The time is 7PM on and this 10/09/2025 regular meeting of the Fairfax County School Board will now come to order. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance followed by a moment of silence and a performance of the national anthem by West Potomac High School guitar ensemble under the direction of Skyler Keeley. I pledge allegiance. Can we have one more round of applause for our amazing students? Agenda item 4.02, announcements. Ms. Sizemore Heizer has notified the chair and the clerk of the board that she's used participation as she is caregiving for an individual with a disability.
Thus, miss Sizemore Heizer will be counted as in person for the purposes of quorum tonight and does not need to be voted in by the board. She is located in Boston, Massachusetts. Miss Sizemore Heizer, we can see you. Can we hear you? Hello. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you. On behalf of the school board, I would like to welcome Carolyn Pitches, chair of the Fairfax City Board. If you would like to review a a copy of the meeting agenda, please see the back of the auditorium to obtain copies of any items or supporting materials being presented tonight. Please reference the QR code on the agenda or visit www.fcps.edu/boarddocs.
Tonight's meeting is being broadcast on channel 29 or 9 29 99 and live streamed on YouTube and on our web site at www.fcps.edu/livestream. Tonight's meeting is also being broadcast in Spanish on YouTube at youtube.com/fcpsen espanol. Agenda item 4.03, Indigenous people People's Day and Native American Heritage Month proclamation. I call on miss Laidy for a proclamation. Whereas Indigenous Peoples' Day is recognized on the October, and Native American Heritage Month is
recognized throughout the month of November across The United States and in Fairfax County Public Schools to honor and celebrate the history, accomplishments, and contributions of the first peoples of this land. And whereas, in 1990, Congress passed and President George H W Bush signed into law a joint resolution designating the month of November as the first National American Indian Heritage Month. In 2021, President Joe Biden was the first US president to formally commemorate Indigenous Peoples' Day as a national holiday with a presidential proclamation. And whereas, Indigenous people have made invaluable contributions in the the sciences, arts, public service,
military service, and many other fields that are integral to the advancement of our nation and society. And whereas, the Commonwealth Of Virginia is home to 11 officially recognized tribes whose presence and leadership honors and strengthens our shared history and future. And whereas Fairfax County sits on the land originally steward by the Doge, Menahoeic, and Pomonkey tribes and other Indigenous peoples whose stories, traditions, and cultures continue to enrich our country and Commonwealth. And whereas FCPS serves a diverse student population with many who embrace and celebrate their
Indigenous family heritage. Whereas Indigenous Peoples' Day and Native American Heritage Month are wonderful opportunities for our Fergus County Public Schools community to honor our nation's original inhabitants and their descendants. These commemorations further call us to honor the beautiful and rich Indigenous communities, traditions, cultures, and lives across our our County, Commonwealth, and all around the world. Now therefore be it resolved that the School Board does hereby proclaim 10/13/2025 as Indigenous Peoples' Day and November 2025 as Native American Heritage Month in recognition and celebration of
the many contributions of our nation's Indigenous people to our school system, community, and country. Is there a second? Second. Mister McDaniel. I'll call for the vote. All those in favor, mister Fresh, mister McDaniel, miss Marin, mister McElveen, miss Saint John Cunning, Miss Lady, Miss Dixit, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Moon, Doctor. Anderson, and myself, and Miss Sizemore Heizer. Heizer. That's unanimous for all board members. Congratulations, Whitney Clap. Agenda item 4.04,
LGBTQIA plus History Month. I call on Mr. Frisch for a proclamation. Thank you. Whereas LGBTQIA History Month has been recognized across The United States since 1994 in Fairfax County Public Schools since 2017 to acknowledge the often overlooked contributions of LGBTQIA people, communities, and movements in our history. And whereas the arc of LGBTQIA history is one of both struggle and triumph, despite increased understanding and protections, LGBTQIA plus people still face many challenges, including the threats of
violence and their legal rights being revoked. And whereas LGBTQIA plus organizations across Virginia and Fairfax County have shaped our Commonwealth's history. Equality Virginia founded in 1989 and now the leading statewide advocate for LGBTQIA plus rights, Fairfax County's Transgender Education Association launched in 1982 and now led by Reverend Emma Chatton to provide education, support, and advocacy for transgender and gender expensive people and their families, Fairfax Lesbian And Gay Citizens Association established in 1989 by Bart Forbes, which sponsored Gay
Fairfax, a cable television program chronicling local LGBTQIA plus life in Fairfax County. Equality Fairfax started in 2001 by parents Paula Prettyman and Kelly Schlager to build local visibility and community. FCPS Pride formed in 2015 by educator Robert Rigby as an employee in family advocacy group, and Pride Liberation Project organized in 2021 by then FCPS student Arianne Rawal in response to attacks on LGBTQIA plus books and students.
These and other groups' collective legacy has been transformative in the lives of LGBTQIA plus Virginias Virginians. And whereas, despite earnest attempts, FCPS was regrettably slow to formally protect LGBTQIA plus students and staff. In 1992, the school board extended modest verbal bullying protections to gay, lesbian, and bisexual students. In February, the school division removed administrative barriers that kept students from forming and joining gay straight alliance clubs. In 02/2002, the school board postponed voting on a measure to add sexual orientation to
its nondiscrimination policy when the state attorney general declared it did not have the authority. Twelve years later, these legal hurdles were removed, and the school board finally added protections for sexual orientation in 2014 and gender identity in 2015. Progress has continued. 2016 and 2021 saw major inclusivity focused updates to student rights and responsibilities. 2018 and 2021 saw significant inclusive updates to family life education. 2020 saw the school division's first recognition of June as Pride Month and the implementation of Regulation twenty six zero three among the nation's strongest protections for transgender and gender
expansive students. And 2022 saw FCPS become one of the first public school systems to provide family planning benefit parity for LGBTQIA plus employees. And whereas the Fairfax County School Board stands with its diverse community of LGBTQIA plus students, families, and staff, recognizing the urgency of its charge to foster a responsive, caring, and inclusive culture where LGBTQIA plus students are affirmed and see their identities reflected in school programs, instructional curricula, and library offerings. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board hereby proclaims October as
LGBTQIA plus History Month in Fairfax County Public Schools, urging all to learn more about the many historical contributions of the LGBTQIA plus community not only during October but throughout the entire year as well. Is there a second? A second, miss Marion. I'll call for the vote. Mister Frisch all those in favor, I'm sorry. Mister Frisch, mister McDaniel, miss Maron, mister McElveen, miss St. John Cunning, miss Lady, miss Dixit, mister Dunn, mister Moon, doctor Anderson, miss Sizemore Heizer, and myself. That is unanimous for all board members.
The dice. I would like to welcome all those here in support of the Indigenous Peoples' Day and Native American Heritage Month proclamation to please join the board for a photo at the front of the dais. Agenda item 5.01, community participation. The next order of business is community participation. We welcome all community members who are here and those who have signed up to speak this evening. Additional information about signing up to provide comments at the school board regular business meetings
and public hearings can be found on the school board's website at www.fcps.edubackslashschoolboard. During the sign up process, community members acknowledge that they were informed of the school board's expectation for respect and proper decorum when providing comments. These expectations are also available online and with the printed agenda and meeting materials in the back of the room. We ask audience members to be respectful of one another. Shouting and outbursts will not be tolerated. Please hold your applause until the conclusion of the speaker's remarks. Audience members may not join speakers at the podium and should remain in their seats,
including when recording video or taking photos. We are grateful to all of those who have come to speak to us today, and thank you for your cooperation. School board members will be listening but not responding. Madam clerk, please call the first speaker. Nathan Hurley. Good evening, doctor Reed and, school board members. My name is Nathan Hurley, and I've been an FCPS student for thirteen years, a member of the Fairfax football team for four, and a captain of that team for two. Me, my teammates, and the community are all extremely surprised and disappointed about the unjust decision made by the VHSL regarding our playoffs and are asking the school board to
stand with doctor a in appealing the punishment for several reasons. First of all, me and my teammates have been tirelessly working nonstop, not only for the past eleven months for this specific season, but for the past four plus years of work that ideally should culminate with a last shot at the playoffs. Second is the seniors. Personally, I don't have plans to continue playing this game in college. I mean, I only have three hours and twelve minutes left on the field to show for the past five years of my life the 80 pounds I've gained, the continuous injuries, and the unbelievable time sacrificed I made to be at practice and workouts
every day for the entire year. Lastly is the facts about the punishment. Evidence has been revealed that an assistant coach had a conversation with a JV player last year. Regarding regardless of all that, that coach and for some reason coach Taylor have been put on leave, meaning that any additional punishment that we, the students, and the players receive does not affect the adult which caused the problem, who allegedly broke the rules, any more pain. The last time me and my fellow seniors will ever put pads on has been spoiled. And I know that allowing us to be eligible for the playoffs doesn't mean that
we will get in, but at least we know that our destiny is in our hands. And if we keep trying and we keep playing, then we can keep having more games. We've seen you guys contribute to the team banned by the VHSL to get back in the playoffs last year, and now we there's another chance for you guys to do it for a right reason. Thank you for your time. Ryan Hartle. Good evening, doctor Reed and members of the Fairfax County School Board. My name is Ryan Hartle, and I'm a senior and four year member of the Fairfax High School football team. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak tonight on behalf of my teammates,
our coaches, and the entire Fairfax community. We're here to respectfully ask for your support and advocacy to the Virginia High School League to to lift the post season ban placed on our football program. The situation that led to this penalty involved one player and one coach who is who is with the team for only a single season. Not one current player and no other coach had any involvement in that incident, yet the consequence has have fallen on all of us, players, students, and families who had no part in what occurred. Our team has been working toward this our team has been working toward this season
since last December. Countless hours in the weight room, on the field, and in the classroom have gone into preparing for the chance to compete and represent Fairfax with pride. We've done everything the right way, living the values of discipline, team make, teamwork, and respect. But this decision doesn't just impact the football team. It affects everyone who makes Friday nights in Fairfax so special, the band, the cheerleaders, the dance team, and the hundreds of students and families who fill the stands in blue and white. We understand the import importance of accountability, but the punishment reaches too far. It hurts the various students who have done nothing wrong and who continue to uphold
the standards of of Fairfax County Public Schools. All we are asking for is fairness, the opportunity to finish what we have worked so hard worked so hard for and to compete for something we've earned. We hope you'll stand with us and advocate to VSHL on behalf of our school and community so that Fairfax lines can proudly continue our season. Thank you for your time and for your continued support for our Fairfax family. Adam Chavez. Good evening, members of the school board. My name is Adam Chavez. I'm a junior at Fairfax High School. I've been a member of the, Fairfax High School football team for two years. I'm very grateful to give in to be given this opportunity to speak on my
me and my team's behalf. I wanted to get re respectfully straight to the point. I believe that the punishment that has been given to us is unjust and unfair. I understand that the coaches broke the rules, but I believe the circumstances are much different than us compared to Hayfield. Hayfield had a whole team and a whole staff, but for us, it was one player and one coach. The coach has already been put on administrative leave and isn't being affected by this punishment. And for the player, he doesn't attend Fairfax anymore. And when he was there, he played junior varsity, meaning he didn't really contribute to varsity. This punishment has really affected me because I feel like a part of my life's work has been taken away from me.
I have worked countless hours, weeks, and months for one goal of being able to compete at a high level for the ultimate goal to play alongside my brothers and win a state championship. It also makes me mourn for the seniors who have shown me the ropes and really showed me what it meant to be a part of this program, just for their potential future with football to be a at a possible loss. For many seniors, the postseason, especially state or, regional playoffs is the highest level of competition they will face. College recruiters often use these high stakes games to evaluate an athlete's performance under pressure. A ban eliminates this crucial chance to showcase their talent in front of coaches.
I understand the importance of accountability, but in this case, the punishment punishment just doesn't fit. It penalizes the wrong people, the student athletes who have done everything right. All we're asking is for fairness, the chance to compete, and to finish what we worked so hard for and to make our school proud. We hope you'll stand with us to advocate to VHSL to lift this band so that every Fairfax student who wears blue and white can be part of something positive, something we've all earned together. Thank you for your time and, for your continued support of the Fairfax High School family. Angie Bradford. It is my understanding that public schools in Virginia do not receive federal funding for
sex education courses, so they can include anything they want in their sex ed curricula. I want to share with parents the idea ideology I found in the FCPS eighth grade family life education curriculum for this school year. This course content is available to parents in Schoology. In lesson two, individual identity, I found the following. Individual identity includes components of gender identity and sexual orientation. Gender identity describes Remember, gender identity may be the same as sex assigned at birth
or may differ. The term transgender is used to describe an individual whose gender identity is different from the individual sex assigned at birth. A little later in the lesson I found this, individual identity also includes sexual orientation. We will discuss the categories heterosexual, gay, lesbian, and bisexual, although there are additional sexual orientations. Let me repeat those last six words. Although there are additional sexual orientations. I'm wondering where a kid's mind might wander trying to think of all of the additional sexual orientations they could choose from.
Sounds like the options are limitless. The ideologies of additional sexual orientations and transgender are not universally accepted and should not be included in public school curricula. What about opting your kids out? You can do that, but the teachers at our school say there is stigma associated with opting kids out of selected lessons. They recommend opting kids out of a whole day or the entire two day course. Your kids don't get fact based sex education if you don't genuflect to the ideologies that have been worked into the curriculum. This isn't right. Thank you.
Elnora Bedeli. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Elnora, and I'm a a parent from Canterbury Woods Elementary School. I'm here tonight, to talk about the time change, proposed time change to it will push our school to 09:50AM. The 09:50AM start time poses such a huge challenge to working families, to the before and after school care, after school activities. And speaking of Canterbury Woods Elementary is a center for the deaf and hard of hearing.
Some of these kids, they travel one hour each way right right now. Under the proposed plan or the time change, the option two, these kids will be getting home close to 6PM. In wintertime, it's really dark. It's a safety issue. There is no time for these kids to spend time with family. They will be coming home tired and overstimulated. Kids to spend time with family. They will be coming home tired and overstimulated. Also, this impact, is this gonna be impacting teachers and staff? I think a lot of teachers are gonna be leaving FCPS if all of this is gonna go into effect. So it's not gonna just affecting families.
It's not affecting families of the students, but families of the teachers. Also, we absolutely support that the goal your goal is to, change the time for the middle school, and find that healthy start times. However, it's going to be a ripple effect on all of these elementary schools because there are currently 24 schools that are starting right now at $9.20 in FCPS, and these schools will be starting at $9.50 under option two. And I understand that this is a, budget neutral for FCPS.
However, it's not a budget neutral for us families whose kids are going to the schools. So I really hope that you guys will take all of this into consideration when you guys are making, decisions on time change. And just remember, please, elementary school runs for seven years, and middle school runs only for two. So thank you so much for your attention tonight. Brie Ram. Good evening. My name is Brie Fram. I'm a Space Force colonel who is currently being dismissed based on this administration's transgender policies. I speak today in my personal capacity and as the parent of two FCPS kids
who thrive because of your inclusive environment. In the military, every time we open the aperture of who was allowed to serve, we grew stronger. As a nation, every time we expanded who could fully participate in our democracy, we became better the next day than we were the day before. The same is true here. When everyone can learn and live without fear and shame for who they are, we all benefit. Some now question whether openness and inclusion are creating more queer and trans kids as though we are something new.
But LGBTQ people have always been here. For most of history, we simply couldn't be open out of fear for our safety or for our freedom. Hiding who we are diminished our potential and drained the energy we could give to our work, our studies, or our communities. There's a lesson from history. In the late nineteenth century, the number of left handed kids, people, anyone suddenly plummeted, not because they disappeared, but because schools slapped hands with rulers and punished left handedness as wrong. Kids worked hard to hide something innate out of fear. When that stopped, the numbers rebounded to normal.
The people hadn't changed, the environment had. So today, when we create safe inclusive spaces, we're not making more LGBTQ plus kids, we're letting them exist as themselves and giving them the chance to flourish. So I wanted to thank you for your continued commitment to ensuring that every student can bring their full self to school. Because when our children no longer have to hide who they are or who they love, our entire community grows stronger, and it's why we have chosen to make Fairfax
County our home. Thank you. You. Kathleen Mallard. Good evening. Thank you for this opportunity to speak to you. My main topic pertains to student safety. There are many dangers they face as you all have admitted. Human trafficking is, occurring in every high school in Fairfax County and some elementary, some middle schools. Drugs, gang activity, etcetera. One of the things which we definitely can control though is keeping boys out of
girls' bathrooms and locker rooms. Biological males are different than biological females. While your first, I know, responsibility is academic and training, You also must keep our students safe. You have gone back and forth with lawsuits against the Department of Education because you do not want to follow, the bathroom policies, gender identity violates students constitutional rights you say.
FCPS has filed appeals back and forth but just recently, last week, Wednesday, October 1, a final judgment has come down. I don't know how much money you all have spent on these lawsuits, but federal judge Diaz once again denied Fairfax County Public Schools appeal and dismissed the lawsuit against the US Department of Education. Now the Virginia Board of now the Virginia Board of Health is advancing gender based regulations and governor Glenn Youngkin has issued an executive order calling on the Virginia Board
of Health to create regulations to prevent biological males from taking part in female only sports. I'm sure the football team wouldn't wanna have a bunch of girls on it. And I'm by the way I pray that you will be, condoned. Anyway, let's keep girls sports Isaac Kristofferson.
Good evening. My name is Isaac Christofferson. And for the past fifteen years, I have entrusted the education of my two children to Fairfax County Public Schools. Tonight, I wish to share my thoughts on a matter of significant concern. On September 26, parents, coaches, and student athletes were informed of a postseason ban against Fairfax High School. The individuals and carpet bagging family responsible for violations have long since moved on, leaving the current student athletes to unfairly bear the consequences. The situation raises important questions about fairness, accountability, and advocacy. The 2025 season of Fairfax Football Friday Night Lights is now expected to end sooner.
After the September 26 meeting, parents and concerned community members rallied together to determine how best to support Fairfax High School. Many parents meticulously reviewed the roughly 250 page BHSO, handbook to understand the situation more clearly. In doing so, we learned that an arbitration process does exist, that violations are supposed to be referred to a committee for adjudicating the appropriate punishment, and that the principle of Fairfax had a very narrow window to submit an appeal. I commend these members for their dedication and strength of character in tackling this challenge and trying to find a positive path forward.
I'm also grateful for doctor Elliot and miss Melnick's continued advocacy on behalf of the students and hopeful for a positive outcome, and I encourage the board to familiarize themselves with the merits of this appeal. However, I'm deeply concerned that FCPS Office of Student Activities and Athletics does not possess a more in-depth knowledge of the VHS's rules. By now, the office should be well practiced and intimately familiar with the appeal process, and it should not have taken a group of dedicated parents to compel the office into advocacy. We need better leadership that is willing to advocate for students, athletes and coaches without prodding from the community.
We need to better educate our student athletes and their parents and the rules governing them so that they can proactively so they can be proactive in identifying, reporting and avoiding potential conflicts. And mostly, we need to stop turning our student athletes and coaches into collateral damage because of the misguided and selfish actions of adults. Molly Sullivan. My name is Molly Sullivan. I teach in the Springfield District, and I live in the Sully District. I stand before you tonight with a healthy respect for freedom of speech. There was locally a group of activists that came to our high school pyramid protest protesting reproductive health rates. They go to all of our Fairfax County high schools, whether in the fall or
spring or both. My concern is there was a gentleman there who was recording all of the students and our dismissal procedures. There's a copy of a picture coming around that I gave to the clerk, and I will email you a higher deaf one as well. We don't know who that man was. We don't know if he's actually affiliated with that group or not. This poses a serious security risk to our students, our family, and our community. I'm here tonight to urge the board and the superintendent to draft language and regulation to protect our students and our dismissal arrival practices to include but not limited to the recording of said procedures. While our students are while our schools are public, our procedures and practices to ensure
safety should remain, just that, safe and private. Our worst nightmare is to have a massive, or tragic mass incident in one of our schools. And sadly, in today's day and age, we need to think about the what ifs. Knowing our students' faces, our dismissal procedures, along with the timeline from for them, are from potentially every high school across Fairfax County District in some random person or group's hands has been gravely concerning to me as a parent as well as a teacher. Please protect our schools by enacting policy which prohibits recording our grounds procedures without specifically granted permission from FCPS.
Thank you. Robert Rigby junior. Good evening. I'm speaking tonight as a member of FCPS Pride. I've been addressing this board since these whiskers were red in 02/2001. Saturday is national coming out day, and as you've seen, it's so much riskier than it's been before. It's risky also for our allies. Fairfax County Public Schools, senior staff, the superintendent, and this school board have shown support
for all of the students and families in FCPS, especially for those under duress in these times, such as black, disabled, immigrant, LGBTQ people, and religious minorities. Why are there such great efforts to radicalize Virginians against vulnerable groups? Here's my thinking. Besides the election, the radicalizing is to create chaos and dismantle public education in Fairfax County. Hoping for the failure of fa Fairfax County Public Schools seems to be the assigned
task of folks such as Luke Roziak, Ozo Nozma Ozo Nozma Ozo Nozma Ozo Nozma Nermani, and Laura Ingram. Also, for such mysteriously funded outside groups as the Independent Women's Network, Moms for Liberty, Parents Defending Education, on and on. I'm not certain why folks like NOVA campaigns and that new guy in Ohio, Walter Kurt the younger, are doing this. Maybe because of monetization, perhaps for the sheer heck of it. But thank you for maintaining public education for everyone in the face of this onslaught.
Have a good evening. Angie Trieritola. Good evening. My name is Angie Turetola. In honor of this month being LGBTQIA history month, I'd like to share the contributions of a World War two patriot, the first American born Chinese woman physician, and comic book hero, doctor Margaret Mong Chung. Despite immense discrimination due to her gender, ethnicity, and the laws of the twentieth century barring her from living authentically as a lesbian, Chung harnessed the power of the connection she made to others and the community she built to help America win the war against fascism. Chung applied to serve as a surgeon in the Sino Japanese war in the nineteen
thirties, but was denied due to rumors about her sexuality. Soon after, a young Anson, Bancroft, reached out to Chung because he thought she could convince the Chinese government to let him join their military to fight the Japanese overseas. Chung, a US citizen instead, invited him and his friends to dinner, and they quickly became what we now call chosen family. One night, the pilot showed she was so understanding. She was like their mom, and the nickname stuck. Chung's family quickly grew to over 1,500 members as she gave each of her fair haired foster sons, a number and a little Buddha trinket.
The pilots recruited others to join them for her famous weekly dinners in San Francisco. As word of her hospitality spread, submariners, politicians, top military leaders, and movie stars like John Wayne and Ronald Reagan were welcomed into her family. In 1941, the US government secretly asked Chung to help her recruit a group of pilots who would become the legendary Flying Tigers, one of the most famous squadrons in all of history. In 1942, she tried to join the Navy, but was denied because of her gender. So she called up some of her sons in DC and worked with others to lobby congress to pass women accepted for volunteer emergency services act or WAVES.
WAVES allowed over 80,000 women to serve in new and crucial roles such as aeronautical engineers, parachute riggers, and cryptographers. Chung ultimately was denied entry into WAVES because of her ethnicity and age. Stories like doctor Chung show students that even when odds are stacked against you, not only can you find people who accept you for who you are and you can even find ways to become a hero not just in your own story, but even in your country's history. This is why history months like this one are so important to celebrate. Thank you. Vanessa Hall. Hi. Thank you. My name is Vanessa Hall. I'm an active FCPS parent and co leader of FCPS Pride.
Thank you for recognizing LGBTQIA History Month because our families need to be seen in the classroom, curriculum and library, especially in these hard times and when twenty percent of our students identify as LGBTQIA. During last year's proclamation, I felt hopeful for the future. But this year, even I'm occasionally hesitant to wear rainbows in public. In fact, I've been bullied by Project twenty twenty five operatives for daring to wear a rainbow heart t shirt and attend a school board meeting. Oh, boy. It seems crazy because freedom of speech and assembly are pretty basic first amendment rights.
Right? They've threatened and harassed me, called me a groomer because I dare to exist exist as an ally. So I can only imagine how our LGBTQIA community feels every day. Some have told me they're trying to blend in, keep their heads down, and do their work, hoping that anti queer hate or discrimination won't find them. But that's no way to live, much less thrive in this world. And for our students and staff, that does not lead to happy people, much less academic excellence because this is FCPS. It's painful, painfully obvious that we need you all more than ever to stand firm
and protect our students, staff and families from hate and hateful speech, including in this room. Keep combating the US Education Department, America First lawsuits and our Attorney General. At the same time, we need more allies to stand strong against anyone trying to bully or exclude people based on their identity, sexuality, race, religion, income, or immigration status. Because American history teaches us that Marsha p Johnson didn't spark a revolution at Stonewall only for us to go back in the closet as queer or queer allies in
2025. Alan Turing didn't defeat the Nazis so that we would give in to reduce civil liberties and creeping authoritarianism in the twenty first century. Thank you for keeping Eric Queen also signed up to have a video played tonight, but we never received the video. Thus, there is no video testimony tonight. Chair Anderson, community participation is complete. Thank you, madam chair or madam clerk. Agenda item 6.01, student representative matters. I call on miss McKonnan.
Hello, everyone. It is so nice to be joining you virtually. Sorry. Sorry. Over the past several months, one of the common concerns I've heard from students across FCPS is they feel disconnected with the decisions that shape their education. With many students wanting to understand the policies that affect them, whether it's grading practices, attendance expectations, technology use, or discipline procedures, but they often, like, feel com they often feel confused on where to start. While this information technically exists on board docs, it's not exactly student friendly. These policies are lengthy, filled with legal languages, and scattered across multiple sections. For most students, this makes engaging with the school board policy nearly impossible even when
those decisions directly affect their day to day experiences in our classrooms. So I am proposing a student accessible policy database and website that translates board docs policies into clear, concise explanations written for students by students. This is a project I will be taking on with SAC, and this is a brief overview of how it would work. I plan to partner with SAC, which already includes student representatives for each high school. We're gonna divide the policies into topic areas such as academics, students' right, discipline, attendance, and wellness, and summarize each one into simple accessible language. Each policy entry on the website would include a short explanation of what the policy
says in plain student understandable terms, a section on how it would directly impact students separated on grade level policies, and the links to the original poor docs version for full transparency. To ensure that students would actually use and see this resource, we're also launch launching a social media page connected to the site, which would post short explanations about recent or upcoming policy changes, as they see discussions, and opportunities for student feedback. This would help make students feel more connected to the real every this would help the school board decisions to feel more connected to the everyday lives of students.
Ultimately, this school this project is for the goal of transparency and empowerment. When students understand why policy exists and how they work, it builds trust and encourages meaningful engagement. It also helps ensure that student voice and policy decisions are informed, thoughtful, and grounded in the actual language of board decisions. This would not only make board docs more accessible, but it would also create a sustainable framework that future super student representatives and SCC members would be able to update each year, building a lasting bridge between students and the board. I'm currently drafting a structure for the site, and I'm gonna begin with SCC subcommittees that could contribute to different sections.
I would love to explore potential collaboration with communications office or the department of IT to ensure that this site aligns with FCPS standards for accessibility design as well as any board members who'd like to offer their perspective. I know I've already talked to miss Marin about it. In short, this initiative is about making the governance of our schools more understandable to the people it affects the most, our students. Because when we know that what policy say, they can better advocate, participate, and contribute to improving them. Thank you for your time and your continued support of the student voices at FCPS. Agenda seven or agenda item 7.01,
certification of closed meeting compliance. In order to comply with section 2.2 dash three seven one two d of the code of Virginia, it is necessary for the board to certify that since the Fairfax County School Board convened a closed meeting on 10/09/2025, to the best of each member's knowledge, only public biz business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements and only such business matter public business matters that were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered by the board during the closed meeting.
Do I have a motion? Mr. Frisch, is Mr. McElveen. All those in favor? Mr. Frisch, Mr. McDaniel, Ms. Marin, Mr. McElveen, Ms. St. John Cunning, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Moon, Doctor. Anderson, Ms. Sizemore Heizer, and myself with Miss Lady away from the table. And opposed, abstentions, Mr. Dunn. Agenda item 7.02, action items. Confirmation of action taken in closed meeting. I call on mister McDaniel for a motion. I move to excuse from attendance at certain school at school certain students identified in
a closed meeting pursuant to Virginia code section 22.1 dash two five four b one. Is there a second? Miss Maron. All those in favor? Mister Frisch, mister McDaniel, miss Maron. That was an that was not mister Frisch, just so you know. We're gonna start this over again. All those in favor, Mr. McDaniel, Ms. Marin, Mr. McElveen, Ms. St. John Cunning, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Moon, Ms. Sizemore Heizer, Doctor. Anderson and myself.
Those opposed. Abstentions. Mr. Frisch and Mr. Dunn with Miss Lady away from the table. I call on Mr. Frisch for a motion. I move that the school board authorize legal counsel to settle the matter discussed in closed session according to the terms and conditions discussed therein. Is there a second? Second. Mister McDaniel. All those in favor, mister Frisch, mister McDaniel, miss Marron, Mr. McElveen, Ms. St. John Cunning, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Moon, Doctor. Anderson, Ms. Sizemore Heizer and myself. Abstentions? Mr. Dunn with Ms. Lady away from the table.
I call on Mr. McDaniel for a motion. I move that the school board authorize legal counsel to settle the matter discussed in closed session according to the terms and conditions discussed therein. Is there a second? Miss St. John Cunning. All those in favor, mister Frisch, mister McDaniel, miss Marin, mister McElveen, miss St. John Cunning, miss Dixit, mister Moon, miss Sizemore Heizer, and myself. Those opposed, Doctor Anderson, abstentions. Mister Dunn with miss lady away from the table. Agenda item 8.01,
performance review. Financial planning EL five monitoring Each year, the school board assesses the superintendent in part on the basis of school the school division's reasonable progress towards achieving the 2023 to 2030 strategic plan goals in adherence to a set of 13 executive limitations found on pages 14 through 31 of the board's strategic governance manual. The superintendent provides annual monitoring reports to the board for each executive limitation.
The board then votes on whether the provided report is in compliance or if corrective action is needed. I call on doctor Reed for a monitoring report on executive limitation five, financial planning. Good evening, madam chair, members of the board, and the public. Tonight, as Madam Chair shared, I'll be presenting Executive Limitation five which addresses, financial planning. So recall that, each of these executive limitations requires, requires, evidence to be provided and I would encourage, those watching to note that the full monitoring report is attached to
BoardDocs for your review. This evening, I'll just be highlighting several of the points, from the report. Again, at the best of my knowledge, information and belief, we've gathered information and evidence that I believe supports compliance with the Board's executive limitation associated with this topic. A reminder that there are four major screen for slide three.
And we'll take a look at the next couple slides. The remaining items in EL five are shown here. Before sharing new evidence related to this executive limitation, I wanna start by noting that within this executive limitation there really are not significant changes this year. Very, financial planning, it continues to be very similar in that this is, a matter of course for the division and we continue to use several best practices or industry standards. The newly added evidence builds on last year's, Board approval of EL five and incorporates
Board feedback from that presentation. As we begin this monitoring report, I wanna highlight the planned FY 2027 budget timeline and FY 2027 budget is scheduled for November. Because of this, tonight's presentation will be focused mostly on FY twenty six updates to include any new work updates or items newly added since last presented in October 2024. Again, a reminder the full report is online.
As part of our FY budget process, the timeline for projected enrollment was successfully accelerated to inform the FY26 fiscal forecast which minimized changes between the fiscal forecast and the proposed budget. That was one of the adjustments the Board asked for a year ago and we were able to provide that. The budget services office worked collaboratively with the School Board budget committee to improve the timeliness of budget question responses last year. In December, the budget office held a training for school board member staff aids on
the overall budget process and the process included an education and communication strategy to inform school community members and the general public about our FCPS budget. So, for new or newly added information, one of the major milestones, with the FY twenty six budget was the implementation of Fairfax County Public Schools' first collective bargaining agreement. Our FY26 budget cycle also presented significant challenges. A $121,000,000 shortfall added pressure to a budget already strained by years of longstanding, inequities
in state funding. As a result, FCPS faced a number of difficult decisions and those are enumerated on the slide. Finally, I'd like to end with a bit of a celebration. In September, last month, we were recognized with the Baldrige Pioneer Award at the Ohio State University given to leaders who embody Baldrige leadership values and principles. One of the several year initiatives the Board has asked us to work on is looking at our budget to streamline for our Board has asked us to work on is looking at our budget to streamline for efficiencies. As part of last year's cuts, we did make 3% cuts across the board to
Central Office Departments as an already lean central office and likely will be making further cuts this year to come in as a budget in terms of the budget we intend. This Baldrige work is helping us to identify efficiencies, even during these difficult budget times. So at this time Madam Chair, this concludes the summer of monitoring report for executive limitation number five, financial planning. I'm happy to take any questions. Thank you, Doctor. Reid. I now call on Mr. McAlveen for a motion.
Thank you. So I move that the school board finds that the superintendent is in compliance executive limitation number five, financial planning as outlined in the Mr. McElveen would you like to speak to your motion? No. Not at this time. Thank you. Miss Lady would you like to speak to your second? No. Thank you.
Okay. Mr. Frisch. Thank you. I think sometimes people probably wonder well this doesn't seem very specific. Financial Administration is another EL that we'll be tackling later in the year. But I do think that it's important to note that EL five, Executive Limitation five, sets a high bar financial for financial planning and it's a bar that we consistently meet. And I want to thank our team, for doing that and for, you know, I don't know know how many years in a row they've received top honors for the various awards that are given out for financial planning and public education, but, it's well
deserved. And, regardless of how complicated the situation gets or how much the Board asks, there is always a yes we can mentality. Case in point, we have more budget questions than ever before, and yet we get to them all. And, the budget team worked with, staff to develop a process that now enables the board of supervisors and this board to get their budget questions answered in a more expeditious, manner. So I commend the team for that incredible work, and that helps us do our
jobs as school board members. I also want to note that, you know, even with the $121,000,000 budget shortfall, you know, we face persistent significant inexcusable inequities, in state funding. And despite all that, the division maintained its commitment to ensuring that, we sent our employee compensation and classroom support, this past year. So I appreciate that. I do have some questions, particularly around, the forecasting accuracy.
One of the things that was changed as a result of the, you know, collaborative work with the Board of Supervisors, it became clear that it was difficult it was more difficult for the Board of Supervisors in the previous way because we were Having to occasionally reconfigure the numbers based on actual attendance, you know, of when we were doing our forecasting. So we sped up the forecasting to help inform their process. It was something that they'd asked of us. What kind of an impact has that had on our own planning? So I think we're, again as we as you change any process, it takes a
bit of time to slip into that practice in a more seamless way. But I think that the sooner we'll be able to provide that forecast, the sooner we're gonna have, particularly as budgets are tighter, the sooner we're gonna be able to make determinations about whether we're gonna be able to initiate any type of new programming or initiate any type of new initiative initiate initiatives, okay, or begin any new initiatives. And at this time, the sooner we have that information I think the more likely
it is we're going to be able to be thoughtful about processing those decisions. Are there any plans to expand this kind of earlier data driven, forecasting in other areas that would impact our finances? So I think that's part of the Baldrige work, in that we there is a cycle that, is unique to the budget, but there's also a cycle that's unique to sort of operational work within the school division. So forecasting fuel costs, so school division. So forecasting fuel costs or energy costs for example. As we, synchronize some of the cycles that we're able to HR costs for example,
or openings, transportation costs. We're hoping that some of the boundary work that we're doing right now will create some efficiencies. And again, the sooner we have that information, the more likely it is we can, you know, integrate that into the metrics of budget that we're working on. So I think any time we can follow the rules of prior planning preventing poor performance, right, the earlier we have information I think the more thoughtful we can be about the conversation. One of the, you know, things that may confuse people, you know, we say things
in passing here that we all understand here, but maybe they don't at home. You mentioned the Baldrige process and Mr. McDaniel and I turn to each other and say did she say we got the award? Mister Smith was quick to say phase two. Right? Okay. Can you tell people at home what the Baldrige process is specifically and why we embarked on it? Yes, sir. The Baldrige process, and I'm gonna turn to Mr. Smith in a minute because he's really been heading up this work to offer some comments. Essentially, it's an industry standard process that not just school divisions, but other businesses around
the country work through to really make sure that their ROI or their return on investment is the maximum possible given the resources we have. So it's a way to streamline and focus and align mission. And we have a very clear strategic plan. The goals are clear, and we need to make sure that all of our resources are aligned and focused on the achievement of those goals. So I'll let mister Smith explain the second year award we've received, and we are,
my understanding is the team is a high achieving team. We're moving through this process, very thoughtfully. So, mister Smith? Sure. Certainly. Good evening. So the second award that we received is the Pioneer Award. It's the application is the draft for the 50 page application that we will submit in November. We have, multiple teams working on that 50 page application. Once it is submitted, it will be reviewed and we'll have examiners come on-site.
They'll be asking questions of selected individuals. They will select members of the board, the leadership team. They will go out into schools and departments application. So that's the next round of the process. We would then be eligible for what we feel we're going to receive, the Gold Award. And we've been told that as an organization, there our group of examiners are quite impressed with our work and have yet to see an organization on its first application get to the gold on its first application, but they feel that we will get
there. There. We've used this process to look at many processes to streamline. We've streamlined some of our staffing guidelines. We've looked at consolidating some of our data teams that we've gotten from feedback from our initial reviews. And we've also looked at restructuring our nontraditional programs based on some of that feedback. So we're going for the gold. When we get the gold, we will then be eligible to, submit for the National Baldrige Award. I do wanna clarify too that we had examiners on-site last year, last spring, who
did engage for this level. So, reviewing program records. So we're well into this process. They provided that informal feedback for the, 25 page application to help us prepare for the 50 page. Well, and to that end, you know, you mentioned return on investment, and I think that's the crux of the situation here. Right? Like anybody can cut. Right? But this is about ensuring that we are incentivizing what works and which has what has results and then letting go of things that don't produce results.
Yes, sir. I I think we're in the type of business that is really mission driven in the sense that we're supporting the arc of the future lives of our community, our children, our country in future lives of our community, our children, our country in public education. And I think we while we have to be very efficient with our resources, we still must continue to get the results that we're getting. Right? So it's a it's a powerful responsibility and the team's taking it very seriously. Yeah, I think our taxpayers would want nothing less. Thank you. Yes, sir.
Thank you, Mr. Fresh. Doctor. Anderson. Thank you. I think I'll pick up from from there. I appreciate and I'm glad that these awards are being won. But is there a way where there could be a little bit more visibility from the board in terms of how this application is allowing those efficiencies to happen? Because I'll be honest, still pretty nebulous to me, and I'd like to be able to speak a little bit more informed about it. Yes, ma'am. I know we've included the application and the response in our board letters, but, mister
Smith, perhaps, we could make that connection more, thoughtful? Sure. And just to put a finer point on that, mister Smith, I I know that based on the meeting that we just had this week, a board member is raising an issue where we are providing some evaluation of programs and determining are those the best expenditures. Does the Baldrige work support that? So the Baldrige work doesn't support that per se. They are not going to provide input on our programs to give us feedback on what we should cut or what we should continue.
But what it does do is that it helps us think about our processes and the work that our individual we have seven teams, that are working to within departments and in schools, to look at some of those processes. As we then, investigate those processes, we can take a deeper and closer look at, again, the staffing guidelines that we use to for certain processes. We then think about ways that we can streamline those processes, which at the end of the day create savings in many programs.
We are very people heavy. And when we can streamline processes, it helps us get people in the right places for work, which then creates cost savings. And the feedback that they will give us will be mostly on our processes and not necessarily on the content of our programs. We then take that feedback to analyze what we're doing, to then make some of those difficult decisions around cuts and adjustments. So then how we get how do we get some visibility into that piece? Because I think that was kind of what the follow on motion from last year
was trying to get to. How do we kind of see the homework that you all are engaging in? And one of the pieces of the, of the EL, I'm trying to figure out which one it is here, and, of course, I will not find it. But the one that speaks okay. There it is. One I, includes program evaluation and budgetary Baldrige work, but we can certainly provide some
input to what our program evaluation teams are doing, to show how that provides input to our processes. One of the most recent documents that our program evaluation team pulled together was the our look at future schools and future curriculums for schools that we added to one of our Western High School conversations. That's the kind of work that in addition to our program evaluation that our office for program evaluation provides to the system.
And we can provide some insight into how those decisions and how those reports drive the work that we're doing. Then maybe I I misunderstood because I thought the Baldwin work kind of informed the staffing discussions around expenditures. I I Baldrige processes as part of our journey that we engage in based on the Baldrige processes as part of our journey that we then put into play that
drive some of the decisions that we make around budgets, around reductions. As we looked at the 3% cuts last year, we didn't do that willy nilly. We looked at some of our processes to see what we could reduce, and a lot of that thinking was driven by, some of the the Baldrige questions that we've been trying to answer. Okay. I don't wanna take up the rest of my time on this one, but I would definitely love a little bit more visibility because I still feel as if I'm unclear as to how that is benefiting benefiting us in a clear way for me
to evaluate on my own. In our next update, we can provide an update on the kinds of questions that we have to answer for the voltage work. I appreciate that. Thank you. And typically, I I know this work is is just a lot with the planning, And I I think in years past, I've been very supportive of where we've been with the planning. But given the evaluation from last year to this year, I do have some areas that have raised some concern for me. That's area one b, which speaks to the development of a budget based on realistic assumptions and most importantly, ongoing assessment of local and state and federal funding sources.
And the to explain that, I I think typically, we've been, in a good position where the board of supervisors has provided us with, you know, one, one forecast or rather whatever the, executive steps out with. And I think over the last few years, it's always been increased by the time they come to their final decision. This year was not the same, but I felt like we had we we weren't ready for it to not be status quo. We assumed it was going to increase because it always has, but we had very
little time to be planful. You know, we had hundreds of people here talk about ARTs because I know, in a very short period, we had to make some determinations. I would have liked a little bit more planning in terms of being prepared even if it's a quiet conversation with the board because we also don't wanna be putting out cut lists because that causes unnecessary, angst in the community. But I I think we did not have those conversations as early enough as I would have liked to feel really prepared and good.
It seemed to be very rushed, in terms of being responsive to that. And I'll take a go back, please. Thank you, doctor Anderson. Miss Marin. I think this is a rudimentary report. We may have received the info provided, but the outcome from last year was devastating to FCPS. And so what I see missing here is the analysis of the budgetary situation and what was assessed as the landscape change, as, my colleague just said about what was assessed and, how to inform us about what was coming at us.
I I can agree with number four, which is to take all reasonable, prudent, anticipatory, and proactive actions in securing financial resources for the division from relevant funding revenue sources. You know, my experience is that we are not a team of 13. We're not working together for action steps to change the fate of the f y twenty seven budget. And as that work now begins, I'm not aware of anything happening differently. We are now living the results of the reduced 121,000,000, and I'm hearing from constituents about de staffing and increased class sizes, 30 kindergartners in a class.
I don't experience any urgency among our team of 13 about approaching this year differently, not in this report and not at our board meetings. And while it's up to the board to set the board's agenda, the superintendent as the leader needs to help us plan for better results with the f y twenty seven budget. You know, my observation has been that the superintendent and staff develop precise calculations. Sometimes the least worst decisions are being made, but that is not financial planning. Okay? We are not meeting to determine, you know, aligning our work across the team of
13 with a plan of action for a local county funding work and state funding work. The legislative work just talked in its silo and the budget development work in another, but budget development is not financial planning. And I've mentioned that in past remarks and I tried to find them I thought it was earlier this year re envisioning how we do our financial work of monitoring this multi billion dollar entity more regularly and more strategically. So my specific questions regarding this are: what lessons from the last budget development cycle are being applied to the FY twenty seven budget development work?
And what's the plan to engage the Board in this work so we can be the fullest advocates possible over the months ahead? So I think those are great questions. I think that we have a budget meeting coming up next month actually and I think it's gonna be a great conversation. In the work session I think that, whatever I think the we as you know, we are near two of a collective bargaining agreement this year so it's a much, it gives us a longer on ramp for planning. In October, we hadn't settled the collective bargaining agreement even at the time of the,
October financial planning executive limitation. So we know that, year two is a 3% and step increase for salary. We're not planning at this time any new initiatives or programs, only, mandated additions which might be fuel costs and, other insurance related costs. So I think the on ramp for financial planning variables earlier, which goes to Mr.
Frisch's comment. And we know things sooner we're able to be I think more thoughtful about that. Last year we finished collective bargaining at about the time I had to begin drafting a budget. Which leads me to lessons learned as you shared. And I've recently been meeting with our Board of Supervisors individually to really work on how do we work, you know, together on this budget situation as well as with our state delegates and senators. And I think what's important for our Fairfax County to know is that all of our what's important for our Fairfax County to know is that all of our electeds
and all of our staff have the same goal in mind. We want what's best for our children, right. We want world class education in Northern Virginia and Virginia writ large. And we need resources to deliver on the power and promise of public education. One of the things that I think is unique right now and we're gonna have to wrestle with in some way is that our collective bargaining timelines and processes because I think it's so new don't really line up with our budget timelines and processes. And that's a conversation we've been having moving forward.
We're not bargaining actively with our largest unions this year, but it's gonna be important to think about how we can better align those collective bargaining timelines with our budgeting timelines. So, and I think there's some general agreement around that. So I feel like we've got some topics to work on, and believe that it's still going to be a difficult budget year for a variety of reasons. Well, thank you. And we're very fortunate to have you as an expert, you know, or experience with
collective bargaining. I don't think that that was what got us stuck. It was that we have all of these elective leaders who do want the best and wanna be financially be financially responsible and we don't meet together. And so I know I've talked about that and, you know, I'm not clear what the actual action plan is because we've already heard public remarks about our budgeting not being based in reality. Already there are remarks, looking to, do away with the $4,000,000 for after school programming. It's not looking very promising right now, and I feel like I'm sitting here trying
to, you know, Tuesday we talked about Western High, it might need $50,000,000 in renovations. Well, where's that gonna come from? So there's just all this we we I don't have a clear sense of what the path is and what Board is supposed to do. Well, the good news is we have choices, right? And I think that we are all in our roles at such a time as this to make our very best choices for the future of this county and this country. And our children need us working together. And I know that's my commitment.
I know that's your commitment. I know that's the commitment of all other electeds right now. And for us to make the best and wisest use of diminishing resources we're gonna have to work together. Thank you Ms. Maron. Mr. Dunn. Doctor Reed, I've said many times that I think you're, you know, the bright leader for our school system at this challenging moment in history. But I will be voting noncompliant on this, executive limitation. I spoke with a board member recently who served for over a decade, and she said in in ten years, we were never fully funded.
So that's not a realistic expectation. Determination that you've made as superintendent, that that's what's needed. But that amount is is not realistic anymore in the current environment wherein the federal government is slashing support for state programs like Medicaid and when the county is facing a financial crisis with the collapse of the, commercial office space market. In prior years, superintendents like Karen Garza, at the beginning of the budget season, would identify potential budget cuts.
And some people describe them as the Washington Monument List, but, it did lead to months of conversation within the community and with, elected officials that enabled informed decisions to be made by the school board. I found the discussion last year to be very hasty, very last minute. We were deciding things within twenty four hour time periods. And when we voted to approve certain cuts, it was, you know, made with very little information on what would be the impact. And then we had the large community reaction.
And and this year, in doing school site visits, I'm seeing in practice what those budget cuts are. And the one that I posed most strongly was the increase in class sizes, which I have said many times, historically, we've only done in emergency situations like the Great Recession. It's not something in a typical budget year that we've engaged in. And and what I'm seeing on the ground is just, drastic impacts to our schools. And I'm concerned because last year we got a significant increase even though we didn't get every dollar we asked for.
So can I ask, are you planning to put on the table early in January and February time frame, you know, in the table in terms of reductions in programs and staff, in particular positions or central office, for example? Sure. I you know, I think one of the things that we have to recognize is
that our wages for our educators, our staff here in Fairfax County Public Schools have not kept up with surrounding regions, surrounding states. And I do think that's a serious concern and I appreciate the Board's support and understanding that's a serious concern. And I do believe that the progress we're making on providing a, a working wage for our educators and our staff in the school division to support their ability to
live within our county is really important. And so I appreciate the support in making that progress. And I'm committed to making good on our collective bargaining agreement and continuing to improve the salaries for our educators. In terms of programs or, possibilities that we may need to cut or may need to in some way amend for whatever reasons, I think that conversation this year will be starting in November. It's gonna be starting next month because we're not, as I mentioned earlier in responding
to Ms. Marron, we're not bargaining right now. We were last year. We were still bargaining until November. So right now, we know what our target is, and we're gonna be able to put those items, all the topic areas where we're over SOQ, you know, in terms of how we allocate funds, and we can begin having those conversations in November. One of the things that we talked about last year was a 3% reduction in the central office. And, at the time during one of the work sessions, we talked about, you know,
potentially increasing that 3% to 6% and what would the impact be. And it was somewhat unknown, but, as it was later described during that same budget season, the 3% was described as being able to be achieved without de staffing, without reducing anyone from or eliminating any positions. Right? Postponing, textbooks or reducing purchases of paper and pens and maybe postponing software licenses or reducing them. I would love to see, you know, as in this conversation starting next month, what
different levels of reductions in central office expenses can be achieved and what those reductions in central office expenses can be, achieved and what those impacts would be. Because having a transparent conversation about those levels and and the impacts on the operations of our schools, I think, would be very valuable both for the the school board and for the public. Yes, sir. And actually, we are modeling that now. We began modeling that last summer. So it's, I think that we already have a, much smaller central office than by
ratio than our surrounding jurisdictions as we've shared. But absolutely we're gonna continue to look at modeling for what happens if we, you know, fill in the blank, XYZ across departments and across programming. Thank you. I'd like to go back. Absolutely. Mr. Moon. Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't want to repeat what a couple of my colleagues have already stated about about having to make last minute budget cuts of $120,000,000 That was not something that
I want to see happening again. I mean, I understand why that happened that way, but we also remember how critical Board of Supervisors was on us when they gave us FY 'twenty seven budget guidance. And I was reading the statement again that they do really want to work with us at the same time, they want us to use realistic revenue assumptions.
They are asking, pleading with us to use when they develop our budget, the estimates, revenue estimates we all get. I know it's an early number, November number as opposed to just come with a number which is maybe just a whisper thinking on our part from their perspective. So with that in mind, how would you reconcile your statutory obligations to present these
based budget? And the 1.2, Doctor. Anderson mentioned, which is in your presentation in your report about our budget needing to be based upon realistic revenue assumptions. How do you reconcile those two? Yes, sir. So I would reconcile those by indicating that the statutory requirement is to provide a needs based budget. What I believe as the superintendent of the schools, we need to perform at the
world class level our community expects us to perform at. And in this case, as I've shared earlier, one of the, absolute foundational needs right now is to meet the terms of our collective bargaining agreement that are, that we celebrated, right, with a unanimous affirmation. And so that is a foundational need for the development of this budget. Furthermore, I think it's important to look at what are those other required need increases around health insurance, which is a national conversation right now, as well as fuel costs,
utilities, those types of basic things. So when I think of need, I'm thinking bones need, right? Like meeting our collective bargaining agreement and required adjustments to the budget. We're not anticipating moving forward with new initiatives or new programs, but just simply to keep the commitments we've already made to our community. In the report I saw because you are required to provide us with March year budget projections, budget forecast for FY 'twenty seven, another close to $200,000,000 you would be
requesting from somewhere additional additional request. If that has to come from, that has to come from the County Board of Supervisors. That's a 7.1% transport request. Do you think that's realistic in this economic climate? We haven't determined a final number yet, but I have to provide a needs based budget. The budget has to be realistic. We have, state dollars, local dollars, and Federal dollars. So we look at what is traditionally the, money and the split and we have
to do, we have to present a budget that, both satisfies the commitments we've made, as well as, minimizes the impact on available resources. You know, Doctor. Reed, you know, I've been hearing from other supervisors that next year is going to be even tougher than this just past year for the budget. And I hope that we all keep that in mind as we deliberate and also develop our budget for the next year so that again, as I stated at the
get go that we don't repeat what he did last year. I was not happy having to make last minute adjustments. For something like that for Bolt to do much more work had to be done earlier on and I hope that even with, you know, fully honoring collective bargaining, if we have to we have to make an adjustment as to the bottom number, I think we have to look at every programs we provide. I think we can begin that Yeah, 30% cut. You talked about 30% cut.
Perhaps that should have been done not at the last minute but much earlier. Well the 3% cut was for this year to bring the budget to the right. Even the last year, that should have been done, should be looked at much earlier. And, you know, unfortunately, we have to look at the same thing. Okay? Thank you, Mr. Moon. Ms. Dixit. Thank you, Doctor. Reid, for this presentation. I find you in compliance with the executive limitation number five, financial planning. As you mentioned and we have seen that FCPS does have a very, you know,
a good budget in as and we spend less than the other counties and cities and, you know, states around us. But and our school education is world class. So we're doing something right here. The budget not getting money from any sources, it's isn't because FCPS does not have his own money, so we have to be you know, we always count on other people to give us funds. In that situation, when we have to cut, you know, any programs, it's not on
us. It is not our fault, it because we want to provide the best education to students. So we don't wanna cut any programs. But all of my colleagues that getting that information timely, earlier on this process would really help, especially like the after school programs. I know community really, really wants to know what what what goes on with that. And, and I think we are doing something right here, and that's why we got
the Baldrige Award and, hopefully get more awards for doing such high level financial work. So I appreciate you and the entire finance team for doing this, this work, and, and we'll keep working to get more money. Thank you. Thank you. Miss St. John Cunning. Thank you for the presentation and thank you for the team for putting all of this together. I really appreciate hearing that you're meeting with our board of supervisors individually and making those connections because I know that that's extremely valuable. We do it. And as a leader, I really appreciate that you're taking that step.
One of the questions that I was, you know, thinking of because I have worked in the schools is Like at what time do our principals get involved in terms of the budgeting process other than the staffing because we know that comes you know at a time when they know what their enrollment is and then it comes to staffing. But do we have a process and it may exist and I just may be ignorant of it because I think sometimes the people that are actually down on the ground doing the work can give us some really good suggestions about, you know, you're
gonna cut something. This is what we'd like to see cut because this is what we really need, not just our administrators and principals, but also our teachers. I the processes that may have been in place over time shift when we move into collective bargaining. So right now our principals are actually collectively bargaining. They're in a separate union. And so our principals and directors and so forth are currently bargaining. So they are not part of bargaining with our FEU colleagues, right, our operational and
instructional unions. So and that's part of I'm trying to be thoughtful this evening about answering some of the questions. It's part of the challenge last year because we shifted into a different, a different process in terms of collectively bargaining, the, a significant part of our budget since we are, you know, 85% plus, staff.
So the costs associated with collective bargaining become a very large cost. And, as you know, we don't go back and reopen a bargaining agreement unless, as the resolution says, that we don't receive full funding. So at the moment we are noticed that we're not receiving full funding, that's the moment that we can go back and have those conversations. Am I making sense? So there's a timing, that creates a certain level of, last minute ness to that
process. So what I would say this year, process. So what I would say this year is that principals in their group, as you mentioned, are, they have not completed bargaining yet. So whatever their asks are going to be will then need to be brought to you as well for, you know, affirmation as that process continues. And that will need to be considered as part of the budget as well as what we do with the year two of the FEU, contract.
So I think there's a certain amount of discussion about what can be cut, but it also has to be at some point discussed with the union leadership as well. So we're just developing different paths for those communications and conversations. It's not a better or worse. It's just a different protocol, and that's what we're working threatened. Special threatened. Special education, we cover about approximately 7.2
of our kids receive those services. 20.8 reserve receive multilingual learning services. We have thirty seven point zero percent that receive that are enrolled in free and reduced lunch. The reason that I mentioned this is we understand it's gonna be a tough year. We all understand that. We all understand we don't get the money. But we also understand that you fund what you value and you make sacrifices for what you value. And I think that that's something that we have to push hard to all our
funders. Education is critical. And we're gonna keep hearing that refrain. It's crazy. It's crazy. It's too much. It's we can't do this. But we have to say, do you value this? Because that's really the crux of what we're talking about, and that's where I think all of us have a responsibility to bring that up. That's all I wanna say is that I think we fund what we value. Thank you, Ms. St. John Tuning. Ms. Lady. Thank you. I obviously will find you in compliance. I'm, amazed at the ability to create a budget and then keep a balanced budget.
I commend you and our CFO and the entire team for that work, especially in light of the fact that, you're doing it with less. And I also wanna lift up, the changes that have been amazing that have impact learning, impact self esteem, impact physical fitness of our kids from different benchmarking, math curriculum, high expectations of all learners, expanding after school programming for middle schools, funding buses four
days a week. And I'm saying all this because these weren't, you know, at least the after school portion which my colleagues have referenced were not in place. Right? So, you know, we do fund what we value but in terms of our funders, our funders are our taxpayers and they're tired and and and justifiably so because as a state we're under and I think that we can't we cannot keep we can't
talk about it enough because I'm always shocked at how many people I talk to in the community who don't know this. They do not know it. They get angry about real estate tax. They don't even talk about their income tax, which we can't tax, but the fact that we just got refunds. And I believe I don't even remember the the the quote that was on my little, you know, stub for my my my check of the billions, dollars 9,000,000,000 maybe, that were returned to Virginia taxpayers when we're grossly underfunding public schools here in the Commonwealth. I just want to put that out there.
I also in terms of what has to happen moving forward, yeah, we need to talk about cuts. And my question is, hypothetically, if we're shorted this amount of money I would think there would be a proposal of these potential pain points. If we're shorted this amount of money, it's lengthier and it includes these pain points. I'm not asking necessarily because we as a board would need to prioritize those. It's sort of like, I hate to say it, but a buffet of here's, you
know, hypothetically what what what we could potentially try to live without. It's not gonna be easy. And then we've gonna have to sort of bang that around and try to figure it out. But, is that the plan is to sort of eventually say, here's here's some things if we're shorted Ms. Burden, we've already met multiple times obviously. I've met with the budget team. This is a high priority and I pay a great deal of attention to this.
But we've already begun looking at, the list which is the same list we provided honestly early last spring around all the, Beyond SOQ funded topics, if you will. And those obviously will be where we would start first, right, because the, about 70% of our budget is zero based every year. I know that's been a question and a topic of conversation, but we do build out staffing from the ground up.
I wanna say Matthew about 70%? Yeah, Matthew Norton who is all things amazing when it comes to building staffing and budgets. But every year about 70 say okay, once we've gotten there, there's so many things that, the SOQ doesn't address, right, that we think are a lot of things that the SOQ doesn't address, right, that we think are important and schools across the Commonwealth do, not just in Northern Virginia. But we're gonna provide a list of those again and I think it's a great conversation for our Board to engage in.
If we have to prioritize and perspective take, where does the to prioritize and perspective take, where does the Board situate on that? And I think the budget committee this year is going to be very, interested and obviously will be providing some type of activity for the Board to value vote those topic areas. And I look forward to the Board to value vote those topic areas. And I look forward to that conversation. Yeah, I do as well. I mean obviously, I believe in transparency. I think the earlier that we can, to, you know, communicate to our community what
could possibly be happening, the better. And, you know, I think that we have to if I can just finish real quick, I won't need to go back. You know, I I encourage my my colleagues on the board, that we're gonna have to lean into this and then and then listen to one another and listen to other people and really try to fully understand what this means in practice for teaching and learning because that's the number one priority of what we're doing is the is the teaching and learning as opposed to getting emotional around people who might be in
certain positions versus versus continuing to make sure teaching and learning are number one priority. Thanks. Yes, ma'am. Mister McDaniel. Thank you. The EL is financial planning, not financial outcomes. That might sound silly, but there's a big difference because the conversation this evening has kind of been all over the board on planning and outcomes. There are factors that are just outside of our control. Taxing at the state and local level, the federal government as we are seeing right
now in the headlines, property values. Virginia is one of about 10 states that does not allow school divisions to have any type of independent taxing authority. We can't control our state funding levels. All of those factors drive the $4,000,000,000 budget that this system depends upon and Those are all outside of our control. They're outside the superintendent's control. But even with that reality, the budget planning process still ticks off every year to amazing accuracy, doing more with less, meeting more needs of kids with higher needs, kids
with more complex needs in an ever evolving K through 12 public education environment. And we do that year after year to an amazing degree of accuracy. I don't know how that hasn't met the expectations of this EL. You know, I remember the Garza years. I was working for the board of supervisors. I don't want to go back to the Garza years. There was a reason she was the shortest tenured superintendent since the early eighties. And I hate to put it that bluntly, but those are the facts because I remember how rough those budgets were because people's emotions got played on when cuts were
dangled out there in the headlines. And we got a little bit of a taste of that last year when the middle school after school program was dangled out there. And if you think that was bad, boy, let me tell you, we start dangling cuts out there, it's gonna be 10 times worse. I don't wanna go back to those years. I want a respectful budget conversation, and you've done that. You've struck the balance between meeting the needs and meeting the reality of the moment. So I'm happy to vote in favor of this. Thank you, Mr.
McDaniel. I am gonna take a quick turn. So we're a big shift to turn and we are in the middle of a perfect storm of all the different churn that's going on out there. And I'm reading a book right now that's talking a lot about paradox and about how two things can be true at the same time. Create panic. And so we have to figure out both of those things are true. It's important for us to plan and we don't want to create panic where it's
unnecessary to do so. So we are we need to be partners with our community. We need to hear what they want. And the problem is is with a system as large as ours is, we're always going to have something that is important to someone. And we see that all the time with different things that are going on. It doesn't it doesn't matter. The other thing is we need more and our county very well may not be able to provide it to us. That doesn't mean that they don't want to. Again, I agree with you that they all we all want the same thing.
And so I just I think that what we're doing is we need to make sure that we level set expectations from the beginning, that this is going to be a hard year. I think that's what the county's been trying to do with us. They're trying to give us the high sign. I still will say that if they had $9,000,000,000 to return to taxpayers, then they didn't have a surplus. They just underfunded their budget. And so if JLARC is $3,000,000,000 a year, that's where the money is. And so we I so it's absolutely money is. And so we I so it's absolutely at the state level that we need to be paying attention to those things.
But some of the actions that have been taken at the state level mean that there's not gonna be a surplus this year. And so we have this again. It's part of the perfect storm. So I did also want to just say one thing about the Baldrige because I've worked with kiddos that were actually doing this at Kansas State when I was there. And the coolest part about Baldrige is it asks you questions that cause you to think about the process. And so many of us are so eager to to make sure that our processes are strong that this this the whole system allows you to have sunlight on the
process that you wouldn't normally have because you're actually getting into the nitty gritty of why we do things. And so I am thrilled that we're doing as much work with Baldrige. The fact that the fact that our examiners came out and said that we're doing a great job, I expect nothing less from our team. And so I am very excited to see what we're doing in that arena, and I know that we're going to be strong at the end of it. So I just I am absolutely in compliance here. I definitely think that you are doing everything that you possibly can to create the
best possible outcome related to our financial planning in an extremely, difficult moment. So we have some go backs, so we're gonna start off with doctor Anderson. Thank you very much. Again, looking at the EL, these are the areas that have raised concern for me. I shared about 1b earlier, 1d, which is to present all materials and budgetary assumptions, 1i and 2a as well as four as it's not that we are in control
of all of what happens. We are not. It's just how do we plan so that we have a thoughtful measured approach. We did what we could in a very short time period, but I don't think that's the ideal way of doing this work. So those are those are my challenges here. And we also know that 90% of our budget is in our people. It is. And as one board member, I I continue to struggle with how do we do our job of fiscal oversight because the budget is our work. We're supposed to take what you provide, we wrestle with it, and we we bring
out something that is reflective what the public is finding to be of value. That is our work and I'm feeling more and more as if that work is happening outside of us, that we are approving what's done because we either don't have an opportunity for input or it's just so quick that we just have to make do. So I will not be voting in compliance today, and that's not a knock on to the efforts of of the finance team because I I see them as the blender. We put in all the ingredients, and they make it happen.
They made it happen, but this was not the right way of making it happen. And I really don't want us to be in that position again. Mister Dunn. I I appreciate, that, this EL focuses on planning. And I think part of planning is transparency. And I think part of transparency is, you know, providing for the public an understanding of what what's at risk. Right? Because we don't wanna have that be a surprise to anyone. There ought to be very clear decisions because if those decisions are not apparent to the public, they won't be apparent to our our state lawmakers, to our county, Board
of Supervisors, etcetera. One of the things I also wanted to mention is I think there's a lot of money out there. Right? But historically, because we've gotten, you know, a lot of money from the county, from the state, from the federal government, we haven't had to go look to the private sector. And I think that's something that needs to be done. I only learned yesterday that, Jay Gorant's replacement, in the office, the one man office of Public Private Partnership has has left. And so that's an empty seat. And that's a one deep office. If you're a college, if you're a private school, you're going to have multiple people
whose only job is to go out there, form partnerships with the private sector, and get money from them, get donations, get grants, etcetera. I know we have multiple people applying for grants. Maybe those people could be reallocated to support, establishing partnerships with Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, or or others, not just for AI, but also working with unions for skilled trades and our CTE programs. There's money out there, and we just don't seem to be pursuing it based on all the conversations I'm having with with staff. But I also wanna raise public private partnerships for construction renovation.
That's something there are guidelines that we're prepared. We need to enact those. We need to put them into place and then see you know, developers have conversations and see what we can do to activate, that as a as a strategy for bringing in new dollars. These are these are things that many school districts, including Prince George's County, has done very successfully. We don't need to just rely exclusively on other higher, sovereign governments, in order to get funded. There are partnerships. Thank you Thank you, mr.
Dunn miss Mary So again, I have to underscore we don't have a plan for how to do this work. I don't yet see the superintendent implementing the robust approach to financial planning to change our future reality and advising us on how to do this. I see the superintendent is working working within the bounds that we have when it comes to finances, but I don't wanna operate in these confines anymore. And some others have said we can't change everything, but I don't see the change in our approach right now. And although this EL focuses on the last budget year, it's now October.
So it includes what has happened post that budget to now. And, you know, we have the same setup of our board committee of our budget, and we have the same approach. We cannot you know, the saying is you can't keep doing the same thing and expect a different outcome. So to me, financial planning includes a blended approach of budget forecasting and development work, targeted legislative advocacy at the state level, and the community engagement. When are we gonna do a full on community engagement for budget like we've done for boundaries, like we've done for, you know, the the superintendent's other conversations?
And, like, what is the board's work? I would propose that at each of our work sessions, we have time to work on financial planning, that we as a board determine our goals for this budget process and the ongoing financial planning and management. And then we get really specific. Look. A lot of us are have other jobs. I know that you're successful in all your planning. Can we treat this as that goal? You know, we need a plan. We can't just say we're gonna meet about it one month and hear about it another. What's the plan? For me, I definitely don't want to go backwards.
I do not want more money coming out. The work on the joint facility committee that's coming up that I've been preparing for, I've learned more and more about the services and the investments that the county has. And it's raised questions for me about the traditions of how programs are implemented, whether that's school age childcare or community use or capital funding. The guiding documents for those work are out of dates. I've read documents that are still being used now, if I could switch my sentence, I've read documents that are still being used now to guide county and FCPS partnerships that go back to 2015, 2011, twenty o four, and 1987 that we are still
using to determine how taxpayer dollars are creating a good way of life in Fairfax. We need a plan to work with the county to figure this out. Thank you, miss Baron. I will call for a vote on the motion which is on the screen. All those in favor? Mister Fresh, mister McDaniel, mister McElveen, miss Saint John Cunning, miss Lady, miss Dixit, miss Sizemore Heizer, and myself. All those opposed? Ms. Marin, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Moon, Doctor. Anderson. Will the clerk please read the vote?
The vote is eight four. The motion carries. Thank you. At this time, the board will take a few hold on. I went too far. Agenda item 9.01, policy review financial planning EL l five. The next order of business is the policy review for executive limitation five, financial planning. Annually, the board will review each executive limitation at the time the monitoring report is presented to determine if revisions are needed. Board members may offer amendments to executive limitation at any regular meeting provided they send
the final amendment language to the board and clerk at least forty eight hours in advance of the meeting at to at which it's to be considered. At this time, no amendments have been submitted in advance of this meeting, but board members may provide comments on executive limitation five, financial planning. Before we vote on maintaining the current language for the year ahead, I call on mister McElveen for a motion. So I move move that the school board maintains executive limitation five financial planning as it is currently detailed in the strategic governance meeting. Is there a second? Second.
Thank you, miss lady. Mister McElveen, would you like to speak to your motion? Not at this time. Miss Lady, would you like to speak to your second? No. Thanks. I will call for a vote on the motion which is on the screen. All those in favor, mister Frisch, mister McDaniel, McElveen, miss St. John Cunning, miss Lady, miss Dixit, mister Moon, doctor Anderson, miss Sizemore Heizer, and myself. All those opposed? All those abstaining. Mister Dunn. We are going to take a five quick minutes recess and we will be right
back. Board members, please take your seats. Board members, please take your seats. Okay. We're gonna get going again. Doctor Reed. Agenda item 10.01, academic matters. I call on Doctor. Reid for academic matters. Thank you Madam Chair. Tonight for our academic matters, this is actually probably one of the academic matters I have in some ways most looked forward to. We this evening are gonna unveil our first iteration or if you will our beta
future ready index for Fairfax County Public Schools. And why this is so important right now is as the state is redefining, in their own way their framework for accountability and as the state continues to look at, they have created more rigorous assessments in the last couple years and now they're working to raise the cut scores to make it more difficult to pass courses, or the
SOL exams. I think that it's really important that we take back our narrative as a public school division and that we here in Fairfax County Public Schools define excellence in a way in which we believe it ought to come off the page. And so our team has been working really all for over a year on putting this together because we wanna make sure we're defining our work so that it's something that's a stable metric that we can look at year after year after year and
that someone outside of our system isn't able to come in and manipulate. So we are, we've worked community members as well to put this together. And so this evening I wanna begin by, hearing our student voice, because this is really I wanna center our work back, where it ought to be which is our young people and the arc of their future which each of you, and our entire community really is responsible for.
So as we begin to think about how we're gonna measure our success moving forward, madam clerk, let's go ahead and play the video and let's, kind of center ourselves in our student voice. Some futures are written by circumstances, not ours. In our schools, our futures are written in the moments between the bells. They're written in the classroom, in the lab, in the code, on the stage, and on the field. This is a story of excellence. Of belonging. And it's the story of what's next.
We don't just prepare for the future. We are building it. There will always be numbers, but they don't tell the whole story. We will. We are proud of our success. We celebrate our achievements, and we are ready for the future. Fairfax County Public Schools. So what our young people have to tell us and our staff is that there are a lot of numbers out there that are used to define education, to define outcomes. And I think to our peril define our children.
And so this evening I wanna share with you an opportunity to think about our success differently and to think about how we measure that differently. So when we think about what measuring, why that's important and what matters for our future, we did take a look at five domains. And as we began to work on this project last year, we wanna make sure we're providing with our families and our community a transparent and a consistent predictable way that if we want to change that's on us to make those decisions.
But someone else isn't going to tell our story or be part of our narrative. It's really an opportunity to center Fairfax County Public Schools in the tradition of excellence that we've long come to expect. This work is grounded in the education to workforce framework, which is a national evidence base that connects what happens in schools to long term student success from early learning through career readiness. The index measures both outcomes and the conditions that make those outcomes possible.
And when we think about the budget conversation we just had, that's really one of the primary tasks of financial planning is to make sure that the conditions in our learning spaces and the conditions our learners experience each and every day enable them to achieve the outcomes we expect each and every day. This is a living framework for continuous improvement and it's designed to help us learn, grow and celebrate our progress across five domains of readiness. We're defining success in a way that reflects our community values, not someone else's.
As we look at the next, domains of readiness, I wanna note that the very first domain of excellence we know is important here in Fairfax County Public Schools is academic excellence. This measures rigorous learning and foundational skills in literacy, math and critical thinking, includes key predictors of future opportunity and long term success and focuses on preparing every student to thrive in an increasingly complex world. The second domain is safety and belonging. We know that students learn best when they feel safe, supported and connected.
We learned that again and again and again. And it was spoken about this evening. We know that belonging drives engagement, attendance and academic success. And that this domain reflects an inclusive, caring school culture where every student, looks at hands on, real world learning that builds creativity and creativity and creativity. And particular domain really is an opportunity to look at not just how students adapt
to the future, but how do students shape their future and ours by extension. The fourth domain is great teachers and support. We know strong educators are the foundation of student success and that's why we've invested in our educators. Which by the way you're gonna hear more when we have our HREL because we've again, cut back the loss of our or we've increased our staying by another 1% I believe. So we're continuing on the right path retaining our educators.
We look at teacher quality retention, professional learning, and we know that investing in our workforce strengthens every other outcome. Our final domain is community investment which recognizes that success depends on the system surrounding each and every student. When the community invests together, every student's path to the future opportunity gets stronger. So let's take a look at this. At this point, this slide shows our current Future Ready Index ratings as the team, has rated them. So you can see the five ratings and we've picked stars, and we believe and
we'll show you, how the team came to this, conclusion. Overall, these results show that FCPS is performing strongly across most areas. At the same time, the index reminds us that our work is ongoing. We see opportunities in particular to expand future ready experiences or those kinds of hands on, real world learning experiences that prepare our students to lead and innovate in the future. And quite honestly, continuous growth.
Let's take a closer look at those subcategories and I know this is fine print, but I wanna share that the team has worked very hard to look at five measures within each of these domains which are really the measures that you might think about in a future ready division. When I think about twenty second century skills, the twenty second century is right around the corner. Children born today, as we learned at our work session, will be graduating from university in 02/1942. That's only fifty four years of a career before they're in the twenty second century.
The future is fast approaching. For each measure we identify data points as well as state or national averages against which we can compare ourselves. A star is awarded if our level is better than the comparison. When we could not find reference points, we used a threshold of 80% consistent with the cutoff score used in the new state, standards framework for On Track. Meaning that meeting the state's expectations for achievement, growth, readiness and graduation are consistent, with where we are at the state.
This index is intended to be a living document that will be updated with measures and data as new data and information Examples, here we have several examples of what we would characterize as aspirational data points. Again, in a future division that we might or a future version of this particular measure or index. These examples show where we might be headed next. The kinds of measures that might capture what it truly means a country?
Happen at scale and how are those accessible to children all across the county. We're looking at how educators collaborate and innovate because we know our teaching practices drive student opportunity. So these are, I think aspirational data points and others that you as a board are gonna be, thinking about points and others that you as a board are gonna be, thinking about providing and as we continue to work with our community to shape our future, we're gonna continue to, keep a nimble index. The key is we own it. It's our work, it's our community, it's our narrative, and it's our aspirations that will
drive this work. So this evening, Madam Chair, this concludes our academic matters on the future ready index. Thank you, Doctor. Reid. We're going to kick things off with Ms. Tixit. Thank you, Doctor. Reed. This is such an interesting topic, in our future ready generation. And, we we have this lot of students who are already future ready, so but, we know that technology changes have happened so fast in the last twenty, thirty years that definitely more is needed. I when you mentioned about the few things happening in some parts of the school
system, I remember walking into a class and in middle school, and they were doing Shark Tank type competition where, students were actually working on their business idea and frustrating it with their colleagues, I mean, classmates, and then presenting it. So, and I thought of that as like, why are we not doing this maybe division wide and then just do a Shark Tank type of competition at the division level. I think it's we need to generate those future leaders, business owners, entrepreneurs, point in
this. And other than that, I think we are heading in the right direction. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Dixon. And I was thinking maybe of a kinder, gentler term than shark tank. We might have halibut tank or, something that might be a little less, dangerous. But I do think that it would be interesting to have an FCPS event like that. I I think we would be, we'd continue to be so impressed with our young people. Alright. Thank you. Thank you so much, doctor Reed. Moving on to agenda item 10.02,
strategic plan update. Thank you, Madam Chair. I am really excited this evening to share our strategic plan update for October. Each month we share an update, on our work around the strategic plan as we highlight our goals and pillars. This evening, I am very pleased to have Holly McKinley, the manager for design and construction projects, who is gonna be my phone a friend. Holly, do you wanna give a wave here? From our Design and Construction team. So I am thrilled to remind the board that we do have five goals and four pillars. And this evening, I'll be showcasing how our design and construction services create innovative culturally
responsive learning environments for all of our students using ed specs, educational specifications, developed in collaboration with a variety of departments in the school division. Wanna remind our board and community that, our FCPS design and construction teams are fundamental to ensuring our students have safe, modern and effective learning environments. The team serves as our liaison with initial design to final construction, creating high quality,
from initial design to final construction creating high quality, state of the art facilities for our students and staff. Educational specifications provide the fundamental criteria for designing school spaces that support our school board approved instructional program. They guide the design of all new and renovated schools and are a critical component of our facility planning ensuring that we have adequate physical space for students, staff, and programs during renovations and the introduction of new programs and capacity concerns.
Most importantly, they continually adapt to meet current practices and state guidelines to guarantee each school is designed to the most up to date integration and design for better student and staff integration and design for better student and staff circulation and movement. We've installed improved mechanical systems and controls and continued to work on that. And we've created more efficient vehicular traffic flow and increased flexibility within learning spaces.
FCPS continues to emphasize energy conservation and reduced life cycle costs in our design criteria. Let's take a moment to see this work in action and look at some recent projects from design and construction. Madam Clerk, if you would please, play the video. Education is always evolving. The challenge is ensuring that our schools can keep up with the changing needs of our students and curriculum. The FCPS educational specifications, also known as Ed specs, detail how types of spaces are built and specify size, amenities, and location within a facility.
Over time, the use of the building changes with each unique program, having different accommodations and spatial requirements. One of the great things about being a large school division in our dynamic county is that we have access to experts who understand the needs of our students, families, and communities. Our process is deeply collaborative. While our edge specs guide the vision, the construction team ensures that the vision becomes reality. During construction, our team coordinates with architects, contractors, and engineers to ensure specs are implemented accurately. Then we monitor how materials, finishes, and layout support instructional goals and long term functionality.
Our edge specs provide the framework, but we remain collaborative because once construction begins, then things evolve. Our job is to stay true to the intent while navigating the realities of the site. Once a new or renovated space is open, the work isn't over. In fact, the most important phase begins, real learning in a real environment. The people who use these spaces every day, students, teachers, and school staff, are evaluating the learning space. FCPS uses feedback to update and refine the aspects so future designs continue to evolve.
Great learning spaces don't just meet expectations. They grow from lived experience. The brand new design of our library has made the library space even larger than it used to be. The original size of our library made things things feel really cramped and kinda tight. We had our smaller windows. Our brand new library space, everything is on wheels. We can rearrange this space so that it meets the needs of classrooms that are using it, whether an entire grade level needs to use it in the library, whether we're having a community event out here.
Having all of this amazing, huge, almost floor to ceiling windows in here, the natural light that this bring us in, it makes the space look lighter, feel lighter. It's always just it's it's a happy place for so many of our students. Design and construction came in, and they have made everything way more efficient. Historically, we only had one entrance where buses were coming through as well as kiss and ride cars, so it got really congested. Now that we have two entrances, there's separate entrance for cars, there's a separate entrance for buses, and it makes things, way less congested. It makes it more efficient.
It's much more safe for the families, much more safe for the kids, especially. Designing learning spaces for all is more than a construction project. It is the FCPS strategic plan in action. We create intentional learning spaces for all students that promote a positive school climate, empower staff, and support student success. Each learning space is a step toward a future where each and every student reaches their greatest potential. Excellent. Equity in opportunity. So Madam Chair, I think one of the other than the incredible, opportunities this provides
for our children, I think one of the incredible managing design and construction or as a math resource teacher, writer, a principal, librarians, everyone is so proud of what we're able to create for our young people. And I can only say recently I was at Falls Church High School and, touring, their new spaces, their science rooms, their library. It's just remarkable what we're able to design and it makes a difference.
It matters to our young people. So, very proud of our design and construction team and really pleased with the report and wanna continue to report on our design and construction as we move forward and remind the Board that goal one is coming up for October 23 for our strategic plan. And then goal five, leading for tomorrow's innovation, will be December 2 at the work session. So lots of exciting strategic work coming ahead.
Thank you, Doctor. E. Mister Frisch, will you kick us off? Yes. Thank you. Especially when such a great video of so many Providence District schools up there Oh. Or Providence adjacent as the Falls Church case may be. You know, the first first soon after I was elected in in, in 2020 after being sworn in, I visited Mosaic as a school board member for the first time. And doctor Astey, who is not only one of our best principals, but is also one of the school division's best salespeople, took me on a tour.
And at the end of the hall, she walked me into the pullout room, which any normal person would have called the closet at the end of the hall. And she was making a point in this tour that they were using literally every nook and cranny in the building, for the educational advancement of the students. And so to see where it is today based on the work of, these great staff members, is incredible. And, you know, it it's interesting because if you go to a school that was
renovated in the nineties, the, you know, the aughts, the tens, and recently, they're all a little different in terms of what things may have been the focus of the Ed Specs of the time. So, and I've been talking oddly enough about Ed Specs with doctor Anderson of late, and she'll I'm sure she will bring up some topics before those changes are seeing
the benefits of those advancements? So I think that right now our renovation queue, is lengthening, right? So the opportunity to get back to a school perhaps to enhance part of the ed specs that maybe weren't part of the specs at that time are fairly limited currently. But I'm gonna phone a friend, Ms. McKinley. Do you wanna come on up here and we'll Ms. McKinley's gonna help here with a little bit of that. And if you have a thought bit of that. And if you have a thought on I don't it's since I've been here, we haven't gone back to previously renovated schools to do any upgrades, but I don't know
if that's been our pattern or not. That's correct. If it's in a renovation queue, once it's renovated, it would refer to the current ed spec. However, if a school would submit a, DC four zero seven or a work order request, then that team would refer to the current Ed Spec and design it to this. So in some cases, if a school requests a change and that change is accepted, it might be upgraded to the current ad spec depending on the project. Okay. It's helpful information. And, you know, I think it speaks to if you've been through a remodel, or
renovation rather and I wish we had a better word for renovation because it's so much more than new paint wallpaper or whatever the word renovation implies. Right? It's a complete reimagining of the educational space. To see not only our principles transformed into like, HGTV hosts without the cameras as they reimagine the use of every conceivable space inside of the building with the expertise of our staff, and then see what the result is. We're seeing giant chunks of Falls Church High School coming online and and being reopened
to the student population as we look now to the athletic complex. It's really something special that's happening in these schools that are being renovated, and I just wish that we could do it more quickly for everybody. We were on that decade from when I started on the board. Right. That's correct. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Frisch. Doctor. Anderson. Thank you. This is again kind of timely in terms of the conversations I've been having as of late.
But I'd like to understand better the development of the ed specs, those are local decisions. What is utilized to inform that? Are there industry standards? Are you just thumbing through architecture magazines? What goes into developing these aspects? Like, what's the process? Oh, thank you. So, Doctor. Anderson, I'm gonna have, Ms. McKinley talk a little bit about that because I think you could probably do it in your sleep. So as the video mentioned, it's deeply collaborative. We work with, several different departments throughout FCPS. For example, ISD, particularly in regards to program requirements for the different spaces within the
schools. And that helps us understand what the space is requiring, the square footage that's required, adjacencies, things like that, equipment, that goes into the ed spec. We also work with food and nutritional services, OSS transportation, BIT, DSS, several different departments. And we get their input to help influence these ed specs, and when we develop them. That's very helpful. Are there codes and I'm not speaking about building codes and permits, that kind of
thing that we know must happen in order to ensure safety. But are there Virginia codes? Are there regulations that determine that our schools must have these kinds of things in them? Because it sounds as if we have lots and lots of latitude from what you've described. What are the boundaries? What where who are who else is informing, the decisions that are happening with, you know, food and nutrition services and ISD? The VDOE has guidelines for school designs. The Virginia Department of Education has guidelines for school designs, and we reference those guidelines
while we're working on the ed specs. And those are guidelines. They are. Mandatory activities to which you must adhere. Correct. Okay. Can you give an example of a guideline that VDOE has that we pay more attention to than others? Hate to put you on the spot. I I think it would be best if we can give you get back to you with a specific. No. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Doctor. Anderson. Miss Dixit. Thank you, Doctor. Reed. I not this know what this word expects. It was interesting for me to learn something new.
I wanted to ask about the existing school that we have lot of schools where we still have locker bays and they're not being used at all. And so very hardly, I think, few students use them. So in lot of schools I've seen, they have taken them out and used them space as a collaborative, learning space, like a free period and students working on project together. And I think budget is a constant. Like every principal, I think, is working with their budget or their on the maintenance queue. Can we do this as a division wide change where we can implement this as
a in our schools where they're not using the locker bays anymore? So good question. I've been in schools where they use them and in schools where they don't. So and some schools took lockers out to widen the halls to allow more, kind of less congestion in the halls, whereas other schools have left them in because their students are using them. So right now, it's a bit, hit or miss depending also on the, construction years of the building. Right? Because some remodels renovations are not including lockers and some are.
And, again, we're talking middle and high or secondary schools. So I think it's a great conversation. It's also not cheap to take them out or put them in. So, I I think it's, one of those conversations that is a school by school right now. Yeah. I went I had two boys went through FCPS, you know, from middle to high school, and none of them both of them did not use it, like, ever. But I know some students, probably still like that, put their bag in one place. So, yeah, that's something I'd like to know because I know a lot of principal
did mention that to me. They would like to get rid of them and just kind of use it in a more open space like hallways or other other things, other classrooms maybe. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Miss Maren. Yeah. You know, I'm not really sure I've ever seen, like, where the Ed Specs live. Where do they live? It's like the secret place or not? Well, they live in design and construction, the department, but I think there's a bit of them in the CIP, I believe, but we could certainly I can provide those
to you. Well, I in a Friday letter, we can provide an attachment. Well, well, I'm not sure that's what, you know, I'm looking for. I mean, I don't fancy myself an architect or designer engineer. I think, you know, but there's questions. Like, the one about the locker is a good question or I know when we work on the outdoor classrooms, new ed specs were drawn. And as I, again, work on prepping for this joint facility committee, you know, there's things with, like, permitting. And I know with the ed specs, you know, if we added a concrete outdoor classroom, then it was like, oh, we need to add more bathrooms because it's expanding
coverage, but it's really not. So I just think it's curious. We talk about so many other aspects of facilities, and this is one that, like, we never visit. And it seems like something that should be visited, not to get all technical, but to say, you know what would be interesting? Like, even a plan for more, you know, energy efficiency, which again I'm sure our staff are experts on. But, you know, how is that in the ed specs? How does that stuff from policy get in there?
Yeah, so I don't quite know how it works. So I think that the ed specs are part of the design and construction process, which, come into play when there's when we're gonna build a new building, which we haven't done in a long time, or when we move into the renovation, the design for a renovation. And I think what I understand even a little better this evening, and as a result of doing this report because we haven't talked about ed specs much, but that it is a collaborative effort that's also based on the strengths of the site that
we're renovating. So, I'd be happy to gather more information for you on that for the board and in particular for you that for that joint committee, I think it'd be very helpful. Well, I think this is one of those key areas that if, you know, we could talk as a board about this very regularly, the $8,700,000,000 in facilities, that this is one of those topics. Every month, we're having a work session about it and how we're maintaining it. You know, I'm also learning about it's not just getting the funding to build these things, it's the maintenance, especially when we look at our athletic fields they're in.
And there's a perception that, okay, they're good, like, for a long time, but there's maintenance and there's even just the cost to run utilities. So all of this stuff is again, it's it's twice the amount of our annual budget, and we really don't talk about facilities enough. So, yeah, I'd love to learn more in a reasonable way. I don't want every EDSPEC, please. Don't send every EDSPEC to us. I just wanna know more about it. Yes, ma'am. It intersects with these decisions we have to make. And I think that's why we selected EDSPECs tonight as part of our strategic plan update was because we felt like, this $8,000,000,000 investment is something we wanna talk about.
So I think we're trying to the team's trying to be responsive. And, I think it's a good topic. And even having ed specs does not, mean that every, site is similar. You know, it's an aspirational spec almost I think. Because some sites have more fields, some have less. It's you know again the size of the acreage, the geographic location sometimes. So, but I'm happy to ask the team to provide a primer that might be a little more of a summary document on this topic if that would be helpful.
And then link to the details for those who might wanna look at more details. Mr. Dunn. I love this topic. Here's here's my question. We have for doors and windows, and it's on the you can just Google FCPS ed specs and you find it. For doors and windows only, there's a 139 pages of specifications. A 139 pages just for doors and windows. I don't I don't I could not begin to think what we could possibly say for doors doors and windows, that requires that amount of, specification.
For concrete, for masonry, for all these things, these are all governed. There's an international building code. And and my I guess my question is, why don't we just use the code that I use for my home that every commercial building operator uses to build buildings or renovate buildings? Why do we need, our own, code, in essence, building on supplements, what the county already has established or that the state has already established? I think those are great questions, Mr.
Dunn. I, I asked the question, I think, yesterday about why we need to get a permit to run our new school as a school because it's been a school. But we do. We have to file a permit with the county, to have our new Western High School permitted as a school. And before we can do any kind of renovation, we have to have this permit in place. So I think, I'm gonna turn to mister Gordon to provide a little bit of insight as to why we would have, Fairfax County Public insight as to why we
would have, Fairfax County Public School, Ed Specs. I will say, even in my prior division, we had division level Ed Specs, because there were certain things that our community, by virtue of our, and, new buildings. And there were certain ed specs that were, critically important to that school division that
meant that every school would need that feature. So, mister Gordon, your thoughts on that here in Virginia? Hey. Yes, ma'am. Hey, sir. I would say, you know, for us, the Ed Specs help bridge, you know, education vision and design facility design. And it helps us helps with consistency and bringing standards and benchmarks. So specifically to ask your question, why would we have such detail on doors and windows? I would look at it from an operational maintenance perspective. So, you know, you we have a construction budget, but the requirement to maintain facilities
is much larger. And so if you have a standard, facility design, standard window design, I think it helps our down trace, facilities teams to fix and repair and replace economic type of process. So I guess, if you add up all the pages, it's over 1,000 pages, which you could build a space shuttle with that amount of pages. Have you considered doing a Baldrige efficiency like process to cut back on our ed
specs? Because the more customization we have from what's out there just in law or in requirements by the county, the more it costs to build for us, and the more, the harder it is for people to come in and just give us estimates that are, you know, cost effective. So that drives up our our cost by having more customization, more specifications. And if we could just be more efficient and cut it back to the door has to be X number of inches wide so wheelchairs can get in or gurneys
or whatever, Right? That, you know, just what is absolutely necessary versus nice to have. Right? The must have we can keep, but that should be just a core and the rest is extraneous. That that might be worth doing because if we have limited dollars Baldrige's maximum return on investment, we need to apply that here and and cut back on the customization that maybe is onerous and dissuades people from bidding in the first place?
Yes, sir. I'll, take a look at that and we'll see what we can do and come back to you with a report on that. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Dunn. Miss St. John Cunning. So thank you for this report. It's really interesting. Having moved through several renovations, at several schools, I feel I have, like, a little bit of experience, not anything as expansive as reading all those pages. Having said that, just because the doors issues was brought up, I do wanna say there are several kinds of doors within a school and there are several kinds kinds
of requirements for some of those doors. And building codes for a house are different from building codes for a building that houses children and how we're going to protect children. So there have to be safety measures within those doors so those children don't get hurt. Again, not an expert. Just saying that I've lived through several renovations. It seems like every time a renovation I lived through was done and the building was new, I moved to another school where there was another renovation that was just starting.
But having said that, when we'd look at ensuring long term value and energy conservation and reducing the life cycle costs, as we move forward and we do look at the renovation queue being longer, I think it's important for us to consider a way to support some autonomy in our schools and, again, that down on the ground experience where the building supervisors will know that there are certain parts in their schools that maybe need more ventilation or more air conditioning at certain times than at other schools
because I know right now it's centrally it's centrally controlled and having that ability to monitor that individually depending on the school because they are so different, geographically, by size is something that I'd like to see being considered because I think that also speaks to the life cycle cost because we save energy, but then we might create another problem that is less that costs more to fix than what the energy cost would be. So just Yes, ma'am.
I will take that under advisement. Thank you. Just wait two seconds. Thank you, Ms. St. John Cunningham. Mr. McElveen. So I agree that this is an exciting presentation, but my overarching question is where does the board fit in this process? Right? I've and I don't think we've ever had a discussion about ed specs, in any sort of detail, which is fascinating because it's such an intrinsic part of our construction. So I this is a great question, Mr. McElveen. I think what I would before tonight would have thought is that maybe the CPDC
or FPAC process had some input into ed specs, but maybe not, right? I'm not entirely sure. So I think it opens up a conversation. What role would the board like to have in ed specs? I think minimally, as we think about the executive limitation around facilities, maybe there's some, oversight of whatever the current ed specs are that would have an annual review, for example, like if we're adjusting them or what are the ed specs for the projects in that prior year. Like, I can think of some topics, but those would be, of course, potentially after
the fact. And if you wanted, input into ed specs before a project, then that's another conversation. So, I think let's I'll have the team mull that over and provide some maybe maybe that's a conversation we can have. Hey, doctor Reed. Can I just add one thing? Oh, sorry. It's totally where did that voice come from? So there is school board policy 8120 that Oh, well, there you are. For ed specs. My friend phoned in. So policy eighty one twenty talks about board involvement in ed specs? It eighty one twenty is ed specs.
Yes, ma'am. Well, we will review eighty one twenty. Right. Because I I mean, just reflecting, you know, on board conversations, we talk about wanting more natural light in the classroom. We talk about needing elevators that don't break down. So I just it would be nice to see kind of a flowchart on how how these things trickle down. Right? And I fully agree with Ms. Marin and others who have said and you have reinforced that we need a board conversation, and it seems like it would be appropriate for a retreat, right, to lay
things out, really just do visioning work about where we think we're doing well in terms of our facilities and where we need to work on. And so anyway, that is my takeaway. Thank you. Yes, sir. And it connects a bit to Mr. Dunn's comment about sort of I want to say bold bridging, but, utilizing some of the framework questions and some of the framework strategies to kind of think about how does the process of setting these happen from setting them to, you know, implementing them.
So I look forward to the conversation and the team will come back with some ideas. I'm going to take a tiny, tiny turn. I love a good gerund, by the way, so balderdring I think is great. But I also will tell you that we get a lot of feedback or I get a lot of feedback, from some folks in my district that talk about things that we could be doing within a school that might make it more conducive for different kinds of kids to learn. And so I do think that there's some opportunity that we just need some place to maybe share that information so that we see traction that can happen if we
have either a large enough group of people or if we, you know, adopt something as a division. So I think coming up with some sort of pathway that we can make sure because, you know, some of our community members are gonna have the perfect idea that we need to adopt. And so I think that coming up with a methodology for that would be part that would be helpful. Yes ma'am. And I think it, it exists to have input because I know we've discussed, for example, having a more sensory, safe lunch area to eat.
And that's one of the topic areas we've been inserting into ed specs. We just haven't renovated many buildings since we inserted that. But it's important that we have a space for, our children and young students and students to have a quieter area to eat lunch, for example. So we know that there's some very important ed specs that we want to include moving forward. Exactly. Mr. Dunford, go back. Is it possible to amend the ed specs to, to emphasize beauty?
Our schools by and large are painted concrete block and have a feeling of prisons. Then contrast that with the Western High School we just purchased, which is award winning, not a single concrete block in sight. I think that so I'm just having to think for a minute about that question. I think we're back to the and I back to the budget conversation too, right? Like I think beauty is important, and it, I also if I think about we're gonna have to make sure that the facilities are efficient, financially, frugally designed and built
at this time. So as long as we can do beauty and frugality synonymously, I'm all in right now. Doctor Vee, can I add something? Yes. Mister Gordon. So I I think, sir, mister Dunn, if if we get to a point where you're doing design build versus design bid build, I think that, aesthetic creative component that would come out through a design build process. You would allow for that because you you can have that in the scope of the work and you can then have, kind of outside the box thinking that a
design build collaborative team would provide us in that kind of meeting to the what you're getting at there. So I think design build would would help alleviate your concerns. Do the ed specs require concrete block construction? Just is that is that in the ed specs and mandatory? I'll take that as a due out or I'll phone a friend. So our master specifications are where you refine what materials are used to be within the design of the building. So there's concrete, there's, steel, there's every option available for a building.
Our ed specs are laid out to describe the square footage and the finishes and the adjacencies and the equipment that are required within the space. But but we don't necessarily have to have concrete, you know, painted concrete block walls in all the schools? Okay. Would it be possible to develop a standard design for elementary, middle, and high school so instead of having a different design for every school, you have a standard? Anything is possible, mister Dunn. I what I would say coming from divisions that have used standard and the divisions
that have not, one of the things that's critical to having a standard design is a fairly similar geographic, square footage and or, what do I wanna call, terrain, right? Because, to have a standard design, I was in a division we used a standard design three times because we were building elementary schools. And so there were three elementary schools that looked very similar, but then there was another site that just didn't provide, because of the terrain, the topography of that particular lot and the size, we weren't able to put that standard design on that lot.
So I think, yes, and we would wanna make sure that the lots would, support that. And in this case, a standard design, because we're so infrequently building, often time moves on and then we have new things we may wanna include. But in divisions where we're moving more quickly or building more quickly, is there a
reason is it mandated by the EDSpecs that we build horizontally? Because when you build horizontally, especially our high schools, they become mazes, and that requires miles and miles of cables, of HVAC ductwork, of pipes. Whereas if you built and and and the concrete footing, which is often the most expensive part of construction, that's a lot more concrete than if you had a smaller footing and built vertical, you know, three or four stories, maybe three because I don't know four would be allowed by regulation. But, is there a reason that we build horizontally according to the to the ed
specs? Well, I'll need to get back to you on that one. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Dunn. Mr. Frisch. Two things really quick. One, and folks can correct me if I'm wrong, but we have many schools that at one point started as replicas of each other in Fairfax County. But over successive renovations where needs were different, they've kind of developed their own personalities. Housed schools that were the same. And we saved money because of that, but things change over time. The second thing I would say is that, I think the work that the team
does is magnificent. And I've been fortunate to have a few renovated schools open in Providence District over the last six years, and they're gorgeous. Mosaic is not that far from here. It's almost done. It's it was in the video. It's beautiful. Oakton High School featured prominently in the video. Gorgeous. So, I appreciate the sentiment. I think beauty is in the eye of the beholder, although I will say brutalism is pretty brutal, and Washington's full of it, but it has its own character too. You know, I think the schools of the nineties look strange, compared to what we
think of as, like, contemporary architecture today with the beauty of it and what people expect. And, you know, there were schools built in the early nineties that didn't have many windows because people thought differently about what the goal was there. So I I think what I would like to see, and I appreciate mister McElveen's comment about what's the board's role here. I love the idea of a retreat on something this being baked into it as part of a broader conversation. How do we remain flexible so that we're not stuck with a choice made thirty years earlier that that is so rigid that it I think of Chantilly High School,
for example. You know, wonderfully high achieving school, not a window to find anywhere. And so that'll get fixed at some point, but that's know, something that probably should have been addressed when it was first built. And so I think of, like, what's the flexibility factor? Because one generation's beauty is another generation's. Oh my gosh. We thought that was beautiful. So I appreciate the hard work that everybody puts into this. I know it's not easy, and I also know that the community plays a role. Right? Every renovation includes a community committee that's there to help consult on the design of
the school. And I've had members of the community stand up and say, I don't like the way that those renderings look. And then other people in the room say, I quite like that. It's a big improvement on what we have. So we're not gonna please everybody, but the least we can do is try and use our tax dollars to the best of our ability. And I think mister Dunn is on the right approach when we talk about partnering with private institutions to try and bring in extra money to help defray that cost. Maybe that helps us be a little bit more free in what we choose to do. Maybe it just helps us decide to move on to another project that much sooner.
But I really appreciate the work that everybody's put into this. Thank you, mister Frisch. And I I have not yet noticed any avocado fixtures. So as I've made my way around the division And you haven't seen the six different shades of green tile that they've discovered as they've successfully moved through Falls Church High School. Oh, dear. And mauve. There was a mauve year apparently as well. Okay. Mauve I've seen but, you know. Thank you, mister Fresh. Mister McDaniel for an initial turn. Thank you. I always know when my wife is interested in a topic that we're talking about
because she will send me a text and Because she's a civil engineer. I have 50 texts now that I have to read on this topic when I get home tonight Literally 50 text messages from her on this topic. Great topic, speaking of, for our October 30 CPDC agenda. So I'll add agenda item for an ad spec primer and we'll have a conversation in CPDC and tee that up for a board work session if that's what the committee wants. Thank you. Thank you. Doctor. Anderson. Thank you. You know, one of the things that some of the comments remind me of is
open classrooms. One of my first teaching jobs was an open space, and then people realized we wanted walls. So walls went up. It changes based on whatever is Right. Current at the time. One of the things that I I also wanted to respond a little bit to what mister Dunn shared regarding, do we have a set standard? That's exactly what happens in Loudoun County. I know I had the opportunity to be the opening principal at one of the brand new schools. It is the same plan, except the color is different. You get the blue model, the red model, or the green model.
That's what they've used. But they also are not building or renovating in place. When you have students in the schools, we're a little bit more limited, and we see that being manifested right now in our beautiful renovations, but the second story that's just been added is taller than the first story. You have these weird little steps because they couldn't just blow it all up to start from scratch. So unless we can get into the conversation of swing spaces where we are moving everybody out and really starting from scratch and, you know, topography and all of those
things come second arily because we don't have anywhere for those kids to go for us to reuse the same plants, which would be a lot cheaper, because we won't have to customize each and every one of those buildings the way that we do now. And the other question that I had is regarding the ed specs, regarding height or rather stories. Bailey's is four stories. It's more than three. I don't know if it's four or five. So It's definitely more than three. So I didn't think there was a limitation there regarding how far we can go
up if somebody from if mister Borden can confirm. Yeah. We can get back to you on that. I think different, I think that was also a building wasn't it before? It was an office building. Right. So that, you know, my guess is when we purchased it, we purchased it as a building and we didn't I wasn't here, but I'm guessing we didn't take off a floor and we didn't add a floor. Floor. I'm thinking we just remodeled the floors we bought. So that's would be different maybe than, construction from the ground up, but we can get back to you on that. Sure. Thank you. And if if mister Moon were here, one of the things that I know he
would say is it was the fastest renovation ever because the building went from being purchased to being available for students to enter within eight months. And that's also another, option that I don't see us exercising as much. And this was a huge conversation during the pandemic where the, the board of supervisors would sit around and lament about how many open spaces that that they have available throughout the county because of the commercial side being down. And I've never we've never had sufficient conversation to figure out how can we maximize
those spaces that are still sitting empty with the need that we have on the school side. So I I again, with the joint facilities discussion that I believe miss Marron and mister, McDaniel are on, this would be something important to raise with the county folks. Thank you, doctor Anderson. Miss Marron? Yeah. I'm I'm glad to hear all this conversation. I certainly, again, advocate for more time for the board to spend learning about this. You know, I, as I've been at meetings in less than I was at two PTA meetings, I mentioned that there are traditions we have in Fairfax that other areas
don't. Like, if you're in Loudoun, you could put your address into the school locator and a window pops up that says this, assignment for your school is only good for one year because they review boundaries every year with a huge one, you know, over school division one in five years, or the funding of facilities. And I I do wish you know, this is a gorgeous video, and there's no question that our staff and our contractors deliver beautiful work. However, it makes it look like this is the frequency of which the buildings are. You know, I was thinking how many schools have I had open or renovated in
a 100 mil, and I don't feel like it's quite that frequent. Some had been, you know, I guess before I got on. But, you know, this little chart here that we included in the CIP, which I'm very fond of sharing, which drew audible gasps last night at the PTA meeting I was at because it shows that we get $8.54 per square foot to renovate and take care of our buildings, whereas Prince William gets $43.57. And this is why we can't do beautiful things more often because it takes basically
my entire lifetime, you know, of forty five years to do that. So I like the when we elevate the successes, but especially with this one, we can't just make it look like it's all rosy. Swim safety education, Maryland does that. Community use of buildings, you know, that's something that our spaces are used seven days a week. Prince William doesn't do that. Right? So there's all these things happening. And, again, I don't know what we are doing to advance these solutions to these situations. The The joint committee is is great and that's one thing, but until the board
really understands more about, well, how often are ed specs being, you know, updated and are we gonna approve the policies and there's just so much that has to be done. But I'm hoping that everyone who's watching will go vote for the the bond that's on the ballot that will pay for some of this. Thank you, miss Maron. Thank you, Doctor. Reede. Thank you. Agenda item 11, the consent agenda. Our adopted rules of parliamentary procedure, Robert's Rules provide for a consent agenda listing several items for approval by the board in a single motion.
Many items have gone through board review and documentation has been provided to all board members and the public in advance. Items may be removed from the consent agenda at the request of any board member prior to the meeting. The consent agenda items are on the screen. Is there any objection to approving the consent agenda? Hearing and seeing no objection, the consent agenda is approved. Agenda item 12, new business. The following are new business agenda items. There will not be a vote on any of these items this evening, but action is scheduled at a future meeting. Agenda item 13, superintendent matters.
I call on Doctor. Reed for superintendent matters. Thank you, Madam Chair. This evening I wanna begin, by wishing a happy National Principal's Month. To each and every one of our amazing, talented, incredible, hardworking, dedicated principals, at every level, elementary, middle, and high, and our secondary schools, I continue to just see incredible work. And the commitment of our principals is second to none. So we have a fabulous, All American Principal team. Just wanna wish them a happy, National Principal's Month.
Also, I wanna give a shout out to our community relations team led by director Angie Aldave. Angie and the intercultural engagement manager, Gracie Mendez, proudly accepted celebrate Fairfax's event of the year award, for their outstanding work on putting together our summer extravaganza recently. And just as a a brief little teaser to a future report, I wanna say how proud I am of our students and our educators for the 40% increase in
SAT National Merit semifinalists, year over year. We continue to outperform the Commonwealth of Virginia, the national and global standards in SAT scores. And we had two sixty two National Merit semifinalists. Even, I just couldn't be more proud of our students. And then we have 65.7% of our students who take the SAT. And the Commonwealth has just over 50. So even with 17%, or 16% more of our students taking the test, we're still
outperforming the Commonwealth. So definitely, very proud of our students and our educators. I had a chance to visit a number of, schools over the last couple weeks and saw a number of you as well. And in particular, I wanna give a shout out to Marshall High School's, auto technology, auto instructor Rebecca Fenton, as she received a $50,000 prize, from Marshall High School's automotive, department. And she was one of only 25 high school educators to receive the award out
of more than a thousand. So we're very proud of miss Fenton. And of course, I've had a chance to be in a number of our schools and just continue to be impressed by the work that happens every day. So thank you, madam chair. Thank you, Doctor Reed. Agenda item 14, board matters. Next on the agenda is board matters. I will call on each board member to speak in the order that's in the script. We're gonna start things off with Miss Dixit. Good evening, everyone. It is a wonderful time to reflect on the power of community and giving. This past month, we were glad to donate much needed school supply to the schools
in the Soli District. These resources will help ensure students and families have a support they need as the school year continues. Congratulations to all the students have been named semi finalist for the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, in 2025. There are 50 Sully's, district students among them. Congratulations to Oakton High School student Jovina Arulandu, a Sully student, and her friend Victoria Yu on publishing their first book, Hear That Squiggle Squiggle. Congratulations to Carrie Han of Navy Elementary for her incredible achievement in the School of
Sons of American Revolution poster contest. She was a state winner and won second prize at the national level. The gently charges are charged up for homecoming tomorrow, October and the community a fun, spirited, and safe celebration. And last but not the least, I wish happy Diwali to those who celebrate. It's a festival of lights and a victory of good over evil, and just spread
the light all around you, and have a great night. Thank you. Thank you, miss Dixit. Miss St. John Cunning. Thank you. Buenas noches. I was blown away at the Impact Awards last night. I'd like to congratulate all of the recipients. It's amazing the work our staffs are doing, and I'm particularly proud of those who represented our Franconia schools that were recipients. I'd also like to say happy principals' month to the fantastic and fabulous Franconia principals. As we gather this October, it is with a deep sense of respect and gratitude
that we recognize two important observances tonight, Indigenous Peoples Month and LGBTQIA plus History Month. These commemorations give us the opportunity to honor the rich cultural histories and contributions of communities whose stories have too often been marginalized or erased. We especially acknowledge and uplift the voices of indigenous peoples whose stewardship of this land predates our institutions spirited people within many indigenous nations, individuals who embody both masculine and
feminine spirits and who have held sacred roles in their communities for generations. Their histories and identities remind us of the diversity and depth of gender and sexuality long before colonial understandings were imposed. As we celebrate LGBTQIA plus history month, we recognize the courage of those who have fought for justice, visibility, and the right to live authentically. From Stonewall to today, the movement for LGBTQIA plus rights has been strengthened by people of all backgrounds, including black, brown, indigenous, and two spirit activists.
Our schools are not only places of learning, but of belonging. We reaffirm our commitment to ensuring that every student, staff member, and family, regardless of their identity, feel seen, valued, and supported. Well, going back, almost to the last meeting, we had a opportunity to visit Hayfield, to see their robotics competition under way. And doctor Reed led miss St. John Cunning, miss Anderson, and I on a mold inspection tour, and, things looked quite
good. So thank you, Eric and doctor Reed and everyone who has been working so hard on on that situation. I'm looking forward to participating in several parades this weekend. Tomorrow, I will be driving mister Moon in a golf cart at the Lake Braddock parade. I understand I'm gonna be marching with, mister McDaniel and miss Lady, on Saturday, and miss Lady will be wearing a Shamrock costume. So looking forward to to seeing that. So happy happy homecoming to Lake Braddock, Herndon, and so many others.
Miss Maron. Yeah. I also was very pleased to have us recognize Indigenous Peoples Month. That was one of the first things I helped to change in the school board. It was the 2020 and after a lot of work with local, constituents and education, we were able to change that. So I was very proud to lead lead that effort and, certainly want to continue teaching our students about Indigenous Peoples history and present day in our social studies and other curricula. This weekend is a double whammy for homecoming in the Hunter Mill area.
We've got South Lakes Homecoming tomorrow night and Herndon's homecoming on Saturday, so that is gonna be a fun time. I also, looking forward to our first governance meeting of the year for our school board. We're really getting in there to get through a lot of policies, get things really organized, so that is exciting. I'm going to the first flag girls flag football game that I've ever been to this Tuesday at, luckily it's the same place where there's a community boundary meeting. So I get to stop by for some flag football and then talk about boundaries
or listen to it. And then I'm headed next Friday to the Fairfax Arts Fairfax Awards Luncheon, which is honoring South Lakes High School art teacher Marco Rando, who is, one of the leaders of the amazing STEAM team that brings sculptures and art to Reston and really changes students' lives to go into art and architecture and engineering. And then other than that, the big news in my family this week is that my teenager has her permit to Drive. So that's new for me, and I guess I'll be driving with her this weekend in the future. Thank you. Mr. McDaniel It's been a very interesting few weeks and it's going to continue to be
interesting few weeks. The Impact Awards, as miss St. John Cumming mentioned last night, were a really good opportunity for us to showcase some of the best and brightest teams Herndon homecoming tomorrow, Chantilly excuse me, Herndon homecoming on Saturday, Chantilly homecoming tomorrow. But the most fun thing I did was yesterday in Gatehouse, I got to eat a lot of chili and judged the Gatehouse chili cook off, and congratulations to the winners of that. But the most impactful thing I did in the last couple of weeks was observe
a lockdown drill at one of our schools. It happened to be my daughter's school. And as I was walking with the principal as they were in lockdown, it just happened geographically that my daughter's classroom was the first classroom that was checked. And as a parent, knowing that my daughter was five feet away behind the door, shut with the flap down and the door locked and the lights off, hit really close to home. And I don't think that the public knows that we go through these exercises because we have to and because unfortunately we need to.
And it really reinforced the reason I ran for this office was to try and make sure that we don't have to do that going forward. So with that, good night. Mr. Frisch. Thank you. During the proclamation tonight, I talked a little bit about the arc of LGBTQIA history being of one of struggle and triumph, and I was reflecting on what's happened historically in the LGBTQ ballot measure in my home state, proposition six, that would have made
it illegal for, someone like me, a gay person, to teach and for my colleagues on this board who are supportive of people like me to teach. Thankfully, that ballot measure failed, thanks to bipartisan outrage over the very concept. It didn't fail by much, but it failed nonetheless. The next year in my life, 1979, Harvey Milk was assassinated, one of the first openly LGBTQ elected officials, and he led the the fight against that ballot measure.
When I was in elementary school, the AIDS crisis came about. And in our schools, regularly were conversations about whether children or people who have children, who are HIV positive should be allowed to have a free and appropriate public education. In fact, we have a policy in FCPS because of those conversations back then. When I got to high school, Matthew Shepard was the victim of a hate crime murder in Laramie, Wyoming.
And, you know, eventually it took ten years, but they passed passed the hate crimes law. In the also in high school, there was don't ask, don't tell keeping open military service from being allowed, and thankfully that was eventually repealed. And through it all, there has been this constant effort by the LGBTQIA community to constantly push and push and push to get what is rightfully theirs, which is just to live with peace and simple human dignity. And so through difficulty comes purpose and I'm, you know, convicted to the idea that
even though things are very difficult today, today, there will be a better day as long as we keep pushing towards, that more perfect union. And so, you know, I'm heartened by the young students that I meet in our GSAs and elsewhere who are not willing to settle for second class citizenship. So, since our last meeting, and I know I'm almost out of time, but I just want to say I thank my colleagues for joining me at A Night at
the Game, these the series of events I've been doing across high schools attended by Providence District students. We've now been to Marshall High School, had a great turnout there, and, Robin Lady and mister McDaniel were able to join me at McLean for one of them as well. It was a lot of fun. We hung out with principal Jones and, we have another one coming up, so go to our newsletter to find out more. Thank you, mr. Grish. Doctor. Anderson. Thank you. I do wanna make sure that I say national, happy National Schools' principals month. So the principals of Mason District, you are doing incredible work.
And as a former principal, I my hat is off to you. I do not think I could take on what you all are handling in this day and age. It has gotten exponentially harder. I also want to extend thank you to the community at Falls Church High School because so many of you turned out on Monday for the renovation meeting and I was very encouraged and I shared this with Doctor. Reed that the approach that staff took to make the school whole is exactly what I'd hoped to hear. We'll have a community that will not have use of its fields for the entirety
of the spring season and every single spring sport will be impacted. And I am grateful to hear from Mr. Horn and Doctor. Reed and others who were presenting that every action will be taken in order to ensure that those students do not feel the deep burden of not having, the chance to play on their home fields. So I'm looking forward to seeing more of that come to light in the near term. And I do invite everyone to please provide, if you have not done so, your
feedback, to the information that was shared on the capital improvement plan website for Falls Church High School. And I'll also be providing more information and a newsletter to come very, very soon. I wanted to highlight two school visits that I had in the past couple of weeks at Mantua and Camelot Elementary Schools, principal Shannon and principal Flaherty. And I was just so encouraged by those conversations. We spent probably 90 minutes talking about school data, and that's kind of my bag.
That's what I'm interested in, and I walked away just feeling so inspired as how those leaders were honing in on what students needed and how they were going to move and make a reality the growth that they're looking for for their schools. So thank you for your your work. It will exponentially, impact our students in such a positive way. Just a last reminder to the community regarding the boundary review meetings that are coming up that impact the Mason District Pyramid Schools, the False Church, the False Church High
School Pyramids and Marshall will be meeting at False Church in the new building on October 16 at 06:30 in the Annandale High School and Justice Pyramids will be meeting on October 21 at 06:30 at Annandale. So please be sure that you are at those places to have your voice be heard in the boundary conversation. And also want to remind the Annandale Pyramid of the Poe Middle School AP Center
community meetings happening on October 22 and the twenty eighth at 06:30 at Poe Middle School. And lastly, just happy homecoming to all of our schools. I know Justice is this and, Falls Church, I believe, are this well it follows off to a great start. I wanted to start by, saying that we have three community meetings that we will
be holding, in the Mount Vernon District. On Wednesday, October 22, we will be holding a meeting at Hayfield, High School cafeteria for Hayfield High School and South County High School School pyramids. On Friday, October 24, from 06:30 to eight, we'll hold a meeting at the Lewis High School cafeteria for the Lewis High School and Edison High School pyramids. And on Saturday, October 25 from 09:30 to 11AM, we'll be holding a meeting at
the Sandburg Middle School cafeteria for the Mount Vernon High School and West Potomac High School Pyramids. Please come out. It's, both a in person and virtual, participation is enabled. You can register online or just show up. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to my office. I recently had the pleasure of participating in AVID Family Night at Gunston Elementary, and I visited Laurel Hill Elementary and Island Creek Elementary. A big thank you to principal Urzinsky, principal Dalton, and principal Fallert for welcoming me.
We had great conversations about academic achievements, student outcomes, and took a tour of the buildings to understand their facility needs. Congratulations to West Potomac and Mount Vernon on their successful homecoming celebrations last weekend, which I was very happy to attend, and I'm excited to join South County High School, for their game in celebration tomorrow evening. In celebration tomorrow evening. The search is on for new principals at Lewis High School and Hayfield High School. We urge you to participate in the community conversations for Lewis High School. The community conversation will be Monday, October 13 at 6PM.
That's a Zoom meeting, so you can participate online. And for Hayfield, High School, it will be a community conversation on Tuesday, October 14 at 6PM. Again, participate by Zoom. So thank you to everyone for all you do and thank you to our school administrators and educators for helping to make such a big difference in the lives of our children. Thank you, Mr. Dunn. Miss Lady. Thank you. Like some of my colleagues, I thoroughly enjoyed attending the robotics competition at Hayfield High School and seeing our amazing students in action. Also loved attending the marching band Battle of the Bands at Herndon High School later
that same day. And I'm so excited about women's flag football. Huge thank you to the Washington Commanders and the Divas, but for the Commanders for supporting this new sport, designing and funding all the uniforms, and organizing two media events where these uniforms were revealed and our athletes could participate in professional media activities. It was super exciting to be at Westfield High School for that reveal. I was not able to be at, I believe, Annandale the following night, but, boy was it exciting and the kids are really pumped up.
As my colleagues have indicated, scenario four for boundary work should be coming out tomorrow. Please access the Explorer tool. Dates of the pyramid, event meetings are listed on that on the Boundary page. So, if you're interested in attending one of those please see those for the dates. And also, if you have feedback please, use the tools on the web page, and or reach out to your BRAC, committee members representatives. Those emails are also on the web page, or feel free to email me your
concerns and possible solutions. Please don't just complain, but bring a solution. And as we've also talked about, October is full of appreciation days and weeks. We give our support to all of our staff, but as indicated, it is principal's month in October. And, you know, I haven't formally been a Director of Student Services. I know how hard our principals work, the hours they put in, and we are very very blessed not just in Dranesville but in our entire school system to have amazing leadership. So kudos to those folks. Thank you.
I hope you feel appreciated. Custodians, we celebrated your day on October 2. National Coaches Day was October 6. Let's talk about coaches and the mentorship they provide to our young people. For many of us, there were athletes. It's those moments, those people, who actually were huge influences on our lives and for some of us, trajectory of what we chose to do with with our own professions. School lunch teams, thank them. October, National School Lunch Week. And our bus drivers, October '24, is is National Bus Safety Week.
As has been referenced, yes, Hernan's homecoming is, this weekend. The parade is on Saturday. I was sort of sharing with mister McElveen I might wear a Shamrock outfit, but then I did Google Enchanted Forest. I'm not sure if that's gonna work. But nonetheless, I will be in the parade and I am excited to walk with Doctor. Reid, Doctor. Ponce and my other colleagues on the board, Mr. Rackelveen and Mr. McDaniel. And that was my time. Next weekend is McLean's Homecoming. So if you're available to get to that, that'd be great.
Thank you. Thank you, miss. Lady. I'm gonna take a very quick turn. It's been a busy couple of weeks in the Springfield district. I attended I went did some school visits to Cherry Run Elementary with, mister McElveen or mister I'm sorry. Mister McDaniel. It's late. And at West Springfield High School with miss St. John Cunning. It was great to see the impactful work of our new principals, Maura Edwards and doctor Jim Patrick. I also had the pleasure of meeting with school parent leaders for my first roundtable of the year. It was wonderful to meet the new leaders and connect with them about their questions
and concerns around boundaries, start times, the new volunteer system, and general challenges they are experiencing in their schools and roles. On September 27, like many of my colleagues, I was able to attend the Chesapeake Robotics Icebreaker Challenge. I was fascinated by everything going on, and asked a lot of questions. And now I need to figure out how to get my youngest interested in robotics more than he already is. I also learned enjoyed the Fairfax County Council's PTA kickoff this week and was able
to answer a few questions while I was there. It was always it's always great to see what they're doing to support our schools, and students and staff. And lastly, I wanna recognize the Springfield District students from the seven different schools who have been named merit, National Merit Scholarship semifinalists. Congratulations to my finalists from, Centerville, Chantilly, Fairfax, Oakton, Thomas Jefferson, and West Springfield high schools as as well as those from Lake Products. So they will be receiving letters from me shortly. And we have a quick thing that we have to go back to.
Going back to item number 13, board committee reports, I call on Mr. Frisch to provide a report for the admin committee meeting this week. What happened this week? We had an admin committee meeting. We talked about many various things including the evaluation process, and we'll be bringing something to the full board at a later date. Thank you. And, miss St. John Cunning will is gonna give us a quick skipped update. So we had our first skip meeting of the year, and we're going to focus on workforce readiness this year.
And we also have the report that came out from last year from preschool, readiness as well, which I'll share with the board. And at 10:26PM, we are adjourned.