FCPS School Board Meeting No. 19 - May 7, 2015

001deviate from our standard practice although it's a little weird excuse me excuse me if I could have your attention please for just one moment hello everyone if you can have your attention for just a moment please folks excuse me just one moment Mr Latif has a question for for the audience if we have any Boy Scouts in the audience this is what we do at uh regular meetings who are working on their uh any participation badges if they'd like to see me at the end of the table if you are a Boy Scout in the audience here observing the meeting to earn a merit badge please come to me at the end of the table thank you so much you may continue speaking e e e good evening everyone if I could have your attention

002please good evening everyone we have a very full house tonight thank you all for coming we appreciate you being here this May 7th 2015 regular meeting number 19 of the Fairfax County School Board will now come to order please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance a moment of silence and the performance of the national anthem by the false Church High School guitar quartet under the direction of Jacob Walker United States of America and to the rep for it stands one nation God indivisible withy and for w Madam chair Madam chair I just wanted to say thank you so much to the fs Church guitar uh uh quartet I think that was one of the most unique Renditions that we've heard and and absolutely beautiful it was wonderful that Mr Walker was able to perform with

003his students as well so thank you so much to the quartet oh there was a teacher up there he look so young yes how how lovely how lovely and yes for all of you here you can see the amazing um Arts programs we have here in the county and uh it's it it was just beautiful to hear them um the board meet the board has a very full agenda this evening that includes several issues at the onset I would like to remind all those in attendant to act with dignity and respect for all present uh please reflin from outbursts or cheering for is not approp in this context those who engage in disruptive behavior will be asked to leave please do not approach uh the Das while the public is invited to listen to tonight's

004proceedings we ask that you not interrupt our meeting um as it is our business meeting tonight I thank you very much and now uh a few more announcements uh the board held a closed meeting earlier this evening and certified compliance immediately upon reconvening in the public forum work session which proceeded tonight's regular meeting me if you would like 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 website selecting Schoolboard and then upcoming meetings and agendas the meeting is also being streamed live on the FCPS website homepage click on watch Schoolboard live please turn off or silence your cell phones and I will now call on Mr

005Latif for announcements thank you good evening everyone and now for the real reason you are here it is children's book week May 4th through the 10th children's book week a national celebration of reading storytelling and book rated events observes its 96th anniversary in 2015 and is the longest running National literacy literacy initiative in the country established to promote higher standards in children's books the week grew to involve Librarians Publishers and book sellers and is administered by every child a reader a 501c3 literacy organization dedicated to instilling a lifelong love of reading in children Nationwide author and illustrator events take place each year and the children's book Choice Awards the only National children chosen book awards program are announced during the week we also somewhere we have Boy Scouts in the audience we'd like to welcome

006Boy Scouts in the audience from Troop 1523 they're based out of anandale and they're working on their citizenship in the community merit badge there they are also we announced this at the last meeting but it is teacher appreciation week so thank you to all our dedicated FCPS teachers thank you thank you moving on to agenda item 2.04 uh the fcpx FCPS excellence awards and I call on Dr Phyllis pajardo the assistant superintendent of Human Resources thank you madam chair you're welcome good evening so as you heard I'm Phyllis pajardo assistant superintendent for HR you can call me Dr Phil for the next few minutes as well I am glad that we have uh so many folks being able to be here to see uh some wonderful folks going to recognize tonight tonight we honor the

007winners of the individual and collaborative team excellence awards these Awards celebrate the efforts and achievement of employees whose job performance provides exceptional results supporting the FCPS mission and vision by using nomination categories based upon the school systems goals we can recognize multiple Pathways to results the available award categories are impact student achievement Community engagement and growth this year we had nominees seven individuals and 16 team members were chosen to win the award and they are here tonight with friends and families so we can recognize their outstanding work and they're right seated right here in the front of the audience you can you could clap for them so let's present the awards we'll bring the winners up based upon the award category once we have individuals and teams from that particular category will assemble for photo

008at that point we'll have supervisors to come up we'll have region assistant superintendents or Department assistant superintendents to come up for the photo opportunity as well school board members we you join uh uh folks would you join us on the steps here Dr Garza as well join us on the steps for the photos for the presentations and the photos are we ready all righty our first category is impact these honores show outstanding responsiveness customer service or customer satisfaction while enhancing efficiency or Effectiveness through Innovation cost savings creativity or problem solving our winners in this category are four individuals from three sites first first we have an art teacher with a love of Art and of her students and it's reflected in the outstanding quality of the instruction she delivers and we also have a network

009security specialist who creates a safe and secure technological environment for our students and our employees the awards go to in the impact category Linda Leed better art teacher at Rocky Run Middle School come on down Linda and the other award uh winner in this category is David mcel network security specialist at Wilton Woods we have two more folks to recognize in this particular category and then we'll have the photo on in this category we have two employees from the office of design and construction in facilities and transportation one is a Field construction representative who is always willing to tackle difficult projects with highly successful results and the other a Phil custodian supervisor who is a vital member of the staff due to his leadership and dedication to the projects He manages I see right before

010me Jack Owens and John Swain so supervisors program managers Department assistant superintendent and the appropriate region assistant superintendent come on down thank you for making your way down got a couple of more folks coming on down great we got a moving Target here great thank you congratulations again those were winners in our impact category next is our student achievement category these employees help students realize their full potential by closing achievement gaps measuring progress implementing interventions or engaging students the winners in this category are members of a cat be collaborative team who work tirelessly to meet the individual goals and needs of students in the autism program by using effective datadriven instruction and assessment practices they clearly demonstrate that given the proper support all students can learn the awards go to the members of the Rocky

011Run Middle School cat B Team and they are Ashley Africa Jenna Bailey Casey bills and Michael Leonberger and is that Rosie that's here and Rosie and that's our student achievement category and so Rocky Run Middle School administrators and uh our um yep come on down again and our region office again that was the Rocky Run Middle School cat V team our final category tonight is growth these honores contribute to the development and Improvement of programs services or curriculum they Foster staff Effectiveness and professional development we have three individual winners and two winning groups in this category our individual winners are a second grade team leader who led her CLT or Collaborative Learning team to become one of the most high functioning teams at their school and we also have a physical therapist who is committed

012to improving the program and the services it provides to our students and we have a math department chair who helps Implement strategies and initiatives designed to overcome the challenges encountered in an Ever Changing educational environment let me introduce you to our winners Carrie goni second grade teacher and team leader at Virginia Run Elementary Connie Johnson physical therapist at the Allen Lee Center and Linda Johnson math teacher and department chair at mlan high school also in this category of growth we have collaborative team winners and they are from a pre-algebra team with a common purpose and determination to learn from each other and to help all students succeed and we have a history team that truly exemplifies The Innovation and interdependent workmanship needed to increase student achievement the award goes to the hearnden Middle School pre-algebra

013Collaborative Learning team and they are Rachel dar Lauren golden Karen McDonald Emma New Hall and Amanda Von and our last team is the Twain Middle School history collaborative team What a fine looking team and we have Andrew Bishop Matthew Bower David Foss Eric Henderson and Mary Sullivan so would our region administrators from and principls and program managers from hearen middle school Twain Middle School Virginia run Lee Center and mlan come on down you so we'd like to thank all who took the time to nominate these exceptional individuals and team members as well as for coming out and showing your support we love hearing all of these County success stories we just love this as well and we're all truly thankful to our honores for using their talents and their energies to advance the goals of

014our school system thank you so much thank you Dr Phil absolutely absolutely you're very welcome you're very welc done next on our agenda is Rec recognition of national adult and continuing education week and I call on Miss Hines um this is a a great pleasure for me to read this announcement um the adult and Community Education Program of Fairfax County Public Schools began with an action by the school board in 1955 and in the 60 years of the program's existence thousands of adults have learned essential skills and completed their High School educations Through The Years adults have learned new languages acquired job skills transitioned to new careers and grown as workers citizens and parents the Fairfax County Community has looked to Ace to help develop our Workforce provide solutions to community problems through education and

015create a culture of lifelong learning for residents of all ages adult and Community Education has made major contributions to the school system as a laboratory of innovation for the piloting of new programs and services in support of prek to2 Education through family literacy summer programs extended day programs enrichment courses and driver education through creative programming and targeted advocacy for the adult learner as well as providing enrichment opportunities for youth beyond the school day Ace has helped to create a dynamic Learning Community for all generations in Fairfax County I would like to invite um all attendees in the audience who provide adult and Community Education Services to the FCPS Community to please come forward for a photograph with the board are thank you thank you next on our agenda is the resolution honoring the 50th anniversary

016of Frost Middle School and I call Miss glin for those in you in the audience who don't know Frost Middle School uh is in the bradic district and feeds into the Woodson High School pyramid uh this is exciting for me to um honor their 50th Anniversary because I am the wife of a 1980 graduate and uh the mother of three boys who recently came through Frost Middle School so very excited whereas in 2015 Frost Middle School will proudly celebrate the 50th anniversary of its founding and its reputation for providing students with an excellent academic foundation so they may embark on their Futures fully prepared with the critical thinking skills Global and environmental awareness ethics sense of citizenship and compassion to solve problems and make difficult decisions in an everchanging world and whereas over the years

017Frost Middle School has been a model of academic excellence and has attained many academic accomplishments including the Virginia Governor's award for excellence in 2010 11 and 12 and 14 as well as the Virginia Board of Education distinguished Achievement Award in 2013 the golden Wellness award in 2013 the healthier us School challenge Bronze award the Virginia music educators association's Blue Ribbon from 2009 through 2013 and recognized for the ASA model program designation in 2015 by the American School Counselors Association and whereas Robert Frost Middle School works collaboratively with parent teacher Association and a committed local community to provide a safe learning environment strong Communications with its families and opportunities for service learning and extracurricular activities to enhance student educational experience and whereas Robert Frost Middle School stresses the acquisition of skills that will lead to success

018and offer a multitude of programs serving a wide range of student abilities and needs an advanced Academic Center Honors courses and a wide variety of world language courses and whereas thousands of students have passed through Frost Middle School's doors and benefited from a comprehensive education and a smooth transition to high school as a result of the efforts of dedicated teachers and staff in a nurturing and positive environment with the support of school leaders and involved parents now for therefore be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board honors Robert Frost Middle School on the occasion of its 50th anniversary and commends its history of providing excellent education and enrichment opportunities to students and our community I so move seconded by Mr Moon all those in favor the motion is unanimous at this time I would

019like to invite our principal Eric mccan and his staff and administrators and anyone from the Robert Frost Community to please come forward to the risers for a photograph and a presentation of the resolution you conat our next order of business is citizen participation speakers please limit your remarks to No More Than 3 minutes we will adhere strictly to this time limit so when your timer goes off please leave the lectern and return to your seat the school board will not hear statements involving issues that have been scheduled for public hearings so just Capital Improvement program budget or 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 if the concern is a group concern please consider appointing a

020spokesperson and while the spokesperson is speaking those in support May those in support May stand to show their support tonight 10 citizens have signed up to address the board Yuan Yen Alexandra Dixon Joshua Israel Gordon bear Steven hunt Melinda Kelly Keith Appel Matthew Kelly Emma chadam and Freddy Bergos so if we will first begin our first Speaker you on y right over there ma'am and ma'am your timer is over there dear board members and honored guests thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about this issue I'm not a native speaker but I feel the urged to stand here and speak because I'm a mother of two young children I feel strongly against this proposed change to policy 1450 first we believe this policy is not respective of parents unanimous broad acceptance of this

021policy change has not been formed I'm standing here on behalf of more than 200 families who signed my online petition strongly against this policy a controversial change proposed one day after the board was given authority to make this change has lead to the question what's the rush for has the board given parents sufficient time to consider the implications is this a responsible approach toward a critical policy change second has the board obtained objective evidence that the policy change can reach its intended results there are other states or counties that have implemented a similar policy for example is there data to show the proposed policy will lower the suicide rate of transgender students could the results even show suicide rate is higher due to more publicity controversial or social stigma if there's no evidence the policy

022will work again we raise the question what's the rush for lastly little children are very sensitive and inv vulnerable my seven-year-old girl insisted she locks her bathroom door because even mommy cannot see her in the bathroom she had no idea her right will soon be deprived here there is reasonable concern that this policy change by design has deficiency that leads to the pass any male who claims to be a female May access female restricted resources some claims teachers are not immediately allowed to use the student bathroom at this time what about in the future what about the parents statistics shows 26% of the population are sex offenders this opens door to about 3,000 sex offenders that will potentially not be stopped immed immediately when they access female restricted area think about the poor girls who

023will become victim of this policy in conclusion this policy is ill designed it's not respectful of parents there is no evidence it will work it will increase sex crime to little children as young as 5y- old stop this proposal do not hurt our children thank you the next speaker I ask you to be respectful of our time and I ask you to be respectful of our speakers thank you esteemed school board members thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak tonight on the issue of policy 1450 updating the FCPS non-discrimination policy to include the words gender identity I want to start off my comments by talking about my values I'm a unarian Universalist and our first principle is that we affirm the inherent worth and dignity of each human being this policy does that

024I also value the lives of transgender children and gender non-conforming children 41% of transgender people will attempt suicide this policy may help prevent some of those suicides some will say that by changing this policy to include gend non-conforming and transgender individuals will put peers at risk to date there has never been a case of a transgender person hurting another person in a bathroom meanwhile using the bathroom while transgender can be risky many gender non-conforming people and transgender people are physically assaulted in bathrooms they're bullied or emotionally abused this policy updates an existing Fairfax County public school policy to protect all Fairfax County Public students and employees it is something that has been done in hundreds of cities without negative consequence tonight you have a choice to stand on the side of equity compassion and Justice

025I urge you to protect our transgender and gender non-conforming students and employees and pass policy 1450 thank you Joshua Israel followed by Gordon Bay good evening thank you madam chair my name is Josh Israel I am a proud Fairfax County resident I am here this evening to commend you for considering an important nondiscrimination proposal and to wholeheartedly encourage you to enact it tonight this policy sends an important signal to all of our teachers students and staff particularly those who are transgender that they need not be afraid they need not be afraid of being penalized for expressing themselves in a way that's consistent with their gender identity they need not be afraid of losing their job for reasons apart from their qualifications and performance and they need not be afraid that we and Fairfax won't Embrace

026and support everyone contrary to comments made by some legislators from elsewhere in Virginia two weeks ago this move is entirely within the power and responsibility of this school board attorney general Mark herring's recent advisory opinion lightly noted that article 8 section 7 of Virginia's Constitution makes it clear that the supervision of each School Division is up to its School Board including protecting the safety and Welfare of students and supervising Personnel he wrote that you unquestionably have the power to protect LGBT students and employees from discrimination the series of AG earlier advisory opinions that those outof Town visitors brought up had absolutely nothing to do with school board and everything to do with County boards and City councils who must follow different rules though this is an important step for our community it is hardly unprecedented

027the federal government already includes gender identity in its non-discrimination policy for the federal Workforce the muli administration protects every Virginia state employee from gender identity discrimination so to to the majority of Fortune 500 companies 19 States from Maryland to Utah and every single federal contractor moreover large school systems comparable to Fairfax like Los Angeles Miami Dade and even our distinguished superintendent's former home of Houston Texas have all had policies like this in place for years without incident the sky has not Fallen indeed it has helped these places attract the strongest Workforce by sending a message of inclusion and diversity poll after poll has shown the strong majority of Americans and Virginia I believe we should be all free to work and learn without facing discrimination I hope you will stand on the right side of

028History tonight and unanimously send the message that everyone in our community will be treated with dignity and respect for who they are thank you for your time Gordon bear followed by Steven hunt Mr Gordon bear Mr Steve hunt good evening since you have my written statement and why I disagree with this change I would like you to hear from Mr Casey Maddox uh on a legal summary I am Casey Maddox a father of two daughters in a Fairfax County Elementary School and Senior Council for Alliance defending Freedom yesterday we sent a more detailed analysis to the board explaining why the proposed policy VI violate students and parents rights instead we would encourage the board to adopt the model policy we have provided that would address any concerns the board is trying to resolve without compromising

029student privacy and safety I just want to hit a couple of points that I think would be of most interest to the board uh now first I understand that the district may be getting pressure from the federal government to adopt this policy I want to make clear that no Federal Law requires public schools to allow boys into girls restrooms or girls into boys restrooms in fact just a few weeks ago a Pennsylvania federal judge rejected the argument that Federal Law requires this in Johnston versus University of Pittsburgh a case involving a woman who identified as male and sought to use the women the the men's restroom the court summarized its ruling in this way this case presents one central question whether a university receiving federal funds engages an unlawful discrimination in violation of the United

030States Constitution and federal and state statutes when it prohibits a transgender male student from using sex segregated restrooms and locker rooms designated for men on a University campus the simple answer is no the court undertook a thorough analysis of Title 9 in the relevant case law and found that a transgender student had no legal right under the Federal Constitution or Title 9 to to access the bathroom that corresponds to their state gender identity on Title 9 the court said having carefully reviewed the relevant language of Title 9 and the applicable case law the court finds that plain if has failed to State a cognizable claim for discrimination under Title 9 simply stated the University's policy of requiring students to use sex segregated bathroom and locker room facilities based on students natal or birth sex rather

031than their gender identity does not violate title 99's prohibition of sex discrimination so let's be clear the bottom line no federal statute or case law requires the adoption of this policy and to the extent the district is receiving pressure from the federal government to adopt this policy it should know that as with most bullies there's absolutely nothing behind it uh they are bluffing the nation's courts have rejected those claims in in fact Title 9 uh as most of you know and as our as our explanation uh as our the uh letter we've delivered explains uh expressly permits this finally as a parent I have been pleased that Fairfax County has respected the role of parents allowing us to have sensitive discussions about sex and sexuality with our young children and not subverting parental role my

032wife and I were able to choose to opt our 9-year-old daughter out of sex education to her great relief I will say and have those conversations with her ourselves in fact that respect for my role as a father and my wife's role as a mother is why my children are Fairfax County Public School students it inspires parental involvement and Trust in our teachers this bill would would eliminate that trust for our parents and I urge you to oppose it next on our agenda is Melinda Kelly followed by Keith Appel thank you for the privilege to speak I'm an obstetrician gynecologist and a mother of two students in FCPS for 10 years I first want to say that I don't believe there's a person in this room who wants to see any student including transgender students

033bullied harassed or treated with disrespect if this is if this is the main issue then we're all on the same page I know you want to be the first to show that you care but when you push too quickly and there's not full understanding of what you're implementing it can cause more problems than what you're trying to solve your proposal is to add gender identity to your non-discrimination policy but I want to read to you from the American Congress of Obstetricians and gynecologists latest committee opinion on transgender identity it states there's no universally accepted definition of the word transgender because of the lack of agreement regarding what groups of people are considered transgender in addition definitions often vary by geographic region and by individual they go on to Name six different groups that may or

034may not be included when you use the words gender identity so just as Miss Reed asked at your March 12 Forum meeting are we covering everybody you haven't defined that yet the medical experts haven't defined that yet and so in your effort to include groups you're going to be constantly adding words to your policy and never covering everyone if you continue to divide us instead of unify adding words to a policy adding words to a policy that has already been enforced by your staff is not going to make students treat each other with respect practical Hands-On character education in our schools will result in real change this is the real solution I'd like to see the board discussing I know each school reports to their superintendent on paper and a committee what they do for

035character education how however actual time spent with the students teaching and applying character education varies tremendously among the schools I've volunteered in five FBS schools I've been many ethics days I've helped with character education for nine years at coven run I've watched coven run kindergarten teachers te the big words of of compassion and honesty and respect and responsibility to 5-year-olds in terms they could understand and apply them in the classroom and literature and Service Learning until they become common language every grade level in that school has their own service learning project so that by the time they send the students to Middle School the majority of seventh grade students at Cooper this year created their own service projects for others this is not eighth grade required service hours this was of their own choosing and

036why because it was ingrained in their character from the day they started school this is what changes a community this is what stops bullying and harassment and replaces them with respect and compassion and this is what I would like to see the board discussing has this happened in all fcbs schools unfortunately not uh at sixth grade ethics day student groups mixed from different schools are asked to rank order set of character traits several students didn't know the meanings of the words how can we expect them to ask with to act with Integrity when they don't know what the word means these weren't esol or special needs kids and I worked with both these groups and character education can be done in any language and made appropriate for any level of development but they need resources

037couldn't collaborative time be spent on schools sharing their character education resources and ideas please vote no tonight thank you for your time Mr Keith Appel you're already at the podium followed by Matthew Kelly Madame chairman board members I'm just a proud father of two precious girls who are thriving in their kindergarten and first grade classes in a Fairfax County Public School the teachers administrators and staff of this school have worked tirelessly to make their learning environment one that is affirming encouraging and safe I'm a strong advocate for public schools why on Earth would you want to turn me along with countless other parents across Fairfax County from Advocates into adversaries there's something there's something fatally wrong with a school policy when the very teachers who would have to work under it have no idea what

038it is my daughter's first grade teacher had no idea about this policy when my wife asked her about it just a few days ago there's something fatally wrong with the school policy when well-meaning board members cannot answer some of the most basic questions about its implementation there are numerous ramifications that haven't been thought through in the front end and that is a recipe for disaster when a when a policy when a policy that's controversial isn't thoroughly debated with full parental involvement when it's rushed through with so many questions unanswered that leaves the door open for the law of unintended consequences to wreak havoc we all agree all students must be treated with Compassion Care and tolerance my board member my board member assures me that this is happening right now on a case-by Case basis

039and can easily continue to do so and there have been no complaints instead instead of rushing forward we should be thoughtful and smart we should move deliberately to be a model for the country in demonstrating that tolerance is and always must be a two-way street if tolerance isn't if an isn't a two-way street then no tolerance exists deliberation deliberation means discussion and debate transparency and inclusion that's the way to achieve a Fairfax Solution that's the Legacy any public servant would be proud to leave but if we rush this and let the law of unintended consequences wreak its inevitable Havoc as as sure as I'm standing here there will be incidents that will leave all of us sorrowful regretful embarrassed and angry the these incidents will include these incidents will include teachers as well as students

040and there'll be a permanent stain on the legacies of all who vote to rush this through you can prevent that tonight by being smart in the front end and adopting Miss shelter's amendment to take some time with this I urge you to keep me and all of us as advocates and not turn us into adversaries I think I speak for all parents in saying that I am the proud father of two precious girls who are enjoying their time in school I am very protective of them that is my nature and I will never apologize for it thank you Matthew Kelly Matthew Kelly followed by Emma chatton thank you members of the school board my name is Matt Kelly I have two children who have been through FCPS I'm here tonight as a parent to express

041my strong support for these proposals to strengthen the district's anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies to include protections for gender identity and expression these improvements are overdue and necessary one of the great things about Fairfax county is that this is a diverse tolerant and inclusive community and our Public Schools reflect that I believe that the vast majority of the FCPS Community does try to treat everyone with dignity respect kindness and understanding but there's no question that there's still work to be done to combat ignorance Prejudice and injust Justice one area for improvement is our treatment of the lesbian gay bisexual and transgender members of our community it's a sad truth that LGBT people and transgender people especially still face far too much misunderstanding stigma and outright bigotry that prejudice is why the problems of homelessness substance abuse

042and suicide remain unconscionably high among LGBT Youth too often transgender or gender non-conforming students feel unwelcome and excluded at school a place where they should feel safe included and respected these proposed policies are a step towards improving that situation much more needs to be done including training for FCPS employees and age appropriate education for students but the proposals on the agenda tonight are an important and necessary first step I urge you to Ena these proposed changes because it's simply the right thing to do it's just wrong to discriminate against people for characteristics that have nothing to do with their value of as human beings race is one of them religion is another so is sex and so are sexual orientation gender identity and gender expression a fact that's often overlooked is that these policies protect

043everyone not just those who are in the minority protecting gender expression for example will protect the girl who wears dresses every day just as much as the boy who does the same there's also a very practical reason to enhance the district's policies in this manner it's the fiscally and legally responsible thing to do the law is clear the justice department the education department the EEOC all agree discrimination based on gender identity or expression is illegal sex discrimination under Title 9 under title 7 and don't let anyone mislead you most of the federal courts to treat this issue including the ninth circuit have come to the same conclusion therefore enacting these enhancements to FCPS policies is a step towards ensuring that the district doesn't get caught up in unnecessary costly and embarrassing litigation a student shouldn't

044have to Su sue the school district to enforce their civil rights neither should the district wait until it's been sued to enact policies protecting civil rights and by the way enacting similar policies is one thing that the education department consistently requires of school districts that illegally discriminate against transgender students to summarize as a citizen as a taxpayer as a voter and most especially as a parent I urge you to pass these enhancements to the district's anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies thank you Emma chetton followed by our final speaker speaker Freddy bergus the only way I will rest in peace is if one day transgender people aren't treated the way that I was they are treated like human beings fixed Society please those are words from Leela alorn a 17-year-old transgender girl in her suicide note December

04514th 2014 to the board you have the opportunity to begin the work of fixing Society by clearly communicating to our students teachers staff and parents that the only acceptable way to treat each other is with respect and compassion like human beings my name is Reverend Emma chattan I work with the metropolian Community Church of Northern Virginia where I co-lead transformation Ministry in this capacity I also co- facilitate a group called fourth Friday a closed group for the parents and guardians of transgender expansive children tween teens and young adults it is incumbent on our institutions not only to keep up with things but to be prepared for them as they happen you already have kids like Leela trans identified and gender expansive kids in our systems what your vote has the potential of doing if you

046vote to make the existing policy current is to help give equal protection to those kids you can begin to fix things and I have met some of these kids they know who they are and they are so incredibly brilliantly Brave and I challenge you to be just as Brave in protecting them so many in this room have been gender transgressors at one time or another consider the girl who takes shop class or the boy who takes home economics think about the bullying that some of these strong kids are subjected to as a result of who they are living life outside of the circle of acceptance is incredibly hard and bullying is the most most childish form of discrimination this will not be tolerated and it needs to come from the top down all I have

047heard from those opposed to this idea is fear one thing I can assure you of excuse me please do not interrupt our speakers thank you is fear one thing I can assure you of is that this nation has never moved forward on fear nor does this grant any special protections but rather it simply ensures that everyone in our school system received the same respect that every human being deserves this is also not a matter of affirming something that you may not even believe in the fact is these kids are already here I'm just asking you to keep up with them the issue is simple this is about respect and respecting differences your vote and support of these kids will go a long way toward the establishment of an environment of respect for all people be

048as Brave in helping to keep these kids from discrimination as they are in living their lives authentically in the words of a very brave girl fix Society Please Mr Freddy Bergos is next and I understand Mr Gordon bear is here so Mr Bergos and then Mr bear will be our last speaker thank you thank you Dr Garza School Board my name is Freddy Bergos I am a father of three daughters and I am concerned with the proposed change to policy 1450 to transgender our schools the school board should be making decisions to improve math Reading Writing science and US History not not making decisions on political social engineering we as parents and the school board must work together to improve education discuss programs that open the door to more choices for parents empowering parents the

049right to choose the public school that works best for their own child to have a happier learning environment the attempt today is to undermine the First Amendment rights of students by institutionalizing that boys and men can dress like girls in school establishing that nobody can voice their objection or disagree with a political class we must fight together against the gangsters and Bullies of the federal government the US Department of Education is trying to Strongarm our school board into accepting the radical position of transgender rights by threatening the school board with the loss of federal funding this gangster tactics is anti-democratic we as parents will stand with you the school board if you do the right thing and vote no to the change we will fight the US Department of Education the real danger uh to

050our children serious consequences will come from this change children with the mental illness of gender identity have a 50% suicide attempt rate and will have had at least one suicide attempt by their 20th birthday this is this is nearly nine times higher than the general public as they continue as adults and decide to mutilate their genitals suicide attempts go up to 75% trans people are infected with HIV four times higher than the general public this public policy change is not for the well-being of those who need psychiatric help the school board isn't seeking psychiatric help for people with the illness but asking them to embrace a suicide illness this will lead to the endangerment of the students with the illness and other children around them this is a distraction to education and endangers the entire

051School the decision to allow children to display their transgender mental illness doesn't improve education all children will be affected by the distraction because of family and economic stresses at home many minority children don't learn at home at school is where education is received and unnecessary distractions would be catastrophic the bottom of the achievement Gap Hispanics and blacks would be the most affected most Hispanics and blacks are Christians and will have difficulty to accept the abnormal behavior of a transgender the distraction of a transgender will will lower test scores increase the dropout rate of Hispanics and blacks changing policy 1450 is racist anti-hispanic anti-black anti-christian anti-ir Amendment and anti-democratic because of Christian Val because of Chris and values the majority of the families and children live in a Cil intolerant Community to keep and to keep

052to keep that the in the intolerant gangsters of the United States Department of Education your time has expired thank you Mr Gordon bear okay hi I'm Gordon bear and I'm the co-chair of gisson Northern Virginia and I started being co-chair two years ago right after I graduated from West bomic High School go wolverines wolverines okay um I did this because I loved the community I grew up in and I saw some problems with it that I could try and help to solve because as proud of as I was to receive an education from Fairfax County Public Schools I was fully aware that many of my peers and I graduated in spite of the fact that half of our mental capacities weren't going towards learning science Concepts math concepts history they were going towards battling threats

053and Prejudice within the school itself a lot of in a lot of ways my personal experience uh was far more tame than those who are gender non-conforming eight in 10 LGBT students in Virginia reported hearing negative remarks about gender expression regularly and only about 5% of those uh reported that their schools had comprehensive anti-bullying policies the fact is that a hostile climate detracts from academic performance it's an issue not about bathroom so much as it is about classrooms and the quality of an education a student gets in Fairfax County Public Schools as someone who has been in the trenches for 12 years and came out so very confused as to why I was treated that way and had to go through that and do all these other things it's it's very it's debilitating it it's

054debilitating to learn under those conditions now I believe that every student should go to school without fear of bodily harm of harassment and regardless of how they identify with their gender um fear detracts from a quality education so I ask you as an individual and as a member of glissen Northern Virginia to implement policy 1450 thank you thank you to all of our speakers tonight and we uh also allow video testimony and we will see one video tonight from Robert Rigby Jr good evening my name is Robert riby I want to tell the story of a hero of mine a young man who graduated from a Fairfax County School a few years ago he cannot tell the story himself because he passed away several years a a few years ago I spoken with his mother

055and have her permission to tell the story his name is Brian ponei and he and his brother attended Fall Church High School Brian didn't identify as transgender instead as gay but we might describe him as gender non-conforming Brian dressed in boy's clothes but he wore makeup painted his nails and joined the cheerleading squad Ryan met a spotty reception from staff of the way wore makeup one supportive teacher was a bright spot for him and shared makeup tips other teachers including a closeted gay teacher told him to tune it down because they thought it was unseemly there was harassment from other students including some shoving into Locker ERS and a threat to his brother and to break in at his home school was a scary place for Brian but he persevered after the harassment the principal

056became more supportive allowing Brian to help start a gay straight Alliance as a member of the cheerleading squad Brian wasn't allowed to participate in the same dances as the girls it being too provocative he brought up Title Nine on his own to the coach and that rle changed though his makeup and nails weren't permitted while he was performing for the school as a cheerleader they did win the district championships while he was on the squad Brian graduated with honors and went on to being a community leader at George Mason fighting for social social justice not simply for LGBT people but for everyone as I said the story has a sad ending Brian passed away a few years ago of a sudden asp attack it was a great heartbreak to us all for my part Brian

057is my hero his courage in being out in being open in being fearlessly non-conforming at fals church made the school a safer place for me to be openly gay when I went to teach there during a senior year I have this to say the students in FCPS have been changing the atmosphere and culture in our schools for years taking risks forming clubs educating the community it is time for us as adults to do our part to make scps a welcoming place for all people thank you for listening again thank you to all of our speakers uh next uh next ma'am ma'am ma'am ma'am I ask you to please I ask you to please sit down we have rules and we have a decorum you sit or we we will be escorted out we have 10

058speakers that is our rule for our business meeting this is not a public hearing this is not a public hearing we we ma'am ladies I ask you to please respect this is a business meeting this is a business meeting no no next on our item is student representative matters I call on Mr Latif thank you I also have a right to speak uh chairman dnat kofax Dr gar and members of the school board in the interest of time and an interest in giving everyone a time to cool off I will not be discussing the proposed changes until we get to the action item so you get to hear about something else what a two weeks this has been since our last regular board meeting on the 23rd I've been to six different schools 10 to8

059hours of meetings and events and we've met the spouse of not one but two different heads of state starting on Friday May the 24th on the invitation of principal Anne Smith I visited and toured the key Center School in Springfield Virginia the key Center is a complete special education center which serves students with intellectual disabilities and autism by FCPS standards it's on the smaller side with around 120 students but they range in age from 5 to 22 years old only 20 1% of key Center students have verbal language skills and 49% are ambulatory so the key Center is very unlike any other learning environment I visited during my time as student representative it was inspiring to see firsthand how passionate principal Smith and her faculty and staff are about what they do they are truly

060making a tremendous impact on the lives of their students and their families I encourage all board members to visit the key Center if you have not done so already and I thank principal Smith for taking time out of her busy day to speak with me show me around her amazing school and introduce me to many of the key Center students on Saturday the 25th I attended the a inspiring annual spectacular that is the FCPS all count sixth grade choir concert held at Mount Vernon High School I was joined by Mr Moon and Mr St we very much enjoyed it and if you've never heard a choir of nearly 1,000 sixth graders all singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow it's quite the experience could probably use them here right now would that be fun on the 27th

061I participated in the student leadership development programs mock work session and then the school board's budget work session coming out of that and after speaking with many of my own teachers I would definitely agree with the option presented to the board that consists of a step increase for the 96% of employees who are eligible for one along with a 62 Market scale adjustment for all employees uh thank you I think it is obvious that this board and the leadership team however would have loved to do more when it comes to teacher and employee salaries for FY 2016 but when you live in a county with a Board of Supervisors and when you live in a commonwealth whose state house just doesn't seem to value our schools as much as they both claim they do this

062is the best we could do last Tuesday the 28th I ventured back to my formal School of Great Falls Elementary and attended the visi visit of First Lady Michelle Obama and the spouse of the Prime Minister of Japan Miss Aki AB it was an honor meeting both Mrs Obama and Mrs ab and I thank Great Falls Elementary and principal Mr Le Lynette for having me they not only have an amazing Japanese immersion program at Great Falls that has hosted among others the emperor and Empress of Japan the Japanese Ambassador and the now prime minister Shinzo AB thank to the support of their PTA they actually have a 1:1 technology ratio in grades 3 through six they installed a maker space and Project based learning is Alive and Well something we'd like to highlight here at

063the school board last Thursday I visited Lake bradic Secondary and on Friday I was over at Woodson's leadership class this past Monday I headed over to Langley's traditional sports rival mlan high school for a visit proving that despite art differences we can all get along poignant uh although my final meeting I wrote this before I knew this was going to happen although my final meeting with the school board is just over a month away we have a a lot uh to look forward to together namely this Saturday we're holding the second annual Fairfax County Public Schools Community conversation on teen stress which will be held at Hayfield this Saturday again I've had the privilege of being on the committee that has worked to plan the summit over the last several months and I thank Dr

064Dockery Dr lip and Dr Baylor for spending so much of their time working on such a worthwhile and important event something i' like to highlight that will be taking place at the summit this Saturday at 8:30 the very start of the conference thanks to the generosity of president Steve Greenberg of the Fairfax County Federation of teachers we'll be having a particularly interesting panel featuring the senior assistant dean of admissions at UVA the director of undergraduate recruitment at Longwood the director of student services and chant at chanelli and a Pathways counselor at Northern Virginia Community College who will discuss the stress surrounding College admissions and the mental health resources available to students after they've made the transition from high school to college I encourage parents of rising seniors who are about to enter the fry of

065college admissions take the time out of your Saturday morning take them over there it'll be fascinating also Ben press and I will again be hosting our very own breakout session at 11:15 where we will have a candid conversation and Q&A on the students perspective on teenage stress you can find more information online at fcps.edu dsss Summit I'll be at the public hearing on the budget next Tuesday and next Wednesday I will be at Stratford I will be at Carl Sandberg Middle School on the invitation of the Stratford landing and Carl Sandberg ptsas for a screening of the 2010 educational documentary race to no nowhere uh as for school visits in closing I have just four left before I can say I've been to each high and secondary school in Fairfax County as student rep I'll

066be at Lee next Wednesday James Madison that Friday and I visits to hearnen and West bomic in the works thank you and now back to our regularly scheduled programming thank you we begin our action items with um the first one 4.02 4.01 policy 1450 and I call on Mr movine thank you madam chair I moved the school board adopt policy 1450 non-discrimination as detailed in the agenda item second seconded by Mr Moon I uh Now call on Miss Schultz you have a motion M Mr mine I understand you don't want to speak at this time all right Miss Schultz you have a motion I move to postpone policy 1450 until the second school board meeting in October 2015 again I ask that this is a business meeting I understand you're all here in support of

067one side or the other but I do ask that you respect the fact that this is our business meeting Miss Schultz please continue I mve to postpone action on policy 1450 until the second Schoolboard meeting in October 2015 so that the board can be provided the commensurate draft regulation and handbook language and determine the overall impact of the proposed revision to policy 1450 is there a second to this motion Miss Schultz you may speak on your motion before the board tonight is a main motion which has generated more spontaneous public discourse and commentary than I believe in the history of Fairfax County Public Schools the motion to defer or postpone that main motion is offered for substantive critical issues which deserve the full due consideration and unanimous support of all of my colleagues whether a

068class of students with gender related issues may hurt individuals in the bathroom is not the issue before this board tonight it is about it is about the right of 99.7% of all students all all teachers and all employees to retain their right to privacy safety and dignity how those rights of all students all parents and all employees are respected and protected has not been addressed by this board there has been no information provided to this board about the scope of the issue regarding the number of FCPS is 186,000 students this involves the scope of the issue regarding the number of FCPS 40,000 employees this involves the regulations which may be involved about who is responsible for navigating the issues most importantly at the classroom level and the impact that this may have on stress and

069workload for our Educators who are already stretched to their maximum in so many respects we have no information about the practices that FCPS currently carries out and does well or does not do well we have no information on what Safety and Security issues exist now in FCPS is 194 school buildings countless administrative buildings for all employees and although I am a mother of four boys I have deliberative concerns for your daughters your granddaughters your sisters your aunts your wives your wives and your mothers happy early Mother's Day because after all I am each one of those in seeking information about what this policy May mean and that was inordinately and surprisingly difficult not because of the lack of ability on the part of a highly competent FCPS staff but because of the lack of the

070very existence of the information I sought on your behalf my significant concerns begin with our budget significantly in the face of an 8 million doll budget shortfall which has not yet been resolved for fiscal 16 and facing a $100 million shortfall for fiscal 17 there is absolutely no information about the potential cost of outcropping of any of this policy decision including staff development facility modifications staffing needs and more in a division that has cut nearly a half a billion dollars it is fiduciary F malfant on the part of this board to undertake passing any policy without understanding the gerine cost associated with any such action speaking of money the latest development of this board being faced ostensibly with a mandate from the federal government that this school board like fcbs the 10th largest school system

071in the United States of America is being forced into policy language development under the threat of having federal education monies yanked is simply unconscionable that the that the federal government via the office of civil rights under the US Department of Justice through the US Department of Education could compel is compelling individual local school boards around the country or risk losing federal education monies like Title One funds designed for the need neediest children most at risk students hungriest children is unconscionable is my federal government the Department of Justice the office of civil rights and the US Department of Education really threatening me as a duly elected local official who has sworn an oath to the constitution of Virginia to run this School Division in accordance with Virginia code requiring me to run it with utmost efficiency

072quote unquote to do their bidding by inserting gender identity or any other language into our policies or face taking our children's lunch money there are 14,000 School divisions in the United States of America what about the 990,000 other school board members do I have a right to run this School Division as a locally elected official under the Virginia Constitution by the people who elected me the federal government is telling me no there are serious concerns about not having regulations and understanding impact for policy makers like the 12 of us sitting here who have to run the Fairfax County School System if we do not understand gerain Le gerly and with compassion how to respect every student every employee and most of all every parents rights who have entrusted us to educate your children we have

073to delay this vote Mr Mr store would you like to speak to your second I respect the right of all board members to make amendments and motions and in that light I was willing to Second her motion even though I will not be supporting this amendment thank you Miss Reed thank you chairman darnette kofax apologize for being late I was at a another meeting and uh I had every intention of seconding this motion so yall may as well get comfortable it's going to take a little while I've been on this board for six years and I've used a level-headed analytical approach to make informed decisions I also care deeply about our students employees and members of our communities it is with these same qualities that I approach tonight's vote in which the Fairfax County School

074Board will decide on whether to expand its non-discrimination policy to include gender identity as a special protected classification as we know this policy not only impacts students students but also teachers and employees of the school system which is the largest employer in the Commonwealth I don't know if you know but this issue also has been proposed to be added to our um srnr student rights and responsibilities tonight as well so if that catches anyone by surprise um we'll be talking about that again later M shelz and I didn't compare uh notes but you might hear a few common themes I took an oath of of office that states how faithfully and impartially discharged all of the duties in coming upon me as the Providence District representative to this school board it is my job to

075be objective and to consider the views and interests of everyone I was elected to represent I also have a responsibility to govern and to lead I want to first thank everyone that contacted those of us who received hundreds and hundreds of emails those of you who are in the audience and outside and watching on TV we've received an incredible amount of feedback on this issue people feel very passionately I've read the emails I've had conversations I've asked lots of questions of staff I met with Logan a transgender student and I talk with my sister-in-law about her April who is now AJ it is important for me to make my decision- making transparent whether you agree or disagree at least you will understand my thinking in summary I want to reinforce the message we teach every

076day in our schools that all students should be free from discrimination and harassment so they can feel valued and achieve their full potential as students and future members of society I believe our current policies might do this my support in postponing this decision is not about Compassion or rights or one segment of a population it is about whether our board is being respons responsble or fool Hardy frankly the process we've used to get to this point is troubling and embarrassing I have so many fundamental questions that remain unanswered some answers were coming in uh as late as 2 and 3:00 this afternoon if the board can't answer these questions then a vote is clearly premature now being the good analyst that I am I am going to take the time to identify what some of

077those questions are why is the board rushing to address this issue at this time why have we not followed our typical processes for policy development and implementation and public engagement as outlined in our strategic governance manual this issue was first raised at our Forum on March the 12th 2015 it was brought for new business April 23rd and a vote is scheduled tonight as you know May 7th we clearly have caught the public by surprise and not done Justice to our established public engagement process Miss Reed please continue please continue Miss Reed and to prove that I have in fact read all these emails I've also included some Direct quotes from people I won't use your name and but this adds flavor and I think it's important to understand the comments that people are raising why

078has this not been publicized to parents for a school system that is so good at keeping parents updated through email Facebook and other school resources I was a little confused why I hadn't heard about this vote and why it was not publicized I can only come to the conclusion that FCPS did not want the parents involved in the discussion this week this week our board has been pulled away from other important pressing business we have not adequately honored our teachers during this teacher appreciation week nor have we wrestled with how to honor our highest priority of employee compensation when we receive $7.6 million less in our transfer request let alone the $100 million plus shortfall projected for FY 2017 I have not heard about nor worked on closing achievement gaps or anything else that as

079a priority noted in our agendas or a strategic plan someone writes I implore you to focus on the issues that are putting the reputation of our schools in Jeopardy such as budget shortfalls and less competitive teacher salaries I would love to spend time working to improve these things in our schools rather than worrying about ad hoc policies that the board is trying to impose furthermore to put this rush job in context it took this board over 10 years of study to Institute later High School start times and near and dear to my heart over five years to study whether to hire an independent school board auditor it is safe to say that historically this board rarely rushes into decisions question two do we have the legal authority to do this the impetus to change and

080expand this policy was introduced by attorney general Mark Herring in an opinion on March 4th 2015 however his opinion contradicts eight other Virginia attorney general opinions these opinions all concluded that the Virginia General Assembly is the only body with authority to establish or change public policy to Define classes for forbidden discrimination under Virginia law someone asks have you considered the legal fees should you be sued for rashly following Mark herring's opinion I also asked the question uh what interpretation does Fairfax County government take on this issue and have not heard the answer to that uh other questions and I apologize colleagues I warned you I was going to be lengthy three is this change required and by whom what are the legal implications of not doing this versus the per perceived threats of pull funding

081I won't cover that because Miss Schultz did a very good job and I'll spare you costs are another issue this seems like it's an an unfunded I won't even say mandate I don't know what it is um but what are the estimated costs to comply with this and what and what exactly are we talking about is this change necessary someone wrote is this even an issue to be addressed or is it already a protected status I don't know the current FCPS nondiscrimination policy prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and the office of civil rights guidance uh says that transgenders are protected under title n someone writes through 200 years of precedent our Supreme Court has determined that classifications such as race gender alienage national origin voting Interstate travel and privacy are protected by the fifth

082and 14th amendments this is why I find it difficult for school board members to take it upon themselves to determine new classifications of students nobody condones bullying or discrimination and this and this is not about some people mattering more than others someone wrote I believe all students should be a special protected group and their best interest should be evaluated in light of the uniqueness of each child by the individuals who know them best their teachers administrators and parents we're only on number five folks what is the problem this vote is trying to fix how are we going to do it what is the current status in our schools can we cite any specifics about why this came about have there been incidents of discrimination I don't know can we cite other schools that have made

083this decision or any statistics what kind of research have staff and the board done to get to this point have we done a literature search have we looked at case studies have there been community meetings and debates and the big question really is how will this be implemented it seems like such a simple change on its surface but what are the pros and cons of making the decision what are the potential second and third order and more implementation effects have the implications of keeping the status quo versus making the change been thought through from all angles someone wrote it is not even clear about what the board will be voting on given no regulations have been written for review and consideration it's like writing a blank check do you write blank checks in your personal

084life in conclusion yes colleagues finally two citizens said it best quote being in a position of responsibility we expect our representatives to be prudent informed and judicious when cast in their votes on our behalf and lastly someone wrote please take time and study the issue remove emotions and strive for facts if the board has not fully studied the issue I urge you to stand up and be a leader and admit this publicly Miss reader please continue I Ur I urge my colleagues to support this amendment thank you when anyone else like to speak to miss schulz's motion to postpone I again just ask for your respect Miss Miss mclaughin um before I share um my perspective on this uh I would like to find our general counsel um Mr Foster I think one of the

085most important things that we can be doing first and foremost As Leaders of this school system is to help um provide important education about what we're doing here tonight and uh first of all as I understand this is a policy update we are not creating a new policy we are not changing it's not a new policy it is not miss miss m I do ask that you do speak to the motion on the table which is the motion to postpone you can you can yes I know I understand that it's about the motion to postpone but I think in order for the audience to understand at least for this board member Megan mlin on why I am not going to support postponement is that I want some in I want some information for the audience

086to for people to understand some clarity here because with all the respect that I have for every one of my colleagues sitting here at the table there is definitely a a difference of opinion about what information the board has what we know and why we may not believe that a postponement is necessary at this time so Mr Foster I had asked earlier that in terms of the the existing policy as it is where we do not have this additional language is this additional language needed in order to provide the protection uh for our transgender population in the in the school system in terms of protecting them from from discrimination I've uh previously advised the board uh and provided you my recommendation uh and that is you understand what that recommendation is the recommendation is that

087this policy be amended um you're absolutely correct as many speakers have noted this evening we are uh currently dealing with transcender students in our schools uh our policy does not reflect that okay uh the there's also been uh recognition by many speakers including the maker of the motion Miss Schultz uh the federal government has been very clear that they expect local school divisions to amend their policies to include gender identity but but as I understand it also Mr Foster that that title Title Nine does does already provide this type of protection so for for the for this postponement it gives the Imp mlin again we are speaking to the motion to postpone right now you you may speak on this later I I I understand Miss Dar kofax my my point is I think that

088there's confusion in the audience in terms yes I know all right I I will I I I will just simply share this what I do know what I do know in extensive conversations with our superintendent and with her leadership team I do not believe we need to postpone because it is not about our any change in practice I have heard how we handle it the misinformation the the misinformation about the fear that this will change bathroom practices in locker rooms and safety of our children is simply not true and all right um the motion is is is the motion the motion on the table to postpone was I moved to postpone action on policy 1450 until the second school board meeting in October 2015 so that the board can be provided the commerate draft regulation

089and handbook language and determine the overall impact of the proposed revision to policy 14 we've had a vote we've had comments we've had seconds we will now vote on this all those in favor of the motion to postpone miss scholz and miss Reed all those opposed that will be Moon Ming uh Hines uh Smith darnette kofax velov mlin St Strauss and Evans the motion fails we are now back to the main motion we are now back to the main motion and what I again I this I ask that you allow us to conduct our business meeting at hand again please right now I ask for your respect we are now back to the main motion and excuse me Mr Mr movine will now speak on his motion and and again we must conduct this business

090this evening and we will ask those of you who continue to shout at us to be removed from this meeting Mr Ming thank you madam chair tonight we do have a slightly bigger audience than usual and I would like to wel welcome you warmly um offer that to everyone to our meeting for this okay right here i' would like to welcome all of you warmly to our meeting tonight on this debate on adding gender identity to our non-discrimination policy again welcome welcome to our house and our school system for a debate that is so incredibly important for the health and wellbe again I am asking you one last time I do have the ability to clear this room if you would like to listen to what we are saying then please listen respectfully please listen

091respectfully to what the board is discussing tonight at its business meeting excuse me this is about all of us sir I am a parent in this school as well as a representative this is about all chairman Darren at kofax if you would a point can I have a point a per Personal Privilege no you may not miss Schultz we will give you one more chance we will give you one more chance to try and then we we will take a 5 minute recess because then if this does if we cannot conduct our business in the way we intend to we will then have to clear the room um I'm sorry chairman darat kofax with with due respect um you must you must recognize me for a personal point of privilege Miss Schulz I will allow

092it yes Miss Schulz for the benefit of the people who are here to hear this argument um I'm imploring you want to be here for the discussion that's about to happen because you need to hear what is about to happen and I I have a crystal ball it's pretty good um you owe it to yourselves to hear what these people are going to say and allow them to conduct their business and then follow on with any action thereafter but if you don't let them have the meeting they're about to have and have the decision they're about to do then you won't be here to hear it so I ask for the extension of courtesy to my colleagues um and Mr mine um the ex the courtesy I was extended to read my motion to give

093him the same courtesy to finish his motion thank you Miss Schultz Mr movine so again I would like to welcome all of you here tonight for this very important baate debate on adding gender identity to our non-discrimination policy a debate that is so incredibly important for the health and well-being of all of our children and employees in Fairfax County for those of you who are interested in how our school board has arrived at this decision and for those who may be concerned that this policy change might have Arisen out of thin air let me assure you that this board has been at the Forefront of this cause for more than a decade in 2002 this school board asked for an attorney general opinion on whether we had the legal authority to Grant protections based on

094sexual orientation and gender identity in March of this year the Virginia attorney general ruled that we can in fact protect our employees and students from discrimination based on gender identity that brings us here tonight to finish the work that so many of our colleagues before us and Among Us have pioneered our Fairfax County Public Schools today are places noted for their inclusiveness with students coming from every country in the world and speaking almost every language in the world we do not tolerate discrimination not based on race not based on age color sex sexual orientation religion national origin marital status or disability and tonight we will declare that we do not discriminate based on gender identity either the truth is we already do not discriminate based on gender identity in practice but that protection has never

095been clearly outlined in our policies and its implementation has been left up to our well mean well-meaning staff so the purpose of tonight's vote is to reform this board's belief that we value and accept all of our students and employees for who they are in FCPS we have an increasing number of students self-identifying as transgender and as gender nonconforming these are our most vulnerable and atrisk students and it's critical for our board to ensure that they feel welcomed and supported at the highest levels of our system the rate the rate of suicide attempts among transgender and non-con gender non-conforming people is staggering whereas 4.6% of the overall US population has self-reported a suicide attempt 41% of transgender and gender non-conforming people surveyed have attempted suicide side we cannot ignore these statistics and we cannot lose

096one more life of a student who believes that they aren't accepted by their society or by their school system imagine just imagine if these were your children you'd probably do everything in your power to support them as a board and as a community these are our children and it's our duty to protect them unfortunately in response to our effort to protect these members of our community fear and distrust have been swn in our community as a society we never would have made progress if we had given into un unsubstantiated fears fears that we have heard tonight the pioneering Marie C once said that nothing in life is to be feared it is only to be understood in under in other words the fears about this policy change are unfounded and need to be better understood

097fears we have heard relate to claims that with this policy change our practices will change leading to a wave of students and staff self-identifying as transgender allowing men uninhibited access to women's bathrooms and locker rooms and encouraging teachers to crossdress in the classroom I cannot emphasize this enough after we pass this policy tonight nothing will change in how we handle cases of transgender and gender non-conforming students and employees they will continue to undergo a thorough vetting process with school staff as they always have to ensure their claims are legitimate and made in good faith this board has never received a concern regarding a bathroom incident of this nature we have never received a concern about a transgender staff member and we have never received a concern about a transgender student playing on a sports team

098never this reflects how well our staff has handled these situations to date in fact a task force of our staff has already been working very very proactively to ensure the Fidelity of implementation of these practices at all of our schools finally and most importantly as you've heard tonight we are in fact being compelled to make this policy change by the office of civil rights of the dep Department of Education which has directed all school districts in the United States to amend their non-discrimination policies to include gender identity in this light amending this policy is non-negotiable unless we want the federal government to come after our federal funding to conclude I would like to speak about our role in history tonight many of you might many of you might not realize how the building in which

099we are gathered Luther Jackson Middle School relates to our discussion tonight so let me explain this school was named for the founder of the Negro voters League of Virginia and it served as the only black high school in Fairfax County for for years for years black students had to be busted here some taking hours to get here to receive their education this year this year marks the 50th anniversary of desegregation of Fairfax County Public Schools you might wonder why it took Fairfax County until 1965 to Des desegregate more than a decade after Brown versus Board of Education which declared state laws establishing public separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional the leaders of our state organized massive resistance to desegregation and put us on the wrong side of History friends 50

100years later we are fighting the same battles that our forebearers fought we are fighting the same battles that our forbears fought to provide equal access to our facilities for all of our students the push for protections based on gender identity is the Civil Rights issue of our day it is well it is well passed time for Fairfax County to be a leader on civil rights issues not not delay this vote and relive our check past by putting ourselves at risk of legal action by the federal government all while standing on the wrong side of History I appeal to my colleagues as we G gather tonight in this relic of our past injustices to search inside for our best selves in tonight's discussion selves that do not turn to injecting unwarranted fear and misinformation in our

101community selves that do not relive the Civil Rights mistakes of the past that drove us to cica Falls Selma and Stonewall but instead Envision Fairfax County but instead Envision Fairfax County as Virginia's leader and proactively protecting all of its students and employees no matter their gender identity I am I am so proud to join all of my colleagues up here tonight after all the years it has taken to bring us here to stand on the right side of history and I am proud that 50 years from now when a future board is debating the new civil rights issue of the day right here in this room our board will reme be remembered not for postponing not for delaying civil rights but for protecting all of our employees and all of our children as we move

102forward to our speakers I again ask you to listen to what Miss Schultz had said please Mr Moon thank you madam chair as Mr mlin has spoken so eloquently on the needs to make policy update I will not speak too long or repeat what he has already done as we all remember in November of the last year after we learned that United States Supreme Court refused to overturn and appear to avoid the same-sex marriages in Virginia this B by the vote of 11 to1 passed my motion to add sexual orientation to our policy 145 so that please do not even if you agree with me do not interrupt me so that our school system does not discriminate anyone based upon that person's sexual orientation the policy update had been long time coming as I remember

103that school board a number of years ago discussed exactly the same issue but was a reluctant ignored the then standing attorney general's opinions with the most recent one coming from the former Attorney General Ken Kell in 2010 whether you agreed with the former Attorney General's opinions or not they were the opinions that the school board at that time gave deference to I am giving the same deference to the new atorney General Mark herring's opinion issued in March of this year that the school board in Virginia have the authority to a gender identity in its non-discrimination policy people may disagree on whether the Attorney General hering's opinion was correct or not but that is the Attorney General's opinion of the day and I am going to give my due deference to it on the question whether

104disport has authority to add gender identity to its non-discrimination policy under new to add gender identity to policy 14150 I absolutely agree with Mr mcklin that this is a civil rights issue as long as you whether an employee with us or a student are not violating any of our rules or regulations should never be discriminated based upon who you are a student's right to education is a fundamental right and that right should not be infringed upon based upon who that student is over the last couple of weeks we have received and I do not know exactly how many but perhaps almost a couple of thousand emails on this particular issue I have not been able to read all of them but regardless of which side on this issue the senders of the emails were almost

105all seem to agree that we should not discre discriminate against anyone based upon gender identity most of the objections seem to be based upon the fear and I must say the unfounded fear that their children and our students will somehow be immediately harmed by this policy update but as Mr Mel been pointed out we not be changing will not be changing that what he have always been doing the school administrators will meet with anyone claiming to be a transgender and ascertain whether such a claim is supported by legitimate evidence medical legal or otherwise our students do not interfere and I support the motion Miss mlin for those of you who don't know my history in this County um I am a parent um I'm in my 14th year with Fairfax County Schools I have three

106children uh before I joined this board three years ago I spent almost 10 years like many of you caring about our schools serving on the ptas in leadership becoming a parent advocate and a community advocate I helped co-found the Fairfax education Coalition back in 2009 with the expressed goal that we would improve this school system in its accountability its transparency and Community engagement that has and that's why I feel so strongly about tonight's policy update because that's exactly what it is regrettably there has been tremendous amount of misinformation in the public every one of you who has sat here tonight I have not heard you say that as of today you have been worried about your children's safety as of today those of you who have children in Republic schools you have felt they are

107safe and it's because they are safe they were safe today they were safe yesterday and they will be safe tomorrow so I would like to read for you something very important important that I think speaks to the exceptional leadership we have here in superintendent Garza and what gives me confidence about this policy update in adding two words to confirm what she has already been doing she and her Administration and as she has noted we are responsible for all students and while we sometimes have to accommodate students with varying needs we can do so in a manner that is considerate of all students we currently accommodate a few students providing them access to the use of other facilities like single use bathrooms we know that our administrators have done an exceptional job in meeting the needs

108of every child in the school we know as Mr mine has noted that there has not been a single case brought to the superintendent to this board about a child being uncomfortable a child being fearful of their safety of parents being fearful of safety But but so keep in mind keep in mind that what went from a simple policy update to confirm the practices that we already do in this school system which I heard all of you champing that we do not discriminate that's all this does it confirms what we have been doing so well which is to not discriminate and to meet the needs of each and every child I would also like to point out that one of our speakers who gave us some legal analysis and he what he did is he

109cited some federal um decisions about the courts where they've rejected certain practices what he didn't speak to is that they're not rejecting the policy update about the protection to not discriminate so this policy update I believe reflects the values that we hold dear here in Fairfax County which is we don't discriminate we do not discriminate because of the reassurances in my communication with our superintendent with the thoughtful leadership that she and all of those who have been part of Fairfax County for so many years and have kept this school safe for all students I have every confidence that this policy update what it does signal to our community and most importantly to our children is to respect one another that there is dignity in every single one of us for those of you who are

110concerned about your children I will tell you that in listening and speaking to our leadership team they continue to work day in and day out with each and every family on any given issue where they are concerned about their child's welfare and well-being and I would ask you to look at the facts unless you can point to where this school system in its current practices that this policy simply affirms if you can't point to any problems that our practices have have given to date then you should leave tonight with confidence knowing that this school system tomorrow will continue to be the safe and outstanding public school system that you were here tonight to celebrate Miss Hines followed by Mr Latif thank you um in this in this environment I will go ahead and try to

111say what's on my mind about this and explain how I come out and why um for the sake of those who came tonight I do want to thank Mr mlan for bringing this forward I think it is something that we need to do um I I I I can't add I I think the speakers so far in favor of this have spoken very eloquently and I can't add much to it I would say we have all been reading the emails we have we've been doing our best to to take them all in I have responded to some who've written in trying to understand better what the worries are I won't use the word fear because I think that gets people upset so worries I hear worries on both sides honestly I think one of the

112reasons that we even think about protecting this um this group of students is because we are worried for them uh we know what they've been through we've heard their story and we know that their worries are real that being in this group of students being transgender or being um having a different gender identity than others around you is a difficult way to go through school and we heard that just tonight from a former student so I think we're protecting them we want to protect them because we're worried about them so that's the worry on one side the worries on the other side um I think come to questions about uh things that I don't really think we're doing right now and uh one of them is but I I I do understand why people's minds

113go to these places right so if we're saying that we will not discriminate against transgender students people right away start thinking and talking about bathrooms and locker rooms and what will be the Practical implementation of this and I get that I think M McAn is right uh that that legally we are expected to have a non-discrimination policy we're not legally required to do anything particular with our bathrooms uh we're not really legally required to do anything in particular at all other than make sure that as we implement this we do it in a way that protects the safety privacy and dignity of every child and that is how we do things in Fairfax County which is why I also feel comfortable setting the policy that's our job as the board and the implementation will follow

114and I have faith that it will be a good implementation it will be good for all of our students because we're already doing it we know how to do it and I will tell you the reason that I think we need to make sure that we make this statement as a board is that I think there are people when I when I listen to some of the language that I've been reading in some of these emails and this is not everyone but there is fear of the other out there there is fear of difference there is I'm not I'm not accusing anyone in this room of that but we've gotten many emails and I could read you some of the quotes but I won't because they're very hurtful and if some of those people are

115bullying other students bullying teachers bullying administrators then I want everyone in our school system to know that this board protects them and intends to protect them and intends to keep everyone's safety privacy and dignity as our top concern so I will proudly support this Mr Latif followed by Miss Evans hello uh first let me preface this but I do ask for your attention and your cooperation in letting me finish my remarks I'm the student representative here I speak for your children and all 187,000 children in Fairfax County you don't know what I'm going to say you don't know what I'm going to say I'm not even basically going to talk about this all I will say is I've heard a lot of feedback from my fellow students from across the county mainly positive about this

116change from the readback I have heard that's all I'm going to talk about when it comes to non-discrimination however I want to ask everyone here I need you to do something for me and for your children and for the students of Fairfax County come budget time next year I want to see this passion I want to see this Vigor I want to see this community involvement when it comes to funding our schools because that is a true threat to our children and a true threat to our community is the underfunding of our schools we can't pay our teachers enough we have cut a half billion dollars since 2008 we fired over 21,000 excuse me 2,100 teachers in that same time and during that time we've gotten 24,000 new kids comeing to FCPS so we are

117overburdened and we are underfunded and I ask that you bring this passion and this Vigor for protecting your own children to those debates worthwhile debates Miss Evans yes thank you um I I do want to thank uh Mr mine for bringing this and and uh Mr Latif those were excellent remarks too I I appreciate that as well as a school system and as a society we must show compassion and understanding for all of our students adding gender identity to our non-discrimination policy will put this board on record as not tolerating bullying harassment or abuse of any kind against transgender students who are among our most vulnerable we have transgender students in our school system now we have an obligation both legal and moral to make sure these students are treated Fair ly we also provide

118accommodations for transgender students now and we have done so with little Fanfare and little controversy we will continue to accommodate these students in a way that makes the most sense for all concerned in many ways this is a symbolic action tonight as you've heard the US Department of education's office of civil rights has told us has told the school systems that title 9 already includes protections for gender identity and we are all bound by federal law adding this to our non-discrimination policy says that we agree that we cannot discriminate against our transgender students and we will treat them and all students with fairness and respect I support this motion Michels followed by Miss uh Mr velov I'm not sure if I was longer than you misre the first time around I lost track but hold

119on colleagues okay this past Sunday I watched a story about the rise of a young 17-year-old woman who started as an intern and has risen to be the CEO and the first woman CEO of an automobile manufacturer in the United States as a mother of two children about the age of two of my own I was struck by Mary Teresa Bar's role as a leader in a massive organization with a $2.6 billion budget and as the largest employer in the Commonwealth FCPS pales in comparison to GM with 212,000 plus employees in 396 facilities and touching six continents in being charged with improving some would say even saving GM her pragmatic approach in ending meetings sometimes on time at 5:30 to make her children's games left an impression on me but the significant takeaway was her

120strategic leadership in taking something as simple as a 10 page dress code for their employees down to two words dress appropriately when faced with the notion that if a child doesn't fit into one of the named particular classes in our non-discrimination policy that we are or will discriminate against them means we are affirmatively participating in discrimination for many of our children that notion is preposterous earlier in our term one of my colleagues championed a legislative package item advocating that the Virginia General Assembly press the United States Congress for an Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution I didn't support that it's not the business of the board in November one of my colleagues championed another policy change to this policy 1450 to add sexual orientation I didn't support that either and I spoke at the

121time about an ongoing subclassification of people due to special protections or treatments that they may be due because of some attribute I posited at the time whether we should protect teachers who are parents because they will understand the children that they teach better or those in their childbearing years and subject to time away from their positions as a result within months that very thing happened with young versus ups that went to the Supreme Court and Miss Young is a Commonwealth of Virginia resident who was a pregnant UPS worker not afforded simple duties that would been commensurate with her temporary needs while pregnant UPS s could take a page from GM and FCPS should as well let's change the non-discrimination policy to two words don't discriminate I have two email experts I excerpts I wish to

122share which are voices which are missing from the public engagement on this topic because there hasn't been any the first is from an FCPS teacher I do believe that it is FCPS is responsibility to make all students feel welcome and safe but with that said I do think we are responsible for all students and staff members within the school designating bathrooms for those students is without a doubt the right thing to do but opening restrooms or locker rooms isn't the answer and it's not the point if I'm misguided in what your intent is which we haven't said please let me know so I can inform all the other Professionals in my building please note I teach two students that consider themselves trans gender or gender neutral I have never spoken to either of them about

123which bathroom or locker room they use they both approached me at the beginning of the year with an index card and said please refrain from using male or female pronouns in class towards me they prefer gender neutral terms I am very conscientious as to what I say in class and how I say it but I wonder what in this big world will it be like for these students when they are sheltered from The Real World and for lack of a better word grocery stores workplaces and gyms please do not do this the second voice is the voice of an FCPS CPS parent as a victim of severe adolescent age bullying that spanned several years and caused me to consider ending my life I don't protest this measure like ly I also generally think that the

124idea of a slippery slope is an overused and unders supported angle when people debate important issues but in this case this is truly a slippery slope the truth is that people are bullied for many reasons and students are bullied for many many reasons they're bullied for being poor for Rich smart having a low IQ for the way they dress for being too fat too thin Too Short Too Tall too awkward for not dressing like everyone else for the way they wear their hair for the way they smell for the way they speak for the kind of cell phone they use or for not having a cell phone the list goes on and on I once heard an LGBT advocate of the safe space posters that teachers are encouraged to put up in their classrooms say

125in response to this that I'm making it's true most kids don't try to kill themselves because they're fat how sad and absolutely not true it demonstrates a shameful level of ignorance the bottom line is that the school system cannot protect all children from all things all the time and not from those that Society generally looks down upon or doesn't understand but they can and should enforce a safe and comfortable learning environment for all students in the most reasonable way possible and make accommodations just like these the the problem is in passing this as we heard earlier if there was a task force already underway why is this motion before the board before staff finishes the work of its Task Force if we if we are already treating students and employees well and as the maker

126of the motion Mr mine said this policy will do nothing then why are we passing the policy before we know what's in it I have one I have one last I have that couldn't get in I have one last point to make and the question is whether or not something could happen right away and that is a big question mark knowing that staff is not going to have any draft regulations or any handbook for this board to review until the 30th of September which is after the next school year year starts and a series of questions from my colleagues and and including myself were posed to and answered by staff and one is a very interesting question um being the parent of four children one in college one in High School one in middle school

127and one in elementary school I consider myself composite mom um one of the very often posed questions that has nothing to do with bathrooms that has nothing to do with locker rooms but is a very real and present um concern for which I have no answer is this what effect does approving the language have on immediate operational and Personnel implementation EG for example if a teacher comes to school next Monday dressed and identifying with the opposite gender and the language has been passed then what this is staff's answer this is staff's answer we will work work with the teacher HR and division Council on a plan for that teacher the teacher would not be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice and as a practical matter nearly all faculty bathrooms in our schools our

128single stall bathrooms such that only one person at a time may use them that doesn't address what happens in the front of the classroom and the rights of the parents to be engaged and to be heard next I have Mr velov followed by Miss Strauss thank you madam chair um in the interest of time I I had I am not going to read uh excerpts of letters uh we've received as you've heard Lots of them and it's um instructive to see the wide uh range of views in in uh in the in the county uh but generally the reasons for not making this policy change generally fall into these categories one the school board's process is secretive two the US Department of of education is bullying us three males will enter female bathrooms commit any

129number of Acts and then use gender identity as a defense to get off the hook I'm I'm repeating the things that people have said uh the next one is that FCPS will allow transgender teachers into our schools and then the children will not be safe number five parents will lose their right to move their child from a class taught by a transgender teacher six transgender employees and students are already protected and finally the lives of 99% will be disrupted for the sake of a fraction of 1% so let me address each one of these in turn the school board's process is secretive well we are following the same process that we always do we post action items as new business a week in advance we accept public comment during the new business meeting we act

130on items two weeks later at the next meeting again after accepting public comment as we did tonight we meet here 22 times a year and these business meetings are are broadcast live we hold more than a dozen work sessions each year across the street and those are video recorded and posted to our website at our last meeting two Virginia delegates expressed gratitude that they were able to view our prior work session online so the next time someone suggests to you that the Fairfax County School Board is not transparent you might want to ask that person if they know why committee and subcommittee meetings of the House of delegates are held at 7:00 in the morning whether audio or video recordings of those meetings exist and whether the delegates votes are tabulated and posted for the

131public to see the second issue the US Department of Education is bullying us frankly I couldn't care less what the US Department of Education thinks and for that matter the Virginia Department of Education as far as I'm concerned their missions would be better served if they were shut down and the monies were redirected to Universal preschool the next concern males will enter female bathrooms it will first today and forever anyone who enters the bathroom of the opposite sex for the purpose of observing others commit sexual harassment and will be dealt with accordingly second today and forever anyone who enters any bathroom and assaults anyone commit sexual assault and will be dealt with by the school system and the police third the suggestion that transgender persons should be particularly feared for committing such acts has no

132basis in fact and is simply a Witch Hunt it is a sad it is a sad but true fact that 90% of sexual assaults of children are perpetrated by a friend or family member and that almost 70% of these occur in the victim's home as the father of two daughters I have to tell you the last thing that I worry about is the thought of one of them alone in a bathroom with a transgender woman next the next concern FCPS will allow transgender teachers in our schools and then our children will no longer be safe well as you've heard there's breaking news we already have transgender teachers and transgender students in FCPS each individual is treated with dignity and discretion and accommodations are being made to the s satisfaction of everyone the reason that we

133haven't had a full-blown Community engagement about this policy this policy is because frankly nothing is changing the notion the notion that outside agitators promote that this policy change will cause a sudden massive upheaval is not true and the proof is simply that we have been dealing with transgender persons in FCPS and none of these catastrophic consequences has ever materialized you see because of the compassionate culture that characterizes our employes we are dealing with the needs of transgender persons today as if they were already protected from discrimination the effect of this policy will be that the school board public assumes responsibility for our treatment of transgender persons further our action will Foster the development of guidelines that will create uniformity throughout the system and will address the reasonable needs and concerns of all next parents will

134lose their right to move their child from a class taught by a transgender teacher actually parents have no such right at all parents haven't had rights like this since the abolishment of the Virginia constitution of 1902 we've also heard this that transgender students and employees are already protected and that this is unnecessary it is true that sexual orientation orientation and gender identity are already included in our anti-bullying regulation however the srnr governs the behavior of students towards students and does not address the behavior of employees to students or employ EMP es to employees you see in Virginia under the Dylan rule previous attorney generals have concluded that school boards are granted the authority to govern the behavior of children but not of the adults finally the fear that or the the concern that the lives

135of 99% will be disrupted for the sake of less than 1% this majoritarian view was frequently expressed by constituents in Communications to the board the problem I have with this line of reasoning is that there are so many examples in American history where the consequences of such thinking led to blemishes on our past or indeed blights today I'm reminded of the parable of the sheep and goats from Matthew 25 and I'd like to read a brief excerpt from the Contemporary English version when I was hungry you gave me something to eat and when I was thirsty you gave me something to drink when I was a stranger you welcomed me and when I was naked you gave me clothes to wear when I was sick you took care of me and when I was in

136jail you visited me then the ones then the ones who please the Lord will ask when did we give you something to eat when did we welcome you as a stranger or give you clothes to wear or visit you when you were sick or in jail and as many of you know the king will answer whenever you did it for any of my people no matter how unimportant they seemed you did it for me Madam chair without hesitation I support adding the words gender identity to policy 1450 M St thank you madam chair our schools must provide a safe and respectful place for all to learn and to work harassment and bullying for any reason including gender identity has no place in our schools fear gets in the way of learning our schools are a

137place of study and learning and growing we cannot have fear I do support I support this policy update because it clearly states students may not be harassed or bullied for any reason thank you would any other of my colleagues like to speak first before I do go backs before I do go backs Mr stor thank you madam chair I learned a lot about this issue a few years ago when um I became aware of a situation with a child in in one of our schools who was very young um the age of several years old two or three years old and they um they weren't sure what gender they truly were they were physically one gender but they were not that is not how they felt as a school system we provide Ed that child

138the room and the parents because the parents were equally challenged about that they were truly not sure about what to do what to make of this how to move this forward how to how to how to address this with their child but they cared deeply for their child and that child is somebody that they wanted to be respected somebody they wanted to help nurture who they truly were and they were deeply appreciative of our school system as as we carefully gently supportively help that patient help that parent and help that child um through the process through their growing years in our school system and I know that that child is a healthier person as a result it doesn't matter whether they were a male or female it doesn't matter whether they thought they were a

139male or female what matters is that child had something that he or she needed to work through and working through that with the parents who were also deeply concerned about the need to do that was how that particular family dealt with this issue and our system our school system is here to provide just that type of support to any child regardless of where they're coming from that is what we are about that's what I believe we do that's what we must continue to do doing right by all students protecting each student respecting each student and staff members I think those are foundational beliefs that I have and I think foundational beliefs of this system and I'm working forward looking forward working hard to protect I personally start with not discriminating based upon who the person

140is I think that's wrong I believe it is a basic right it is the right thing to do and it's something that many many many people have paid for dearly in the past our students are safe they have been safe this policy addition will continue to keep them safe and frankly will increase the sense of safety of those students who are most different from others passing this policy is the right thing to do because discrimination is wrong is hurtful and we need to make it clear that it is unequivocally the wrong thing for our society and for this board to be doing that is why I am voting yes to add this gender identity to policy 1450 it is the right thing to do thank you I have two gobs Miss Schulz and miss mcclaughlin

141I just want to make um perfectly clear um that the the irony that we're talking about um language um in a policy that if we don't implement it then the federal government is going to come after our children's lunch money by with holding our federal education funds is Story number one uh if we don't implement it children who have a gender identity issue will be affirmatively discriminated against even though everything we've heard has said that our FCPS staff Personnel do a stellar job um addressing the needs individually and respectfully in each and every case um is problem number two problem number three is that we are put in a position that the Virginia attorney general Mark Herring has had an outlier uh uh opinion that doesn't match any others so say we go forward under

142his his opinion and we incorporate this because then it aligns the state language with the federal language which if if you went back to number one is the federal government forcing this policy decision because if what we're doing is is working for our students and working for our employees is respectful is Honorable while we continue to honor and respect the rights of parents the other employees and the other students then basically what we're doing is working very well unless I have a report otherwise so now I'm back to is it the federal government that's making me do this and if the federal government is going to reach down and compel me as an individual duly elected official of this school system then they can do the same thing in 14,000 school districts across the country

143with any language at any time and if that's the way the school education policy is going to be run in your school district when and things are going well and we are respecting the minority the children with difficulties whether it's students with disabilities students with gender issues students with stress students with uh mental Wellness issues students with suicide ideation these are all issues that we handle on a regular basis and a large and well-performing school system so if we can't answer your questions about what this means in practice if the practice is already happening then why pass the policy if the policy needs to be passed if the policy needs to be passed in order to meet a federal mandate under threat of losing federal education funds then let's have that conversation on a national

144basis because that's the problem that's got to be addressed Miss mcglaughlin Miss McLaughlin has the floor I again want to say say that as someone who has been a community advocate for almost a decade your engagement on this issue it matters it matters your engagement matters tonight and it will matter again in the followon motion that you all need to be aware of part of the part of the comfort level that the most important part of the Comfort level that I have and I believe many of my colleagues who support this is number one it was a policy update that we don't discriminate and we're making that clear what we also know what we also know is that through the followon motion that we will be voting on after this main motion is that the

145school board is going to be reviewing with the superintend dependant any recommended changes in the future that again protect the rights and the needs of every single student in this school district so it is important that with this board what we have heard you clap and applaud is that you do respect and understand the need to not discriminate and that is what this policy update is tonight simply that are there any other Gob backs before we take a vote all right um I haven't spoken yet so the motion before us to add gender identity to our non-discrimination policy is simply to provide an environment that provokes equality where every student and employee is treated with dignity and respect this tells our students and staff that school and the FCPS workplace are places they can be

146safe from harassment and discrimination if this boast passes tonight decisions made regarding accommodations will be provided under revised policy our next step will be to hire a consultant to assist us in developing appropriate regulations and best practices to protect the rights of students and comply with state and federal law the decisions made about how best to protect our students and staff from discrimination we will take great care in that to protect the rights and to provide for the needs of all students FCPS will continue to provide the highest quality of education for all students in a safe supportive and caring environment I intend to vote Yes to this policy the motion before us is that I move that the school board adopt policy 1450 non-discrimination as detailed in the agenda item all those in favor

147Moon mline Hines Smith Darren at kofax velov mlin stor Strauss and Evans opposed Schulz extensions read the motion passes I now call on Mr mine for a follow on motion thank you madam chair I move that the School Board review the procedural handbook for policy 1450 nondiscrimination once the handbook is completed prior to the handbooks implementation in the district is there a second seconded by Miss Hines Mr mine would you like to speak on your motion please it's difficult to hear up here thank you madam chair uh so we are appr we are um going forward with this followon motion to ensure that the board does get to review any policy or any U regulation changes um as a result of this policy change as Miss McLaughlin already discussed Miss Hines nothing M Miss McLaughlin

148I just think it's very important that earlier tonight uh when my colleague Miss Schultz and Miss Reed talked about their concerns about what this policy update might mean and that is why looking at tonight's actions it's important to understand you're talking about two different steps the first one is updating a policy that reflects what I believe is the values of Fairfax County which is we don't discriminate period the end that's what the policy update was this fall this follow the follow on motion the followon motion is to allow the community to understand that if and that is a big if there to be any changes of any kind the board the superintendent and the community will have an opportunity to be able to see what a consultant and National Best Practices have to say about

149the current practices we have that respect the dignity the privacy and the safety of each and every child and child in the school system again your children have been safe today they were safe yesterday and they will continue to be safe tomorrow in our Public Schools any other comments Mr velov thank you madam chair um I'm afraid I'm going to be a kudin on this one in the sense that um this is unnecessary though well-intentioned and because we're of course of course the school board is going to review the regulation that will come from the superintendent and it's unnecessary to uh pass a followon motion to do something that we're already going to do miss McLaughlin for a follow back followup I just want to say with my to my colleagues I understand what Mr

150velov is saying but in light of the fact that there seem to be public misunderstanding about what our current practices are and concerns or worries that in fact there isn't going to be an opportunity for the board to work with our superintendent on this issue I felt that the follow on motion would have uh a very helpful effect in reassuring the community of our continued governance and oversights of our practices so I do hope that our colleagues will vote in full support of this followon motion I think it's a wonderful way to educate our community about the best practices of this governing body and how there can be confidence in the work we're doing Miss Hines um yeah I just I maybe I'm just repeating but I I think it is important when we say

151that we will review it what that means is that we will in a public way take a look at what staff has decided to do to implement this policy and I think there's been sufficient interest in the public that we probably want to do that in a public way so I appreciate this follow on motion all right see no other comments the motion on the table is that I move that the School Board review the procedural handbook for policy 1450 non-discrimination once the handbook is completed prior to the handbooks implementation in the district all those in favor for this follow on motion Moon um movine Hines Smith darnette kofax mlin stor Strauss and Evans opposed Mr velov abstentions Miss Reed with Miss Schultz away from the table that motion passes we next move on to

152um action item 4.02 regulation 2 261 the student rights and responsibilities and I call on Miss stuss thank you I move the school board adopt regulation 26129 P student rights and responsibilities is detailed in the agenda item is there a second seconded by Miss hes all right Mr stuss would you like to speak uh yes there were no uh substantive changes in uh regulation this year uh the um some and substance of the changes were um word clarifications uh we did receive an update on the uh preliminary results of the substantial changes that we have made previously in the srnr and it does show show that um uh we have increased Positive Behavior Uh supports more restorative justice uh fewer suspensions fewer um uh School transfers so I urge my colleagues we did have a

153work session on this and uh uh basically we looked at the updated language and I urge my colleagues to support this thank you Miss Hines nothing to add thank you all right Miss Evans yes thank you I just want to say that um first of all we have made great strides in our uh discipline reform in the last several years uh this has been uh an area where we had great concerns uh several years ago and we have uh made a lot of gains and a lot of efforts with um restorative justice for example and in reducing um out of school suspensions um our expulsion rates have gone way way down and um I think that both uh this board and the school system our staff are to be congratulated on that um we um

154I continue to look at the parent notification piece I will say that that is one area I I don't have an amendment this year on that um I think that it's an area that we still need to watch it's important that um in all of our schools that we the the language that we adopted a couple of years ago was that parents would be notified as soon as practicable and um and before a student is asked to write or sign a statement and I believe that we have um uh certainly implemented this in terms of students not being asked to write a statement before the parents are called I think that that has been implemented with Fidelity I'm not as sure about the as soon as practicable part and so that is an area that

155I think we need to continue to watch um and um and make sure that that we are actually doing that so uh with that I do uh support this um wholeheartedly this year and um I do think that we have made great gains overall with that that one area that I think we need to continue to watch Mr St thank you madam chair I I share the uh comments of the my my previous colleagues uh regarding the U the srr I think we've made great strides we cly have done that with some very hard work not only in the previous board's part but this board as well um I commend staff for frankly the Fidelity of implementation on this I know and I will I'll speak to previously I think there was concern in in

156um about whether or not there truly has been and was Fidelity of implementation I think we're seeing that over the last couple years and I Dr gar I particularly thank you and your leadership on this it is a very sensitive Community issue very sensitive board issue and I know that we um we've we the better for it in terms of how we are working with students like most of us never did understand how it made sense to suspend a child send him home uh for 10 days and have them do whatever they wanted for 10 days when in reality that's the least that's the worst thing we could have done for them and and I think what we're seeing is clearly the progress being made and and having those students in school and having them

157learn is part of that uh my only concern um on the srnr it just as a general concern regarding um my only concern is a general concern regarding um our our restorative our responsive classroom and PBIS programs I don't know if they're fully um utilized in each of our schools I'm seeing and hearing a lot of that from particularly at the elementary school level uh which actually the elementary schools were at one time the leaders of this process which is kind of what's concerning to me is that is I hope we're not losing uh the benefit of that because we know what students learn in elementary school and they bring on to them in terms of their behavior and how they um respond to to um you know if you will our coaching and and

158uh character development issues so I I have a couple specific schools in mind but frankly it's really more of a general concern and I would ask the superintendent to to tr truly pursue this issue and and make sure at least the assistant superintendent and uh executive principles are looking at that and making sure that we're implementing that with Fidelity as well so thank you you miss McLaughlin uh first I want to thank Dr Garza and her leadership team for their um continued uh efforts to really improve our practices and I'm deeply grateful as someone who uh has worked with the juvenile court system and as a social worker have wanted very much for our discipline practices to be restorative to really help our students learn from their mistakes uh but have an opportunity um to

159be successful and not be devastated by um the mistakes they happen to make uh while in our schools um I did want to share with my colleagues that um I I mentioned in our work session that I'm have a little bit of um concern uh with one of the changes that were made uh it was it had to do with the unexcused absences and uh without going into great detail I'll just simply say that I do hope that our um principls and our assistant superintendents uh will work with our families that uh when there are uh absences um for our students that we be as respectful as we can for parents who write about their children being out of school um that partnership between parents and our principles um in support of our students is

160Paramount uh the other thing that I want to celebrate and again express my appreciation to Dr doy Dr lip and certainly Dr Garza which is your work with um one of our um very dedicated advocates in the community Shri Brown Kaplan um around students with disabilities and um some language changes that um you uh uh Incorporated based on our work session and our conversation and again trying to help our students with disabilities be successful and so I want to again public L thank you for that and uh is because of the continued progress that I see um in in this effort to revise our srnr um that I will be voting on this this evening in support of it and one final note uh a constituent of mine in bradic District participated recently in a

161restorative justice Circle and uh thought it was one of the most remarkable things um this constituent is actually one of our alums and uh I just want to commend you again for what I believe is helping Fairfax lead in a national way on uh how we help children uh be held accountable but again allow them to uh learn grow and be successful in our schools so thank you all right Dr oh miss Reed thank you chairman Dar kofax I won't repeat what Miss mlan just said but I also just want to thank staff for um strengthening the language about uh Consulting with the IEP team and and using that as a tool to really understand the individual so thank you very much for that uh the other point I wanted to make which I alluded

162to I think now several hours ago when we were talking about the other topic is that it's just an observation I note that several times in this document we were refer to discrimination harassment bullying and we have a laundry list of various traits and they don't match so I don't know if that bothers anybody but I think we should be consistent in all of our policy documents when we list um you know race color religion disability orientation identification genetic information or other characteristic that's what I'm referring to in this document and my point is that in other places we have other such lists and so just as a a matter of U both consistency as well as um you know our intentions I I would point that out to my colleagues Dan you're looking very

163puzzled but I'm sorry the forest for the trees I must also applaud the um back to the 10,000 foot level the the changes that have been made in this document reflect not only the work of staff and leadership team but the hard work of the committee who work so hard to provide recommendations and even though they're not here tonight I'm sure that they would be happy knowing that many of their ideas have come to fruition have actually resulted in very positive changes to our system and uh really Meeting those goals that we all have of making sure our kids aren't out of school for a long period of time making sure that the tone is restorative and not punitive and and that the number actually are going down in terms of re recidivism and um

164infraction so kudos to everybody who's been a part of this very long process and where I feel like we've actually made some good progress on on this whole thing this doesn't mean that we're finished Dr Garza any other colleagues who would like to comment Dr Garza yes just very quickly um I I'm very proud of the work that's been done um on this very important topic um and I agree with comments that were made we're not there yet but I think we're definitely headed in the right direction I think there's lots of evidence to to support that um I'm particularly pleased at the fact that we've reduced the number of days that students are missing school um holding them accountable but uh keeping them in school um the efforts to be proactive and using restorative

165justice um you know the responsive classroom there's so many things that our schools are using as wonderful tools we heard some examp examples of that just recently at at a board meeting I think a couple board meetings ago from mlan high school and we had like four or five or six schools here that were uh doing some great things to make sure that um students are learning from their mistakes um and we're reducing recidivism which is a great uh signal and sign so lots of great work has been done there I I thank the board for providing leadership Direction definitely uh but also providing the support for our schools and making this happen um I'm also mindful of the great work of the leadership team uh led by Dr Kim Dockery Dr lip so many

166others if I begin naming them all I'm going to forget someone but everyone that's been a part of this and then finally I have to acknowledge our principles and our school-based staff because they have they're the ones that have embraced these changes and made them be successful um and so I'm very very proud of the the great work and I do believe this is an area that um I know that other school systems across the country are looking um to us and seeing what we're doing as more and more tension is focused on um how do we keep students in school but keep schools safe hold them accountable and help them learn from these CC circumstances so thank you uh members of the board thank you the main motion on the table is I move

167that the school board adopt regulation 2601 29p students rights and responsibilities as detailed in the agenda item all those in favor the vote is unanimous with Miss Schulz away from the table this is the portion of the meeting where the board will confirm any action regarding issues that were discussed in the closed meeting these issues may include action taken regarding student disciplinary matters board members have discussed each individual case and at this time we'll make a motion to confirm the recommended action I call on Miss Strauss for a motion I move to deny the school reassignment appeal of a student who brought in an illegal drug drug paraphernalia and alcohol to school and to confirm the disciplinary decision of the division superintendent second seconded my valkov all those in favor mline Hines Smith Darren at

168Co fat fax velov Strauss opposed um mclin and uh Evans uh and with Mr stor and Miss Schultz away from the I'm sorry abstentions was there I'm I apologize um abstentions um Mr Moon and Miss Reed the motion with Miss Schultz and Mr storic away from the table the motion passes next we will move on to our consent agenda our adopted rules of parliamentary procedure Roberts rules provide for a consent agenda listing several items for approval by the board in 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 5. 0 1 approve the minutes of the April 23rd 2015 regular school board meeting 5.02

169adopt policy 1102 development of directives policy 2730 confidentiality of student information policy 6220 data security data processing recovery and contingency planning policy 6470 records retention and disposition policy 8230 School design and policy 83 35 Wireless telecommunication facilities as detailed in the agenda item a 5.02 03 excuse me adopt the resolution requesting the Board of Supervisors to approve and to take all necessary and appropriate action to place on the ballot for the November 2015 general election a school bond referendum in the amount of $310 million as detailed in the agenda item award a contract for the installation of synthetic turf fields for anadale High School to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder spin Turf LLC in the amount of $1,194 th000 and contract for Hayfield Secondary School to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder spin Turf

170LLC in the amount of $1 1, 542,000 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 5.05 award a contract for the installation of synthetic turf fields for South County High School to the lowest responsible bidder helis Construction Incorporated in the amount of $33,900 and a contract for Stewart High School to the lowest responsive and responsible B bidder helis Construction Incorporated in the amount of $1,949 and authorized the division superintendent or the assistant superintendent of facilities and transportation services to execute and administer the contract on behalf of the Schoolboard 5.0 6 award the contract for automatic temperature control system replacement at badier elementary school to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder Simon industry Incorporated in the amount of

171$328,800 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 is there any objection to approving the consent agenda seeing and hearing none the consent agenda is approved the following are new business items there will not be a vote tonight on these items but action is scheduled at a future meeting 6.01 adopt the fy2 2016 approved budget is detailed in the FY 2016 advertised budget Modified by the adjustments included in the agenda item and I now call on Kristen Michael our assistant superintendent of financial services for a brief presentation thank you so much in terms of some background for the fy16 budget the fy16 budget was developed based on a shared approach of making expenditure reductions combined with requesting

172increased funding from the County Board of Supervisors of 3.99% du to the significant reductions that we've taken since 2008 and with nearly aund million in reductions taken this school year the significant financial challenges projected for fy17 all of those combined led us to take a very strategic and targeted approach to identifying both the Investments and the reductions included in the fy16 budget the 16 approved budget as it is presented tonight and recommended is an increase of 2.2% % or 53.9% over our current 53.9 million over our current Year's approved budget the key expenditures are focused on FCPS is requirements and priorities and they include funding for enrollment growth and student demographics of 22.1 million compensation increases a step and a 0.62% market scale adjustment totaling 51.9 million funding for full day Mondays of 4.9 million

173later High School start time 4.9 million and finally targeted relief for large Elementary class sizes of 3.1 million all of these expenditure reductions expenditure increases were offset by reductions that totaled 61.4 million that's 55.4 million for our previous reductions plus 6 million for the vrs rate reduction when we look over time looking back since 2008 with nearly a half a billion dollars in reductions taken FCPS has had to make very difficult choices in light of limited resources a program review process has been used to Target cost savings and avoidances and to determine resource reallocations that's included exploring alternative Service delivery models identifying opportunities for reorganization consolidation reduction and elimination since the majority of FCPS budget is for positions FCPS also examined each position category to look for efficiencies and also adjusted employee contract lengths at

174the school level we've reduced assistant principles clerical custodial and at the central support level we've Consolidated departments reorganized and also implemented significant reductions all of these while trying to minimize the impact that reductions have had on our schools no instructional programs or departments were spared and in addition we also had to increase class size three times when we first developed the budget for e 16 we started last summer and when the proposed budget was being developed there were still many unknowns the governor's budget proposal doesn't come out until late December which is right before FCPS is proposed budget is released and the impact of the final state budget actually isn't known until spring in addition enrollment projections for the proposed budget are completed shortly after school begins and therefore don't account for the actual enrollment

175changes that occur during the school year so when we look at student enrollment we make projections for general education Advanced academics esol which is English for speakers of other languages and they're calculated twice every year first we start in the fall for the proposed budget and again we complete those shortly after school begins and we don't have the value yet of the current Year's enrollment Trends Second Every Spring we recalculate all of our enrollment projections allowing us to take the impact of enrollment from the current school year and incorporate those into the projections that are used to stack school the next year then any of those changes from the proposed until the approved budget are calculated in the approved agenda when we look back historically changes in enrollment growth and demographics at the approved budget

176stage over the last seven years have ranged from a decrease of 6.3 million to an increase of 10.6 million for this year's budget fy16 our final approved enrollment updates for next year have been completed and it results in an increase in expenditures of 3 .5 million that includes the combined impact of general education decreasing by 1.5 million our cost for English for speakers of other languages increasing by 0.8 million and then finally our special education costs increasing by 3.5 million combined with the advanced Staffing for our new school at Fort belir funded significantly with grant funding adjustments to per pupil allocations and substitutes so when we look at all of these things together this chart summarizes the adjustments for the School operating fund that are included on the full agenda that's posted for this evening's

177meeting as you all know the Board of Supervisors has adopted their fy16 budget and it left a gap of $14 million between what we requested in our advertised budget and what they finally proposed then secondly based on the impact of the Virginia Department of education's final calculations of the state budget we have an increase of 4.7 million in Revenue primarily for the compensation incentive funding provided by the state which is offset by a 0.8 million decrease in Revenue due to the vrs rate change combined with the basic Aid offset so when you combine those together that results in the required Revenue adjustments of a decrease of 10.1 million in terms of expenditures which is the second half of this chart the first FCPS is going to see a reduction in expenditures of $6 million as

178a result of the state adopting a lower rate for the Virginia retirement system that is offset by the increase in enrollment costs that I just talked about of 3.5 million we also included funding for the school board salaries for the second half of the year and overall that results in required expenditure adjustments reflecting a decrease of 2.5 million so when we combine the revenue and expenditure reductions you can see we have a gap of 7.6 million that needed to be addressed and um that also wanted to remind the public that that was shared with the Board of Supervisors on February the 27th that exact um chart and that's been done consistently in that same way forever um because that's the way we have to develop a budgets based upon projections correct so this is not

179a new methodology has been done this way and it has to be done this way um for many reasons correct so to address that gap of $7.6 million the recommended adjustment would be to decrease the market scale adjustment from 1% to 0.62% which will save expenditures of 7.6 million ion this will result in FCPS eligible employees receiving a step increase that's valued at 2.5% and all employees would receive a market scale adjustment of 0.62% for an average salary increase across all our employee groups of 3.12% this increase is certainly less than we would have liked to provide to our employees and it's also less than the 3.6% average increase that County Employees will receive so in summary our overall recommend adjustments in terms of balancing the approved budget result in an increase of 2.2% from

180the fy15 approved we did receiveed less funding than we had requested from the county we do still have a structural deficit but it's been significantly reduced from 48.5 million in one-time funding used to balance our current Year's budget down to 20.7 million in one-time funding used in our fy16 budget the expenditures in this budget are focused on our priorities and our results were very targeted with a long-term focus in place so when we look ahead we've really been talking about the significant budget challenges that we're going to face in fy7 for a long time starting with the joint budget development committee last summer then we also included this information in our citizens Guide to the budget which was widely shared with the public so we've really been focused on a multi-year strategy the entire time

181we developed the fy16 budget so in terms of fy17 the preliminary forecast shown on these slides includes both both revenue and expenditure adjustments and there are notes provided on the right in terms of Revenue we're assuming that we'll be able to meet the beginning balance amount included in our fy16 budget 27.8 million in total on these charts the County transfer shown as level in order to reflect our total need based on the required expenditures and our other known revenue and the desired compensation increases for our employees so on the revenue side we have a state revenue increase of 4.1 million that's a reflection of our increased enrollment and we've also included a reduction placeholder for state revenue that reflects the possibility of a decrease in funding due to the recalculation of the LCI or the

182local Composite Index if we look back our local Composite Index increased twice during the economic downturn the first time at fy13 for $40 million and then prior to that it actually increased by $60 million in fy1 so this adjustment is is conservative if if it really goes back to where it was before you've seen over those two increases we received over $100 million and so your point is on that Kristen that fluctuation could be very extreme and so the only thing we can do right now is gas and so that placeholder is 19.5 this summer we late summer we should have some indication of how extreme uh that LCI adjustment could potentially affect us but it it could be uh very significant unfortunately so assuming a sales tax increase of 3% and assuming our tuition

183from Fairfax city increases by 2% we're looking at a net revenue reduction of 8.6 million when we move to the expenditure side enrollment and student demographic changes are projected to increase our cost by 22.1 million in fy17 then effort to provide our employees with a step and a 1.5% Market scale adjustment that totals 72 6 million which would be offset by 19.1 million in base savings savings from employee turnover then moving to our required expenditures because our vrs rate will increase from 80 to 90% of the actual aerial rate we're projecting an increase of 31.4 million in retirement expenditures in fy17 in addition we have health expenditures expected to increase by 6.5% so after accounting for our other required expenditure increases and prior to accounting for any increases related to our strategic plan or unfunded

184needs we see our expenditure requirements totaling 126.2 million so when that's combined with our loss of Revenue we're facing a projected deficit of nearly $135 million now that deficit is prior to any of our unfunded needs class sizes have been increased three times since the economic downturn we still have a waiting list for pre- services we we have students who need access to technology both at school and at home our funding for major maintenance and preventative maintenance is not nearly enough to reduce our long-term costs and extend the life of our major systems we also don't have enough funding in terms of replacement equipment computers and other equipment buses and vehicles finally this forecast doesn't include any funding for innovation without additional funding to confront emerging needs issues and opportunities we still have $135 million

185deficit before I discuss the important dates I also want to take just a minute to talk about our other funds everything I've said thus far has been about our school operating fund but when you look first at our school construction fund you'll see a decrease of 13.1 million and that's because the County's adopted budget did not fund the recommendations of the infrastructure financing committee so we had to recognize that loss of Revenue the County's budget did include guidance to consider this item at year end and if that funding is provided as part of their carryover package in September we'll recognize that change as part of our midyear budget review in December finally we also have additional Grant adjustments in both our food and nutrition services fund and our grants fund so when we look at

186the upcoming dates um next um May 12th we have our Schoolboard public hearings and May 13th if needed then on May 14th we have a budget work session and then finally the board will take action on the fy16 budget on May 21st which which goes into effect July 1st for any citizens watching the last slide tells how you can participate in the process and sign up for the public hearings thank you Miss Michael thank you all right we are on a new business and um that was 6.01 we are down to 6.02 award the contract for hazardous materials removal services to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder or biders and authorize the division superintendent or the assistant superintendent of facilities and transportation services to execute and administer the contract on behalf of the school board

1876.03 award a contract for the compactor refu disposal to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder and authorize the division superintendent or the assistant superintendent of facilities and transportation services to execute and administer the contract on behalf of the school board 6.04 adopt policy 5017 School procurement system as detailed in the agenda item next is superintendent matters and I call on Dr Garza thank you madam chairman members of the board as was pointed out earlier this is teacher appreciation week uh so I think it's only appropriate for us to extend to our teachers our deepest appreciation for their dedication and service our over 14,000 teachers are exemplary professionals who work tirelessly to provide for the needs of our students they are the reason FCPS is nationally recognize as a great school system we are I am

188deeply grateful for our teachers our Educators our employ and I simply say thank you next on our agenda item is board reports and I will start with Miss Reed thank you madam chair April 27th we had a work session we talked about uh the required adjustments that Miss Kristen Michael just reviewed with us as a result of the County andate uh change in revenues we talked at length about compensation adjustment options as a result of the $7.6 million shortfall and we discussed the Dreadful fiscal forecast for FY 2017 next uh Mr Moon the April 29th audit committee thank you Madame chair on April 29th we had audit committee Works work session and at the meeting we discussed the status of the current audit work and also discussed the evaluation evaluation with the auditor general a

189actually evaluation process of auditor general and discussed bus process table audits of a seven schools and Bop proit and also a staff provided Medicare reimbursement program final update and finally we discuss the selection process for adding two community members to the school board a committee and I call on Mr velov to talk about a form that was held earlier this evening thank you madam chair and fortunately it was not a dreadful meeting uh the first topic uh was brought forth by Mrs Reed and Miss mcglaughlin uh requesting uh assistance with how to efficiently cope with large volumes of email which is a timely topic um the superintendent indicated that uh Mr gilfoil is investigating tools for what I believe is called customer relationship management that would give us um some reporting capability and help automate

190uh the tracking of email and then it was also discussed that in the near term uh this would be discussed at the next PEC meeting so that some practical actions uh could be taken in the interim uh next um was a topic that I brought to the Govern I'm sorry to the to the board to refer to governance uh the idea of the board and individuals of the board setting goals and tracking uh progress um once again I was uh not able to convince my colleagues of the wisdom of my Visionary ideas um however um I was encouraged to um share some thoughts with the governance committee about uh our upcoming um board self- evaluation and also I think uh I very much appreciated uh comments from several of you um and basically I identifying

191the importance of um uh board goals being incorporated into the Strategic plan thank you and um agenda item number 9.01 are board matters and I will start with Miss Evans pass Miss Charles other than thank you to the wonderful wonderful teachers who work with our children every day to such a fine job we are owe such a debt of gratitude to all of these fabulous people and I hope that they stay with us forever because we do want to support them thank you Mr St thank you madam chair I wanted to Echo the comments made by Mr Latif regarding this the sixth grade all County chus which was again a wonderful Affair and Mr Moon and and Mr M and I had thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as usual um I also appreciate the hosting of the

192Nexus conference about a week ago where we explore mental health related issues and and really concerns that that uh students in the community have about how do we support the overall mental health and success of our students uh in school my office hours this past Saturday I had uh obviously had some conversations with folks about gender identity and and I think they were very thoughtful and and and helpful ones for me uh and I'd like to thank um a gentleman who came in regarding um concerns about the South County area boundary study they're clearly looking for some changes there and I have been speaking with Washington m minary school um parents they were concerned that there's been some type of change in the renovation status I've reassured them again both um in writing and verbally

193that there has been no change in the Washington Mill Elementary School renovation status uh it is there's been no change it's that simple um and we will obviously in the future as we look at Future budgets and and um funding they will be part of those discussions but they are currently in the queue where they were before and remain and a couple student specific issues and then I want to thank um U Miss passman for bringing up the Adult Community Education uh budget and her really her perennial ongoing concerns about making sure we fund and support our adult uh education students thank you Miss mclin I just want to add U what Mr Latif uh highlighted earlier at the beginning of the meeting which is is uh this Saturday uh the second annual uh Community

194conversation on teen stress fostering wellness and resiliency I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to work with Dr Garza's team um in planning this conference and with Harris as well and his outstanding um input um from the student perspective uh I really hope that uh as many uh parents and students uh will take advantage of coming to Hayfield Secondary School this Saturday uh the keynote address will be from a renowned um psychology professor at Yale uh we're very fortunate to have him come to speak and there is an incredible array of sessions that'll be uh focused on this issue of teen stress and mental health and wellness and uh as Mr Latif noted um we're very fortunate to be bringing um the dean from the University of Virginia admissions uh uh Greg Roberts and uh I've

195had the pleasure of meeting him before and I think it will be very helpful for our community to get a chance to hear from him uh about the college admissions process uh and uh providing that valuable perspective for our community so um please uh keep in mind that you can simply go to the FCPS website and uh if you go under um uh news and information and uh activities you'll see the link uh it's not too late to register uh but I do believe that this will be uh a fantastic opportunity for you and your family and I'd be remiss if I didn't also add that we are very fortunate through the generosity of fcft and um Harris latif's input that uh we are also having um Professor Tracy cross from Williamsburg um College of

196William Mary who will also be uh the closing uh speaker of that event so uh I do hope to see you there and um finally I just want to take this moment to share with my colleagues that uh this was probably our most challenging night as a board in terms of really trying to convey to the public how much we care about the input um and the concerns they have for their children and I do hope from today going forward um that we will have this opportunity to continue to reassure uh our families and our students and our employees uh the dedication of our superintendent her Administration and this board to make sure that each and every student and each and every employee um feels respected and um and have their opportunity to thrive in

197our amazing Public School System Miss Smith Miss H oh just a couple things um I wanted to uh I wanted to thank foxmill Elementary School folks for um inviting some of us and and Mr Moon and I were there last oh and Mr mlan as well that's right um last Friday night at their Matsuri celebration it's a celebration of children the Fox Mill Elementary School has a great Japanese immersion program and it was a really wonderful night they did such a great job the kids really participated in it and made it just great I want to thank uh Lindsay trout principal at teret elementary school for um letting me tag along on a building tour they are about halfway through their major renovation and that they've opened uh about a half of the new building

198including the library and it is absolutely beautiful um those of you who know teret Elementary was one of the two I think burm buildings way back it's it's very old very old and has not ever been renovated and the new building is just is just going to be glorious and it will continue to have a green roof and the PTA there and the teachers are just are are so excited about what they're planning to do with that Outdoor Classroom really looking forward to that want to thank um cornerstones formerly rest in Interfaith um for hosting a meeting last night for me to speak to some Forest Edge Elementary School parents who live in the Cedar Ridge Apartment Complex there of that Community there's a um Kim Price the wonderful principal there is retiring and so

199we are working on a new principal selection and the um the North African arabic speaking Community there in the Cedar Ridge Apartments is a very important part of that school and I I really appreciate it having the chance to hear their concerns and comments and to let uh to get them involved in the process um which they already are the school system is doing a good job of involving them but it was important for me to to to sit with them and listen as well looking forward to the teen stress Summit on Saturday particularly having those College admissions folks there I want to hear from them and I want them to hear from our students too so I think that'll be an important addition to the day um teacher appreciation week I think I made

200the mistake of saying two weeks ago that it was Teacher Appreciation Week my bad but you know what every week is Teacher Appreciation Week in my view so um thank you all obviously so much for all that you do every day we so wish we could do more for you and we are working as hard as we can and to all the moms out there happy Mother's Day Mr mine thank you uh and on that note of teacher appreciation week as always I want to thank my uh family of teachers my wife and my dad who are probably falling asleep in front of the TV right now but um thank you all and um I do want to extend a special thanks to staff for all their work this week I know it's been tough

201but um you helped us a lot so thank you Miss Reed thank you I just have a list of 105 items to go through I'm sorry I will not allow that um I recently met with the real food for kids group and the Kaiser Foundation over at Marshall High School to talk about partnership opportunities and we had a chance to tour the Statesman station and brag a little bit about uh what Fairfax County Public Schools is doing to uh to provide fresh food for kids I attended the support employees association meeting um it was wonderful I I really enjoyed talking to those folks and look forward to a continued dialogue um we could have spent hours there was a lot to discuss I wanted to give a shout out to three young men from Falls

202Church High School I attended Eagle Scout court of honor Andrew Jackson Ian stocking and Kendall trouts it was the first time I had attended one and it was fabulous it was quite a community event and uh it was just it was full of pump and Circumstance and it was just such a wonderful accomplishment for those young men so I wanted to thank uh thank them for the invitation wanted to remind my colleagues that we have a work session on Monday Miss McLaughlin and I are meeting managers we have already met with staff and uh we're gearing up for some very good discussions we're going to try to stay very focused so again please read all the materials in advance send questions in advance and uh we're going to keep everybody um on On Target here

203last but not least just reminding you um budget we're winding down as we've heard tonight um at least for this portion of the budget discussion and next Tuesday night we'll have a public hearing I think I read about 30 people have signed up so far uh so we don't know yet if we'll need that second night on Wednesday and then of course we'll start uh winding down for the the passage of the budget on the 21st in two weeks and then of course starting discussions on FY 20107 and that's all I have for now unless you want me to keep talking teasing Mr Moon thank you I do not have 145 but I have several last night on behalf of myself and Mr Ryan melin I was at chantii high school at esil Global awareness

204technology project you know fully understand that Mr Ryan melin was stuck in traffic on Route 7 and Route 123 uh I didn't get there uh you know in time to actually see the project themselves because I had my own traffic problem on i66 but God there in time to congratulate all the our recipients tomorrow evening if you have nothing else going on in your life please come to our Fairfax High School students fashion show 7:00 and Saturday morning I will be at Hayfield see you all thank you all um happy Teacher Appreciation Week thank you to the staff for your very hard work this week we appreciate you as well and I know many of you were teachers prior to doing this so thank you very much and with that our meeting is adjourned quick

205note reminding everyone who is coming to Relay for Life this no problem this Relay for Life this Saturday at Langley high school so far we have raised $71,000 this year and that's a cumulative threeyear total of around a quarter million so please drop by Satur next Saturday the 16th at Cooper Middle School well the first thing I wanted to do was absolutely positively thank our our Safety and Security folks they did an awesome job