student pect perspectives with

036the board and whereas he has set an impressive example of community service and involvement by working with multiple advocacy organizations including real food for kids and the Fairfax County Council of ptas on student health and wellness issues he was the Hunter Mill District participant in the school board leadership cohort in 2013 2014 he served on the school board school health advisory committee he has earned the rank of Eagle Scout and has been a youth representative to the Executive Board of the national capital area Council of the Boy Scouts of America and where has he has focused attention on the impact of student workload and later start times on student health and served on the organizing committee and as MC for the First Community conversation on on teen stress and whereas Ben has been an excellent

037role model for students by maintaining personal academic excellence in a rigorous schedule of advanced placement classes being actively involved in Student Activities the student advisory Council and the student government Association at Madison High School being president of the distributive education clubs of America chapter at Madison High School a member of the French history of National Honor societies and serving as a mentor to the bridges program at Cunningham Park Elementary School a music program for economically disadvantaged students now therefore be it resolved that the Fairfax County Schoolboard acknowledges with gratitude the contributions and service of Benjamin G press from July 1 2015 through June 30 2016 and extends its best wishes to him for continued success as he begins his postsecondary academic studies and in all his future endeavors is I I so move is there

038a second seconded by Oh seconded by that's all right you're used to that seconded by Miss darnette cope okay so you say all those in favor all oh all those in favor I thank you and that is unanimous okay we get it together okay we also we have a special we'll get to more um uh of that um but we also tonight the Fairfax County Council of ptas at this time um has submitted unfortunately Miss de katri could not be here to honor you herself so she submitted a video presentation for you and we'll do this right now I'm pleased to be here with you even though it's by video to join with others tonight as we celebrate the accomplishments of Ben press I met Ben at one of the first superintendent's listening tours and

039was so impressed with him and his advocacy for FCPS students I continued to see him at many of the same events that were of great interest to our Council and our local ptas when I became president in 2014 I invited Ben to join our Council executive board as its first student member he kindly accepted my invitation and was appointed for a two-year term I knew Ben would become even more involved with the school district and having an Engaged student voice on our board was so important Ben attended our Virginia PTA day at the general assembly to meet with our legislators and the Secretary of Education as an FCC PTA representative he also attended our state PTA annual conference as a voting student delegate on behalf of the council I was not at all surprised that

040he was elected as the 201516 FCPS School Board student member even though he was extremely busy with his duties on the school board and as a student he continued to represent our Council by serving as a panel member at our diversity conference last October Ben has been an excellent student representative for FCC PTA and it is an honor to present him with the fairfx County Council of pta's student leadership award for his dedicated service and support during the 20146 term congratulations Ben and thank you so much for your leadership you are a true PTA Advocate we wish you all the best as you continue your academic and community service career at Princeton um so Ben we have um a we we have a few goodies for you here that we would like to present to

041you out front with your all your friends and families and all your fans um and also I understand Miss Kimberly Adams has a gift from the FCC PTA so we'll do that right now and take a picture all right I'm sorry bad bad habits AB e okay I think other board members would probably like to say some nice embarrassing things about you as well so just and then uh you want you talk first okay you talk first please talk first I will stay here I think it's fitting that I should make my final remarks from this chair thank you so much for those extremely kind words it really does mean a lot and it's still hasn't all hit me yet that it's all drawing to a close but after over 1,000 miles of driving around

042the county and state 250 Plus hours of meetings 24 schools 1,500 students visited three full pages of absences from school and not one but two school boards it seems my time as student representative has drawn to close and I can say I have loved every single minute of it from the all day work sessions to the all night business meetings and yes even getting those texts saying there's snow in the forecast can you close school no over the past year in all seriousness we accomplished some pretty great things we adopted a strategic plan that would Pro practically become a holy text around here we defeated snowzilla we implemented very successfully I might add later High School start times we gave our teachers a pretty well-deserved raise and so much more that I could not have

043imagined when this journey all started a little under a year ago a nervous cautious and slightly overwhelm correction very overwhelmed version of myself took his seat in this chair for the first time and told you he would worked to achieve three goals number one one building a budget that protects that protected student programs and empowered student achievement number two forming a grading policy for our high and secondary schools that reflected student learning while remaining Equitable across the division and number three bolstering Frameworks to support student mental health and reduce stress little did he expect that with a couple hundred emails a few dozen meetings and a lot of Miss school they might one day all be accomplished or at least well on their way of being accomplished take for example our work on mental health

044for the first time in FCPS history we will be communicating between schools rolling out a website of mental health best practices and resources that will enable our student leaders to take ownership of mental health awareness in their buildings no longer hopefully will there be pockets of Excellence or the feeling of working in a vacuum a rising tide of sharing information in this case lifts all boats and to support that work we passed a wellness policy that after three years of hard work that I was proud to take part in outlines how this system is committed to the health and wellness of the whole child take a look at our budget by empowering students to communicate what was important to them whether through the budget tool or meeting with them personally we heard what was important

045to them we as a student Community will a were able to have our voices heard at the Board of Supervisors at the bud budget task force and at this board table and as a result of that shared dialogue between our students teachers parents and our community we were able to secure the biggest investment in FCPS in the past decade we protected student programming we're able to keep some great teachers and empowered student achievements and finally our grading policies thanks to some awesome staff work a lot of feedback from students and from our Educators we were able to take steps to eliminate discrepancies and Grading that led to uneven playing fields for our students I cannot overstate how huge of a step this is we are undoing years of inequity that made it more challenging for

046students to earn grades that should in practice mean the same thing no matter what school you're at with that said there are still a few items of unfinished business that I will leave behind I'm still not satisfied with where we are in the funding structures for our schools I think we can do better in working with our State and County Partners to put FCPS in a place where it can pay its teachers the salary that they deserve and maintain excellence in our courses without having to be as worried about the tough budget years around the corner will be critical I wish we could have found some new Pathways to graduation that make it easier for students to leave our system with marketable 21st century job skills I wish we could have reduced some of the

047high stakes testing burden placed on our students and teachers I guess my wonderful successor Laura Chu will have plenty of work to do before I conclude my remarks I'd like to say a few thank yous first and foremost to my family for always being such a great support great source of advice and understanding that I might not always make it home in time for dinner and for Bo boosting the viewership on channel 21 I'd also like to thank my principal Mr Greg hood for being here tonight and the entire Administration for Madison for never conducting that attendance audit to find out why I was never in class and to my friends for staying with me on Twitter even though I might barrage them with educational policy tweets to sum it all up I won't leave

048this meeting later tonight feeling sad that it's all over I'll leave here feeling satisfied with the awesome work that we were able to do and with the knowledge that something I have I worked on might have made FCPS a better place for some of our students so thank you for FX County School Board it's been a lot of fun and keep fighting the good fight thank [Applause] you Miss Evans yes we are all I think are going to have quite a few things to say about our time with Ben um for me that time started with the school health advisory committee when uh Ben served on that you I think you started as a sophomore didn't you yeah so you served on that for a couple of years and I just remember meeting you and

049knowing that you had such a passionate voice for student health and of course at the time we were still working on later High School start times and you and I uh worked on that together and your voice as part of the school health advisory committee was was very very valuable and very powerful so um your impact is going to be so great and when I think of you I think about the health and wellness I know we've worked on a lot of things together but I know what a passion the health and wellness piece has been for you and don't forget we just approved a wellness policy a comprehensive wellness policy and you were part of that as well uh something that will uh go go on for many many years and hopefully decades and

050have a huge impact um you were always so cleare eyed and forceful in in stating your views and it was always based on your conversations your many many many conversations I guess that's what some of your absences had to do with going out to schools you know going out and and talking to um to uh students throughout the entire County and that of course was was largely the basis uh on which you became such a forceful advocate so I want to thank you for U being so cleare eyed and for uh keeping us in touch with the student voice so it's it's a sad day for us to be losing you uh it's hard to believe it's only been a year frankly uh I mean that it's it's already been a year you know it

051seems like uh we we should just see you here next month and the month after but um I I will say um and I know my colleagues feel the same way we don't have to to worry about remembering Ben press we will hear from you again and again and again so I just want to wish you the best of luck and thank your wonderful parents and family for being here tonight and for sharing you for the last year so thank you Miss darnette kofax Ben I when I look at you I think what it must be like to have a 40-year-old mind trapped in the body of an 18-year-old and what do you do with that well you go to Princeton of course that's what you do you are an amazing young man it has

052been such a pleasure to work with you to watch you tackle the issues that you do with energy and enthusiasm to often hear you upstage the adults in the room with your eloquent comments I mean you have a gift and and it has been amazing to watch um you inspire ire their student Leaders with your passion I have seen that in the meetings that I attend and um it has really as I said been a true pleasure to work with you you have made FCPS a better place thank you to Ben's parents and family who have shared him with us this year it was wonderful getting to meet you and talk to you in the beginning of the year and you need to be so proud of him and I I know you are um

053I wish you much success as you begin your college career as this story goes oh the Places you will go and we know that will be you we will watch with you we will cheer for you and we stay in touch so we can keep apprised of all of your great adventures that are next so best wishes and we care about you so much so thank you for being part of our team this year Miss mlin Ben I know that all 12 of us are eager to uh share how much you've impacted each one of our Lives as well as the countless students the teachers and everyone who invests so much in trying to make this a great school system and leave there not a single doubt in your mind um that the impact you

054have brought to our school system not only as an amazing role model for your Madison High School classmates but but for every student in all 24 schools that you visited uh to demonstrate to them that Public Service uh commitment to really as Miss Hines mentioned listening and hearing what people have to say and then imparting that to all of us profound impact you've had um but something that I really want to focus on tonight because it goes to the core of who you are and why I believe you're going to have just such a remarkable life in the years to come you have always assumed positive intentions uh no matter where people are on both the political Spectrum on the philosophical Spectrum um you know our board has 12 very passionate personalities and you have

055you know been one of those rare individuals that um has developed a relationship with every single one of us and then you're right you straddled an election year so then you had to you know get to meet some more uh new board members and you've just done it with such Grace and such care and uh it's something that's going to certainly uh inspire me to continue in my work uh it just it's going to carry you very far in life just continue to embrace that piece of who you are and uh you know I I also want to do a shout out to Harris Latif you were an incredible role model for Ben and um you certainly were twins separated in some other you know uh point in in uh another time um period and

056you both um have spoiled us as board members with your tremendous tremendous maturity and Leadership and uh so I just thank you and I can't wait to hear about your Journeys and please Harris is modeled this well keep us informed on how it's all going God bless Mrs Strauss Harris you are wise beyond your years and um Mr Dara kofx you're right what is it like to be 408 an 18y old body um uh it is it is always enlightening to listen to you and I always think where do you find all those words and they just it goes so well together um your advocacy your ability to multitask and do all these things that Miss Kilpatrick was talking about and and thank you very much for Madison not counting all of his absences that

057would have been just terrible um and thank you for letting us be a part of your life that has been obviously we're all parents we all care about all of this but it is just a wonderful experience to watch and listen to somebody who was probably smarter than any of us here and it's it's great um I also think that perhaps perhaps not only thanking your parents but I know these interesting adventures and trips that you all go on very quickly it teaches you to be adventuresome to take risks and at the same time of being very wise my fames do the same thing so keep doing that I think it's it's good for your son so um you will have to work hard to keep up on Facebook with your pictures as Harris has

058and hereis we really enjoy hearing about Scotland and everything that goes on so I look forward to voting for you someday I think it will come between you and Harris um congress senate you know State whatever but um you are the young end of the millennial generation you are 18 for those who are given much much is expected and I think you understand that and I think you relish that idea you are a leader and we will look to you to solve problems that we older people have created and can't seem to fix but I think Fairfax County Public Schools has has given you opportunity to to shape yourself shape your mind shape your wisdom and your family has certainly raised you extremely well so go forth solve the problems of the world and be

059a leader of the Millennials because we truly need them and thank you so much for joining us and being a part of our family and sharing your wisdom it's great 40-year-old wisdom is always wonder wonderfully appreciated thank you Mrs Schultz one I've enjoyed introducing you to John stasel two I've enjoyed watching you grow from Full just soaking it all in to every once in a while going hm this doesn't seem quite right and that is an intellectual growth um that will serve you well I hope when you go into the safe spaces of prinston um that you take that same degree of skepticism and use the brain God gave you um don't don't lose that Curiosity going and most of all the maturation that I've seen in one year I mean mom and dad you

060must be so proud and maybe I'm inclined as the mother of four boys to watch and see um a young a young student on the verge of becoming a man and you're on that path and I know your parents couldn't be more proud but you sort of have some surate adults in your life who watched that maturation process that I think would have happened anyway but I think that we feel a little privileged to have been a part of it and maybe nudging it along a little bit um it's been a true [Applause] pleasure Miss Corbett Sanders so Ben I got to know you first by your reputation the reputation that you developed as a strong and passionate leader in the AC because you shared uh your work there at the same time as my

061daughter serving on it and she would come home and tell me about you so I was very pleased to actually be able to work with you this year and um I think it's really great you as an eagle scout have um lived the Boy Scout motto which is to leave places better than when you got there and you certainly are leaving us in a better place place than when you got here so thank you for that and I would also like to just kind of go through your name Ben press and give some words about it Ben he's bright and he's left this place better he's got endless energy and he's not to be forgotten he's persistent and passionate about all things FCPS and the good of of all students he's reflective from which we

062all learn from your Reflections and you are empowered to do great things because of the great education you've gotten at Madison and from your parents in your world travels you're sympathetic you're sympathetic to what others the paths others walk and you're strategic you are very strategic in how you approach people issues and life in general so I for one am very blessed to have been able to work with you for a short period of time and I wish you well and let us know when you want us to door knock for you because we're all really good at that so um bonance my friend and uh keep us keep in touch Mr Moon thank you Madame chair uh when I first met bth there was your sophomore here but I was done sure that you

063are a senior and then I saw you again in the following year I said he did not graduate how come he's back here again there was a junior here but I thought I was sure that you had to have graduated year before never seen a sophomore so mature articulate and intelligent and it was it's been such a joy to watch you and last year was along with the Harris uh to be a a two of our best students student representativ F county has ever produced I mean you along with Harris have real put the levers at least standards for the future student Representatives at least three four five Nazis up and Aura and other future St Representatives truly have their work cut out I know you grade at Princeton great school but remember my school

064has better a footb team so putting it on thank [Applause] you Miss Paul chuk well my seat partner I will miss you um but I do want to First congratulate your parents it's so nice to meet your sister and all your friends and principle who supported you I came on as a new board member not knowing how i' would feel up here and being like Oh my God you're amazing incredible um in the words of Dr Garza we will run your presidential campaign one day so let us know i' like to knock those and um no really truly I couldn't have thought of a better person to help welcome me here um for a student to be showing me around and telling me how the board works um and making me feel welcome at the

065meetings and I know you do that every school and with every group of students you meet Princeton's very lucky we're very sad to see you go um but we know like with Harris you'll be back and I know you will be working with Laura we're very excited to have her on board so thank you so much enjoy your summer try to relax and we'll see you soon um Mr mlan and then miss Huff well Ben you've you've been a wonderful student rep as everyone has already said and uh like Mr Latif before you you've served at um what I might call a difficult time um a historical time and an emotional time and um as others have said you've handled it truly with Grace um and all of us are appreciative of that and one

066thing that others have not pointed out yet is that you are the uh first graduate of our Schoolboard student leadership development program who went on to uh become a a school board student representative so you were proof that that program works whether or not it's defunct or not next year we'll see but um um we're proud that you have you have shown that that effort has some Merit and as you go off to college um we needed to provide you um with a dorm room accessory uh and I know Mr Latif has proudly um displayed his um at St Andrews um and I know um you'll be happy to display this um in your dorm room in at Princeton um and of course it's a picture of all of [Laughter] us so even though you

067chose the lesser of the two schools that you got to choose between um we're we're so proud of you and wish you the best at Princeton thank you okay Miss H um so I haven't had as much time to get to know you but I do remember meeting you on the campaign Trail and being very impressed and I was happy to sit with you early on and realiz that we had some things that we definitely agreed on and wanted to work towards and was happy to talk about the things over the last six months I also realize that there are things that we don't agree on and um one decision that we clearly were not on the same page with I've really tried to understand your point of view and uh after considering and I

068realized you had to handicap yourself when choosing Princeton over UVA given all your talent so I wish you the best of luck and I know you'll do well Dr garon well Ben you know I've spoken about my feelings about Ben before and yes I do believe that one of these days he'll be president of the United States and I'll be happy to run to work on his campaign um I do I remember very clearly my first year here in the division and and Harris Harris Latif and you I would just everywhere I would go I'd say there they were and I would what I call you they're my posi because everywhere I go there they are you know uh and since that time I've I've given um I've given Ben a hard time about his

069absences and you know you brought it up so I thought I'd bring him up again but anyway obviously didn't hurt you too much I mean you going to Princeton so I mean I think this is you know all very good it was just something for me to give you a hard time about so um anyway Mr Mrs press we you know I just want you to know how much uh I could not be prouder of him if you know if he were my own son I mean he's he's you know I know you're very very proud of him um he is wise Beyond his years it's amazing um and he's kind of EF Hutton you know every time he would we would have some hard very challenging issue Ben would speak and it would just

070kind of bring it right back to to kind of the essence of and important things that we needed to be focused on very articulate young man um and always very very thoughtful um so just have always been impressed with you so you're going to be fun to watch you're going to do great things and again one of these days president of the United States so thank you B it's been been a joy to work with you so I think we've completely embarrassed you now right so thank you um we we are we're going to move on to our next agenda item we have three local businesses that um we have the pleasure of honoring tonight and want to thank them for being here um item 2.06 uh Virginia Schoolboard Association business honor rooll for deoe

071Consulting I call on Mrs Strauss thank you m chairman I am delighted to be able to honor um deoe Consulting they are very important business partners um here in Fairfax County and um with Langley High School and also Falls Church so Delight Consulting has been a valuable partner with Fairfax County Public Schools in several ways and for many years in November of 2013 deoe helped develop and start a comprehensive mentoring program at Langley High School targeting students often labeled the quiet middle a student in the quiet middle is someone who could benefit from additional adult Role Models he or she may be seeking academic help help benefit from an emotional connection or be seeking a plan for the future with additional adult engagement and guidance these students often find their path and succeed at Langley

072deoe calls their mentals Saxon proteges after the school's mascot of course every school in FCPS has students who can benefit from additional support while some people may feel langly high school has less of a need there's always room for 10 to 20 volunteers supporting as many of students in any of our schools always deo's mental me deo's mentoring model is also a very thoughtful one along with considerable individual time between mentor and mentee their program includes a cohort model where group support is provided in deo's model now considered a best practice and FCPS ignite Partnerships model the group conducts a kickoff event holds a midyear town hall and Survey in other mandatory Town Hall sessions plus a year-end celebration additionally deoe and the school Target 11th graders they do so to motivate and support the

073students as they head into the confusing and sometimes daunting college application process in 2014 deoe expanded their program to Oakton High Schools creating C cougar proteges and they are now in negotiation to create Jaguar proteges soon to include Falls Church High School in their partnership footprint thank you and congratulations deoe for making the 2016 Virginia school boards Association business honor rooll and now I will read the resolution whereas public schools and local businesses are an integral part of the community and whereas many local businesses play a crucial role in supporting our schools and whereas the economic health of our community State and Nation depends on a strong public school system and whereas collaboration between local public schools and local businesses strengthen schools and the business Community alike by providing a well-trained and highly educated Workforce

074and whereas an excellent public school system is vital to the quality of life in this community and fundamental to preserving a strong Democratic Society now and in the future and whereas deoe employees have dedicated their time energy and resources in support of increasing student achievement in college awareness at Langley and Hope in Oakton High School and soon to be F high school as well therefore be it now resolved the Fairfax County Schoolboard names deoe Consulting to the 2016 Virginia school boards Association business honor rule showing appreciation for the firm's ongoing support of this community's public schools your work has aided this community in focusing on the goal of providing the best public schools we can for every child who attends them I so move call for a second there a second seconded by Miss Corbett

075Sanders all those in favor that is unanimous thank you um and now I would like uh for some of our honores to come down uh Jim chus managing director Daniel Ys uh senior consultant from toote Consulting and from the FCPS Christen Woodward conflict resolutions and mentoring specialist Sonia Williams director of student services from Langley High School school and Colleen Eddie assistant principal Oakton High School please come for a picture and thank you very [Applause] much for you item 2.07 Virginia School Board Association business honor role Ciro I call on Miss Hines to read the resolution thank you um Circo Incorporated is an admired Service Company serving clients in federal state and local governments they also serve South Lakes High School in Reston for seven years Circo has partnered with South Lakes providing Community work experiences

076in real world settings for students with disabilities Community work experiences prepare students for the demands of future work experiences and during any given day there are as many as seven South Lake students working at Circo at Circo the students including some who need close adult supervision attain Real World skills in relation to their their abilities some students are working independently in the mail room scanning and logging packages assisting with mass mailings or delivering mail to employees throughout their four-story building others work with adults restocking supplies in the kitchen and cleaning it Jeff Leon the students career and transition teacher at South Lakes praised Ciro for being flexible and accommodating to the students Jeff said that he's been told whatever works best for the students works for us some 25 students have been impacted by Ciro's

077support which includes some 500 hours of volunteer time given by Ciro employees of Ciro one student said I really like working at Ciro everyone treats me really great so thank you Ciro Incorporated and congratulations on receiving the 2016 Virginia school boards association's business honor role and now for the resolution whereas public schools and local businesses are an integral part of this community and whereas many local businesses play crucial role in supporting our schools and whereas the economic health of our community State and Nation depends on a strong public school system and whereas collaboration between local public schools and local businesses strengthens schools and the business Community alike by providing a well-trained and highly educated Workforce and whereas an excellent public school system is vital to the quality of life in this community and fundamental to

078preserving a strong Democratic Society now and in the future and whereas Ciro Inc employees have dedicated their time energy and resources in support of students with disabilities for the past seven years through meaningful work experiences therefore be it resolved at the Fairfax County School Board names Ciro Inc to the 2016 Virginia school boards Association business honor role showing appreciation for the firm's ongoing support of this community's public schools your work has aided this community in focusing on the goal of providing the best public schools we can for every child who attends them I so move is there a second sorry is there a second Mrs Schulz uh all those in favor say or raise your hand uh that is unanimous thank you okay thank you um at this time I would like to invite Brian

079K Kenrick corporate facilities director of Ciro Inc as well as Jeffrey Leon FCPS career and transition teacher from South Lakes High School to join us at the Das for a photo [Applause] the than [Applause] okay we have another uh one more recognition tonight uh another Virginia School Board Association business honor role for Ortho Virginia I call on Mr M Ortho Virginia formerly Commonwealth Orthopedics is long been one of the largest Orthopedic practices in Northern Virginia for over 20 years Ortho Virginia Physicians have volunteered their time and expertise as team physicians in many FCPS high schools certified athletic trainers have been a main stay in FCPS High School athletic programs since the early 1980s and their relationships with their supervising team Physicians is an important part of our Collective uh corrective injury management efforts Ortho Virginia

080Physicians currently serve as team Physicians for 13 FCPS high schools supporting the day-to-day injury prevention treatment and Rehabilitation activities of the school's athletic trainers over the last decade Ortho Virginia has further supported our schools by providing continuing education opportunities to help ensure that our athletic trainers are provided the best possible care for student athletes all of these activities demonstrate Ortho Virginia's commitment to protecting the health and safety of FCPS student athletes thank you Ortho Virginia for your many years of support and congratulations on receiving the 2016 uh vsba business honor role uh award and now for the resolution whereas public schools and local businesses are an integral part of this community and whereas many local businesses play a crucial role in supporting our schools whereas the economic health of our community State and Nation depends

081on a strong public school system and whereas the collaboration between local public schools and local businesses strengthens schools and the business Community alike by providing a well- trained and highly educated Workforce and whereas an excellent public school system is vital to the quality of life in this community and fundamental to reserving a strong Democratic Society now and in the future and whereas or Ortho Virginia and their Physicians have volunteered their time energy and expertise in support of student athletes and multiple School athletic training programs for more than two decades therefore be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board names Ortho Virginia to the 2016 vsba business honor role showing appreciation for the firm's ongoing support of this community's public schools your work has aided this community in focusing on the goal of providing the

082the best public schools we can for every child who attends them is there a second seconded by Mrs Schultz all those in favor terrific M Schultz did you want to add something I did um I was at the uh Northern Virginia football dinner uh where we acknowledged um the work of our own um staff and um preventing concussions and having Ortho Virginia you know I was sitting in all of those graduations and looking at the new Eagle Bank formerly known as Patriot Center at George Mason and with as many athletes as we have in Fairfax County I mean I feel badly that so many Orthopedic um doctors have had to envelop into a larger organization in order to afford um continuing to provide care but the level of standard that so many of our students

083get just from their practice especially Dr Parker Andrew Parker from Ron um it is amazing and it I think it helps keep our students healthy um I think it keep helps keep our students engaged and so the fact that we're acknowledging them I think is as an organization on the one hand but as individual doctors and what they mean to um the families and the students within FCPS is is substantial so so at this time I would like to invite Dr Mark Madden Dr Ben kidge and Mr Bill Harvey Ortho Virginia chief administrative officer to join all of us at the deis for a [Applause] [Music] photo e [Applause] okay item 3.01 citizen particip oh before I begin i' I've been remiss I think we have another former Schoolboard member in the audience is Michelle

084Brickner here [Applause] tonight thank you for joining us um item 3.01 citizen participation the next order of business a 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 or personal attacks on any person complaints regarding individual students or school-based employees should be directed to the appropriate School principal or other school official speakers should please refrain from using personally identifiable information in connection with an individual student speakers are expected to deliver their comments with the decorum and respect appropriate to the conduct of the Public's business during public comment those in the audience May stand to show support loud conversation or Outburst from those in attendance will

085not be tolerated for during citizen participation please thank you for your cooperation tonight 10 citizens have signed up to address the board along with video testimony from one Citizen First is Kaden Ortiz to be followed by Amanda Brewer hi my name is Kaden Ortiz I was a senior at Robinson Secondary School this year and I am a trans man not feeling accepted at any school creates an unsafe environment for any student and the main goal in any school district is to make their students feel safe at the beginning at my time at Robinson I did not feel accepted and because of this I became a danger to myself I tried to commit suicide nine times and was a frequent cutter when I actually started High School I wanted to play basketball for Robinson but was

086only allowed to join the girls team that made me feel even more unaccepted I'm not the only child in FX County to have felt this way I urge you the school board to please educate our teachers and administrative staff to know how to handle everyone and not just the majority I understand these things take time but please make them a prerogative thank you Amanda Brewer to be followed by Rodrigo Velasquez Amanda Brewer okay um Rodrigo Velasquez to be followed by Joseph hell can you hear me oh that's you um dear board I grew up and was educated in FCPS having graduated from robber Le high school and recently graduated from George Mason University actually I have a whole speech I could have said um it says pretty words um around your strategic plan which includes

087a caring culture um some other pretty words that make me sound more elaborate more sophisticated and hopefully more valid but I actually don't think I want to spend three whole minutes reading something that I genuinely feel very close to my heart which is around the inclusion of people like me um people who identify within the lgbtq community um and I know that's something that's to be discussed today surrounding Family Life Education and inclusion of of trans folks um within the school system um particularly around facilities again I don't think and I hope that fancy words commas placed to make me sound more sophisticated than necessary should be the impediment of you all taking action when that action is already deserving and is already warranted because your goal is to be inclusive of all students not

088just a select few that the actions that you can take now and be bold in should be actions that are inclusive of all students Fairfax county is becoming more and more diverse not just with people of my skin color or who come from different countries but also in identities around sexuality around gender the places that we were born the families that we were born or chosen into none of that should be a direct impediment on our education and we deserve the education like when I was in your schools in Robert Lee High School I would have loved to have Family Life Education that taught me about the different sexual intercourses that I would be engaging in that's life-saving information for many not just that but that creates a culture of inclusion demanding and really creating

089a space for everyone to be able to have dialogue because it's not just me that's going to be engaging in those sexual activities and it's nothing to be ashamed of people have sex people have anal sex people should talk about STDs these are all really important pieces of information that if not taught at a young age can lead to unwise decisions in the future so I hope you all take that stance not just an education but also an inclusion of all LGBT individuals because it's really about time thank you Joseph cul Joseph howel to be followed by Ruby nickdow hello or good evening my name is Joseph howel and I'm a graduate from Robinson High School I was a president for the GSA in 2010 the gay stade Alliance and I'm also a proud educator

090for Fairfax County and I'm here to discuss the future of lbgt students of Fairfax County and I speak to us this evening about changing the uh way the county treats the uh part of the community growing up in Fairfax my parents told me that the school is the most safest place that I can be so why would we put our trans students in a situation will uh that will not make them feel safe um I've befriended many students over the last decade and I can assure you that the last thought was to cause any trouble any Mayhem for other students a good way to continue the understanding of the lbgt community is to advance our F our family life education program including topics such as STI prevention testing same-sex intercourse and abuse of relationships amongst

091gay and lesbians without this valuable information impressionable young students will uh find misleading information from social media and the internet and will continue to be Reckless and will make um bad decisions that will remain unnoticed until consequences are dire one of the things that I uh remember from my time in Robinson High School was a certain day where we were learning about the gender Spectrum the topic was briefly mentioned and we passed it pretty much in one day and it raised many questions that were never answered if we could make have more lessons for students to be able to identify the difference between transgender transsexuality and gender fluidity we would have a more understanding and less stigma attached to these labels I've been blessed to grow up in such a progressive County and I want

092to make I want to continue to make fairfest County the leading source of inspiration for safety education and mutual respect between staff student and family and in doing so having other counties follow our example thank you Ruby nickdow to be followed by David Aon Ruby nikado gave her slot to me my name is mag kilganon I have uh four children and three of them one just graduated from Fairfax County Public Schools and I have three left in the school system I'm deeply concerned about the direction the Family Life education curriculum is taking it seems seems like we're leaving out common sense and science just like love and morality were abandoned in previous years as parents of four school age children we've always opted out of fle because if we were allowed to opt out and

093if the material is under lock and key I thought it was probably a good idea to opt out but more than that sex is a private vulnerable special wonderful expression of love between a man and a woman that love is lost when our most intimate selves are discussed in group settings with Powerpoints and worksheets as parents we're trying to raise children who are healthy emotionally physically and sexually the the role of the school system should be to support parents not to direct us parents are the primary educators of their children and we loan them to you for instruction in academics not in SE uality when the debate raged last spring and summer it was clear that parental input was not important to the school board in fact the process of changing fle has been hijacked

094a concerted effort's been made by a vocal minority while unassuming taxpaying parents are ignored and shut out in order to comment I reviewed the existing fle lessons because what parent of four children doesn't want to spend her Spare Time reviewing sex adolesence and sure enough my my instinct to opt out was confirmed in fact the whole program was even worse than I'd imagined others before me have exposed the inappropriate material that's covered in in the class in to age groups that are too young to hear these things and I'm going to offer another perspective on the material for example in eth grade human growth and development there are 11 vocabulary words associated with male reproduction and only five for female reproduction thank you for reinforcing the message that men are more important than women and

095that men sexual function is more important than women's to 14-year-old girls the formation of seen is explained in excruciating detail while eth grade girls are never told how to handle or defin heavy Menses or when cramping might need the attention of a doctor eighth grade girls aren't even told about progesterone a hormone that's critical to women's health I guess they're too overwhelmed with their five vocabulary words to be able to handle more material this kind of massagy pervades the entire curriculum we've come a long way baby unless you're in Fair effects County fle in those classes it's still a man's world as a school board with nine women on it you should be ashamed you you're offering this video material for approval tonight is incomplete and possibly disingenuous what are you hiding release the lesson

096plans for the new curriculum so that per parents have a chance to review it before the school year begins thank you thank David Aon to be followed by George Alber good evening and thank you to the Fairfax County school board for allowing me the time to speak tonight my name is David Aon and I am a co-chair of the northern Virginia chapter of the gay lesbian and straight education Network or glisten in this role I have worked with K through2 students from Northern Virginia especially Fairfax County for over eight years now I originally started with glissen as a 10th grader with that in mind I'd like to speak about the recommendations of the family life education curriculum advisory committee or fleak from both last year and this year last year the committee made several recommendations

097concerning LGBT students that were a step in the right direction of positively including sexual orientation and gender identity and expression in Family Life education classes glisson's 2013 Virginia state snapshot released as part of their banial National School climate survey found that only 177% of Virginia students were taught positive representations of LGBT people history and events simply excluding representations of LGBT people in Family Life Education is not a solution I was encouraged when the board voted to accept these recommendations about a year ago I would like to thank those board members who voted in support and offer my knowledge and support to those who did not attending each of these meetings from last year to this year I understand that the board and the community have reasonable concerns about the changes to Family Life Education and

098I would like i' like to remind everyone that LGBT students are paying close attention to these changes as well beyond simply citing statistics I cannot tell you how many students have told me that they have experienced victimization because their peers teachers and administrators do not understand them while many people accuse the LGBT community and its allies of politicizing issues and forcing a political agenda these same people tend to forget that this is a matter of safety for this community as the recent tra in Orlando reminds us the LGBT community is far from safe for so many the ability to understand others starts in the classroom and is fostered at home numerous studies from nonprofits government agencies and universities have shown that safer School environments for everyone leads to higher self-esteem higher test scores increased likelihood

099for higher education and higher quality of life for all students the impact that inclusive curricula has on students cannot be ignored School communities function better when its members understand and support each other as for this year's recommendations that include Dating Violence remember that this impacts the LGBT community and the whole Community as well the urban Institute in 2013 found that 29% of heterosexual youth reported physical abuse while this number Rises to 42.8% for LGB youth this is a community that needs role models and needs representation in the classroom I strongly support the fleak recommendations from both last year in this year and I ask that the school board does the same the LGBT youth of this County simply cannot continue to wait while more suffer at the hands of ignorance and in action thank you

100once again for allowing me the time to speak at this meeting thank you George Albert George Alber to be followed by Robert rby hi good evening my name is George Alber as a member of the Fairfax County NAACP executive committee I wish to speak in support of the resolution to change the name of Jeb Stewart high school but first I want to say thank you in his book profiles and courage Bo talk about profiles and courage I'm proud to stand with my brothers and sisters tonight thank you in his book profiles encourage John F Kennedy set a high Bar for our elected officials democracy JFK wrote puts its faith in the people that the people will not simply elect men and women who represent their views ably and Faithfully but will also elect men and

101women who will exercise their conscientious judgment faith that the people will not condemn those whose Devotion to principle leads them to unpopular courses but will reward courage respect honor and ultimately recognize right at the last meeting I asked you to show moral leadership and act regarding changing the name of Jeb Stewart High School to exercise your conscientious judgment and recognize right thank you for starting that with this resolution and a special thanks to Sandy Evans for not being afraid to lead this difficult discussion I applaud you the NAACP supports changing the name of Chip stward high school to better reflect the diversity and inclusion of our Public Schools as our president genri who's with us tonight has said we have a duty to our community to not carry forward the relics of hate from a

102century ago into the future our public institutions Charley reminded me must reflect our current values and principles now the decision to change the name of Jeff Stewart as I've said before is not a financial decision it is a moral question about Justice equality human rights and Reconciliation however having said that I am compelled to talk about the cost of change because it is the argument most frequently CIT it for not changing the name and because it is widely misunderstood first the current estimate is about $678,000 not the million dollar or the $2 million that I often hear next it is important to understand that this estimate includes approximately $3 to $400,000 for uniforms equipment and other items some of these are due for replacement in 2017 some in the later years some are even overdue

103I'm not an accountant but I would argue that if these costs have to be incurred anyway maybe they shouldn't be included in a financial analysis of Alternatives so I would uh your resolution says it best we regr guard the name is inappropriate for Fairfax County Public School and not reflective of our diverse Community thank you thank you Mr Alber next is Robert Rigby to be followed by thas Penland I yield my time to Mr Ted beloff thank you Mr Rigby uh I am Ted velkoff and I'm here to speak to item 4.02 which is the uh renewal of the superintendent's contract um school school board members uh by your actions tonight uh you will be rehiring the best superintendent United States of America and the best superintendent in the history of scps I have said

104on many occasions that after marriage and family uh the most important thing I will ever do in my life I have done which was to be a member of this board and 12 people that brought Dr Karen Garza to Fairfax County to the to the four of you who are uh have joined uh in January I hope that you will look back in four years with similar Pride on your action that you take tonight uh to Dr Garza uh three years ago when we were looking to find someone for your position I knew that this board the school board did its best work with someone who was highly respected and impartial in their treatment of board members the second thing I knew was that there was a rift between FCPS and members of the community

105and I would say most notably over the issue of student discipline and that we needed a leader who could convey compassion and an open mind in dealing with those issues and finally uh the third thing that I felt was that National Education policy had failed and was infecting uh scps in a negative way and we very much needed uh a Visionary and courageous leader uh who could uh turn the course in Fairfax County and also in the nation after knowing you for about five minutes I was convinced that you had the qualities to be that leader and I will say that you have exceeded my expectations uh I'm very U thankful for the Rena s and public education that you have initiated here at Fairfax County and I'm grateful that you are going to continue

106and build on that work in the coming decade thank you Thomas Thomas Penland to be followed by Reed boss good evening and thank you very much for the opportunity to talk to the board this evening I'm Thomas pendland I am a uh very much supporter of the pyramid Jeb Stewart we've lived in the area 33 years I've had two students that have attended I've been the PTSA president band booster President we worked to bring money to the school through tag day evolving things uh that uh thir Marshall Scholarship and you name it those are our goals and we support the school tremendously that said there's a feeling within the community that uh the that the school board must have a Personal Agenda we're not allowed to speak we're not allowed to talk as it relates

107to this motion that's being looked forward at this evening and what we're talking about there is we haven't have an opportunity to put any information in other there some factual and you're going to vote to go forward with a name change Community engagement Community engagements consisted of surveys at the school 60% of the students says we don't need a name change surveys out in the community 35% supported it or the rest of the people the majority should rule meeting which took place on Monday May 23rd I was there went over there figuring we're going to be talking about it see how this is going to work and where we can engage we were there come up with a new name this was amazing how could how did we get this far along I've been in

108the government for years how can you FastTrack something that quickly and not give people an opportunity so renaming work group why we don't have a majority rule we seem to be working off the fact that it's an agenda item that is going to just go through few records exist which have been brought up we're well aware of the records we've tried to provide you documentation which you can look at that show where we think there's adequate documentation to make decisions on what people that came ahead of us especially the school board because it's important we also things such allegations that the school property the 17 Acres that it was taken away from black families we've gone into the court records and it wasn't it was purchased by the school board and for the right reasons

109and that's the way it should have been done so those allegations that are out there we're having trouble we think it's immoral we think we're being lied to a little bit and not given an opportunity to participate in this event and that's where we're that's where we're primarily at right now as far as uh school and the name there was a phenomenal video that was up that video contained everything about Jeb Stewart it was removed yesterday H surprising now the black hole is there the students that had an issue with it those two videos went down yesterday too they're no longer there to be seen so with that said sure there's a cost Associated there's a deficit shortfalls a lot of money whether it's 600,000 680 or 640 every penny should be spent to educate

110our students that's what we worked as parents to make sure that money was available and should be used within the system we don't think that the ideal that we're going to change a name is going to change and we wish the school board would realize that you're here to educate the students will this make a difference I'm not sure that difference will affect us but we like to move forward with being involved with the process thank you very much for your time thank you re [Applause] boss I good evening and thank you madam chairwoman Hines for the opportunity to speak uh Miss Strauss and Mr Moon you may not remember you're the two stalwarts that remain for my tenure as the student representative 17 years ago and I wish that I was here today to

111celebrate some of our accomplishments but instead I come to defend my high school and to debunk some myths and accusations I was the class president at Jeb Stewart in 1999 I was also the only student representative to the school board ever to represent from Jeb Stewart and I coached at Jeb Stewart for seven years after I graduated and I also hosted a 40-year anniversary of Jeb Stewart in which I recollected all of the history of both the man and the school so I find myself adequately prepared to address the culture in the school having spent dozens of evenings in this room and Mr press said he 250 hours that's a gross understatement as you all know because there's a lot of meetings and a lot of 11:00 I'm certain your priorities are endless and you

112could serve the students on better issues nevertheless Miss Evans has unfortunately succumbed to a small handful of impressionable students and a minority view expressed in her survey our resolution the resolution you're looking at tonight is fraught with air but she makes two assertions that are assess ENT especially egregious first she demands that Jeb Stewart is someone who worked as a puppet to promote slavery slavery he was not he was a war hero he dedicated his entire life and family to war he was a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point he served in the Union Army and only switched to the Confederate Army when he was asked to fight his home Commonwealth secondly and deeply troubling is the assertion that your predecessors conspired to block desegregation and named our school as a

113deliberate Act of callous Defiance that is totally untrue mlan high school was named in 1955 after Brown versus bour Edison 1962 Madison 1959 the same year as Jeb Stewart so I'm not seeing any of this callous Defiance in fact 1956 the Fairfax County School Board proposed a desegregation plan voluntary to the state to Commonwealth and it was rejected so please don't demonize those public servants with the knee assumptions I would would like to elaborate on the cost I'd like to elaborate on change in history I'd like to elaborate on the public engagement or lack thereof but I want to devote the rest of my time to talking about Stewart students at Jeb Stewart are excellent and they should be celebrated and there's nobody in this Auditorium that has ever walked the halls of Jeb Stewart

114and didn't see acceptance and friendship so you're fixing a problem that frankly does not exist at our school and 200000 we were interviewed for 5 months by the National Geographic magazine in which they celebrated our diversity and the ability for so many cultures to get along and most importantly I'm likely the only one in the room that spent hundreds or thousands of hours in the halls of Jeb Stewart and I can tell you with 100% certainty there is less hatred and less racism in the halls of Jeb Stewart than anywhere else I have ever been please leave our school alone we that that concludes the the live speakers that we have we have a video from Nicholas p p pisc which we'll show right now hi my name is Nicholas pasota and I'm a 2012

115graduate of Jeb Stewart High School I am opposed to changing the name of Jeb Stewart high school for two reasons changing the name of the school does not address the real problems and the needs of the school steuart has been noted as one one of the most diverse high schools in the nation when I graduated in 2012 70% of the students were on free or reduced lunch if we should be having any conversation it should be on how to recover from the mass Exodus of quality teachers and how to provide the resources for the less fortunate kids who attend the school and give them a better shot at connecting to mentors and achieving their goals spending the $700,000 needed to change the name waste nearly a million dollars of taxpayer funding without addressing the real

116needs of the school effectively doing something without actually doing anything it is irresponsible to suggest that changing the name without providing monetary resources that the school and our kids need is okay that money could go better towards classroom technology in the stem Fields teacher bonuses after school programs field trip subsidies school supplies counselors and Vocational programs all of which help the school more than a name change ever could secondly the motion to change the name is a reckless attempt to revise our nation's past and deprives the students from this area of the educational opportunity to see how far the nation has advanced as I mentioned Stewart is one of the most diverse high schools in the nation and is a magical place it is one of the only places that no matter what color ethnicity

117family or family background you come from you can walk down the halls of this great school and be engaged in a global experience that builds an individual's character the irony is in the contrast between General Jeb Stewart in the sheer diversity of the school our school is a symbol of diversity and acceptance and that shouldn't be stolen from from the kids who accept each other each day above the racism in our nation our school is something to be proud of which we are and I am it should be promoted not shied away from the name and the history of the very land that this school is built on should be instead used as an educational opportunity to help kids understand the cultural economic political and historical importance of the Civil War and how our nation

118has evolved the basis of modern political ideologies and the foundation of our government as well changing the name and erasing the opportunities is a disservice to our kids in summary the conversation we should be having is is how to provide more resources to Jeb Stewart high school so that the one of the most diverse high schools in America can provide the appropriate resources and opportunities to kids of all backgrounds so that they may also pursue the American dream changing the name of the school has zero real positive influence on the school and robs our kids from the potential opportunities to succeed thank you item 3.02 student representative Mr Mr press is all talked out that's remarkable um okay actually items 4.01 um um confirmation of action taken in closed meeting this is the portion of

119the meeting where the board will confirm any action regarding issues that were discussed in the closed meeting earlier these issues may include action taken regarding student disciplinary matters board members have discussed each individual case and at this time will make several motions to confirm the recommended action um do I have first a motion from Miss Corbett Sanders who's on I move that the school board authorize division Council to resolve the Personnel matter discussed in closed session according to the ter according to uh the discussion second seconded by Mr Moon all those in favor um darat kofax mvan Huff Strauss Corbin Sanders Evans Hines Moon Schultz those opposed those abstaining abstaining are mclin and PCH that motion passes um next I have a motion from U Mrs M Schultz and yeah going to need you to

120re reread the motion you read the right motion I too sorry um I move to deny the school reassignment appeal of a student who possessed and used an illegal drug on school property and who also possessed a knife and drug paraphernalia at the school and to confirm the disciplinary decision of the division superintendent seconded by miss Corbin Sanders all those in favor darat kofax mlan Huff Strauss Corbett Sanders Evans Hines Moon Schultz those opposed and those abstaining mclin and PCH abstaining that motion passes and next I have a motion from Miss Strauss thank you madam chairman I move to deny the school reassignment appeal of a student who possessed an illegal drug drug paraphernalia and a knife at school and to confirm the disciplinary decision of the division superintendent is there a second seconded by

121Miss Corbett Sanders all those in favor um Dar kofax mlan Huff Strauss Corbett Sanders Evans Hines Moon and Paul chck those opposed those abstaining um mclin and Schultz next I have a motion from Miss Dar kofax I move to deny the school reassignment appeal of a student who who possessed and used an illegal drug at school and to confirm the disciplinary decision of the division superintendent second seconded by Mr all those in favor um daret kofax mlan Huff Strauss Corbett Sanders Evans Hines Moon Schultz and pchi those opposed those abstaining M McLaughlin the motion passes next I have a motion from from Mr Schultz I move to Grant the school reassignment appeal of a student who possessed and used an illegal drug at school and to overturn the disciplinary decision of the division superintendent there

122a second seconded by miss mclaughin all those in favor raise your hand Miss Huff uh Corbett Sanders Evans mclocklin Schultz and PCH those opposed daret kex mlan Strauss Hines and moon that motion carries um I had have a motion from Miss Huff I moveed to deny the school reassignment appeal of a student who attempted to extort fellow students at school and to confirm the disciplinary decision of the division superintendent okay is there a second seconded by Miss PA all those in favor okay um that is unanimous all right we have been advised by our clerk to do motion M1 again um auth division Council to take the steps uh discussed in Clos session regarding pending Personnel matter seconded by Mr Moon all those in favor teranet Kofa mlan Huff Strauss Corbett Sanders Evans Hines Moon

123and Schultz those opposed those abstaining mlin and pulch okay thank you all right item 402 consideration of the extension um to the superintendent's contract I will hand the gavl to Miss Evans item 4.02 consideration of extension of superintendent contract I call on Miss Hines for the motion thank you I move that the school board renew its contract with Dr Karen Garza as superintendent and to authorize the chairman to execute the amended contract as detailed in the agenda item have a second second second seconded by Mr moon is there uh would you like to speak to your motion um Miss hin yes thank you very much um uh this is something I'm very very very very glad to be able to move tonight um and I think I what Mr belov had to say about um

124how lucky we all felt three years ago to draw you here from way down in Texas um to come join us in FCPS and to help lead us um I I feel the same way I did three years ago I think we've been extremely lucky to get you here and to keep you and um to have your leadership um I I feel very strongly that you have led this school system and you as you know through some difficult Financial Times and you've done that with courage and wisdom um I also want to uh thank you for your uh your vision in leading FCPS I'm sorry that FCPS has been leading the state and actually the nation in some very important conversations about education policy and we have some critical changes and challenges going on right

125now in the country when it comes to K12 education and you are our voice and you are helping to make uh changes and make strides around the state and the nation and that's a position that I feel for Fairfax County Public School should always be in so I'm I'm proud to have you here um and I'm so very grateful uh that you're willing to spend some more time with us that we will get to have you here longer um to continue the important work that we have begun under your leadership Mr Moon would you like to speak to your second thank you Miss just briefly as the former chairman of the school board that hired Dr G three years ago as the first female superintendent in 150 years of the history of Fest County Public

126School System I'm happy to Second this motion to extend their contract I have worked with several different superintendents on the school board and I can confidently tell you that Dr Garza has not only the right skill set but also the temperament to continue leading our school district for its almost 190,000 students to receive the very best education possible I appreciate her dedication professionalism guidance provided to the school board and willingness to work with all stakeholders and thank you for agreeing to stay at least for another four years thank you Miss mlin Dr Garza um I join my colleagues um with great enthusiasm for um the renewal um and extension of your contract uh when I uh was an advocate in the community uh I helped join with our parent and teacher organizations um to create

127the Fairfax education Coalition and it was specifically created back in 2009 um because we had concerns that the leadership of the school system was not as accountable as transparent and as engaged with the community as we needed and deserved in Fairfax County and several years later uh I decided that Beyond being an advocate I hope to join the board and really help shape the leadership of the school system going forward and as has been touched upon tonight we are deeply deeply fortunate in this great County of over a million people uh the 10th largest school system in the country third largest employer in the Commonwealth of Virginia um that we have been able to um not only bring you here three years ago um but to continue building on a relationship with you and your

128amazing leadership team um that you will want to continue with us and and build on this incredible work that you've done done not just the portrait of a graduate but as the mother of three boys coming through the system under your leadership I will say that it's the caring culture that you've been so deeply committed to um moving us toward a responsive culture to our families uh it's palpable it's remarkable and uh it continues to in my mind speak to the greatness of what Fairfax county is so thank you for your leadership and I look forward to our continued work together Mrs trous um thank you and thank you Dr Garza for agreeing to continue on and sign up again um I think Ted velov said a lot um when uh when we first found

129you and got to know you um we very quickly decided that you were the leader that we needed uh and as I have said we are looking at to turn things to turn a corner in education in the nation and certainly here in FX County and you were leading the way um port to The Graduate our new strategic plan uh Miss uh mclaughin talked about a caring culture um the tremendous effort with our Workforce you've led us through very difficult budget times we made hard hard decisions but you kept us together and we have we are now going down a different path um and it has been an exciting time and I've said before you lead with the heart of a teacher and that makes such a difference because you know what it's like in

130the classroom when you speak with our Educators and our educational leadership and develop leadership within our schools you very quickly understand the problem you are a quick study and you are able to come up and help us to find the solution that makes things better for our children for our teachers and our Educators in our schools because as we're teaching and learning occurs so um I am delighted that you are willing to sign up for another term um and I know that many in our County are grateful and are really very excited to keep you away from Texas just a little longer I know the Yellow Rose of Texas and it pulls on you but um you are a significant leader and as has been stated not only have you helped turn around fairx County

131Public Schools but you are turning the state around as well and you are now chairman of Ed 21 so you are helping to turn the nation down a better Road for all the children and fair Texas County and in the in the United States of America thank you very much Mrs Schultz so I I mean we can have a a Karen Fest but I think it's very important to explain I I feel like we're all talking about something that we know about but other people are going to watch this so when we hire a superintendent in Virginia the maximum contract uh time that we can offer is four years under Virginia code um if you are going to extend your superintendent's contract you don't wait until the end of the fourth year and then say

132surprised we're not extending your contract you do it a year in advance so Dr con Dr gara's contract isn't at an end and we're extending it it has another year but this is how you work with executive compensation um when you have a board and in somebody somebody's contract that you want to um extend so there have been a whole series of meetings behind closed doors um that are necessary um to protect the the negotiation process in extending a contract just like there would be with any contract um any contract that that we enter into you know you have a closed phase and you have an open phase where after the fact it becomes a public contract and her docu her contract will become a public uh document but just just for clarity we're all

133discussing stuff here at the table that we've been discussing for some period of time over a series of closed meetings where the board comes to a decision to um extend or not extend and not extending the contract basically is saying you know it's probably about time that you go get another job because you got one year left so that those are the two options before the board the board does not want to tell Garza to go get another job so we're going to extend her contract the maximum we can extend her contract is for four more years so you actually terminate the last year of the existing contract and you add under Virginia code the most number of years that you can add if you want to four years that's what's happened and that's what's

134going on here there's been a lot of like stuff going on um with that being said you know Dr Gara were obviously um going to be extending your contract uh and thrilled for it um you know personally um I hope that the investment that we make um of time and building a relationship with you continues to um improve and that we have the opportunity to reap the benefits of this contract going forward um and you know uh relive uh the good parts of when you first came here and leave the um exhaustion and you know the upward um learning curve you know hopefully that's flattened and we have uh some good days ahead of us uh Mrs Karen or Mrs Corbett Sanders first thank you Elizabeth for explaining to the public the whole process that

135we've been through I think that's probably very instrumental um it was helpful when I first came on the board to better understand it so I appreciate that um I want to reflect back on when we had the uh Board of Supervisors adopt our budget this year and at that time chairman boliva said that the budget was a booster shot um that we needed to make in as an investment into our school system and I actually think that that was a good description of where we were at uh in the budget process and where the school system is but I also think that we need to reflect on the energy drink that we received when we um had the benefit of Dr Garza joining us because it was A Renewed Energy um and invigoration of engaging

136the community at a different level and um with different approaches to listening to the community that I think we should embrace and um really thank you for um and going forward I just want to as we extend this contract uh just express my appreciation and the express the appreciation of my fellow board members for your leadership and commitment to our students and our staff and the tireless way in which you offer your time your energy your insights um and always remind us of the purpose which is the focus on the whole child and family to ensure Student Success so thank you and I look forward to continued working with you you Mr mine thank you Miss Evans I know my um colleagues and I take great pride in this moment um Dr Garza you know

137reflecting on what what Ted had to say um and what others have said you know some of us had to go a long way to get to you um in the first place and by a long way I mean past Billy the kids grave Long Way among among other historic landmarks um and that turned into one of the most meaningful trips of my life not just because I was in the car with Elizabeth Schultz for 5 hours um driving at 100 miles an hour to get to you um but because we were able to bring you back here with us um and I I know all of us agree that you are a truly transformative leader um and you know just just reading off the the various um accomplishments we've made together eliminating early release

138Mondays implementing later High School start times reforming our student discipline system strengthening our internal auditing capabilities creating High School esol academ iies um for Intensive English language learning creating the portrait of a graduate creating the Strategic plan um undertaking A system reorganization that saved us money creating healthier food for our kids um you um Dr Garza I think all of us would agree you have truly proved the adage Don't Mess with Texas uh Mr PR thank you Miss Evans um you know at least for the next two hours hours and 40 minutes I'm charged to Advocate on behalf of 188,000 Fairfax County students so I will do that the best thing I think I can advocate for is for four more years with Karen G I feel like starting that chant you hear at you

139know presidential re-elections four more years um you know my voice might not change anybody's vote up here but I want to add it to the chorus of people who are so enthusiastic about you staying with our system you have been an absolutely as Mr movan said a transformative leader um you know things that we thought couldn't be done things that we had talked you know talked for 20 plus years about and when you came here we we you know put the pedal to the metal and we got it done so with that um I'm I'm just so thrilled that this board is poised to to retain you for another four years and I look forward to seeing where Fairfax County goes for under your leadership thank you Miss daret kofax thank you um it is

140with great pleasure that I support the renewal of the contract for Dr Karen Garza um Dr Garza it has been a pleasure to work with you and your leadership team over these past three years I told her the other yeser was it yesterday or the day before it came up on my Facebook page three years exactly so two days ago the anniversary of when she came to us when she started so I do um appreciate your hard work your dedication your ability to work through challenging times and move forward in a positive way working with you as the chair last year I found you to be a courageous and passionate when it comes to some of the most difficult decisions we have to make Mr movine stated the many many areas of progress we have

141made um I truly appreciate what we have done with the portrait of a graduate the development or a strategic plan and the progress in our most challenging schools and that has been quite an undertaking I am very happy to support the extension of your contract and I look forward to many many more years of working together with you and your team and I would just say I will um agree with and Echo all of the praise for our wonderful superintendent we are very lucky to have Dr Garza with us leading um with us uh working with us and leading our school system the positive impact Dr Garza has had in the past three years has simply been tremendous on so many many fronts U Mr mavan started the list it's a very long list uh

142with portrait of The Graduate and then um the Strategic plan and of course the health and wellness pieces I I couldn't um have imagined a a leader uh better to take us um into the uh the issue of later start times uh something as Mr press mentioned uh had been with us for for 20 years and uh just a a stellar team that you've put together um in in your time here so um I'm very pleased uh to enthusiastically support this um and I you know you have led with with vision and courage and Innovation and I want to thank you for that and and very enthusiastically support the extension of your contract Dr GZA would you like to have any words or you oh oh okay and all right um Miss Paul check sorry

143I'll be brief yes um I was just sitting here and remembering um being here as a student as an intern with Channel 21 uh taping the school board meetings and realizing we have an amazing County um and then as a teacher as a graduate knowing that we need a a new vision for where we were going to go where we were headed for our kids and for their their education um and their 21st Century Learning so it's been such a breath fresh air I know I've only served on this board for six months um but to see you from the audience um as a graduate and as someone who really admires the fact that you are able to work with us and help lead us on the 10th largest county into the future but not

144just us you've done so much to work with our state and at the federal level to make sure that we get people on board um because it's time to do more and help our public schools be everything they can be so thank you so much and I'm very very excited to support this all right I'm going to take the vote now all in favor uh raise your hands and that is unanimous thank you the motion passes Dr Garza would you yes I'll be brief um you all know I don't like to talk about myself I don't like the attention to be on me but I but I really do love talking about the work and I really do love FCPS so I I just want you all to know how very very grateful I am

145to this board t velov to the previous board uh because you took a took a chance on me that Texas girl and and brought me here and uh I need to start saying Tech what are you talking Texas never heard of them um but anyway I want to also thank you for your continued support and absolutely this vote of confidence not not because of me necessarily because I think it's very very important to the Future work and the work we have ahead that our community sees that we're United in that work so I just want you to know how much that means to me um I'm as I said before I'm so proud of this great school system and oh my goodness the you know I think we're the best in the United States and

146my goodness I think the possibilities uh are endless for what else we can do uh in this school system um and and I am proud not only of our schools and what's going on in our schools but also the ability to really shape uh and lead other the work at the state and National level and really be a leader because this is an important time in public schools um I do uh want to thank the entire FCPS School Community this work isn't done alone you know all of us uh certainly working closely together but we rely upon so many others throughout the system certainly our wonderful employees who are phenomenal in every way are very talented students and the families and there's the parents that support the great work in our schools our School principles

147um who I think they're none better than the ones we have right here in FCPS and then this great leadership team um not all of them are here tonight but there's a good number of them uh here and I just want you to know I think they're the best in the United States um the level of dedication professionalism um and care for our students uh and they're just so bright um and so I do appreciate the comments that were made about uh the leadership team because this is all of us really working together so thank you for acknowledging them again I'm just very grateful um for your continued support I look forward to working with each and every one of you uh to continue the great work that's going on in FCPS and again um

148just want to thank you and and um Mr mine is it okay for me now to take off the weekend we have gotten a lot done um but uh there's more good stuff ahead so thank you very much tonight I appreciate it okay thank you and you know yes after this take the rest of the week off okay um item 4.02 consideration oh I'm sorry item 4.03 Family Life education curriculum advisory committee recommendations I call on Miss Strauss for the motion thank you madam chairman I moveed moved that the school board approve recommended media print and lesson objectives as detailed in the agenda item and as reviewed and recommended by the Family Life education curriculum advisory committee presented as new business on May 26 2016 as a second I seconded by Miss Evans Miss stuss

149would you like to speak to your um um so that people are clear on exactly what we're voting on tonight the recommendation is to adopt a new media material for ninth graders that follows the physical development of a child from conception through birth the other item that we are voting on tonight is new material for 10th and 11th grade students to support the learning objective students will examine team dating relationships team Dating Violence sexual assault and human sex trafficking and strategies for prevention and help and lastly we're voting to adopt print material to help girls with developmental delay young women who may be mentally learn to take care of their feminine hygiene needs those are the only things we are voting on tonight and I urge us to support it thank you Miss Evans it's

150just pretty PL I thank you Mrs Strauss for uh outlining what we are voting on today um I I support the the uh changes in Family Life Education which uh we don't have very many this year we have uh the the few that you mentioned uh did want to just uh stress that that we are not today uh voting on any new lessons on the topics of sexual orientation or gender identity um we did have you know we um had votes last year on some issues and uh we um but what we're doing tonight is uh does not change that so I I do support what we're doing Miss Schultz so I'm glad that Miss Evans brought up the fact that we don't have before us any changes of what's coming um in the coming

151curriculum because that's exactly the problem that I find myself in is May oh I don't know sth of a year ago so we basically 15 months ago um this board passed a policy and we said that we would know what was coming by last September it is now an entire academic year later and and there is no material in front of us tonight and I have parents and I have Educators and I have administrators of schools all the way up to the principal level asking me what's happening this coming curriculum year in terms of family life um a knockdown drag out had to happen in the Family Life education curriculum meeting to even get modest changes to a video on sexual violence and assault that we're going to be showing to nth and tth graders

152nth and 10th graders I'm the only one here who has a nth or tth grader sitting at this table and the notion that it becomes a parents responsibility to opt out Children otherwise they're going to be exposed to a video that the student representative to the family life education curriculum committee the student representative was so affected by it she said this is not something that is appropriate for somebody of my age of high school age so we're not even listening to the students at this point without having to go through all kinds of machinations and I don't think it's fair to the members of any Community any parent group um any stakeholder and we we recognized three business partners tonight who are investing time energy employees money and support of our schools I don't think

153it's fair to them to leave them hanging in a situation where we're 15 months later and I don't have a single page of the family life curriculum that this board voted on in May of 2015 to show parents I parents who are asking me should I pull my children out of school can I trust the public education system people who feel very strongly about public education um but feel more strongly about parental rights feel more strongly about the privacy and the Dignity of their children in very intimate places within our schools buildings I have no answers I have no answers for anyone I don't have them for a pastor a youth Minister I don't have them for a single mother with many children I don't have them for parents who have had successful education experiences

154for all their older children and they're just trying to get across the Finish Line with their last child and we had 2,115 fewer children in our school system this Academic Year than the than we expected and I'm worried that if we continue to not be clear and transparent and forth with and waiting until a couple of weeks before school starts and unveiling in August when everybody's on vacation what's going to be in the curriculum is extremely problematic to me so I I appreciate the work that the committee did but to leave parents languishing to leave Educators who don't want to be surprised at the material that is going to be expected that they teach or that they uh administer as faculty and principles and assistant principles in our buildings puts them in a very difficult

155position and I don't think it's fair that we are doing that to our employees because remember this doesn't only affect students in the end our non-discrimination policy also affects employees but when we're talking here about curriculum and I can't reveal the curriculum that the teachers are going to teach that the students are going to learn that families need to evaluate on whether or not they have the ability to opt out and opting Out means also what's the alternate curriculum I'm just asking that question now because my students were sent to the library for the alternate curriculum when I opted them out that's not an alternate curriculum so I think not only should we be able to reveal and compare what has been in the curriculum in the past and now what is going to be

156in the curriculum but what's the alternative for parents who have a conscientious objection to this material and choose to opt them out are we going to be providing a robust curriculum alternative for them I don't have it and tomorrow is July 1st so I can't support this Mr [Applause] Moon Mr Moon I'm sorry thank you madam chair uh I'll be supporting the motion and I would like to thank Mr Strauss for clarifying what you are voting on uh that you know if you can all go back to the agenda item what you are voting on is a recommendation from a f uh where our in scoreboard member appointees serve and they made a recommendation it's almost a unanimous recommendation there was only one item one one video where uh that it was less than unanimous

157vote by a a those who are serving on fle is to it is to approve the recommended media print and lesson objectives As a detail in the agenda item and and we're not as you pointed out we're not today voting on anything other than what is coming out of F cek and I support that and as far as uh Dating Violence is a concern uh recently my delegate my State Delegate has brought to my attention to take a look at house beer which passed all year this year house beer 659 and if you go back if you go take a look at house 659 it talks about uh High School family life life education curriculum offered by a local school district incorporating uh in element of effective and evidence-based programs on prevention of Dating Violence

158domestic abuse sexual harassment and sexual violence and this is exactly what you are doing through this media and other curriculum materials and thank you Miss Corbett Sanders thank you um I just wanted to clarify a little bit about what we are voting on we are voting on as Mr Moon stated and so did the uh sponsors of this resolution recommendations for lessons and objectives media and lessons excert excerpts um these recommendations were brought to us by the um Family Life Education Advisory Group on that group are Representatives appointed by each of the members at this table and I have spent a lot of time talking to my um appointee Sher Dana about the work of this group because it was obviously one of great interest by many of the constituents and I then received this

159report and I was pleased to see that it had each of the recommendations with the exception of one had unanimous support from all 12 members of that group and the only one which didn't have unanimous support was the one regarding language to be inserted it wasn't regarding the media it wasn't regarding a video it was regarding language um which would address um the the L the uh lesson plan as when they presented the new media and so even there it was um pretty close to full support of the committee the other thing that I want to encourage people to understand is that this is one piece of a broader program and so I do look forward to having conversations about other parts of the curriculum but this is only about the recommendations and I welcome

160those recommendations because unfortunately and as a mother of daughters I realize that Dating Violence is an issue in our society that human trafficking is an issue in our society and anything we can do to educate our children about these challenges before they leave our homes this is a partnership between parents and the school system and as a parent I would encourage you to have conversations with your children about these issues and as a parent I would encourage you to take the time to take a look at the curriculum and if you don't feel comfortable with it exercise your right as a parent to opt out but please recognize that this is these are real issues that our children are fa are seeing in the Press they're seeing their friends affected by it they're seeing um

161relatives affected by it and so this is just something that we need to recognize in our curriculum Miss mcin uh first of all I want to express my appreciation uh to the members who have served on the Family Life Education advisory committee um led by um Dr Liz Payne um I have heard um tremendous uh praise for the thoughtful work uh that the committee is doing and uh I especially appreciate what Liz Payne um brings to this work um for our advisory committee me uh members um uh this is very important we just talked earlier tonight about educating the whole child and uh you know we have a responsibility to provide as an educational system information that helps educate them as as um in all aspects of their lives before they head into adulthood they

162leave us and they become adults and so um I understand how thoroughly this advisory committee vets the work that's before them they put in tremendous amount of time and care to it and so um not only do um I feel comfortable supporting their recommendations um but I also appreciate the respect that uh the Commonwealth of Virginia provides for the opt out so that families in the end can be making decisions for what information they want their children um to be learning but we have such an important responsibility in this school system to deliver lessons that are based on research and best practice and uh that um is my understanding of what FCPS continues to do um as the mother of three sons two are recent graduates of this school system um they have never expressed

163any concern at all about the material they've learned uh but having two sons in college and this conversation that we talk about um you know the you dating by violence um you know it's really important that everybody be well informed um about um making good choices and uh also recognizing um that young men and young women um need to be mindful of what it means to be responsible um and to be aware and to look out for one another all of those things matter and they're important um so I will be supporting um the recommendations before us tonight miss Paul CH thank you yes um I mainly want to Second the words of Mr Moon Miss Corbett Sanders and Miss mcclaflin um I did get a very thorough report from the Providence District representative um

164and just want to be clear that my understanding is that um portion that you know portions were edited from the video um to make it more appropriate for our high school population um I I hope wholeheartedly agree that college is too late um to teach about how to prevent uh violence and um especially sexual vience as we've seen sadly in the news lately sorry get very emotional about this um I also uh support the changes that were made um that now encourage our families uh involvement um for our students that are included in the lesson um and I think I want to also commend Miss Payne it looks like the committee was very thoughtful Mindful and took time um to discuss and to find ways to um have as much consensus as possible with the

165recommendations that were made for this so I I will be supporting this and I do want us to remember that um we are looking tonight at the recommendations that are being made um and they are not related to um what was voted on last year thank you Mr Press thank you madam chair I couldn't have put it any better myself um you know I want to begin by saying this recommendation is you know fleak is one of my one of my favorite committees because it is the one one of the few committees where there are multiple student Representatives where they place a strong strong value on hearing the student voice and I made sure that when I was putting appointees on that committee that I chose a diversity of perspectives and uh as Miss Schultz

166alluded to uh you know that perspective was brought to the table we have a better recommendation for it um but to miss Corbett Sanders's point every recommendation in here was passed by a pretty substantial majority uh most of them unanimous and I think it is the responsible thing of this board to do to listen to its appointees on this committee who spent a year immersed in these uh items discussing them studying them uh and preparing them for a recommendation to this board look we need to prepare our students for the world that they're entering and for some the world that they're already living in Dating Violence there are two things things that Shock Me Like No Other when I hear about them occurring in our schools and like Miss PCH I get pretty pretty emotional

167about this one of them is opioid abuse which we have addressed thankfully I thanks a lot to you know to Dr Payne to your team and their great work on this the other is Dating Violence and assault some of our students are already living this reality and for some they need to be prepared for that eventuality when they go off into the World After High School uh so it is a responsible thing of this board to do um as Miss palchik said this isn't changing anything about what was decided uh last May and June uh so I support these recommendations wholeheartedly thank you Miss Huff thank you I've had a good opportunity to ask staff many questions about the process um for voting on the recommended changes to the F curriculum I appreciate the time

168and answers I've also had time to speak uh to some of the members of the committee recommending these changes and I thank them for their time and effort as a new board member I still have a lot of questions about the F curriculum in general as does the public I realize the vote tonight is not on is only on the new recommendations and not on the curriculum as a whole uh with only six months on the board I have not had a chance to understand fle curriculum development process better uh so given that I will abstain on the recommendations tonight Mr M thank you madam chair I I too would like to to commend um Liz Payne and the work of fleak um you know this is a committee that always allows us to to

169stay proactive and stay on the cusp of real issues that are affecting our our kids in our community um whether it's human trafficking which this board has been proactive on for a couple years now um and now with with Dating Violence um you know I it's it's very sad but I I hear all the time of cases of FCPS graduates going on to college um and and having these kind of encounters uh and so um it's good that we teach teach them um while they're here before they go go off to college of of the potential for for these kind of issues so again thank you to miss Payne and fleak Miss DNA kofax just echoing the statements of my colleagues thanking Fleek members for your very hard work again this year and Miss Payne

170for your leadership on this committee as the mother of a 17-year-old Rising senior this year girl um I appreciate um this new curriculum it it will come too late for her I will teach these things to her myself but I think it is something I read to her in the paper a study from Georgetown University that said three out of 10 um girls are in some way um involved in in some kind of issues and and sexual violence problems that was just in the Washington Post few few days ago and so we talked at length about that um I think there was one comment and I was looking for here in the comments that somebody said it it's so important that we do offer this curriculum in the school because your our assumption is we're

171all coming from all the children that we serve are coming from stable homes and environments and and they're not and some don't even recognize that what they're seeing within their own homes or their own family structure are things that are not right and not well and are abusive and this curriculum will help these children and allow them to have voices um and places to go other caring adults within their Community to do that again I respect the rights of parents who who for whatever reason choose to opt out opt out that's why it is part of our family life education and you have that opportunity but I think some of the things which we are passing tonight are so are simply extremely important for our our our teenage children and it's um I I look

172forward to um moving this forward Mrs Schultz has a go back yeah I just want to clarify because we keep talking about um that this is a recommendation of the flee clac Advisory Board um which is made up of a lot of staff and a lot of our members um who are appointed by us and to be perfectly clear that fleak committee looks exactly like this board so everything that's happened to date I mean I'm very thankful that Mr press seems to say that he's um intentionally p uh selected members for diversity among the students and maybe that's why we got a very honest answer from a student who said this in no way shape or form has The Business of Being um presented to high school students and it made her uncomfortable the question

173is is that where is the diversity in the appointments from this board in reflecting not this board but reflecting the community and I can tell you I can tell you that when you see a unanimous opinion from a fleat committee it's because they felt like that was the best that they could do not that they disagreed with it I mean it's it's no it's no piece of cake to sit up here and disagree with 9 or 10 or 11 of your colleagues and stand alone and say no I choose to actually act as Mr Alber said earlier on the matter of principal and the question is is what's going to happen coming out of these classrooms where children are exposed to this material and some children and I appreciate Miss darnette Kovac you brought up

174the fact that some families um aren't stable enough to have this conversation then I and I agree but why not have it be opt in for those families instead of making everybody else opt out making us go through the process of opting out and then there becomes a narrative that happens in the bathroom in the hall on the bus on the field in the locker room that is perpetuating what was said in the classroom and often it the tin can game of teenagers is that what the information that gets passed on isn't accurate it it is a a manifestation of what they see on the internet and what they what they're talking about and the more that we put this type of information without the context of the family and help maybe families who are

175struggling and how to communicate with their children and not collaborate and join and be partners with families but instead supplant parental rights and say that we know better that we're expanding beyond the Virginia Board of Education curriculum becomes for me the problem and when we order ourselves where the parents come first and then we come second to supplement what what families need instead of supplanting parents and saying that we know better what kids need than their own families do then I think that we'll probably be in a better place with the community yes Mrs Strauss has a go back just just a very quick go back I know that um we have mentioned a couple of other items the particularly the the um teen Dating Violence which is very important information because we obviously want

176our young people to understand what's wrong what's right how to avoid these situations and how to help the another issue is human sex trafficking trafficking which is also included in this and again strategies for prevention and he and this is a very difficult situation but unfortunately this does go on in our community and if we can save young girls from from disappearing because that's actually what happens and sometimes you will see an amber alert for a teenage girl who we have lost this is sometimes where they have been scooped up and it's a heartbreaking situation and um if we can prevent this from happening in our own Community from saving these young girls um we have we have we have saved that child's life um so it is important that this topic be included um

177for our older high school students and so that they understand that this is a horrible thing that goes on and again how to prevent it from happening and how to help if there is a suspicion that somebody else um is going to be swept up and disappeared so um we must protect our children against this kind of behavior in our community and this curriculum for 10th and 11th graders helps to prevail this thank you okay um I think seeing no other hands we will go ahead and vote on the motion uh the motion is that the school board approved recommended media print and lesson objectives as detailed in the agenda item and as reviewed and recommended by the Family Life education curriculum advisory committee uh presented as new business May 26 2016 all those in

178favor please raise your hand darat kofax mlan Strauss Corbett Sanders Evans Hines Moon mclin and PCH those opposed Schultz those abstaining Huff the motion passes okay item five consent agenda our adopted rules of parliamentary procedure Roberts rules provide for a consent agenda listing several items for approval of the board by a single motion many items listed have gone through Board review and documentation has been provided to all board members and the public in advance items may be removed from the consent agenda at the request of any board member prior to the meeting 5.01 approve the minutes of the February 4th 2016 regular school board meeting 5.02 approve the reappointment of Susan Quinn Kristen Michael and Marty Smith to the erfc Board of Trustees for a one-year term beginning July 1 2016 and ending June 30

1792017 5.03 approve the appointment of Michael Burke to the erfc Board of Trustees for a one-year term beginning July 1 2016 5.04 confirm the separations as indicated below for the period beginning May 1 2016 and ending May 31 2016 as detailed in the agenda item 5.05 reappoint Mr Greg Cohen as a citizen member of the audit committee for a 2-year term ending June 30 2018 5.06 appoint committee members to the social studies based instructional materials adoption committee as detailed in the agenda item 5.07 appoint individuals to serve on Schoolboard citizen advisory committees as detailed in the agenda item 5.08 adopt policy 1801 student representative to the school board and policy 5501 preparation of annual budget as detailed in the agenda item 5.09 suspend policy 4680 salary redlining procedure as described in the agenda item for

180budgetary reasons for the period effective July 1 2016 and ending June 30 2017 further direct the superintendent to suspend the red lighting provisions of any implementing regulation for the same period is there any objection to approving the consent agenda hearing and seeing none the consent agenda is approved uh item six new business following our new business agenda items there will not be a vote tonight on these items but action is scheduled at a future meeting 6.01 award the contract for the automatic temperature control system replacement at Bailey's Elementary School to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder and authorized the division superintendent or the assistant superintendent of facilities and transportation services to execute and administer the contract on behalf of the school board 6.02 approve the creation of a Jeb Stewart renaming working group to consist

181of students parents community members alumni and business business and Community leaders to be chosen by the superintendent in consultation with the board 6.03 approved the 2016-2021 local plan for the education of the gifted 6.04 approved the creation of a human resources advisory committee aligned with Goal three of the FCPS strategic plan Premier Workforce and begin phasing out the current human relations advisory committee uh and that the board changed the audit the adult and Community Education advisory committee from a board advisory committee to a superintendent advisory committee 7.01 superintendent matters um I call on Dr Garza thank you madam chair members of the board I'm excited to announce uh the new book your summer reading program that invites all students to dive into books they want to read while using the new read activity card as

182a guide the program runs until September the 7th book your summer is a new program for FCPS it's a K12 program designed to build a community of readers and F CPS students who will be in grades 1 through 12 in the 2016 2017 school year are challenged to read books of their choice for fun and to keep track of their progress and this is in partnership with the county uh libraries and we're very very excited about it research is very very clear that students who continue to read throughout the summer uh any kind of reading loss is minimized if not completely eliminated so we think it's great work uh for our students to be involved in and have a lot of fun reading great books I want to to congratulate all of our 2016 high

183school graduates um I know our board um has attended quite a number of graduations in the recent um weeks um and we typically graduate around 12,000 to 13,000 students every year and it's uh no better example of why we do the work that we do than to go to our graduations and participate in those celebrations uh with the students and their families so I congratulate uh each and every one of them I attended yesterday the summer lunch barbecue with the first lady of Virginia Dorothy mcalli uh at hbla Valley Elementary School uh Miss darnette kofax Miss Corbett Sanders and Mr Ryan mine were all there yesterday uh along with number of members of our leadership team uh we will be providing uh barbecue lunch at 10 locations this summer uh it is free to all

184children up to age uh 18 and adults can uh also participate for a nominal fee uh just two days this week we served over 2,700 students uh and yesterday at hbla Valley we served over 535 uh meals I'm very very excited and pleased with the very Innovative work that's um continuing in our food nutrition services programming uh it was acknowledged by the first lady uh and certainly we're very very proud of the work that Rodney Taylor and all of our food nutrition services staff are doing we're expanding breakfast in the classroom we have snacks in the afternoon we have barbecues we have all kinds of kind of wonderful things happening there and we're very proud of that also want to thank uh the FCPS principls who are retiring this year uh twia ma from Old

185Creek Annette aladina Cabrera from Wayne o Sig sigd ryberg from London toown Cecilia Brazil from bushill Tam Baloo from Graham Road Sharon Bum Garden from Little run Roberto pomas from Holmes Middle School and Gwen from hearnden elementary school Danny little from Irving m mid School Kathy Bruce from bronnie bray Elementary School and Patrice Patrice Brown from Bull Run um all of these wonderful people um together have 262 years of service ain't that impressive um so we're very very appreciative of their great leadership in our school system and they'll be missed um congratulations also to Mary Beth love class and her information technology team for winning three emys the winning Productions were [Applause] uh the winning Productions were um Innovation workshop on nanotechnology uh the how to guide teaching parents how to register for Head Start

186starts for head start a conversation with astronaut and Robinson alumni Kell lingren U those were all of our winning um Emmy Award winning uh Productions finally the 2015 2016 school year was a wonderful success and we're just um hearing more and more about what a great year this was uh for many of our schools and for all of our students so I want to congratulate and and send my um my thanks to every one of our employees throughout the system and I hope they have a u have an opportunity to take a little time this summer uh for some safe and restful summer but also to rejuvenate so thank you very much that concludes my comments thank you uh item eight board committee reports uh next on the agenda is our board committee reports I

187call on um Mr mlan if is there a report for public engagement thank you madam chair so um the pet committee discussed the um the idea of an AAP Summit um that was first brought by myself to to The Forum um we did ask staff to to gather a little more information about what's been done in the past and how we can best package that going forward um it's been an honor to be your pack chairman and I wish Whoever has that seat in the future all the best M Strauss for audit committee thank you the audit committee met last night and uh we took one more look at the proposed FY 2017 audit plan a little bit little bit of um wordsmithing still going but we intend to bring a recommended audit plan for

1882017 to the full board for discussion at jul on um the work session on July 18th so that that can be approved by the end of July so that we will begin the uh the year with a full um audit plan we also receed receiv the audit on claims management and laws prevention and an update on management actions taken as a result of past audits from fy2 2007 to 2015 was also a brief summary of business process turnover audits there were no significant findings but it is important that we continue to audit our schools on a regular basis so that we make sure that um all of our schools are are keeping their books um in an appropriate way um and our our uh meeting our standards and that was it thank you thank you

189um Miss Evans for a report on our Forum yes we had one item and we've agreed to take some time in our July Retreat to get a briefing and um on a new we design logo and branding okay item nine board matters um I call in Miss darnette cofax to start us off thank you mad chair it was my honor to attend the sixth GR graduations and work one all night grad party in my district I want to say congratulations again to all of our 2000 excuse me 16 graduates we wish you much success in your next chapter in life and also wishing a happy relaxing summer to all of those students who we will see again in September uh Mr mine thank you Miss Evans uh uh once again it was um my distinct

190honor to host um two Korean uh teachers from inchon city um I want to thank Mr moon for his continued shepher sheering of that program um where we have teachers come for a couple of weeks um uh visit our classes teach some lessons in in koreen culture and and learn um in exchange and you know that's a program that we do by anually and it's it's a really great program so um thanks for that um I too enjoyed um the graduations and I am um glad to be back out exercising and done with the sitting um and finally I do want to Echo uh Dr Garza's remarks about the feeds program um this is truly a a remarkable program that gives um gives uh free free lunches to um any of our under 18 um

191kids out there who who who need nutrition during the summer um and I it was great to have um Dorothy mcalli there along with um the bear I still don't know who was in the bear costume but the bear was a great touch wishing everyone a wonderful summer Miss HFF say congratulations to the 2016 graduates enjoy your summer M Dr thank you yes I was able to attend Langley mlan and hearnen graduations also Cedar Lane and Mountain View and Thomas Jefferson and it's a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the the huge range of young people who we help graduate from our high schol schools and it is always inspiring particularly to hear at Mountain View the students who have been so challenged to finish their high school diploma some of them coming from um situations where

192very limited schooling coming by themselves determined to finish High School working full-time um they are such Heroes to hear their stories and I always wish that um on the one hand many of our young people who have come to school with so many advantages would hear the stories and the determination of um other students who have worked so hard against huge odds to finish High School I am so proud of these children um and at the same time to hear many of our talented young people who are determined to give back to their Community to make sure that um they will use what their amilies their schools have taught them um to solve problems solve difficult problems and dedicate themselves and the work that comes ahead College military whatever to truly making their communities better

193and making life better for the people around them so um it's a great experience thank you and the the inside um uh advantage to to mlan and ly having their graduations in the same place at the same day um is that all of our principles also atton in those pyramids we have great exchange of how are things going how many kids have you got how are we doing how's Staffing going what do we need to know as a school board to make sure that we're saving your children and serving your children and your family as well so um we get a lot of you know good information as well as we again work over the summer to be well prepared for the children and families when they arrive in September so have a wonderful summer

194I'm taking care of my grandchildren is one reason why at pushing 70 you don't have children of your own anymore but we're having a wonderful time thank you Miss Corbett Sanders thank you I uh wanted to Echo the comments on the summer feed program yesterday it was truly a wonderful experience to be able to participate it in the energy that was in the air of all of the children with their families coming to uh to take advantage of this wonderful program and additional programming available to those families for those that are looking to find out where they can take advantage of the feed program just text Fe 877877 um additionally I do want to Echo my congratulations to all of the graduates one of the most inspiring part about the graduation is to hear from

195the students about where they're going next and how they're going to take advantage of of all of the um opportunities they've had within our school system to pay it forward uh I would also encourage you to take into account that each of the graduations I attended the students walked away with between 4 and5 million worth of um student aid uh grant money and scholarships and so when we talk about our investment and the return on investment that is just amazing when you see what these kids are up to and the last item I do want to um share with my colleagues is that we will be bringing to you uh sharing with you the work of the schools Committee of the Planning Commission in the next couple of weeks as they revise their language to

196uh reflect the 21st century needs of our school system thank you happy summer Miss Evans I want to thank um darl Hijra for their invitation uh to an ifar dinner I very much appreciate both the invitation and their Hospitality um I also had a wonderful time at graduations uh very inspiring speeches and uh of course it was just wonderful seeing um all those um young graduates walking across the stage um after after 13 years of hard work and um so congratulations to all of our 2016 graduates and have a happy and restful summer everyone Mr Moon oh thank thank you Madame chair uh all today along with Mr mine and Mrs Huff I attended a slightly different graduation it's a custodial graduations where we celebrate the accomplishments of close to probably about 100 custodians who

197participated this a professional development you know program where they enhance their job skills and also find a way to uh a a find a way to grow you know professionally career advancement Etc and and just another one more from that you know graduation I would like to note is that our assistant superintendent for facilities and transportation at Jeff platenburg quite impressive with his bilingual skills I didn't know he was a Spanish speaker good job M mlin uh well because of graduations uh we extended our normal business meeting um from being every two weeks to three so quite a bit has happened um and I just wanted to touch on a couple things first of all um to Dr Garza as well as to miss Strauss um the Kennedy Center Cappies were truly remarkable yet again

198this year and um to miss Strauss and her partners in crime especially Miss bounds and JD Anderson who works tirelessly behind the scenes just incredible uh what happens for our students to be celebrated in that way for their remarkable performances but to be at the Kennedy Center that will touch their lives forever and so to Dr Garza as head of the school system everything that you do to help support and ensure that the Kennedy Center Cappies happens every year I just think is um one of the the most hidden treasures that we offer any student coming through the performing arts in Fairfax High Schools just absolutely amazing and I loved seeing the leadership team members my colleagues on the board I mean being there and demonstrating to the kids how special um their accomplishments and

199to the countless theater teachers who've inspired them um really um a a a true highlight for me this year again um and then I also wanted to just note to the public if they weren't aware we had an out standing retreat with the Board of Supervisors on June 14th uh bringing together 22 elected officials who are doing their very best to really look at how we strengthen um both schools and County Services I thought it rent very well overall in terms of um the tenor of the conversation and I am encouraged about where we're going um together as the two joint boards and um and I do want to give a shout out to our 199 99 or 97 um I think it was 99 student representative who came and spoke here tonight um you

200did an outstanding job and I really appreciate you coming out and speaking on behalf of your Alma moer uh you are reflection of the greatness that we continue to enjoy here in Fairfax County with our student representative to the board and uh just wanted to personally extend my my thanks to you for for being here and sharing such eloquent words tonight um and then finally I just want to say to everyone um next Monday will be our 240th Fourth of July in this country and when we look at where we are globally right now um there is a lot of turmoil and I know this Fourth of July for me especially I'm going to be so thankful for our founding fathers and everyone who fought um to create the freedom and the democracy that we

201Americans are so blessed to enjoy and so I hope to um all of our citizens here in Fairfax County that you have a very safe but enjoyable um Independence Day and do try to think about again how blessed we are to live in this country Mrs Schultz so um first I have a little bit of a of sad news I am um reaching out to my Hunt Valley Elementary uh Community who lost very very tragically um in a uh summer family trip um one of the rising sixth graders in um an SUV uh accident and um my heart aches for the staff and the and the families but most of all the father of this student in um in Springfield on uh nicer news um my Greenbrier East Community um you were magnificent Advocates you

202know what you were advocating for um and I was pleased to be able to join um with you and and help you with um your Staffing issue and um I think that that's going to prove very um a very happy situation for the whole greenb East Community uh each year I try to reflect on the graduations um this is the first year that Dr Garza and some of her senior leadership um attempted to do a little bit of standardizing um not a fan of big government but there were some things that uh were necessary to kind of create I think some um nice aspects of graduations I would recommend saying the Pledge of Allegiance before the national anthem because usually everybody's riled up but I'll pass on those comments but I have a few um

203awards that are just verbal Awards but uh absolutely sorry because I had my own graduate this year um it's a three-way tie for the graduations that I missed that I'm the most sorry I missed which were westfields Fairfax and Centerville um without a doubt most hospitable South County I don't know if it's the staff or the parents um uh just an amazing thoughtful um approach to to Gra graduation definitely the best musical selection was West Springfield and their Madrigal uh performance was off the hook TJ I I wouldn't believe it but it was the most homegrown there were more inside jokes told from the podium between the principal and the students and um there was just a really tight sense of community that um was really uh very refreshing to see um my youngest graduates

204were my cherry run sixth grade promotion which I enjoy immensely and was particularly touched at the way the community responded to um two profoundly disabled children um was really uh was just really very touching to see um what we're doing and how we're helping um children with um significant special needs uh become um educated to their potential and the kindness and I could tell in that Community when a younger sibling of um another sixth grader came up to spontaneously hug um one of these profoundly disabled children um you saw what a wonderful community that that was and so excuse me so principal Bibby um kudos to you and I know that this is going to be perceived to be somewhat um prejudiced but definitely the best best graduation was Robinson um Kell lingren as the

205speaker um you know from our astronaut from outer space and Robinson grad couldn't have been more proud but um just delivered a message of such Grace and the competition that they do for students for a student speaker um yields without a doubt some of the best funniest um uh proudest moments that I have of how articulate um graduates from FCPS can be uh um given good guidance by both their families and good Educators and um I just the the last thing I want to say is I want to thank um I I couldn't even begin to estimate how many all night grad party volunteers there were um the thing that was so amazing to me was how many people who didn't actually have children in the school system they they they didn't have seniors and

206they got pulled in by a friend who said look we really need to keep and create a safe environment for these kids and keep kids off the roads and keep them engaged and um that really to me was um a level of commitment and engagement in creating a safe and uh um engage Next Generation you know the Millennials I think they're the now the founders uh and showing them what leadership actually looks like by being with them and engaged with them and um allowing them to participate uh in in a in a great event so to all of you people who gave Untold numbers of hours not just that night but leading up to it um in each of our high schools thank you very very much okay Miss PCH thank you um I want

207to start by congratulating and welcoming uh two of our new principles at Westgate and Graham Road to very um inspiring women I'm very excited to be working with them um Miss mades and miss and Dr Elliot uh I also had a chance to check out the barbecues I went to Kingsley comments which I believe is our one non-school site um but 75% of Graham Road Elementary School students lived there uh had a great time got to chat with some of the parents um and one of them said she just moved into the community and loves that they have so much uh programming there for their students in the summer so it's one of our amazing Community Partners um graduations it was it was fun interesting um to be back at TJ's graduation after 15 years

208um felt a little bit old that day um but it was just an amazing Community feel um and I would like to give the the kin my Kino award to the Stuart graduation speaker who had me at tears um Leanne who's just inspiring um telling her story um and the false Church Academy um the award ceremony for the Academy the way those kids love Penny Kelly the firefighters program is just incredible um can really see why she was awarded the best um ctec I think it was um educator uh it was just I know Miss Evans and I were just sitting there oh my god um really appreciate the joint retreat with the Board of Supervisors the One Fairfax resolution work that was done and I know that we hope to have some future task

209force or work ahead of us together and finally uh a heartfelt deep shout out and thank you um Donna Franklin is retiring after 30 years of service uh to FCPS in Channel 21 she was my beloved Mentor when I was in high school um so Donna I hope you get to enjoy retirement and I know your family FCPS will miss you thank you and good night okay well this will be the last time that I bang the gavel at the end of a meeting um I this is my last meeting as chair I think I'll start the next meeting but then quickly hand it over to our new to actually to the superintendent um but anyway that will come later um so I just want to thank so much um all the staff everyone who's

210been so helpful particularly our wonderful clerks who's been so helpful to me in the last year and to my school board members for your patience and your support and help um I particularly want to help our security staff tonight because we've been getting some good advice from them about some changes that we need to be making for the safety of everyone and um I I hope that the changes that we started tonight um were not um difficult for people to manage um so I I appreciate everyone here tonight um coming out so I believe uh this school year and this meeting are adjourned right