Coraggio Consulting
Fairfax County School Board Meeting, Thursday, June 26, 2025

Date: Thursday, June 26, 2025
Place: Fairfax County School Board, Virginia
Length: 3h 26m (video)
Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEePO6zMQKs
Official School Board page (FCPS): https://www.fcps.edu/about-fcps/leadership/school-board

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-29. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:23] I'm just not allowed to start until 7 on the dot, so legally. 7 o'clock. All right, this June 26, 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 Jocelyn Mooney, a Southlakes high school student.

[00:00:46] Pledge of Allegiance.

[00:00:49] Oh, say can you see the dawn's early light?

[00:01:28] So proudly we hailed the twilight's last gleaming Whose broad stripes and bright stars Through the perilous fight O'er the ramparts we watched Were so gallantly streaming And the rocket's red glimpsed by

[00:01:59] We have another round of applause for Ms. Looney.

[00:02:49] Agenda item 2.02 announcements. If you would like to review 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 fcps.edu/boarddocs.

[00:03:06] Tonight's meeting is being broadcast on channel 99 and live streamed on YouTube and our website at fcps.edu/livestream. Without objection, I'd like to go to agenda item 2.04 Mr. Dunnaway from the table. Agenda Item 2.04, proclamation honoring the FCPS participants in the Regneron International Science and Engineering Fair. I call on Mr. McElveen for a proclamation.

[00:03:38] Thank you. Whereas the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, ISAF, a program of the Society for Science for over 70 years, is the world's largest global science competition for high school students. Through a global network of local, regional, and national science fairs, millions of students are encouraged to explore their passion for scientific inquiry.

[00:04:00] And whereas each spring a group of these students is selected as finalists and offered the opportunity to compete for approximately nine million dollars in awards and scholarships. Over 1700 students represented 67 countries, regions, and territories across the world at ISEF 2025 hosted in Columbus, Ohio. And whereas the following Fairfax County Public School students have been chosen as finalists to attend the 2025 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair.

[00:04:29] Alina Albeck Marshall, Herman Bekele Woodson, Anoush Devkar TJ, Chloe Giglio McLean, Bennett Huang Langley, Nikhil Krishna TJ, Ethan Lee TJ, Isaac Leaton TJ, Ansh Malhotra TJ, Nived Nandakumar TJ, Jason Pan, Langley, Sarah Park, TJ, Aditya Pillai, Langley, Daniel Prokofiev, TJ, Thomas

[00:05:04] Barling, Oakton, Samanvi Tumala, Chantilly, Oliver Wang, TJ, and Lang Xiong, Langley. And whereas participating in the ISEF requires dedication, passion, and hard work from students who spend countless hours conducting experiments, analyzing data, and preparing presentations, The students who compete in the ISEF represent the future of scientific inquiry embodying the spirit of curiosity, creativity, and perseverance, and whereas ISEF fosters collaboration and exchange of ideas among students from diverse backgrounds promoting cross-cultural understanding and cooperation, and whereas the achievements of students in the ISEF serve to inspire future

[00:05:43] generations demonstrating the power of science and technology to address global challenges and improve lives. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board hereby recognize and commend The following students who qualify to attend the 2025 Regeneron ISEF, celebrating their ingenuity, determination, and contributions to the advancement of science and engineering.

[00:06:05] Is there a second for the Regeneron proclamation? Second. Ms. Lady. All those in favor? Ms. Marin, Ms. Dixit, Mr. McElveen, Dr. Anderson, Mr. McDaniel, Ms. Anderson, Ms. Sizemore-Hyser, Mr. Moon, Ms. Lady, Ms. St. John Cunningham, and myself, with Mr. Dunn away from the table.

[00:06:25] The proclamation passes. Congratulations. Agenda item 2.05, International Women in Engineering Day proclamation.

[00:06:42] I call on Ms. Dixit for a proclamation. Whereas, International Women in Engineering Day observed annually on June 23rd celebrates the achievement of women engineers worldwide and highlight the ongoing need for gender equity in engineering and STEAM fields.

[00:06:58] And whereas, women engineers have contributed to groundbreaking innovations across sector from infrastructure and aerospace to healthcare and computing and continue to shape the future of science and technology. In Fairfax County and the greater Northern Virginia region, women engineers play a vital role in federal agencies, tech forums, and research institutions, contributing to our region's competitiveness and resilience. And, Ferris, we honor the legacies of trailblazing women such as Dr. Ayanna Howard, pioneering roboticist and the first black women to lead a top rank U.S. engineering school. Geeta Rao, a NASA system engineer and a proud

[00:07:38] Fairfax County Public School graduate and Katherine Johnson whose NASA calculations helped to make US spaceflight possible and who is cooperated locally through the naming of Katherine Johnson middle school we also recognize Mary Golda Ross the first known Native American female engineer and the co-contributor to the science US space program edit Clark the first professionally employed female electrical engineer in the US and the the first woman to teach engineering in the University of Texas.

[00:08:08] Ada Lovelace, the world's first computer programmer, Sunita William, NASA astronaut and former Navy officer, and Mary W. Jackson, NASA's first black female engineer, and whereas despite these achievements, women, especially women of color, remain underrepresented in engineering, making up only 16% of engineers in the United States.

[00:08:32] Bridging this gap requires ongoing efforts to promote inclusive education, mentorship, and early exposure to STEAM opportunities, and Gleek. Whereas the success of future women engineers depends on the dedication of FCPS educators who spark curiosity, nurture talent, and create pathways into STEAM fields for students of all backgrounds, teachers and program leaders through career and technical education, advanced academics, science Olympiad, and other enrichment opportunities play a vital role in expanding equitable access to engineering experiences.

[00:09:10] And whereas FCPS is committed to cultivating an inclusive environment that empowers all students to explore and pursue STEAM careers through initiatives like Girls in Engineering, Math, and Science, robotics programs, career and technical education pathways, and partnerships with organizations like Girls Who Code for inspiration and recognition of science and technology first.

[00:09:32] and the Society of Women Engineers, FCPS is building a strong foundation for the next generation of engineers and innovators. And now therefore, be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board proclaims June 23rd, 2025, as International Women in Engineering Day in Fairfax County Public Schools.

[00:09:50] We encourage all members of our community to recognize and celebrate the contributions of women engineers, past and present, and future, and to support inclusive, equitable access to engineering and STEAM opportunities for all students. - Is there a second?

[00:10:08] - I will second. - Mr. McDaniel, all those in favor? Ms. Marin, Ms. Dixit, Mr. McElveen, Dr. Anderson, Mr. McDaniel, Ms. Anderson, Ms. Sizemoreheiser, Mr. Moon, Ms. Lady, Ms. St. John Cunningham, and myself with Mr. Dunn away from the table. That is unanimous otherwise. Congratulations, the proclamation carries.

[00:10:32] Agenda item 2.06, proclamation honoring FCPS National Merit Scholarship winners. I call on Mr. McElveen for a proclamation. Thank you and bear with me, there are a lot of names in this one. Whereas the National Merit Scholarship Corporation was established in 1955 at a time when there was concern that the United States was lagging behind in the Cold War scientific race to identify and honor scholastically talented American youth and to encourage them to develop their abilities to the fullest.

[00:11:00] And whereas each scholarship winner is evaluated on his or her academic record, including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned scores from two standardized tests contributions and leadership in school and community activities a personal essay and a recommendation from a high school official and whereas in 2025 the national merit scholarship corporation has offered a total of 6870 scholarships worth nearly 26 million dollars and whereas each national merit scholarship comes in the amount of 2500 each corporate sponsored scholarship is renewable for up to

[00:11:34] four years and ranges from $1,000 to $10,000 per year, and each college-sponsored scholarship provides between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board hereby recognizes and commends the following students who have received scholarships this year.

[00:11:56] For the National Merit Scholarships sponsored by corporations, we have Samarth Bagav, TJ, Claire Chen, TJ, Jayden Lee, Langley, Riley Catherine Sewer, Langley, Eileen Wu, McLean.

[00:12:12] For the scholarship sponsored by higher education institutions, we have Nicholas Argueta Vasquez, Edison, Dean Nuri, TJ, Hudson John Keeler, TJ, Arnav Gupta, TJ, Blake Powell, McLean, Seth Parcell, Oakton, John Shinkman, TJ, Asha Das, TJ, Andrew Wood, Southlakes, Siddharth Kumar, TJ, and finally for the scholarships from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

[00:12:44] These include Logan Bradley, TJ, Eloise Minnig, TJ, Anvi Garg, TJ, Samvrit Rao, TJ, Rohan Kupatla TJ, Hemangya Elaprulu Chantilly, Ray Jong TJ, Brace M TJ, Dhruv Chana TJ, Chloe Choi Woodson, Shuba Udipi Fairfax, Joshua Wong Oakton, Jonah Ascali Lake Braddock, Sophia

[00:13:17] Zhang Lin TJ, Amy Key Langley, Vishwa Rikasi Langley, John Wu Langley, Sanchali Banerjee TJ Arnav Bala TJ Jackson Micah Oakton Aravin Siva Westfield Sophia Huang TJ Rachel Noe McLean Phoebe Pan TJ Patrick Lee TJ Jason Howe TJ Ania Rivzi Langley and Kyan Yang Madison is there a second second Mr. Moon all those in favor Miss Marin Miss Dixit Mr. McElveen Dr. Anderson Mr.

[00:13:56] McDaniel, Ms. Anderson, Ms. Sizemore-Heiser, Mr. Moon, Ms. Lady, Ms. St. John Cunningham, and myself. Mr. Dunneway from the table, the motion carries. Congratulations. Before the next proclamation is read, I would like to recognize Judge Quandter, who is the dean representative of the Quandter family. He's a retired senior administrator, administrative judge for the District of Columbia. Can you stand? He's not here. Okay. Dr. Anderson, I call on you for a

[00:14:32] proclamation thank you whereas the quander family stands as one of the oldest african-american families with documented history in the united states and their name dating back to the 1600s and whereas the quander family's history is deeply intertwined with the history of the mount vernon estate fairfax i'm sorry mount vernon estate fairfax county and includes significant contributions and sacrifices made to benefit Fairfax County Public Schools, and whereas the Quandah family has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to preserving their

[00:15:12] rich heritage, notably through the establishment of the Quandah family reunion structure in 1926, which legacy is being preserved through the Quandah Historical and Educational Society Incorporated, and the continuation of of family reunions in the Mount Vernon area.

[00:15:34] And I would like to yield to Mr. Dunn to continue. - Go ahead, Mr. Dunn. - Thank you. Whereas the descendants of Henry Kwando and Margaret Pug-Kwando have persevered through many hardships to become military, religious and civic leaders, business owners, teachers, principals, medical professionals, news anchors, judges and authors, exemplifying resilience and the pursuit of excellence,

[00:16:09] Now, therefore, be it finally resolved that the Fairfax County School Board does hereby recognize and honor the Quandter family on the occasion of their 100th anniversary of the Quandter family reunion, August 8th through 10th, 2025, noting the family's historical significance and celebrating their invaluable contributions and lasting impact on Fairfax County schools and the community.

[00:16:35] Is there a second? Second, I guess. Mr. Dunn. All those in favor, Ms. Marin, Ms. Dixit, Mr. McElveen, Dr. Anderson, Mr. McDaniel, Ms. Anderson, Ms. Sizemore-Heisner, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Moon, Ms. Lady, Ms. St. John Cunningham, and myself. That is unanimous. Congratulations. The proclamation passes.

[00:16:56] I believe Judge Quander is now with us. You want to wave? There he is. I would like to welcome all those here in support of the proclamation honoring FCPS National Merit Scholarship winners to please join the board for a photo at the front of the dais.

[00:17:54] For the National Merit, if you could follow Ms. Park and Ms. Fliss, they will hand you

[00:19:31] your certificates. I would like to welcome all those here in support of the International Women and Engineering Day Proclamation to please join the board for a photo at the front of the dais.

[00:19:46] I would like to welcome all those here in support of the International Women and Engineering Day Proclamation to please join the board for a photo at the front of the dais.

[00:20:25] I would like to welcome all those here in support of the proclamation honoring the FCPS participants in the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair to please join the

[00:20:55] board for our photo at the front of the dais. I would like to welcome all those here in support

[00:21:52] of the honoring the Quandar Family Proclamation to please join the board for a photo at the front

[00:21:57] of the dais. Chair Frisch, that completes our pictures. Board members, please return to your

[00:23:43] seats. I'll say that statement is a lot more effective at quieting the audience than it is in getting board members to return to their seats. Agenda item 2.07, Virginia High School League and academic team recognitions. The school board is very pleased to recognize the recipients of the spring 2025 VHSL championships tonight. These championships occurred after our June 12th regular meeting, so we are recognizing these teams this evening. Please stand when your team is

[00:24:23] recognized. After all recognitions are completed, individual teams will be invited to have a photo with the board at the dais. Dr. Anderson? The board would like to recognize the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology Girls Tennis Team for being awarded the VHSL Class 6 Girls Tennis State Championship. Nice job. The board would also like to recognize Principal

[00:25:00] Michael Mackay, Director of Student Activities David Arthur, and Coach Brandon Ward for their contribution to the team. The board next would like to recognize the Langley High School Boys tennis team for winning the VHSL Class 6 Boys Tennis State Championship. The board would also like to recognize Principal Lawrence Stroud, Director of Student Activities Jeffrey Noto, and Coach Jack Porter for their contributions to the

[00:25:32] team. The board would like to recognize the West Potomac High School Boys Lacrosse team for winning the VHSL Class 6 Boys Lacrosse State Championship. The board would also like to recognize Principal Jessica Stats, Director of Student Activities Matthew McDonald, and Coach John Stamos for their contributions to

[00:26:01] the team. The board would like to recognize the Herndon High School Boys Soccer Team for winning the Class 6 Boys Soccer State Championship. The board would also like to recognize Principal Elizabeth Noto, Director of Student Activities Zizel Barkas, and Coach Jordan Steffi for their

[00:26:30] contributions to the team. Where's Herndon? Let's go Herndon! The board would like to recognize the Robinson Secondary School Film Team for winning the VHSL Film Festival, Best Animation Film and best public service announcement. The board would also like to recognize Principal Tracy Phillips, Director of Student Activities Andy Jimmo, and team

[00:27:06] sponsor Jody Hull for their contributions to the team. Congratulations Rams. The board would now like to invite members of the Robertson Secondary School film team, school staff, and supporters to please join the board at the dais for a photo, and we ask my colleagues to please remain at the front of the dais for the

[00:27:31] remaining photos. I would like to invite the Herndon High School Boys soccer team,

[00:28:58] school staff and supporters to please join the board for a photo and West

[00:29:02] Potomac you're on deck the board would like to invite the West Potomac high

[00:30:07] school boys lacrosse team school staff and supporters to please join the board

[00:30:11] for a photo Langley you're on deck I would like to invite the Langley high

[00:32:28] school boys tennis team school staff and supporters to please join the board for

[00:32:32] a photo TJ you're on deck I would like to invite the Thomas Jefferson high

[00:33:35] school for science and technology girls tennis team school staff and supporters

[00:33:39] to please join the board for a photo. Chair Frisch, that was our last photo. Board members, please

[00:36:23] return to your seats. Agenda item 3.01, community participation. The next order of business is community participation. We welcome all community members who are here and those who signed up to speak this evening. Additional information about signing up to provide comments at school board regular meetings and public hearings can be found on the school board's website at fcps.edu

[00:37:00] slash school board. During the sign-up process, community members acknowledged they were informed of the school board's expectations for 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 a speaker's remarks. Audience members may not join speakers at the podium and should remain their seats including when recording video or taking photos. We're grateful that you are here to speak with us today and thank you for your cooperation. School board members will be listening

[00:37:38] but not responding. Madam Clerk please call the first speaker. Student speaker number one. Good evening Dr. Reed and school board members. My name is Mia and I'm a rising 10th grader at Centerville High School. I'm here tonight to throw out suggestions on student input. First the renaming

[00:38:14] of the school board student representative to be the superintendent's student advisory council's representative to the school board. As I have learned, SAC is the only body that is allowed to vote for who that person will be. Even a candidate who makes the final cut and is not a SAC member is not allowed to vote in the election. How democratic is that? From my understanding of the composition of SAC, there is no clear, fixed, or consistent way FCPS chooses their SAC representatives. It allows each high school sponsor to do what they want. Maybe the group who should choose the student rep should be all the students in SGA at each high school instead of a hundred out of the 50,000 plus high school students. I do realize

[00:38:53] that most of SGA classes are not representative of their school community in terms of race and gender and most sponsors are not as diverse as our student body but we must start somewhere for change to occur. Second, there should be three student representatives to the school board just like the board's three at-large members. Third, for the student rep to have an official vote. Time for the school board to mention this to Richmond in an official letter every year until it happens.

[00:39:20] Fourth, for there to be student input and potential boundary changes. You all included us in the strategic plan, so why not here? Fifth, why does Langley, Madison, McLean, and Marshall have their graduation ceremonies at Constitution Hall? Is this a privilege or entitlement for these schools?

[00:39:37] Has FCPS ever asked a student like myself if I would like to have my ceremony there? This opportunity should be given to all high school students and on a rotational basis. Finally, for FCPS to create a yearly student congress conference where student leaders from the county's student human rights ambassadors, academic clubs, youth groups, SGA, SAC, and more gather to network and tackle issues together.

[00:40:00] Thank you. Laura Jackal. Good evening, Dr. Reed and school board members.

[00:40:26] My name is Laura Jackal. I'm a parent of three children, all of whom have been or are being educated in FCPS. I've been a parent in FCPS for approximately 14 years, and I still have approximately 13 to go. As most parents say, my three children are completely different, but in my case, this is extremely true.

[00:40:42] I have someone who is twice exceptional, someone who is exceptional, someone who has Down syndrome. They're all different. For my middle child, I recently applied for advanced academics, and she was declined on the first round despite extremely high Nagliari and COGAD scores. We appealed this decision and pursued additional testing as recommended.

[00:41:00] it is what I want to speak about today was about the level four appeals process in the county that we experienced thankfully our school is extremely supportive and recognizes our child's intelligence and need for academic rigor and plans to place her in the level four classroom anyway where there is actually room of course I was disappointed by a negative decision by the FCPS AAP program but not entirely surprised since a lot of my experience with appeals in the county has had to do with supporting families with special special education needs I did however a feel that I owed it to my daughter to appeal on her behalf I was frustrated by the results of this overall and especially in light of us being recommended to pursue additional testing

[00:41:37] I do understand after googling that there are parents out there who are actually teaching their kids the Cog out and Aglieri tests and for that reason high scores on these tests can no longer be relied upon when determining placement for children that's incredibly annoying but again not surprising given the parents that I have met throughout my 19 years of parenting in the county however when part of the appeals process involves the option to submit additional testing from state licensed and nationally board certified neuropsychologists who would obviously be at risk of license loss if testing was not completed and reported in a standardized manner we have to consider what we should be what kind of weight we should be giving to this testing as a

[00:42:14] healthcare leader I am familiar with the discomfort of reviewing processes that don't seem to make sense however I would encourage FCPS to continue to review these processes to make sure that we are actually giving appropriately Eileen Mavity Hoffman great thank you all for having me here this evening my name is

[00:42:52] Eileen Mavity Hoffman and I'm currently a fourth grade teacher at Spring Hill Elementary School about to start my 13th year in public education the vast majority of our curriculum occurs within the walls of our school the exception being field trips we largely select our own field trips and do so with an intentional alignment with our grade level curriculum however in fourth grade one such field trip is not up to teacher discretion but is instead mandated as part of our board approved curriculum that trip requires that we attend a National Symphony Orchestra performance at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. And while that field trip historically aligned with our curriculum and our district priorities, I argue that that's no longer the case.

[00:43:30] With the current administration exercising unprecedented influence over the Kennedy Center, the values once espoused by that institution are no longer in play and no longer aligned with FCPS's mission to educate all students equitably. This partnership with the Kennedy Center has long existed and it was begun with the intention of exposing all of our students to high quality arts performances. It was a space that celebrated the inclusion of everyone in the arts and the ability of everyone to make a contribution to the worldwide art scene. However, the tone of the center has changed over the last few months with programs being canceled by the center and by artists who no longer find the space supportive. It seems as if the Kennedy Center itself is

[00:44:10] canceling programs with specific identities in mind, namely those of individuals who belong to the LGBTQ+ community. These performances include Finn, a children's musical created by well-known gay artist Chris Nee and the NSO's performance with the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington DC as part of World Pride. Because of that I think it is time that we reconsider and perhaps pause our district-wide partnership with the Kennedy Center. The space no longer aligns with our strategic plan namely Goal 4 which prioritizes equitable access and opportunity for all students.

[00:44:40] We cannot require our students and staff to attend a performance in a space that would deny some the ability to see their own stories and their own communities celebrated. As a district we

[00:44:50] should George sorry Todd Usher Todd Usher George Becerra good evening Dr. Reed and school board members I'm here tonight on behalf of the Minority Student

[00:45:26] Achievement Oversight Committee to get to give recognition to two people first condolences the 100 mill district community on the loss of Supervisor Kathy Hudgens Supervisor Hudgens took it upon herself to read our annual reports and set up a meeting with our leadership to go over our reports for years this was started because of the close relationship Supervisor Hudgens had with Dr. Bussey I remember the first time Dr. Bussey told me he was going to set up the meeting with her. I told him what? I was scared to present her and answer her tough questions. Dr. Busty said, don't worry, I will be there to assist you. I first met the supervisor when then Chairman Boulevard stood up Skip and I was on it with Ms. Hudgens. I was awed by her passion and righteous truth telling. As the Skip created the One Fairfax policy, the discussion was

[00:46:06] turning to looking at people's socioeconomic status. First, she interjected, I'm not opposed to looking at economic status, but this country and county have never answered the question of race. But we are quick to jump to other variables first because uncomfortable conversations Sharon Bulla said at Supervisor Hudgens last Board of Supervisors meeting. She was the soul of the Board of Supervisors I personally missed her advocacy and presence I missed her speeches from the dais where she could literally drop the mic many times As the years went by and learned from her staff that for some reason she made real time to me and like to hear my opinions on different Matters from education and social justice that meant a lot to me The second recognition goes to miss Noelle Clemenco FCPS assistant superintendent instructional services and the good honest work

[00:46:46] she has done in that role. She had a hard act of following Dr. Presidio, and at that time, MSAOC leadership was starting to trust SCPS again after years of tension. I personally did not give her much of a wiggle room because I did not know her. I was wrong in that approach. As the last few years have gone by since her hire, we didn't know that she was an ally and we could turn to her for help in truthful conversations.

[00:47:05] I thank her for meeting with me this week and bridging hopefully a smooth transition to Dr. Riley. We wish her the best in her next chapter in her life and not to be a stranger. Thank you. - Kathleen Mallard.

[00:47:25] Good evening everybody and, wow, congratulations to all those amazing students, the National Merit Scholars, the VHSL winners, and the Rogeran participants.

[00:48:01] I'm talking to you tonight about, again, about student safety, especially female student safety and the violation of their privacy and safety, both in sports as well as bathrooms and locker rooms. In the past I've spoken on the issue of human sex trafficking incidents in every Fairfax County public high school some middle and some elementary schools.

[00:48:25] This is extremely worrisome when we see that the FLE social emotional learning and human growth and development curriculum seem to some extent at times to be grooming students. I see where in December 2024 America First Legal won a major victory in its lawsuit against Fairfax County public schools.

[00:48:44] The Fairfax County Circuit Court ruled that FCPS's pronoun and bathroom policies violate students' constitutional rights. The lawsuit filed on behalf of several students challenged policies that punished students for misgendering and allowed students to use bathrooms based on their gender identity rather than their biological gender.

[00:49:02] AFL argued these policies compelled speech and violated students. This case is still being litigated and I think has been forwarded to until September. You know, yesterday, I don't know if you all noticed, but this America First Legal won a big lawsuit against Montgomery County Public Schools and a major financial settlement.

[00:49:30] So I'm really worried if this happens in September. I mean, the money, you all are already short in your budget. Please don't use your money to fight an endless series of lawsuits. Maybe you're not going to. Maybe it will be settled.

[00:49:46] but I do hope that's the case thank you very much Doug Taylor good evening I kind of had to rush here from another meeting so I don't have any prepared comments it's going to be a little off the cuff but I just want to talk briefly about facilities broadly as you probably all know we have a renovation queue that is very long and getting longer well beyond the sort of standard

[00:50:20] practice of what the expected renovation cycle should be and then very recently we have the King Abdullah school which is now going to have to shift to the left on the budget right it was in the future projects now it's going to have to be sooner we're going to find money for that I don't know we haven't said publicly how that's being funded if that's going to affect the renovation queue or not we have done lowering which I noticed on the consent agenda tonight is going to take a little bit more money to get just through that first planning phase.

[00:50:52] And costs are going up. It's net zero. It's, you know, COVID inflation. It's all these different things. The budget, obviously, with the county this year got tighter. We have less and less money available. And I'm concerned that we are prioritizing a little bit without getting to the merits of Dunloring and KAA specifically, but that we're prioritizing building capacity overtaken care of our existing schools and I would like to see more emphasis put on that renovation queue because it's a little bit invisible that the school that would have been funded three years from now for renovation instead it's

[00:51:30] going to be four or five we don't really see that but stuff is getting pushed out because we have to prioritize the funding right now for for those construction projects and given the CIP data I want to make sure that we're grounding those decisions to prioritize construction on that data and in the CIP currently I'm just not quite kind of seeing as much of that severe demand as I am seeing the severe demand for renovation from schools that have backed up toilets and falling ceiling tiles and no heat in the band

[00:52:03] room and and things like that so yeah that's what my my general comment is chair fish that was our our last public speaker.

[00:52:23] - Agenda item 4.01, student representative matters. The board would like to thank Ms. Sawant for her service and dedication through her term this past year. And for the last time, let's give a round of applause for Ms. Sawant, our student school board member.

[00:52:57] - I'm gonna cry, I'm gonna make it through. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am so, so grateful to have been in FCPS since kindergarten, to have seen the side of FCPS this past year. When I ran for student representative, of the many goals that I had, my biggest one was that I wanted to bring student voice to the table.

[00:53:18] And what I meant by that was let students see how the decisions are made on the other side of the table, how they can get involved in those decisions, and how they can contribute to meaningful change that we make on this board. And hearing from students across so many different schools with different opportunities and backgrounds, from varsity athletes to those who were really involved in student government to English language learners, I learned about what works and what doesn't, what things students see and what they don't, or things that they wish they had that they saw at other schools, what makes one school different than another school.

[00:53:49] Our students are counting on us to make access to opportunities equitable, to make sure that the work being done on this board and the policy we approve, the excellence that we have in this county is not just in the strategic plan, but felt in every school, every classroom, no matter where in FCPS you are.

[00:54:06] There is so much that goes into what this division does, than I could have imagined and so much that I discovered this year. And I am so proud of all of the incredible things that I just got to be a small part of this year from pulling through with our budget on a very difficult year, collective bargaining for our teachers and pay raises, our capital improvement plan, the boundary review, healthy and diverse meals for all students, adding more courses and expanding opportunity to the CTE courses we have, the support for our military families, the excellence that we have in all our students. We had a room filled with students and all of the incredible things they've done. That's

[00:54:41] what makes us FCPS. But yet there is always more to do. That's what makes this work so important but also daunting. Issues that will continue to affect students far beyond my term are safety in schools and access to security and mental health resources when conflicts do arise, moving into the rise of technology and AI and how that's going to impact learning and what classroom and homework look like, access to opportunities and after-school programs as we continue to grow as well as new courses and lastly something that I've really realized this past year is knowing how to engage in meaningful and respectful dialogue in a world that so desperately needs it right now. Knowing

[00:55:21] how to have those difficult conversations with each other, knowing how to respect each other, and teaching our students to do the same is going to be so important because no matter what change will affect us in the coming years we have to continue to maintain that united front that we are together in this. My hope for FCPS beyond me is that every student walks into their school knowing who their person is. It could be a teacher, it could be a peer, it could be a board member, it could be someone on staff. Knowing that they have a voice, knowing that they are heard, knowing that they can ask for help and give feedback, because that belonging is how we're able to make these changes

[00:55:58] on the board and progress FCPS into the years beyond that. Student voice is what builds that community. And so I'd just like to thank this board for having so much patience and grace with me this year, to the incredible students that I was able to hear from and work with on the Superintendent's Advisory Council and the Secondary Voices Advisory Committee, the leadership team, the instructional services team, to my parents and my mom who comes to every single meeting and stays for the entire time, to my friends, to every teacher who has helped me along the way, to the teachers that have come to my school board meetings and my amazing amazing counselor I could not have done

[00:56:35] the last four years without her to the clerk's office and everyone who supported me with my onboarding and I know there are so many other people that I haven't mentioned but I could not have asked for a better year and I'm just so grateful for how much I learned on this board and how many like cool experiences I got to go to I'm not very good at goodbyes so to close I'm going to quote Winnie the Pooh that's what you guys all have which is how lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard. This is not goodbye. I'm so excited to see what this board does in coming years. I will keep in touch. I will follow. So thank you so much. Yours always,

[00:57:13] Megan Sawant. Thank you, Ms. Sawant. After a year on this board, Harvard is really going to be a letdown. Thank you. Agenda item 5.01, action item, certification of closed meeting compliance.

[00:57:34] In order to comply with section 2.2-3712D of the Code of Virginia, it's necessary for the board to certify that since the Fairfax County School Board convened a closed meeting on June 26, 2025, to the best of each board member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered by the board during the closed meeting.

[00:58:01] Do I have a motion? I move. Ms. Marin. Mr. McIlveen second all those in favor Miss Marin Miss Dixit Mr. McIlveen Dr. Anderson Mr. McDaniel Miss Anderson miss Sizemore Heiser Mr. Dunn Mr. Moon Miss Lady Miss St. John Cunning and myself that is unanimous the motion carries agenda item 5.02 confirmation of action taken and closed I call on Miss St. John Cunning for a motion I move to deny the school reassignment appeal of a student who was responsible for a Title IX sexual harassment in violation of FCPS regulation 2118 and confirm the disciplinary decision of the division superintendent.

[00:58:39] Is there a second a second all those in favor Miss Marin mystics it Mr. McElveen Dr. Anderson Mr. McDaniel Miss Anderson Miss Sizemore Heiser Mr. Dunn Mr. Moon Miss St. John Cunningham myself opposed abstentions Miss Lady the motion carries I call on Dr. Anderson for a motion.

[00:59:02] I move to expel the student who committed a serious offense in violation of school board policy by assaulting another student at school specifically by strangulation causing injury. Is there a second. I'll second Mr. McDaniel all those in favor Miss Marin Mr. McIlveen Dr. Anderson Mr. McDaniel Miss Anderson Mrs. Sizemore Heiser Mr. Dunn Mr. Moon Miss Lady Miss Agent Cunningham myself that is unanimous the motion carries agenda item 5.03 revisions to policy 8258 building evaluation building renovations and infrastructure maintenance I call on

[00:59:38] Miss Anderson for a motion I move that the school board amend policy 8258 building evaluation building renovation and infrastructure maintenance as amended and detailed in the agenda item attachment is there a second I second mr. McDaniel miss Anderson would you like to speak to your emotions yes I would so that we have in in our past in Fairfax County there have been moments that we have determined that buildings were no longer useful for us in different ways and many of those times we've repurposed the building into something else and unfortunately we have one building that has been vacant for 15

[01:00:16] years and it is no longer able to be used for a number of different reasons and this just gives the school board the the path forward to ensure that this doesn't happen in our county again this doesn't happen within our school district again so that if we are going to decide that a building is no longer inhabitable or no longer useful for the school district then we will decide to dispose of the building at the same time that we make that determination so the simple thing that happens here is that we're just adjusting this policy to include demolition as part of part of one of the actions mr. McDaniel would you like to speak to your second I would just say that I agree with what my

[01:00:56] colleague said I mean what this policy amendment does is it effectively creates a roadmap in policy in my view it creates clarity certainty and really guidance for future boards it it closes what you know it could be a an area of limbo where buildings could be stuck in in perpetuity or for a long time and we have an example of that and I'll bring a follow-on motion to that effect but But really, you know, this policy amendment is something that I, and I know my colleague

[01:01:33] here that's bringing it forward, we view as a critical path forward for this division, especially as infrastructure is on everybody's mind as we keep hearing over and over and over again. Thank you, Mr. McDaniel.

[01:01:50] Dr. Anderson. Thank you. Thank you for bringing this forward. I know that we do have to make sure that our policies are broad enough to be able to cover of the different scenarios. I think my biggest question about this is the timetable. How did we land on 36 months? Because it seems as if everything goes so much slower. Would you like to yield some time for an answer? What's that? I would not. I'd like for staff to then answer that. This is not a staff motion. This is a motion by board members. So how do I get it answered without using my time? You yield time to people you'd like to answer

[01:02:26] it. Okay. Then I'm not going to do that. Okay. So that's one of my questions regarding THE 36 MONTHS AND I THINK THE OTHER QUESTION THAT I HAD ON THIS IS WOULD THIS REQUIRE A CIP AMENDMENT OF WHAT IS THERE A CIP IMPACT I GUESS THAT'S A STAFF QUESTION I WILL DEFER TO MR.

[01:02:48] FOSTER THERE'S NO CIP IMPACT WOULD YOU MIND TURNING YOUR MIC ON IT'S NOT WORKING OH NOW IT IS THERE WE GO THANK YOU THANK YOU DR. ANDERSON MS. MARIN YES THANK YOU AND THANK YOU MS. ANDERSON AND MR. MCDANIEL FOR ALL OF YOUR WORK ON THIS AND AS I'VE SHARED WITH WITH YOU AND WITH DR.

[01:03:19] read I think this really speaks to how the school board really needs to plan for time to focus on our facilities this 8.7 billion dollars there is no universe in which this building should have been vacant for 15 years and we have to own that responsibility and also our Board of Supervisors because it's that public bond money so I am very supportive of actions that ensure that our buildings are not sitting vacant and causing hazards that said I want to be sure I'm understanding a few things so and I had said to the motion makers that I support this effort I'm just rechecking the language though and I

[01:03:56] think the language is different than what was shared on Monday in the email that I agreed to it was saying something about when renovation costs would exceed 75% of a replacement value but that doesn't seem to be what's posted in the red line and I do have questions that dr. Anderson actually was raising like i'm glad to see that in the red line in the updates it's saying that when a building evaluation determines that it's uninhabitable um but maybe the best option is to sell the property and have somebody else deal with it or you know i think just immediately saying it has to be

[01:04:34] demolished i would like more data and like i don't know how much that costs and so i i am okay with speaking to the need to be able to do some kind of action on a decrepit uninhabitable building but but I'm not sure, well, first of all, I'm not sure if it's the same language I agreed to, so I would like that clarification, please, I don't know if it's just a clerical error, but some of these other things about, you know, do we wanna have other options?

[01:05:02] Is it immediately go to demolition when maybe, you know, we also have a park service that maybe they want land that can't withhold a big heavy building like is currently. So I'd like to know more, please, if the motion makers and perhaps Dr. Reed could speak to that.

[01:05:19] Thank you. Mayor. Mr. Moon. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be supporting this motion, however, you know, sometime soon I would like to have some guidance from Mr. Foster as to what the school board's obligations are related to a surplus property. You know, in the past when there were surplus property, while properties declare a surplus by the Fairfax County School Board, I was under understanding that that had to be turned over to a governing body,

[01:05:57] and I want to have some clarification on those points. Thank you, Mr. Moon. Ms. Dixit. I'll be supporting this motion. Definitely 15 years sitting, building, not doing any purpose, not serving the county and our community.

[01:06:16] That doesn't make any sense. I'm not in the favor of selling it to a third party or disposing it to anyone because the space in Fritz County is very limited now, and it's just not possible to find the land anymore in the most area of the county especially that's what we saw in the western high school situation so i would like to see what options we do we have when it in the time comes but at this moment i'd like to support this motion thanks thank you miss dixon mr dunn i i wanted to

[01:06:50] ask um the building evaluation does the building evaluation uh who who commences that and um under what circumstances dr reed sorry building evaluation who commences that and under what circumstances uh mr dunn this is a motion by uh board members so are you asking how dr reed would implement the policy well the beginning of the motion refers to a building evaluation that is a motion by board members dr reed didn't write this i i understand that but she would operationalize

[01:07:26] it that's what i just asked yes dr reed thank you uh mr dunn i think that um we would obviously have to do a building evaluation to determine whether or not this would be a building that is uninhabitable. And again, in the red, I think the red lines, there are a number of reasons why it might be noted as uninhabitable. And that building evaluation likely would be done by a

[01:08:02] third party i have the several i have a feasibility study um that's been done um and i it would likely be a third party thank you i i guess i just um in my district uh we have the original manfredon high school which um i i don't i was not involved in the uh formal determination but i believe it was considered uninhabitable whether it was a formal determination i don't know but now it's been repurposed into a multipurpose facility through economic development authority bonds

[01:08:40] and historic renovation grants, and I just would, I support this motion, I think it makes sense, but I hope that as you develop regulations to implement this, the building evaluation can include not just, you know, uninhabitable, not uninhabitable, but are there potential alternate uses that are built into the front end so that demolition is not the automatic outcome because building something from scratch is very expensive as we all know in the modern economy and and the building evaluation on the front end should i i believe encompass some assessment of

[01:09:19] whether you know third parties might be able to use it county might be able to use it or whether it might be able to benefit our community in a different way even if it's no longer able to serve the original function of a school just like the original Mount Vernon High School if it had been demolished as I believe was under discussion some years ago that would have been a tragedy both from a historic preservation standpoint but also an amazing facility that is now able to serve the community. Thank you Mr. Dunn. Ms. Anderson. Okay so we've had some good questions and I wanted to give some answers. First of all this would only be

[01:09:55] the demolition would only be attached if a building has been determined to be uninhabitable. In the case that you're, Mr. Dunn, you're talking about, you're specifically talking about a time that we didn't own the building. We just determined that we weren't going to take it back from the county. So that wasn't our determination necessarily in terms of owning the building.

[01:10:11] It was about whether or not it was going to be abusive for us. And so in this case particularly, the 36 months is two bond cycles. That was the reason that we picked it. However, the funding does not have to be tied to a particular bond if that's the case.

[01:10:27] That's why it was recommended that the superintendent bring us back a plan related to how a building would be demolished. In this particular case, the building was determined to be uninhabitable, the school was shut down, and then it's been left to sit.

[01:10:44] And so this intends to have us have an opportunity that if we ever say a building is uninhabitable again, that we come with a plan. So it's the same because the report that was done that my colleague is going to speak about in just a second was 11 years after.

[01:11:03] So it was not a, and it was board directed to happen. So this removes all of that in the middle part where it basically says that the superintendent can't bring us a recommendation that a building needs to be shut down because it's uninhabitable without a plan to remove the building.

[01:11:19] So that's the idea. then the other aspect that I wanted to say is if the 36 months doesn't work that is why we've given the superintendent time to be able to come back and talk to us again we understand that we're in a tight budget time we don't know whether or not this is ever going to be able to be put in a bond or anything like that and so we want the ability to for the superintendent to be able to come back to the school board and ask for an extension if she needs it so those were all the the things that we did just to make sure that this was feasible in terms of how we're gonna move forward with buildings but we don't and to my colleagues point that there was a section that was removed and it was

[01:11:57] actually specifically I know it was actually specifically removed because of a recommendation related to historic properties that I would hate to have historic properties fall into this do loop so that was why it was removed before it was posted thank you miss Anderson mr. McDaniel so real quick to boil it all down what this amendment does not do is it does not deem things uninhabitable what it does is it says if a building is deemed uninhabitable and in paragraph my roman numerals i think four the bottom red line infrastructure assessment shall also identify buildings approaching end of

[01:12:36] life status to inform potential renovation or demolition planning and budget allocation So if through the regular course of building evaluation, we come to the conclusion that there is a building that is in fact uninhabitable and the board says, yes, we agree and we deem it to be such, this policy effectively closes a loophole where we could have a building like we have now sit for 11 years before an engineering report is commissioned to determine that it's inhabitable.

[01:13:08] So the policy doesn't force a building arbitrarily to be determined uninhabitable But it does say that if this board or any future board decides to make that declaration Then you have to do something about it in a judicious and expeditious and reasonable manner. Thank you. Mr McDaniel. Can we have the motion on the screen, please? Oh, sorry. Dr. Anderson. Go ahead. Thank you I very much appreciate Can I see that the report that had deemed the building uninhabitable? So thank you for that

[01:13:45] my other question and thank you miss Anderson for speaking to the 36 months because I didn't know where that was arrived so this would be part of future bonds potentially okay that's true because that's not part of the of the motion of the adjustment here my other question is to Dr. Reed just kind of looking back when we have had buildings well I don't know if we've had any buildings that we have leased to other entities do we have any such and Fairfax County owns that we

[01:14:24] have leased out that Fairfax County Public Schools has owned that we're leasing to somebody else I would have to we don't have any I would have to check do we I think we do and I don't know which one it is but I think mr. fresh does go ahead make it quick seconds for me to answer Graham Road Okay, so Graham Road, we've leased to whom? Fairfax County. I think we've leased space within it. I don't believe we've leased the entire building. I could be wrong, though, but we'll find out for sure. I know there's space leased.

[01:15:02] Sure, sure. And this is kind of immaterial to this in a way, but it's tangentially related. It just makes me wonder if we have space, and I fully agree, we should never sell any space because you cannot get that back ever. That doesn't mean we cannot lease such spaces because if we were to lease, let's say, this space, would that, could that be a condition of that vendor who is leasing the space to demolish it so it doesn't have to be at a cost to us? Just a wondering.

[01:15:32] Are you looking for a response all right, I think that in this particular I mean the answer generally would be yes In this particular site right now my understanding is that water is a concern and That would very much so limit our options I'll have more questions during the follow-up. I mean during the follow-on, but thank you. Thank you, dr. Anderson. Miss Marin Okay, this is so interesting. I love this stuff

[01:16:05] So this policy change is asking for two things. One is that it will require, okay, that the school board shall direct the superintendent to initiate the process to demolish the structure. That gives me some pause. What if it's, I know the whole issue is we want to at least put demolish on the table as a menu option, right? So could it say instead of it will shall direct, we'll say, you know, demolition is now, you know, an option or the school board can opt to direct or something that's not like that's the only path.

[01:16:34] So that's one thing. The second thing is I agree with the second change that, you know, required to do the infrastructure assessments and we are on that path of doing the regular building assessments. The other piece, though, I wonder is does the board of supervisors have any role in this? Because this stuff is going to be used with CIP money from the EDA. And again, I just wonder and I'm also curious, like, do they have a policy? What do they do? Is it relevant?

[01:17:04] to what we do. I guess ultimately I would love to see and if people what people think of rather than requiring the superintendent to initiate the process to demolish can it be you know the school board can initiate options including that of demolition so that it's in here it has it as an option. I'll leave it at that. I don't know that I would say no to the policy change on that front but I do I realize it's super timely also but I also think this is why THE GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE NEEDS TO DIG INTO ALL THE CIP RELATED POLICIES AND MAKE SOME REALLY

[01:17:41] GREAT UPDATES THANK YOU MISS MARIN THE MOTION IS ON THE SCREEN ALL THOSE IN FAVOR MISS DIXET MR. MAKELVEEN DR. ANDERSON MR. MCDANIEL MISS ANDERSON MISS SEISMOUR HEISER MR. DUNN MR. MOON MISS LADY MISS ST. JOHN CUNNING AND MYSELF POSED ABSTENTIONS MISS MARIN HOW DO YOU CAST YOUR VOTE OH MISS MARIN AS WELL YOUR HAND WAS NOT UP WHEN I STARTED AT THAT END OF THE TABLE THAT IS unanimous the motion carries i call on mr mcdaniel for a follow-on motion okay i moved that the

[01:18:18] building at 7010 clifton road formerly the clifton elementary school is hereby declared uninhabitable and i direct the superintendent to proceed with demolition and associated site cleanup as required by school board policy 8258.3 i further move the superintendent shall return to the school board with a plan for funding and general site layout for school board approval within a reasonable time frame so as to meet the required timeline as prescribed in policy 8258.3 should the superintendent for any reason be unable to meet the timeline she must seek an extension

[01:18:52] from the board as outlined in policy 8258.3 thank you mr mcdaniel is there a second i second miss anderson mr mcdaniel would you like to speak to your motion i would um on saturday it will be 15 years ago to the date that a public hearing was held and there was 150 people um in this auditorium And it was about the building that we're discussing this evening.

[01:19:18] But there was someone else in that auditorium who did not speak or have a vote or staff, and that was me. I was here as a private citizen observer. The vote to close at the time, about a week or so later, it came with a promise to come back with a path forward on the building.

[01:19:39] However, in the meantime, obviously we know it didn't happen. And in the meantime, there has been so much change. there has been so much debate, consternation, political arguing and posturing on this building. And there's even been a once in a century pandemic and just life in general kind of got in the way.

[01:20:00] But what hasn't changed is the unwavering commitment of that community to the memories that were in that building. And that commitment seeks them to strive for closure. It's no one's fault that the building, just got lost in time, but it wasn't lost to Clifton. It wasn't lost to the town. So I'm happy to bring this forward because it's time that we close this chapter and it's time that we bring closure to this. I want to thank Delegate Laura Jane Cohen, a former member of this board, who was able, finally, to bring some progress to this when she had this architecture report done by Samahaw

[01:20:39] back in I think 2021, which on page four says, and I quote, removal of the existing facility and retention of the property as a land asset is the recommended option, primarily because the other two options, which is renovation and demolition and reconstruction, are less desirable by comparison.

[01:20:59] We've got it right here. That's the answer. I also want to thank Mayor Peterson in the town of Clifton, who, if my colleagues did not happen to see unanimously passed a resolution supporting teardown of this building and cleanup of the site and lastly I want to thank my colleague to my left miss Anderson from the Springfield district where the facility sets for her unwavering support counsel and guidance I think when I got on this board I just wanted to barrel through a motion say we'll tear the thing down to be done with it but you live you learn you work with your colleagues you figure

[01:21:33] the right path forward and we got to a better spot because of that we we may have had some shouting matches at times on the phone but that's okay because we're here now doing the right thing so i'm happy to move this forward thank you mr mcdaniel miss anderson would you like to speak to your second i don't need to say much here um the the town of clifton itself is a fairly small town it's it's a small town in the middle of our our big county however the land area of clifton is not small and a lot many many of the people in clifton feel a huge affiliation with the town

[01:22:13] itself and so this being um the abandoned school on the hill has been has been a reminder for them for a very long time of what happened in their community and i think that this is the appropriate step forward it's a step in the it's on the right path we don't know exactly what it's going to look like for this particular piece of land that's not what this is about this is about moving forward with the recommendation that the school board received in 2021 as to a path forward and so we we firmly believe that this is this is the appropriate path and that it's a step for this

[01:22:49] COMMUNITY TOWARDS A RESOLUTION. THANK YOU, MS. ANDERSON. DR. ANDERSON. THANK YOU. I DO REMEMBER MS. LORRAJANE COHEN TALKING ABOUT THE SITE WHEN WE WERE ON THE BOARD TOGETHER. SO I KNOW IT'S A LONG STANDING ISSUE. COUPLE OF THINGS. ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I VERY MUCH APPRECIATED BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW IF I SAW THIS WHEN I READ THIS INITIALLY WAS WHOM WOULD BE DECLARING THE SITES UNINHABITABLE. I THINK FOR SOME REASON MAYBE IT WAS A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE. I DIDN'T TAKE A SCREENSHOT.

[01:23:18] it was being declared by the board which made me very very worried because as essentially lay people who are not facilities i would not want to have this board declare any space uninhabitable and i'm glad that we have a report and i would love for that report to have been posted as well since it's kind of part of the record just to really show that this is not an arbitrary decision on the part of the board but people who do this work have created it and that gives me a great level of confidence the other question that I have is for Dr. Reed on this as

[01:23:54] you are working through this in terms of funding infrastructure in pretty much all the plans the plans for if this passes the plans for demolition and the plans for what is to come at the site I might wonder is the the funding piece I know we had the conversation just a little while ago regarding the bond cycles could there be potentially other funds that are utilized to demolish this building other than bonds because I know that tends to give people a little bit of a scare because we want those to be

[01:24:27] reserved for construction and renovations well I think that we'd have to do a full exploration of financial sources funding sources and I don't know this evening that I'm prepared to answer that directly and that would be part of your report back to us your plan back to us yes ma'am okay well I hope that there can be some others that are explored because I think that will give our community some comfort trying to have our cake and eat it too on this because we know what it

[01:25:06] means for a lot of communities waiting for their place in the queue we just heard tonight from the the gentleman who came. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Without objection, I'd like to direct the clerk to post the September 2021 Samaha report to the agenda item. Seeing none, if the clerk could do that at some point during the meeting, that'd be great. Thank you. Ms. Dixit. I'm going to support this motion as well, the follow on. And one of the things I've done is all my years living in Centralville is pass through that school and seeing it sitting there. And always the question, why is it there when

[01:25:45] There's nobody going in the school and the building in action in my personal opinion is is worse than taking a making a bad action taking a bad action. So I think we're doing the right thing here moving forward with all our plans and policy changes.

[01:26:04] So I'll support this and I am excited to see what Dr. Reed brings back to us about the next next phase. Thanks. Missing John Cunning. So first of all I want to thank Mr. Rick Daniel and Miss Anderson for all the work they've done on this and I will be supporting this motion.

[01:26:23] I will note that they are the only ones on this board that dawned on hazmat outfits to go look at the school and the fact that they had to put on hazmat outfits should tell you something about the condition of that property. Well not ask for unanimous consent to post photos to the board agenda item.

[01:26:42] Miss Marin. Okay, so I will admit when I don't know something, and I don't know if I missed the motion that is being brought, because I read what the motion maker sent me. Okay, the act of closing a school is a big deal and merits some conversations, and even if it was sent on Monday, I don't have the report. I mean, if Laura Jean did it, it was in the throes of COVID, and I certainly don't remember it. I could not in any way right now tonight say that we are going to declare it

[01:27:22] uninhabitable when the superintendent hasn't even prepared a report to show us that. And like what happens next? So it's uninhabitable and now what? Does the 36-month clock start ticking? I mean we literally just approved it. She doesn't even have a second to even... I think it's really unwise. I don't think that waiting on this is a bad thing I know the urgency but we also have a school board meeting in like two weeks and I think it's very reasonable to ask that all of the board members are you know prior board members may not

[01:27:58] have known about that I was on the last board and I can't recall it so and how much is it gonna cost I mean to bring a motion like this forward there should be a price tag on it. Well, it's not on the motion. And again, you know, where am I supposed to look if it's not in board docs and it's not communicated to me? It's not up there. How could we possibly be voting on a motion when we do not know how much it will cost? That we cannot do that. So I'd love more information. Otherwise, I would move to the correct Robert's Rules term. Would it be

[01:28:38] not late on the table but to for the next meeting and let's get that information and let's all come having read it what would be the motion mr. that would be a motion to postpone so I was meeting if I can make that motion at this time I would make a motion to postpone the next meeting will the parliamentarian remind me if that needs a second and what vote threshold it has yes that does need a second it requires a majority vote it is debatable but only to the merits of whether to postpone. Okay. Is there a second? A second. Mr. McElveen,

[01:29:15] would you like to speak? State your point of order. I already did. One moment. State your point of order. It's unclear the time frame that we're postponing for until the next meeting is what she said. Ms. Marin. Oh, I had nothing further. I moved to postpone it to the next meeting. Got it. Mr. McElveen, to your second. Yes. No, this is a very historic decision that we have to make here and it spanned the course of five plus school boards so I agree that one of two more weeks would not hurt us and I too would like to see

[01:29:52] the Laura Jean Cohen report so I'm appreciative of miss Marin raising that thanks thank you mr. McElveen mr. moon thank you mr. chairman mr. Foster if the motion gets postponed and give us is that two weeks mr. chairman the two weeks Yeah, July 10th two weeks. Does that give you enough time Mr. Foster for you to provide us a legal guidance and surplus properties?

[01:30:22] I'm sorry. I couldn't hear the last but the legal documents on Legal guidance or legal points and surplus property. Yes, it does. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Moon. Miss Anderson Oh, I'm sorry. Mr. McDaniel. So on since I'm restricted to the motion to postpone I will not be supporting

[01:30:49] This has been postponed for 15 years. This motion was sent in a timely manner. Ms. Anderson and I made calls. We texted, we emailed in a timely manner. This was not brought last minute. This was not pulled last minute. So I will not be supporting the motion to postpone. I appreciate the logic behind it, but this does not appropriate funds. This does not say that we're going to, you know, build swimming pools and a hotel on the side.

[01:31:20] What this does, it starts at clock, a three-year clock. And it basically says, superintendent, using your expert staff, within a reasonable time, come back to us with a recommendation for our approval for funding and for a general site layout.

[01:31:41] That is it. So we're not approving funds. At some point, a board will have to do that. Mr. McDaniel, please confine your points to the motion. I'm not supporting it. There you go. I'm done. Thank you, Mr. McDaniel. As a reminder, the only conversation is on whether this should be delayed or not.

[01:32:01] Ms. Dixit. So I'm reading about Clifton Elementary on FCPS website. And it says here, and it's why I want to support this motion, that in 2011, it was closed by the school board, 9 to 2.

[01:32:17] And the reason of this, one of the reasons, the water quality problem, bacteria, manganese, lead, copper, uranium, arsenic, so forth, that in the end of it at that time that was a problem so 2011 and we are in 2025 and I'm just saying that this is where this bureaucracy takes its old toll that things don't get done and I'm I'm definitely not in support of pushing it down further because we need to take decisive actions and I'm taking one today I'll be supporting this thank you. Thank you Ms. Dixit Dr. Anderson.

[01:32:54] thank you i just want to be clear we all know this is a very long-standing issue what i believe i'm hearing from miss maron is that we just want to get a sense of the cost and we just want to take two weeks just to get that broad range i don't think that's a very hard ask especially if it's going to result in all of us being in support of this motion it's two weeks it's not as if the building is going to be demolished between now and july the 10. So I would like to walk into every decision that I make with eyes wide open. And so knowing what something costs before I vote on it is paramount for me. And I would like if we can get

[01:33:33] that kind of information in two weeks, I'd like to have it because it's just one more component just to help with our decision making. So I hope it can be considered that this is just two weeks. This is not kicking the can down the line at all. This is not going to be another 10 year issue.

[01:33:49] it's just two weeks just to gather a little bit more information so I will support your motion Mr. Dunn I strongly support the motion to demolish this structure I defer to my colleagues who are responsible for the geographic area and my at-large colleagues who are supporting it but I do think given the recent months of discussions about constrained budgets that we do understand whether the estimated cost that was provided I believe a couple

[01:34:24] A COUPLE YEARS AGO IS ACCURATE IN THE CURRENT MARKET ENVIRONMENT AND IF POSSIBLE, IF THOSE COSTS MIGHT BE SHARED WITH THE COUNTY OR WITH THE TOWN OF CLIFTON, ET CETERA GOING FORWARD.

[01:34:41] THANK YOU, MR. DUNN. MS. ST. JOHN CUNNING. OKAY. SO AS I READ THIS MOTION, WHAT I SEE IS I FURTHER MOVE THAT THE SUPERINTENDENT SHALL RETURN TO THE SCHOOL BOARD WITH A PLAN FOR FUNDING. SO THAT'S WHAT SHE'S GOING TO BRING TO US.

[01:34:58] So if we pass it now we're not spending any money we're asking for the plan so it doesn't make sense to me so I appreciate the spirit of the motion that was brought up by Miss Marin but I think this is written within the previous motion so this is the motion I will support.

[01:35:18] Thank you, Ms. St. John-Cunning. Ms. Sizemore-Hyser. So just to clarify, when I read this follow-on, and I'll yield my time to the makers of the follow-on to answer the questions, but just when I read it, it's read to say we're directing the superintendent to move forward the demolition, but move forward the demolition to come back to us with a plan for funding within 36 months, but if there's an extenuating circumstance, we seek an extension.

[01:35:56] So it's not saying go demolish this regardless of what it costs. Oh, and by the way, come back, because it is, I will say, a little confusing because it's written as two different. So it's a little confusing its language. So I want to clarify that's what it's saying, is that we're going to move forward with the plan and demolish it, but come back with a plan for funding first within 36 months.

[01:36:20] Is that correct? I'll yield my time to the maker of the motion. Sure. So the motion says that we declare it uninhabitable, and it says that in accordance with our newly updated policy, 858.3, we initiate the process.

[01:36:38] That process is that it's basically operationalized at that point. It's out of this board's hands. Once we declare it uninhabitable, which this motion would do, the superintendent and her staff would have a clock started, and they would have to come back within a reasonable amount of time to accomplish what the policy requires by the end of that clock, which is 36 months.

[01:37:03] If for any reason the superintendent cannot accomplish that, that's fine. She just has to come back and seek an extension. And that could be there's a random tenant that wants to spend $40 million to renovate a building and then lease it, which in this market, good luck with that.

[01:37:22] That could be that, you know, the bottom falls out of the real estate market and there's just no money. That could be a host of issues. But what this motion does effectively is start the clock that fits within our newly adopted policy, if that makes sense.

[01:37:41] Thank you. I will pause my time for now and go back if I need it. I'll take a turn. I think it's a long time coming here. And, you know, when I voted for the policy change, I knew that, in part, that policy would be followed, right?

[01:38:06] And so what this is doing is showing that the policy is going to be followed, and it directs the superintendent to return with a plan and the funding for the board to consider, and it gives it a timeline. I'm okay with those things.

[01:38:22] we're not committing funds we're not committing action we're committing to a plan which i think is what people want to postpone for is what the superintendent would be required to bring back so i would be in favor of the follow-on motion miss marron so just to be clear the reason why i'm asking to postpone it's now it's really more procedural so i don't know when you communicated this motion i just sent an email that i got from early june i'm not sure if that's the one that says 7.5 million dollars that's what it would cost i don't know but i honestly have not seen this

[01:38:57] motion until i got to this deus tonight so when there's talk about it's been 15 years i literally saw it tonight as far as process the motion has three asks the original motion action one we declare it uninhabitable right now number two we direct the superintendent to proceed with demolition and associated cleanup and action number three is that the superintendent shall return to the board with a plan for funding and general site layout I don't understand how the board can make all those actions when I know what for me I haven't seen the report and I don't understand why we would want that and again it is two weeks and when

[01:39:35] I gave my full support to the original motion makers I did it with integrity and I feel like I should say integrity I did it with full support but I didn't receive all the information either I said I support the policy change I did not know that what was being brought forth was to go ahead and demolish a school building without knowing the cost. So for those reasons, I think we should delay for two weeks. At least, ideally, I'd love to have a little more time, but at least two weeks. That's all.

[01:40:04] Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Marin. Mr. Dunn? Ms. Lady? Thank you. I appreciate the healthy conversation. As I listen to my colleagues, I learn questions I didn't ask, things that I didn't address and I while I did tell the motion makers I was in full support similar to my colleague who didn't fully understand what the ask was going to be so I personally am comfortable with

[01:40:40] two weeks to learn more so I would support Ms. Marin's motion. Thank you Ms. Lady. Mr. McDaniel you don't have another opportunity to speak. Thank you. Ms. Seizmerheiser? Ms. Seizmerheiser?

[01:41:05] Yes we'll take a five-minute recess a real five-minute recess. All right well board members

[01:54:27] please return to their seats we have a motion on the floor to postpone until the next meeting miss anderson just um would like to say that i do not think that this requires that we postpone this vote and the reason that i don't think that we need to do that is we direct the superintendent to go find us information all the time that's the mechanism that we have as the board we know that the building is uninhabitable we have we understand that other board members that even the ones that

[01:55:03] had received this report in 2021 when it was created for the school board didn't necessarily remember this portion of it and I can understand because this is not in their district so I get that part however two weeks is not going to change anything for the for the condition of this particular building and we have the information that that we need in order to determine that the building is uninhabitable so I'm not going to vote to push this back any further this community has been waiting 15 years for resolution of this particular issue and so but I do believe

[01:55:41] that one of our colleagues has an amendment to the motion that would make things a little clearer for everyone. Thank you Ms. Anderson the motion is on the screen all those in favor. Point of order. State your point of order. My motion my and Mr. McElhinney's motion to lay on the table for next time is still active.

[01:56:00] Correct we're about to vote on it. Okay thank you sorry I saw the language above it. No problem. All those in favor, Mr. McElveen, Dr. Anderson, the motion that's on the screen in front of you. Ms. Marin, Mr. McElveen, Dr. Anderson, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Moon.

[01:56:21] All those opposed, Ms. Dixit, Mr. McDaniel, Ms. Anderson, Ms. Sizemore-Hyzer, Ms. St. John Cunning, and myself. Abstentions? Ms. Lady? The motion fails, if I'm not mistaken. That's 5-6-1.

[01:56:37] It's 5-6-1. The motion fails. All right. I call on Ms. Sizemore-Hyzer. - Thank you. I would like to propose an amendment to the motion. - State your amendment.

[01:56:53] - I would like to strike the language that states I further move that, and I would like to add the language after the first sentence to read, before any funds are encumbered for demolition associated site cleanup, before the phrase, the superintendent shall return to the school board, so that the new language would read, I move that the building at 7010 Clifton Road, formerly Clifton Elementary School, was hereby declared uninhabitable, AND DIRECT THE SUPERINTENDENT TO PROCEED WITH DEMOLITION AND ASSOCIATED SITE CLEANUP AS REQUIRED BY SCHOOL BOARD POLICY 8258.3.

[01:57:24] BEFORE ANY FUNDS ARE ENCUMBERED FOR DEMOLITION AND ASSOCIATED SITE CLEANUP, THE SUPERINTENDENT SHALL RETURN TO THE SCHOOL BOARD WITH A PLAN FOR FUNDING AND GENERAL SITE LAYOUT FOR BOARD APPROVAL WITHIN A REASONABLE TIME FRAME SO AS TO MEET THE REQUIRED TIMELINE AS PRESCRIBED IN POLICY 8258.3. SHOULD THE SUPERINTENDENT FOR ANY REASON BE UNABLE TO MEET THE TIMELINE, SHE MUST SEEK AN EXTENSION FROM THE BOARD AS OUTLINED IN POLICY 8258.3.

[01:57:47] Second. Mr. Moon. All right. Would you like to speak to your motion, Ms. Sizemore Heiser? Yeah, just briefly. First, I wanted just to clarify that the reason we can declare this school uninhabitable, from my understanding from the makers of the original motion, is because we have this 2021 site report from, I think, Samara and Associates, Samara, thank you, declaring it uninhabitable. So it is not something the board is just declaring on its own.

[01:58:12] It is based on a report from an expert, and I think that would be the path going forward under this new policy we just approved. Second of all, I think this makes it clear that we're not encumbering funds at this moment for this demolition. We are just following the policy that we just voted on for the demolition.

[01:58:29] But before we can encumber any funds for that demolition, the superintendent has to come back to us with a plan. And if she can't meet that timeframe that's in the policy, then she can come back to the board to ask for an extension. I think this gets to the spirit of the original motion, which is to direct for the demolition without yet encumbering funds because we also recognize we are on a tight budget frame and as one of our speakers spoke very eloquently earlier, we have major issues with our renovation cycle and the timeline for renovations and other maintenance and facility needs.

[01:59:02] So I think this gets to what our motions we're trying to do, it makes it a little bit clearer and hopefully gives us a path forward. Mr. Moon, would you like to speak to your second? Without repeating what's been already said, I also want to wait until -- I also want to I have an opportunity to be able to read a memo from Mr. Foster on surplus property as well because on the surplus property concept, there is a certain obligation on the part of governing body as opposed to us.

[01:59:32] Thank you, Mr. Moon. Ms. Marin. Okay, I'm going to say this with as much respect intended as possible. The motion maker literally just said based on a report from an expert, we're going to do this. And just a few weeks ago, the board voted to disregard reports from experts about cell phone use in schools.

[01:59:53] My frustration is, is that there's no consistency in process, okay? When are we going to accept the report? When are we not? I don't have it. Why would the board want to post something and do something when not all the members are informed and we want to be informed?

[02:00:10] Secondly, to that point, it doesn't set us up for a win. I want to support this. I do. And I'm asking for the professional courtesy to have more time because, honestly, the work was not done to appropriately inform me.

[02:00:26] So instead of supporting this now, I'm being put in a position to vote no or abstain. Why? I want to support the Clifton community. I want to support my colleagues. You know, this is supposed to be a united effort, and it's this kind of stuff that makes it really hard to do the work.

[02:00:45] we've spent so much time on this tonight I wish we would have spent this much time discussing it prior so I'm either going to have to decide I don't like to abstain I try to hold that for when I really don't have the information and I don't want to vote no because I don't want the Clifton community to feel unheard so now I'm in this position and it just is not a great way to do the board work. Ms. Sizemore Heiser. I just forgot to say when I made the motion that when I

[02:01:22] recognize the urgency of this given that the community has been waiting 15 years and I also want to thank the flexibility of the original makers of the motions for working with me on a compromise that I think might make some folks better understand what the motion is so thank you. Thank you. Ms. Sanderson. I would like to say thank you to the folks who brought the amendment here. I think that it does clarify the language and I appreciate that. There was absolutely zero intention of us trying to hide anything or this was posted on board docs on Monday afternoon

[02:01:58] and an email was sent from the clerk that the information was all up. I'm sorry that there was confusion and I believe in the original email that was sent related to this, we said that there was going to be a follow-on motion specific to the school site. So I am sorry for the confusion here. That was not the intention here at all. As you guys will see, we also have a supporting letter from the community that also says the same thing. And so the intention here is not at all to cause any concern. And so I really appreciate the makers of the amendment that will help make

[02:02:37] this possible. Thank you, Ms. Anderson. Mr. Moon? Just a point of order, Mr. Chairman. This is on amendment to the follow-up motion correct thank you thank you mr. mr. McDaniel I agree with what mr. Anderson said and thank you to miss Seismar Heiser for taking taking some body parts and making it into Frankenstein giving it life so thank you because it is a better way of reading it's a smoother way and it certainly is the exact intent of the original motion

[02:03:15] THAT I BROUGHT. SO THANK YOU. THANK YOU, MR. MCDANIEL. DR. ANDERSON? THANK YOU. JUST A COUPLE OF THINGS. FIRST, I DO WANT TO THANK MS. MARIN BECAUSE I THINK ABSENT SOME OF HER ADVOCACY WE WOULD NOT HAVE LANDED AT THIS PLACE WHERE WE'VE HAD THIS FOLLOW-ON MOTION BECAUSE I THINK ESSENTIALLY MOST PEOPLE WERE WALKING IN HERE READY TO JUST GO AHEAD WITH IT. SO THAT HAS TO BE RECOGNIZED. SO THANK YOU FOR PUSHING OUR THINKING. SECONDLY, ONE OF THE THINGS AND THIS IS SMALL BUT I JUST WANT TO RAISE IT AND I WILL BE SUPPORTING THIS BY THE WAY BECAUSE I THINK IT GETS US TO WHERE we need to be we need to go into this with eyes wide open which means we're not going to encumber any funds until we know how much it's going to cost we

[02:03:54] should not be saying open check just go there has to be some sort of parameters because we don't have just we don't have a money tree out back so we I know as much as everybody would love that we have to know what our parameters are because if this comes back at 50 million dollars I bet you some of us will think about this differently because that's a school renovation I'm not saying it is but it's a pertinent for instance just my only kind of thing here just to kind of nitpick a little bit is we are not declaring the building uninhabitable uninhabitable I want to be sure because it's been declared by that report by

[02:04:31] people who are in place to do this kind of job so I just want to be sure that there's no communication that it is the board that is declaring the building uninhabitable uninhabitable that it is already declared uninhabitable we're JUST SUPPORTING THAT DESIGNATION. I REALLY WANT TO BE CLEAR ABOUT THAT, BECAUSE I THINK IT'S A SLIPPERY SLOP WHEN IT COMES ACROSS AS THE BOARD IS MAKING THIS DECISION. BUT THANK YOU, MS. MARIN, AS WELL. THANK YOU, DR. ANDERSON. I'LL TAKE A GO BACK AND TO CONFIRM MY

[02:05:03] THINKING IS THAT WE ARE CONFIRMING THE RESULTS OF THE SAMAHA STUDY FROM 2021. IF I COULD YIELD A MOMENT OF MY TIME TO THE SPONSOR, IS THAT CORRECT, MR. MCDANIEL? THAT'S CORRECT. THANK YOU.

[02:05:19] All right. The amendment is on the screen. All those in favor of the amendment on the screen from Ms. Seismerheiser, Mr. Moon, Ms. Dixit, Mr. McElveen, Dr. Anderson, Mr. McDaniel, Ms. Anderson, Ms. Seismerheiser, Mr. Moon, Ms. Lady, Ms. St. John Cunningham, and myself. All those opposed? Abstentions? Ms. Marin. With Mr. Dunaway from the table, the motion, the amendment carries. All right. Can we now have the amended language on the screen, please? Or the language as amended? Thank you. You need to go to the amended language.

[02:06:06] thank you there you go in the quotes all right all those in favor of the amended main motion follow-on motion Ms. Dixit Mr. McElveen Dr. Anderson Mr. McDaniel Ms. Anderson Ms. Sizemore Heiser Mr. Moon Ms. Lady Ms. St. John Cunning and myself against abstentions Ms. Marin with Mr. Dunnaway from the table the motion carries all right agenda item 5.0 we'll go with four yes 5.04 proposed revisions to governance manual regarding proclamations I call on

[02:06:46] Miss st. John Cunning for a motion I move that the board approves the edits to the board strategic governance manual regarding proclamations as detailed in the documents attached on board dogs is there a second miss Anderson miss st. John Cunning would you like to speak to your motion I would just like to say that there's been a lot of conversation and work that has gone into this so that we honor the intent of proclamations in a way that's effective and that is efficient and that is fair for everyone I really want to

[02:07:24] thank all the members on the board for some very robust discussion on how this came about and some great suggestions I also want to thank miss Anderson for making it all font, font, uh, found, font, fantastic, I guess, because that's her thing that she likes to do. Um, so it's just a way to streamline and get our proclamation language to be effective and efficient. So I really want to thank everyone, uh, on the committee

[02:08:02] that helped make this possible. And I really want to thank them all for amazing input. Thank you, Ms. St. John Cunningham, the font-tastic Ms. Anderson. It's not just bonds. The idea here is to the changes that were made, and we had several alliterations where we brought this to PEC specifically, is that we wanted to make sure that we were codifying what we were actually doing.

[02:08:27] And so it does things like it puts in language related to our recognition ceremonies and talks about how we do recognitions. It creates a calendar for the board so that they can see where everything is. so if you want to bring a particular member brought proclamation that you'll know when it would slide into the calendar effectively.

[02:08:47] June is not a great month for that, just so you know. But otherwise, this, and it also puts into language things that I, that when we had done a previous change to the proclamation process earlier this year, it was with that intention that we were going to come back and make sure that this was all coming through.

[02:09:06] So I am grateful that we did this work to kind of make this clear. Our board has done quite a bit of work related to proclamations as the last did as well. So I'm hopeful that we're on a good path here. - Thank you, Ms. Anderson.

[02:09:21] I call on Mr. McElveen for an amendment. - So I move to amend the school board proclamations and other acknowledgements section of the strategic governance manual to add advisory committee members to the annual list of proclamations under the category seven staff and volunteer recognitions so that this proclamation is considered an annual proclamation and not required be brought every year as a school board members member driven proclamation thank you mr mckelveen is there a second second mr moon i'm going to try this without objection can we adopt the amendment

[02:09:57] seeing none the amendment is adopted thank you very much we're back to the amended main motion so it now includes the language from mr mckelveen and mr moon dr anderson thank you um yesterday i think i had the opportunity to ask the clerk some of these questions but i don't think i was around she as she was doing the research the chart that is on the last page which by the way is a great chart very appreciative of it just lays everything out really nicely my wondering is regarding the move of National

[02:10:31] Principles Month from October which is a national recognition to January I would love to hear why that move was made I don't know if Miss Setlow if you were able to find some research because we have a lot of national recognition here And I would love to keep that consistent Miss Setlow if you'd like to respond So when we did the research we found that there are different principal weeks days months all throughout the year Virginia recognizes that in January there is the The one in October so there are different places that we could do it

[02:11:10] I think it just depends on what the board would like to do. Thank you for that information Given that we are focusing on the national recognitions and this is the space where we've done it for the past forever and personally as a principal that has as somebody who was a principal for 17 years it was always October I would very much like it to go back to October to be in alignment with the national recognition timetable.

[02:11:38] We're not opposed to that. We were following what Virginia has done which Virginia is doing it in January And so that's why when I asked the deputy clerks to work on the timetable for things We had put it into January, but we're obviously not opposed to moving it back to fall in line with what the national Where the national recognition is will obviously do the will of the board Mr. Chair, may I ask if there are any objections to this, to moving it back to October as the National Principles Appreciation Month?

[02:12:13] Are you asking? I'm asking you to ask if there are any objections, because I can't ask. Is there any objection to moving this to October? Seeing none, if we can adjust the copy as such. Thank you. And my second question was how we do the proclamations.

[02:12:33] I'm hoping for a little bit of clarity, because I think something, but I'm not 100% sure. It was definitely my advocacy when I worked on this back in September to try to move some of the school recognitions off of the school board members to allocations for the year.

[02:12:50] And I did say a good next step will be to kind of do it the way that we do the VHSLs, which is everybody comes and we kind of have a big party. But the question that I have is, will there still be a proclamation or will we just read a sentence? Because the pro, go ahead.

[02:13:06] What it would most likely be is that it would be similar to what we do at the VHSL where there's a small paragraph But we're not necessarily writing a 500-word proclamation for every single school given What goes into these proclamations?

[02:13:24] Typically, we rely on school board members staffers to help with the school anniversary proclamations because the clerk's office doesn't know Your school community the way you and your staffers know the school community so we require assistance for that it would take it it's quite a bit to write those proclamations I know the staffers it does take up their time and we don't necessarily have consistency right now with the proclamations for school anniversaries so some schools are getting really good proclamations some schools don't necessarily have their school anniversaries being recognized so we would try to do it in a more uniform manner which would be more similar to

[02:14:03] to what we do with VHSL, where we would have a small paragraph that each school board member would read. I thank you. Thank you for that. I also I almost think that that diminishes what we're trying to do, which is to uplift all the wonderful things that are happening in that school by just saying, you know, Sleepy Hollow, 70 years.

[02:14:22] Thank you. The proclamations really speak to the very special things that are occurring in these spaces. So I'd like to find a path for us to not be limiting to that paragraph because the other thing that happens especially in my community the delegates and state senators they come out with these huge proclamations and so I want to match that energy and not have you know the one sentence here again when we provide it in terms of coming as a collection I think is definitely the right way to go what we provide I believe needs to be expanded beyond that paragraph and it doesn't have to be a five paragraph but it has to be more

[02:15:00] than what we do for the VHSL recognition because otherwise the schools don't have something to take back to put up on a plaque on their walls. It just I think diminishes the entire recognition. So I would love to figure out what is that space for us to create more of a proclamation but still in the collective space where we're not peppering these throughout board meetings.

[02:15:23] So we would do a certificate similar to what we do with VHSL so they would still have something that they could hang up on their wall so that's still something that they would have we have a certificate that we do for VHSL so we could do that for the school anniversaries for the quarter and quarter year celebrations we do note those to be different and the writeouts and part of that is is because that would allow for those bigger anniversaries for us to do something that is a little bit more involved if that's the will of the board so that's a 25 50 75 correct so then school board members will still be responsible for writing

[02:16:01] that given what you've just talked about in terms of us knowing our community without staffers we would still be responsible for providing the language we would work with your staffers to make sure that we have accurate language yes similar to what we do now so if we wanted to provide language for those that will be in that big setting but we're not at the quarter mark why would we not be able to do that it's not that you couldn't do it I think my concern is whether we are having equity amongst our schools if we have some school board members doing it for the for the years where it's not the quarter if we have

[02:16:40] some school board members doing it and other school board members not doing it then you have some school communities who may feel like they are not getting the same type of acknowledgement especially if you're doing it all in one ceremony where we're reading a much larger proclamation or language for one school but then we're not doing it for another and I don't that's why we had singled out more doing it for the quarter mark so that they are getting the acknowledgement because those are bigger anniversaries and so that we are

[02:17:10] creating more uniformity amongst our schools thank you dr. Anderson mr. McIntyre thank you so much so this has been great work by Peck and I want to thank Miss Anderson and Miss St. John Cunning for shepherding it. We have had some good conversations and this has been made better by my amendment being adopted. Thank you everyone. I will say there's some pieces of it that you know

[02:17:48] just having come from a different era on this board that still give me pause and and make me reflect. So I do-- I am a bit disappointed that we are doing away with staff recognition proclamations.

[02:18:06] I thought that was a nice way to acknowledge departing folks. I understand that people can still bring them as part of their individual proclamations. But anyway, I will miss having that opportunity to recognize folks.

[02:18:25] And there are other things. I will not dwell on them. But I do think this is overall good work. So thanks to everyone. Thank you Mr. McElveen Miss St. John Cunning. So in terms of the school proclamations that we did have a robust discussion about that.

[02:18:41] And it doesn't preclude us from going to those schools and as board members you know celebrating them. We do know our schools better. And though our delegates and state senators can give a huge proclamation.

[02:18:57] I think that we can walk into that school and have a letter or something that we write because we actually know the people. So because if we have a huge, wonderful proclamation, it does not mean as much as the words that we as school board members speak when we come to that specific building and we can actually acknowledge and talk about the people that we know there, the parents, the work.

[02:19:23] And I think that what the idea is, is to acknowledge and honor the anniversaries and the birthdays, but to honor them like knowing them. Like we're giving the meaningful gift, not the gift that is the most showy and fancy that is not as meaningful.

[02:19:43] And so I know that I have gone to individual schools and I don't have a proclamation, but I do speak to them. I do speak to their staff and their staff meetings and can just speak to them and talk to them about, I know you're doing this in this classroom. I know you're doing this here, and sometimes even when they invite the community, and I guarantee you that is more meaningful than a huge proclamation from someone that really doesn't know the people in the building.

[02:20:08] Thank you, Ms. St. John Cunning. Ms. Lady. Yeah, this might not be the right place for this, but this is something that bothered me as an employee and bothers me as a school board member, and that is the Hear Me Out School Board Character Award because it really is a community service award.

[02:20:28] And I don't know if it's the application that needs to be changed. It's very much a community service award and not a character award. And even when you read the proclamation, the first, because I pulled it up from last meeting, you know, strong into, and I knew Chris Givarelli. He was a Marshall student when I was there. It says, continuous record of high moral, strong integrity and good character exhibits characteristics such as respect, responsibility, honesty, compassion, justice, and generosity.

[02:20:53] And I've followed it for years as we put people forward from Chantilly who had fantastic character and realized it's just the application asks a lot about community service. So I don't know where we, I don't know who's responsible for the application, but I'm elevating that here to whoever's listening who might know where that is, that we could take a look at it and make sure it's truly a character award, which does encompass community service, but not community service in isolation.

[02:21:16] Thank you. Thank you, Miss Lady. I'll take a turn. So one of my favorite ceremonies that we do every year is the retirement ceremony. And as they work their way through the retirees, there is a short paragraph written with the loving help of the people who know those employees best that is read as they receive their recognition in their retirement.

[02:21:48] And so while you can certainly pack a lot into 500 words, that doesn't mean that you YOU CAN'T DO SOMETHING EXTREMELY SPECIAL FOR A SCHOOL WITH A SHORT PARAGRAPH READ BY THE BOARD MEMBER AND COLLABORATED IN THE, YOU KNOW, DRAFTING BETWEEN THE BOARD MEMBER AND THE CLERK'S OFFICE. YOU KNOW, I CAN ENVISION THE CLERK'S OFFICE PUTTING TOGETHER A PROCESS OF DEADLINES FOR SUBMITTING DRAFTS AND, YOU KNOW, COLLABORATING AND WHATNOT, PROVIDING SAMPLES SO THAT PEOPLE HAVE AN IDEA OF MAYBE DIFFERENT WAYS TO CONSTRUCT THEM IF THEY'RE HAVING TROUBLE, ET CETERA. SO I THINK THIS DOES A GOOD JOB OF BALANCING

[02:22:23] BETWEEN THE EXTENSIVE PROCLAMATIONS THAT WE'VE BEEN DOING, RESERVING THOSE FOR VERY SPECIAL ANNIVERSARIES, YOU KNOW, AND SOMETHING THAT RESPECTS THE TIME OF THE PEOPLE WHO ARE IN THE ROOM, AND THE PEOPLE WAITING TO PARTICIPATE IN OUR MEETING AT COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION, PEOPLE WHO ARE WAITING FOR STAFF PRESENTATIONS, ET CETERA, AND IT BRINGS UNIFORMITY TO SOMETHING that was only board member driven really which you know I think Dr.

[02:22:58] Anderson for elevating these as an idea and us coming to this point so now we'll be recognizing every school on these anniversaries and I think that's a great thing we have some go backs Dr. Anderson yes thank you just very quickly I wanted to just kind of respond to what Miss Lady was just talking about so the school board character award is it your advocacy that that be renamed the school community service award no I wanted your time be quick I wanted to remain the character ward I want to look at the application because I feel like it pulls

[02:23:37] community service heavily okay so it's the application that is not aligned it's not the title okay thank you because I was gonna offer something else I probably will offer something at some point down the line it doesn't need to be done today thank you dr. Anderson all right we have a motion on the screen all those in favor of the motion on the screen Ms. Marin, Ms. Dixit, Mr. McElveen, Dr. Anderson, Ms. Anderson, Ms. Seizmerheiser, Mr. Moon, Ms. Lady, Ms. St. John Cunning and myself that is unanimous for board

[02:24:12] members at the dais. Congratulations the motion carries. All right agenda item 5.05 new intergovernmental contract George Mason University early identification program EIP. I call on Dr. Anderson for a motion. Thank you I move that the school board approved the contract for early identification program and to authorize the division superintendent or the director of the

[02:24:48] office of procurement services to execute deliver and administer the contract on behalf of the school board. Is there a second Mr. Moon Dr. Anderson would you like to speak to your motion. Thank you I wanted to take this opportunity to pull this off of consent because I think it's a great time to really highlight what this will actually do for our students. It is very little, this is very unknown even to board members, I'm sorry, oh, this is not very well known even to board members in terms of what is the EIP program, what does it do for our students,

[02:25:27] what is the application timeline. So I would love for Dr. Presidio, I'm so sorry I didn't give you advance warning on this but I would love for you to speak a little bit to what this really does to our students it is a tremendous opportunity for our first generation students so I'd like to use this as your little infomercial well thank you for that opportunity we appreciate it this is a great program it actually dates back to the 1980s the relationship that we've had with George Mason University and George Mason University provides academic support tutoring mentoring services to students that would be first-generation college

[02:26:07] going students not only did they provide that support to the individual students but they also provide support to the families of those students to really help them understand what the college selection process looks like opportunities for financial aid and it really is a very comprehensive program where those students that are selected for the program well in middle school get support all the way through high school through the college admissions process the students that complete the program successfully are guaranteed admission to George Mason but many say that once yes absolutely the students the students that complete the program are guaranteed admission to George Mason students

[02:26:47] though do have obviously other options and many do pursue other universities that they enroll in but 98% of the students that complete this program graduate from college successfully so it's an incredible return on an investment and it's really life-changing not just for the students but for many of their families as well so I appreciate you giving me a minute to speak to it thank you there's just one more question what is the application process when should families be looking out for information on this to have their students apply because this is a five-year support from grade 8 to grade

[02:27:22] 12 yeah so optimally students in seventh grade would be on the lookout for this so that they can start working on their application be admitted into the program in eighth grade and then transition and get those support services really beginning in ninth grade so it doesn't mean that you can't apply later but that would be the optimal time to do it thank you for that I think that's one of the spaces where we can do a little bit better as a school division because so few families are aware of this opportunity and I know that the new director of this program at GMU is looking to grow this program because she

[02:28:01] mentioned that at the graduation just a few weeks ago and not only and I'm glad that you mentioned this Dr. Presidio not only other students supported the families are supported even when the new classes are being inducted there's a pledge that the students have to recite in that induction and there's a pledge that their parents have to recite in that induction it just really brings it as a full circle community wraparound service for our students whose path through post whose paths to post-secondary opportunities may have been limited if they did not have access to this I could not speak highly enough

[02:28:39] of this and i do want to say that arlington had way more graduations than we did than fairfax county i i still have the program at home and they are way tinier than we are thank you dr presidio thank you dr anderson mr moon would you like to speak to your second thank you mr shum i just wanted to support a dr anderson's desire to have this discussion and ask questions but having said that, I remember the days when we had more students going through this program than other

[02:29:15] jurisdictions. Thank you, Mr. Moon. Ms. Dixit? So I have a question on this. I understand this is for first-generation families. Is there a reason that GMU has kind of kept it to just that and not addressing the economically disadvantaged families or other socioeconomic groups which are at this disadvantage.

[02:29:48] Yeah, again, you know, this is a program that dates back to the 1980s, so I don't know kind of the guidelines that this program was developed under. But I do think it's important to point out that George Mason offers similar programs for other student populations.

[02:30:07] So they do have direct admissions opportunities for students that maintain a certain GPA and take a certain course load while in high school and provide additional support to those students through the application process as well. So they have other programs, but this one is really targeted at first-generation families to really provide that additional boost and support for folks that might not have the background to really understand the application process.

[02:30:31] So thank you so much. I definitely would like to explore other programs like you said for our students which loves economic means and if they're able to get into these this type of program so thank you.

[02:30:50] Thank you Miss Dixit the motion is on the screen. All those in favor Miss Marin Miss Dixit Mr. McIlvain Dr. Anderson Miss Anderson Miss Seizmer Heiser Mr. Moon Miss Lady Miss Ajahn Cunningham and myself with Mr. Dunaway from the table that is unanimous for board members present.

[02:31:05] mcdaniel is also away correct and mr mcdaniel's away as well thank you agenda item 5.06 approval of the 5 20 20 25 budget committee minutes icon miss st john cunning for a motion i move that the school board approved the minutes of the may 20 20 25 can you hang on one second i call miss marin for a motion i apologize thank you sorry just one minute um okay um i move that the school board

[02:31:45] approve the minutes of the May 2025 Budget Committee meeting with leave for the clerk to make grammatical and formatting edits. Is there a second? Second. Ms. Sizemore-Hyzer. Ms. Marin, would you like to speak to the motion? Oh yes, and I actually thought we were going to do it without any objections, but this is the motion is on the amendment, and now we have to, excuse me, the motion is on the minutes, and that'll be followed by the motion on the amendment. This was on consent. I pulled it because it had an error. The minute said that schools could carry

[02:32:23] over 25% of their budget into the next year in the conversation about funding for AARTs and special ed chairs. And I corrected myself in public that day to say, no, it's not 25% of the whole budget. It is 25% of the remaining budget of the school. That's what they could use. And because that topic was so critical, I didn't want it to go in that mistake. So it didn't get caught in time and i want it to be correct i hope you can support it thank you miss heismarheiser no i'm good thank

[02:32:55] you thank you miss anderson can i ask miss burden to clarify whether or not that is the correct language because i believe that it was only 25 of the logistics money that was left over is that correct it's 25 of a selected listing of accounts budget but only if though they have 25 of those accounts available thank you miss Anderson I'll speak to this as well we

[02:33:34] are not voting on the context a school division is applying to the subject we are clarifying the context that a board member said at a meeting so whether I could have said in the meeting the sky is purple and if the minutes said the sky is green just because the sky is actually blue doesn't mean regardless of the minutiae in between it doesn't mean that the minutes can't be corrected to REFLECT SOMETHING THAT ANOTHER COLLEGE MAY NOT SEE AS PRECISE.

[02:34:04] ALL RIGHT. I CALL ON MISS MARIN FOR AN AMENDMENT. SO THAT THE MAY 20TH, 2025 BUDGET COMMITTEE MINUTES REVISED BE AMENDED BY STRIKING THE LANGUAGE QUOTE TO CARRY OVER 25% OF THEIR BUDGETS QUOTE AND INSERTING THE LANGUAGE QUOTE TO CARRY OVER 25% OF THE REMAINING BALANCE OF THE SCHOOL'S ANNUAL BUDGET QUOTE IN ITS PLACE.

[02:34:26] IS THERE A SECOND? SECOND. MISS LADY. MISS MARIN, DO YOU NEED TO SPEAK TO YOUR AMENDMENT? no all right without objection can we adopt this amendment thank you the motion carries agenda item

[02:34:41] 6.01 academic matters i call on dr reed good evening chairman frisch members of the board and the community this evening it's my pleasure to talk about academic matters and this evening the

[02:35:14] team put together a deck related to the portrait of a graduate and so in 2024 which means that in In 2025, we've celebrated our 11th anniversary of the inception of the division's Portrait of a Graduate.

[02:35:31] And I think it's clear that the durable skills-- I think this is where we are, Janet, thanks-- as with any complex ability to reach proficiency in the portrait of a graduate, it requires a student to understand a number of different-- we're on the next slide, I'm sorry-- a number of different skills.

[02:35:57] For example, the communicator attribute includes skills related to reading, listening, speaking, writing, and understanding the nuances of doing these in a digital and in-person setting. Each attribute contains a set of specific skills that the 2014 school board crafted and adopted.

[02:36:18] So these are all on the screen. And for many of you, these are quite familiar. So, one of the things that we think about, we've codified the value we place on the student development of these skills in two measures of our strategic plan, both goal three and goal five.

[02:36:39] And the Commonwealth now requires all students to acquire and demonstrate foundational skills in Virginia's five C's. These are articulated in the Virginia Profile of a Graduate. A question that commonly asked is how do we know and how do we measure these skills?

[02:36:56] So we asked the same questions here in Fairfax County, which is why we have the portrait of learning. That's what POGPOL stands for. So the implementation progress of the presentation of learning.

[02:37:13] So all students at all levels learn about these skills. And the presentations of learning are an articulated assessment experience for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. students add evidence to their learning and skill growth to a portfolio over time that they use in this culminating presentation of learning and it's really I think an opportunity for students to show essentially show what they know and what they've learned in a unique way so some examples are on the

[02:37:48] screen here there are different pictures and at this point if you could play the video please miss Brown so when I look back on my elementary school experience I really remember the PBLs and the things that felt different because it wasn't just about learning the material then doing practice But it was about students getting to work together Build things innovate new ideas and then share that learning with others And that was portrait of a graduate the skills that portrait of a graduate has those skills are used everywhere

[02:38:22] but what's so important about the presentations of learning is having students reflect on that and make that connection because that's truly how they grow I'd say that I've seen these skills in other parts of my life outside of school as well especially being a graduating senior this year I've seen it when I apply for job interviews when I filled out my college applications and colleges ask the same questions they ask you to reflect on yourself what are your greatest strengths what are your greatest weaknesses my role this year let me see so many different student experiences and school experiences from elementary to middle and how they were using portrait of a graduate presentations of learning

[02:39:04] but that's like not really much compared to this. - Foundational part of POG practices is students learning how to purposefully reflect on their learning throughout the year so that at the end of the year, they can celebrate and share their personal story of growth, building that confidence and pride.

[02:39:23] Many elementary schools have done this with school-wide reflection times. Some are making this happen through elementary specialists like art, music, PE, and some are even bringing families in as part of school-wide celebrations that are amazing for everyone involved.

[02:39:39] - Sometimes if I'm sick or school's out, I spend the day making books with my imaginations or asking endless questions to my parents. - You ask endless questions to your parents? Do they always have the answers to these endless questions? - No. - So where do you find the answers if you can't get them from your parents?

[02:39:56] - I use my imaginations to think of what the answers are and use different things like textbooks to help me figure out if that's actually right. I am a communicator at home when I maybe write something about myself or I talk to my mom about how I'm feeling when I get upset.

[02:40:16] I think just watching these kids grow from quarter one to quarter four is incredible. I think when you get all these papers coming home every day, you kind of look through them and you're in the shuffle and the hustle of getting your kids home from school and getting snacks, but being able to sit down with them and take the time to really look at how they've grown throughout the year and have them explain it in their own words is priceless.

[02:40:38] It was really exciting when I finished my portfolio and I looked back and saw everything that I did and I was like, oh my gosh, wow, I can't believe I did that. I just felt really, really proud of myself and proud of the work that I had accomplished. So we've been using our advisory period to give students an opportunity to learn about different skills throughout the year and then periodically we've had students reflect on how they've been using those skills both in their classes and outside of school.

[02:41:04] They've put together a portfolio so that at the end of the year they can look back and see not only how they've used those skills in a variety of different ways, but also how they've grown and developed those skills over the course of the year. We really felt like this was a natural addition to our advisory content because that time is really dedicated for students to have some support with academics and work on schoolwork, but also to build skills that they will need once they leave our school and get ready for their career, college, whatever their post-secondary plans might be, and just to help them grow as better people as well.

[02:41:33] Yesterday, I got to go back to my elementary school and talk with some fourth graders about my experience of portrait of a graduate and also learn about some of their presentations of learning that they were doing. And it was just so incredible to see the connections that they were able to make to the skills that I was not able to do when I was in fourth grade.

[02:41:50] It was very full circle to see my elementary school still implementing portrait of a graduate, not the same way, but better than it was for me. And I hope that that just continues because it planted a seed in me and now graduating high school, having on these skills, knowing how to use it in college, I know has set me up really well, and I hope that that can be the same for every FCPS elementary schooler, especially as they move through the program.

[02:42:19] - All right, thank you, Ms. Sawant. It's kind of deja vu to go back, isn't it? You're never really back, so anyhow. We just heard Megan share her portrait of her graduate skills and how she's gonna take those with her into her next chapters, and we're really excited for that.

[02:42:39] As we move forward this coming year, the practices we saw in the video and those that led to the culminating presentations are reflected within our division focus on inclusive practices. And we seek to prepare all our students to truly develop agency, which means they'll be purposeful, reflective, resourceful, authentic, strategic, and action-oriented.

[02:43:01] So that is Academic Matters this evening, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Dr. Reed. Ms. Seizemar-Hyser. Thank you. And Dr. Reid, you know, first I want to thank the previous board for putting a portrait of a graduate in place. I think it was pretty groundbreaking work at the time, or a couple boards ago.

[02:43:19] So I want to thank you for that presentation. A couple things I would really love to talk to you about. When we worked on the grading policy and governance, we had quite a robust and I think good conversation about what is the purpose of K-12 education? Is it to teach the education, the knowledge that students need, or is it to teach them the knowledge and the skills they need to be successful?

[02:43:41] And I would argue that our purpose here is to teach students the knowledge and the skills. And especially in a world which is going to be, for their world, much more dominated by AI, right? And in a world that they've grown up with, with smart devices in their hands.

[02:43:59] there's a lot of information at their fingertips but having this knowledge to know what is right or wrong and the skills to critically analyze it to think through it to be creative and how they connect with it those are the skills and everything I read about what employers are looking for what an AI world is looking for and what colleges are looking for those are the skills how do you think critically how do you communicate effectively and how do you collaborate with a variety of people how do you have the resilience how do you have the grit how do you plan how do you organize without those skills the knowledge is not all that helpful right because you don't know what knowledge is

[02:44:39] true and what knowledge is false so I'm really glad to see this I would love to see this really expanded and embedded in all of our teaching and in teaching our kids and especially again people are afraid of AI there's some people want to you know don't want to talk about an education in my opinion AI is like the calculator moment or the steam engine electricity or the internet it brings good things it brings bad things but it's here and we've got to prepare our students for a world of ai right and how do they distinguish themselves there's already new careers in ai right prompt engineering is a whole

[02:45:14] new career ai ethicist is a new career there's going to be more and our children need the skills to be successful in that world and in an ai world it's not just the coding skills or the machine learning skills right it's a creativity to take what AI spits out and know what to do something with it right it's the collaboration working with others to create innovation to be entrepreneurs to use AI as a tool and not let AI use them and that is what we need to do in k-12 education these portrait of a graduate skills are the foundational skills that's why I think the board that put this in place was so groundbreaking in the work that they did because these

[02:45:53] are the skills that in this world where we're flooded with information where people question what's true and what's false knowing how to think critically through that knowing how to understand what information is reliable and how it's reliable and why it's reliable and especially how to work and collaborate with others is so important so i really hope we can focus on that going forward and i have one more thing so i'll take a go back thank you miss Sizemore heiser mr mckelveen so certainly one of the proudest things i have done on this board was uh work with mr moon and

[02:46:28] our colleagues of the 2012 board to create this portrait of a graduate and obviously Karen Garza deserves a lot of credit for that and the fact that we brought together more than 70 community members and a committee to come up with this made it all the more powerful and I still remember tussling with Elizabeth Schultz over Global Citizen but we got it in there and that That is certainly the thing of which I am most proud.

[02:46:57] And I do believe this work has really transformed our system, and it's incredible to see what has happened over the past 13 years and just how every school, every classroom has adopted it is incredible. And many people forget that the work we did in Fairfax actually was taken at the state level and became the state's portrait of a graduate, right?

[02:47:18] And as my colleague sitting next to me, Dr. Anderson, said, Loudoun County took it after us too. So this is an example of where we have been not only a state but national leader. And I know we have Jeff and Nishi here as well from the office.

[02:47:33] We're grateful to them for all the work they do. The one thing I would say is that as great as POG is, I don't think we should treat it as a catch-all. think in our org chart in many ways we are treating it as a catch-all and that as you know we have the global classroom project it currently falls under POG and I don't think that's where it should go I think global classroom is probably better situated somewhere else so that's something we need to think about but thank you to everyone for all your continued work on this it's always such a joy to go to schools and see how they're embracing POG thanks thank you

[02:48:12] I remember when the language used to be metacognition like 20 years ago when I was working in early childhood programs and it was like we really want to get kids to be able to explain what they know and how they know it so fortunate of a graduate sounds like really more cool I love that Miss Sawant was in it and my wolf trap students I saw in there and I've been to the Pogpole at Crossfield Elementary and also at Thoreau Middle School in the French class thank goodness it actually wasn't in French but it is really cool how the students can talk about what they know.

[02:48:45] And Ms. Langhorne and Mr. Pearson are here. And I got to give a shout out to Mr. Pearson's wonderful graphics that were shown almost like three years to the day when Dr. Reggio arrived. I would love to see them reintroduced. They were really funky and cool. But showing all the different aspects of the portrait of a graduate.

[02:49:01] And I just do want to mention the governance committee, you might recall, we discussed the portrait of a graduate skills in reviewing policies this year, particularly the grading policy. That was a big, important point for us. SO MY ONLY REQUEST IS THAT THIS VIDEO BE MADE AVAILABLE TO THE BOARD. I ACTUALLY WOULD LOVE ANY TIME WE HAVE AN ACADEMIC MATTERS VIDEO FOR IT TO BE EITHER IN BOARD DOCS OR MAYBE IT'S THE FRIDAY LETTER. BUT I WANT TO SHARE THIS EVERYWHERE. SO I HOPE WE CAN DO THAT SOON. THANK YOU.

[02:49:26] THANK YOU, MISS MARIN. MISS DIXIT. SO, DR. REED, I HAVE BEEN ALWAYS ADVOCATING FOR POGS SINCE I GOT ON BOARD. AND I'VE ALSO MENTIONED THAT LAST -- I'VE HEARD LESS OF POGS BEFORE LAST FEW YEARS.

[02:49:43] so it's good to see it's come back again in the last year or so i'm seeing in more in the classrooms i've seen in kids giving presentation even multilingual learners they're really giving their language skills and they're talking about different like how they're communicating and collaborating i've seen that into special needs class where students are communicating in different mode digital or verbal or so i think we're doing it really great in middle school and elementary school i wonder how if it's getting lost a little bit in high school level because the students have

[02:50:17] more competing class classes like aps and very like you know i think more difficult coursework sometimes and i i just wanted to know like what the staff thinks about how pox is bidding being implemented in high school levels so i'll defer to dr presidio if you want to share the high school absolutely and if i could just for a moment i just i do want to thank jeff lynette and nishi langhorne who are here who are leading so much of this work and appreciate jeff's videography work on the video so thank you both for being here and for your for your great leadership actually at the

[02:50:54] high school level in the middle school level we have embedded lessons in advisory so that all students are getting that opportunity even if they're you know general classroom teachers aren't providing those opportunities so we're embedding reflection opportunities goal-setting opportunities as well as culminating activities as part of the advisory curriculum so that every student at secondary can have these experiences thank you for the answer and also i'm seeing it more in the aap class uh schools which are the the centers they're really good with pogs and can you see

[02:51:28] in the school even middle school like i want to see how much are we doing emphasizing them on on the title one schools. And I think that's where we need them because kids have like parents may not be able to, you know, contribute to their all the skill set and they are definitely counting in the school to learn.

[02:51:51] This is absolutely important for next generation. So if we don't do this to with our students, we are not setting them up for success. So I would like to hear a bit about title one. Are they doing differently there or is it because I think is different in different schools. Yes ma'am I think the expectation is the same across the board it's not different title one or non-title one there's an elementary expectation a middle school and then a high school. So I'd like to see some of those pog polls and maybe some title one schools and next school year then. Yes ma'am we'll schedule that. Thanks. Thank you Ms. Dixit. Ms. Sizemore-Haiser.

[02:52:31] Thank you so that was my praise here's my the rest of it Dr. Reed around pog poll and portrait graduate which I still love and I think is wonderful I just think it's inconsistently done in FCPS and when we got the data I believe in one of the goal reports and miss Neal correct me if I'm wrong the number of pog polls that were done by special education students were tiny tiny it's great that we've embedded this in advisory but just like executive functioning skills you cannot teach teamwork collaboration critical thinking communication in isolation I think

[02:53:09] we're embedding this really well in some of our classrooms and I think we're not embedding it in other of our classrooms so like many other things we are having a two-tiered education system and as I just discussed these skills and I teach at the college level I see at the college level I talk to employers in the world that we're in these skills are going to become ever more important and we are inconsistent in teaching them and we cannot do them in isolation you just can't reflect it just doesn't work just like executive like planning and

[02:53:46] organization and flexibility and thinking how to be done in real-world environments during lessons during it's just not happening I can tell you you know and my son is still in college and in my school tours now I see a really big disconnect but I can tell you that my daughter who did 13 a AP AP classes and was on miss the wants path had the exact same statement that you had which is I'm seeing this on my college visits I'm using all these skills and she did also in a similar school and my son we spent a year his first year of college remediating all the things he didn't get and he's still in college it's not that

[02:54:25] long ago and in talking to families that is still the same experience so this is great the video is great but it belongs to everybody thank you ma'am thank you miss Sizemore heiser and thank you dr. Reed thank you agenda item 7 consent agenda are adopted rules of parliamentary procedure roberts rules excuse me provide for consent agenda listing several items for approval of the board by a single motion many items listed have gone through board review and documentation has been provided to all board members and the public in

[02:55:04] advance items may be removed from the consent agenda at the request of any board member prior

[02:55:09] to the meeting the consent agenda is being displayed on the screen the consent agenda items

[02:56:10] are now scrolling on the screen like the star wars credits is there any objection to approving the consent agenda. Hearing seeing no objection, the consent agenda is approved. Agenda item 8, new business. The following are new business agenda items. There will not be a vote on these

[02:56:31] items this evening, but action is scheduled for a future meeting. Agenda item 9, board committee reports. I call on Mr. McElveen for a report from the audit committee. Well, thank you. So we have closed out our year with audit committee. It's been a fantastic year led by Auditor General Coe

[02:57:10] along with our committee and at our last meeting we discussed the audit plan and plans for the coming year for audit I don't know if we'll we'll be together again as a committee but thank you to everyone who's contributed thank you Mr. McElveen Miss Lady I call on you for a report

[02:57:28] on the governance committee thank you the last meeting was on June 16th and was we reviewed several policies policy 2670 program for students with disabilities policy 2720 student list and

[02:57:59] policy 2745 commencement activities which the full board will vote on soon and I think that kind of sums it up I do want to thank Miss Marin because I was dealing with the family issue and she led that meeting for me and did a fabulous job so I appreciate your help thank you thank you Miss Lady I call on Ms. St. John Cunning for a report from the Public Engagement Committee.

[02:58:28] Thank you. Our last meeting was also last week. We had a productive year and great members were on the board. Some of the things that we are going to be finishing up is a toolkit with videos for members that are on our advisory committees.

[02:58:48] And that's going to be extremely valuable for someone that comes in as a new member to try to understand the kind of work THAT THEY WOULD DO AT AN ADVISORY COMMITTEE AND SO THERE WILL BE A TOOL KIT AND, YOU KNOW, LITTLE VIDEOS WHERE THEY CAN UNDERSTAND WHAT THE ROLE ENTAILS.

[02:59:06] WE ALSO DISCUSSED AND DIDN'T FINISH DISCUSSING WHAT ONE OF OUR SPEAKERS, PUBLIC SPEAKERS, TALKED ABOUT TODAY IS EXPANDING THE NUMBER OF STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES ON THIS BOARD. IT IS A LARGE BOARD AND FOR ONE STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE TO COVER EVERYTHING MIGHT BE A LITTLE BIT DIFFICULT SO I LOOK FORWARD FOR THAT DISCUSSION BEING CONTINUED IN PECK AS YOU KNOW WHEN WE HAVE NEW MEMBERS OR WHOEVER'S GOING TO BE WORKING ON PECK WE ALSO YOU KNOW ONE OF THE THINGS WE ALSO DID THIS YEAR AND HELPED WITH WAS THAT STUDENT LEADERSHIP PROGRAM THE SCHOOL BOARD STUDENT LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

[02:59:46] AGAIN THAT YOU KNOW I WANT TO THANK ALL THE WORK that OK and I'm drawing a blank again on our deputy clerk's name when I'm up here for what why am I drawing a blank on Mr. Jackson Mr. Jackson thank you it's like I was like I should have written it down so I would all the work that he did and also tonight you know the work that we did on proclamations and that was passed by the board tonight thank you for that so that that's it and until next year thank you Miss St. John Cunningham I

[03:00:24] on Dr. Reed for superintendent matters. Thank you Mr. Frisch. I think at this point I just want to note that just want to thank all our students who are involved in ESY extended school year which began what will begin this coming Monday followed by SOAR algebra power up and credit recovery starting on the 7th. I'm looking forward to getting out to visit some of these sites over the next couple of weeks and I know our students and staff are excited to be back in the classroom learning this summer and I can't wait to get out to the learning habitat and

[03:01:01] visit with you in the coming weeks also just want to note that we've got food and nutrition services that are also serving meals across the county at different schools so please make sure to look out for the communication on sites and this is no-cost breakfast and lunch available for children 18 years and younger. Finally yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the Northern Virginia Tech Council board meeting as I'm on their board and we had a really interesting keynote speaker yesterday which if you haven't heard of Chris

[03:01:40] Miller he's a professor at Tufts University and the author of chip war the fight for the world's most critical technology and it was really interesting to learn a little bit more about the little chips that are in all of our electronic equipment, and in particularly driving AI. So I look forward to sharing more information with our staff, students, and board on that topic. And lots of excitement in the coming days, and want to note that it will be the 249th, July 4th, next week. So hope everybody has a safe

[03:02:17] holiday. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Reed. And here I thought chip war was the fight over the Davis Center cookies. All right. Agenda item 11, board matters. I call on Ms. St. John Cunning. Buenas noches. Last week I had the privilege of attending the open house for the 13th home to be built by FCPS students in partnership with the Foundation for Technical Education. High school students in the residential construction program and other CTE programs constructed the home by learning the latest building techniques and practices through a curriculum developed by the National Association of Home Builders and are held to the same rigid standards required

[03:02:56] by Fairfax County building codes for all home builders. The home, located at Spring Village Estates in the Franconia District, has all the bells and whistles without the add-on costs. It's still expensive, though. It incorporates elements of universal design which make the home livable through all stages of life.

[03:03:15] If you have an opportunity to visit the home, you will be amazed by the design elements and the quality of work accomplished by our FCPS staff, teachers, and students. The home will be listed on July 1st, and in anticipation, I would like to welcome the new owners as a Franconia District constituent.

[03:03:31] I don't have enough time to read the names of all the nominations from the Franconia District that were nominated for this year's Outstanding Honor Employees Awards. That is how many of you were nominated. In my book, you are all winners. the fact that you were all peer nominated is an honor as it shows the respect and admiration of your fellow employees i would like to congratulate the three franconia recipients of the following awards dr deborah marsh this year's winner for the outstanding non-school-based professional employee who is recognized for her incredible dedication to the students in the john lewis

[03:04:06] leadership program daniel metheny this year's winner for outstanding school-based operational employee is recognized for his deep commitment to the safety of the fcps staff teachers and families at edison high school and throughout the division and raquel a joyner this year's winner for outstanding school-based professional employee who is recognized at the quander school for her dedication that extends beyond the school's boundaries as she cultivates strong relationships with families offering support that transcend the classroom finally as we enter the summer months I would like to highlight for our community that many of our schools serve free breakfast and lunch to any child through the summer food service program.

[03:04:46] If you require this service, please check the FCPS website for the schedule so that you can have your nice meals that are served in our schools. Buenas noches and happy 4th of July. Thank you, Ms. St. John. Cunningham, Ms. Lady. Thank you. Blanca Carbajal, a Clearview Elementary School parent of a rising 5th grader, won the 2025 Dr. Bussey Memorial Equity Award.

[03:05:09] The Minority Student Achievement and Oversight Committee, MSAOC, determines the awardee for any individual staff, student, or community member who has demonstrated significant and impactful efforts to improve the educational experiences and outcomes of students from groups who are marginalized or underserved.

[03:05:25] Ms. Carbajal works as a neighborhood ambassador with Opportunity Neighborhood in Herndon. She is recognized for her tireless efforts to remove barriers to school and community engagement by uplifting immigrant families, navigating language and system challenges, creating safe, inclusive spaces for children and parents, advocating locally and at the state level for equitable access to child care, housing, and education.

[03:05:48] Blanca shared during her acceptance, true equity is not just an ideal. It's a daily constant action. I don't lead from an office, but from where the community needs it most. Thank you to Opportunity Neighborhood, Cornerstones, Clearview Elementary, and everyone who has believed in me for opening doors and making me feel like I belong.

[03:06:09] This woman is a force to be reckoned with, and this is a great honor for a member of my community, and I'm very grateful for all the work she's done that she continues to do. do and then finally as we move into the 4th of July is around the corner let us all be appreciative of those who are founding fathers and people who have served and continue to serve in our military to make us safe and keep us free there will be lots of fun and festivities throughout the Drain'sville District starting as early as June 28th which the McLean Community Center's celebration at Langley High School through the 4th of July at the Great

[03:06:48] falls and Herndon celebrations so with that everybody have a wonderful summer be safe make good decisions read read read things besides your cell phone read read books practice math come back ready thanks thank you miss lady mr moon thank you mr chairman uh you know dr reed's mentioning of 249 a july 4th independence day dr yaron now whether you're listening so it reminded me of my first visit to Kennedy Center in 1976, that was two years after I arrived

[03:07:26] in the U.S. I was very happy to participate in a bicentennial celebration of Independence Day 49 years ago, but Mr. Chairman, yesterday, June 25, he marked the 75th anniversary of the Korean War. I want to take a moment to honor and thank American troops and allied forces whose sacrifice have made it possible for the korean people to live in freedom and democracy today my family is one of those millions of families that was saved by those sacrifices my father fled north korea

[03:08:04] during the war to come to south to the freedom of the south all by himself at the age of 17. as we look around the world and see so many reasons in turmoil i hope each of you takes a moment to truly appreciate and reflect on the privilege of independence and peace with that i wish all of you a meaningful and joyful fourth of july with your families and friends thank you thank you mr moon size marheiser thank you and i just wanted to speak very briefly to give a shout

[03:08:43] out to the robinson film crew again for the students talk about a great evidence of portrait of graduate work when we have our students from creating animation films and a public service announcement talk about creativity collaboration and things that they can do in the future using videos and technology to share a message and to communicate to the world i just wanted to take a minute to really say goodbye to miss sawant as well she like you can see the portrait of graduate skills in you and your education and how thoughtful you are and how well you speak and every time you speak I learn something from you and it makes me reflect and be thoughtful about

[03:09:22] something so I just wanted to say you'll be very missed and I am so glad that you feel that FCPS has given you such a solid foundation for you to go fly now and hopefully we'll meet for coffee in Boston when if I happen to be up there so but if not we'll see you when you come back to visit I also did one just really briefly wish everybody a great fourth of July it is a holiday that is actually personally very meaningful to me. I was the first in my family to vote.

[03:09:48] My parents came here with nothing as students as immigrants to have a better life for their for their children and it was interesting because my well it was public education that taught me how to be a citizen and taught me my duty as a citizen and what it meant to be an informed citizen to vote. It was my dad who actually taught me to love this country. He was the most enthusiastic american i've ever met even though he didn't become a citizen until 30 years after he got here he loved everything american he taught himself the rules of football and baseball and adopted

[03:10:23] the 49ers and the giants and rooted for them relentlessly and did not like it when i became an oakland a's fan his favorite holiday i think was fourth of july he just loved he would tell me look at this country i can say what i want and you can't stop me and i can think what i want and I can watch fireworks every Fourth of July knowing that I came here to be free and to make sure that you were free and I came here to this great country. And even though he passed away 20 years ago, every Fourth of July when I see those fireworks, I think of my dad and I think of what he sacrificed so we could have a better life and I think about how much he taught me to love this

[03:11:03] amazing country we're in. So happy Fourth of July. I hope everybody gets to celebrate and remember that even when times are tough even when things seem dark there are people who come here and make their lives so much better for themselves and love every minute of it so happy fourth of july thank you miss sizemore heiser dr anderson thank you megan is always bittersweet to just look over and to say goodbye to our student member but i do want to say that you have definitely made huge impacts here so the very very best of luck to you and it was a pleasure to get to know you over the

[03:11:43] course of this past year i wish you the best of luck um i do want to turn into some other kudos that i did not get a chance to share last time because i think we skipped board matters which is to offer a most rousing congratulations to the class of 2025 it was absolutely a pleasure to be at your graduations and to see the pride on your faces and on the faces of your parents as they cheered for you as you crossed the stage and with so many of our students just really dedicating themselves to the armed forces that was wonderful to see many of our schools recognizing

[03:12:19] those students in a separate way as we've talked about it as we've talked about before dr reed i I would love for our students who may be heading into educational paths or who participated in Teach for Tomorrow to also be highlighted, again, another infomercial for us here with a captive audience.

[03:12:40] I do want to say congratulations to all three of the Mason District High Schools who received nominations for CAPIs, and we had several winners with Colt Armstrong from Falls Church High School. won for a lead actor in a male role in a musical for his role in The Addams Family congratulations to Sophie Hemans from Justice High School she won a cappy for supporting actor in a female role in a play it's a very very specific niche here for her role in Almost Maine that was awesome and I also do want to say congratulations to the many mason district staff members who are honored at

[03:13:19] at the FCPS Honors Ceremony. We have three employees who were named winners in recognition of their outstanding work. For outstanding secondary teacher, we have Emeline Andrea Meja, multilingual teacher at Justice High School.

[03:13:38] And we also have for outstanding school-based operational employee, Liliana Alfaro, the building supervisor at Falls Church High School. An outstanding secondary teacher, Andrew Sherrick, band director at Glasgow Middle School. Yay.

[03:13:55] And lastly, the 2024-25 Fairfax County SEPTA Excellence Awards Ceremony, which occurred recently. I also honored many teachers from across Fairfax County, but I also want to honor, well, recognize Jared Wallace, social worker at Justice High School, who was named the outstanding related service provider.

[03:14:18] And with that, I will say have a great summer to our students. And I want to echo what Miss Lady said, because this is what I say in my home every day. Please read something that is not on your cell phone. So please listen to her advice and do that.

[03:14:33] And happy 4th of July to all. Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Mr. McElveen. So I know we were talking about chip wars. And I just want to say that Dr. Anderson is over here. We're engaged in our own chip war here. She always wins that one. But I do want to also recognize Ms. Sawant for her service over the past year.

[03:14:54] You know, there was discussion earlier tonight about potentially adding an additional student school board member, but Megan has been able to cover the whole county with precision, and you did it all with grace, maturity, and just immense intelligence. And so we really will miss you.

[03:15:11] And on that point, I was asked to convey something to you before we all leave. Our school board office, and Kevin Jackson in particular, helped with this. So as we have been joking over here, this is something that you can take with you and put on your dorm wall next year.

[03:15:31] And when we visit, we hope to see it there. But anyway, thanks again, Megan, for everything. We will certainly miss you. And just on a personal note, I will be departing in a few days for China for a month with 30 of our students, some of whom are from the Global Leaders of Fairfax County program we will be traveling from Beijing and spending most of our time in Yunnan province where the students will undertake apprenticeships with local craftspeople ranging from silversmithing to pottery making to wood carving and I know those will be life

[03:16:09] skills that they will keep with them and hopefully we will all come back in one piece and I will see you in the new school year. Good night. Thank you Mr. McElveen and I guess if that does end up on your dorm wall the most commonly asked question at Harvard next year will be who are those old people on Megan's wall? All right. So I just start to say about thank you Megan for spending this time with us and serving on this school board student member. This is a lot of

[03:16:46] work and despite having a full coursework load and applying for colleges you are here I think most of the meetings and you stayed till the end that's dedication that dedication will take you so far in your life I see a lot of potential in you and I hope one day you you'll be that FCPS graduate we'll all talk about so I wanted to congratulate the entire class of 2025 this was a great graduation season and I attended many schools graduate ceremony in Sully district, Centerville, Westfield, Chantilly, Thomas Jefferson High School, TJ4. And I really appreciate all the

[03:17:25] students for their hard work and wish the bright future in the future for all of them. We send letters to 48 Sully students who recognize their exceptional achievement. Those are like nine were the first place winner in the 2025 Regional Science and Engineering Fair. Two of them were grand prize winners we said that for nine piece award recipients 25 gold key winners in the scholastic art competition and five gold key winners in scholastic writing and this awards honors creativity academic excellence and leadership and we are very proud of the our students we also congratulate cadet Stan Varello of

[03:18:04] Shantley Academy a force JROTC named one of the fewer than 30 cadets of the year awardee worldwide from 90,000 participants. On June 2nd, and my colleague said that the Cappies Gala at Kennedy Center was amazing, and where Sully students also shined their work into the awards.

[03:18:26] Oakton High School Savannah Day won the comic actress in the musical. Caroline Cochran and Eva Kleiner received the award for props. Meera Iyer was named Best Actress at the Brandon Victor Dixon Awards in Washington DC for her performance at the as the witch. Thank you for all for this support and and we are doing a great really great job at FCPS. So having 4th of July to all of us and one thing I will just add is that as an immigrant I will say 4th of July for all immigrants

[03:18:59] is the biggest festival. We enjoyed the fireworks and I first year I landed here till now it's been the most favorite holiday for us for the entire year and we celebrate the spirit of America as Americans. Thank you.

[03:19:16] Thank you, Ms. Dixon. Ms. Marin. Hello. I've had a really interesting few weeks interviewing candidates to be appointed to our board committees that I have the privilege of appointing and it's been nice to have some time to have some conversations with people on all matter of things and there are just so many great people in our community who are interested in serving and have so much experience to bring.

[03:19:37] So I feel it's nice to have that. And I do want to acknowledge our Governance Committee. I know Ms. Leidy mentioned that we were doing some things. But we worked through over a dozen policies this year and worked on how we review things more regularly so it's more updated and consistent.

[03:19:59] And so that was hard work, it was not easy work. So I am right now experiencing my rising 10th grader taking online PE and learning driver's ed. This is day four and it's been a big learning experience for all of us as Mr. Sethi and Dr. Presidio and Dr. Ponce have heard because I might be giving a little bit of feedback.

[03:20:19] But it's uh it's interesting. It's very interesting to see our children become adults and her asking me how to change the mirrors in the car. So there's always a new opportunity when you're a parent. I am going to be heading on a really interesting professional development that that I had wanted to share with all of you.

[03:20:36] It's a group called the School Board Partners, and I had heard about them when we were at South by Southwest earlier when I went to a session about school board governance, 'cause that was like the only session about it, and you know I was there. So there were other board members there who had been to this other organization's training, the School Board Partners.

[03:20:56] So it's in Arizona, so I'll be headed there in July, 'cause you know, who wouldn't wanna be there? But I'm excited, and so I'll bring back what I learned, and I'm just excited to see what other people are doing around the country. And I do have books reserved from the library to go pick up for my plane ride.

[03:21:13] So about our student rep, I'm actually going to do a flashback to our student rep who was here when myself and three other colleagues on that first board got here. And that was with Miss Kimberly Boateng. And I don't know if you've seen my LinkedIn post following hers, but she has just graduated from Columbia University.

[03:21:32] She was a Lewis High School graduate. She's now finished her Bachelor's of Arts in Sustainable Development, finishing with a 3.6 GPA. And she is going on to earn her Master's of Public Health at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health with a focus on environmental health sciences. And she's seeking to work in environmental justice.

[03:21:50] This is a student who is a first-generation college student. She's got a GoFundMe to get help to cover these costs of going to Columbia University. So if you're so inclined, this is what our student reps can do. I hope that you could check out my LinkedIn or let me know.

[03:22:05] But if we all chip in, I even see some students chipping in, some former students giving five bucks or whatever. So I feel like if our students can do it, certainly we adults can chip in a little something. But to that, I will end on one last note of praise for Megan Sawant.

[03:22:20] Thank you for serving in this role with such curiosity and integrity. I've learned much from you, and our conversations led to meaningful changes, especially when it comes to helping students go through the grade from the schools, so I will miss working with you so regularly and will continue cheering you on in all that you endeavor. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Marin. I hope you enjoy your break from the heat in Arizona this summer. All right. This is my last full meeting as chair, and I'll have more to say about that next week, but I do want to start by saying thank you to Ms. Sawant, and you will be missed, and not just because you're always on time and always prepared,

[03:23:00] which is a real model for members of this board. So thank you for that. I cannot wait to see what you do with your life because I've been so impressed by what you've already done, and you're not even, well, I guess you're technically out of high school now.

[03:23:16] You're just not done with us, and I can't wait to see what you do. So congratulations on all you've accomplished, and I look forward to watching. Since our last board meeting, I've had an opportunity to attend the public school leaders network legislative breakfast of Tyson's where I got to watch miss Anderson do a great presentation about title one schools I attended the historical marker unveiling dedication at Colin Powell Elementary School with members of his family this is something that supervisor Patrick and I brought to our respective boards both boards passed it and now we've installed

[03:23:53] markers all over the county many of them at FCPS schools elevating the experiences of the black and african-american American community here in Fairfax County I also was able to attend mosaic pride celebration the largest pride parade in all of Fairfax County and not just because it's the only one but it gets bigger and bigger every year and I will tell you the number of people I saw with their FCPS pride shirts on the parade route the number of students who came up during the performances and speeches.

[03:24:29] It was really inspiring, and I hope other people will join me there next year. This was, I think, the fourth one, and it's getting bigger and bigger every year. So very grateful to be there in the heart of Providence District. Also had an opportunity to attend the Summer Equity Symposium in FCPS Honors, and a tribute to Jerry Connolly, also at Mosaic District, where we unveiled a plaque and tree in his honor, since he was a central force behind the creation of Mosaic District as it is today.

[03:24:57] And they also attended the Philippines Independence Day celebration. The Cappies were absolutely amazing. It was great to see-- it's been great seeing the performances not only at the high schools, but at the actual Cappies on the Kennedy Center stage. Just so impressive. And I think Washington could really learn something from our students.

[03:25:17] The empathy, the compassion, the artistic free expression that they had on display is really something. And I'm continually impressed by our student performers and journalists. And some quick shout-outs to all of the Providence District students who won the Regeneron International Science Fair-- I said that twice correctly tonight, and only once incorrectly-- as well as our National Merit Scholarship winners.

[03:25:47] And special kudos to the four recipients of the Fairfax County NAAC CP's Michelle Leite Memorial Scholarship, which went to Sean Crawford, Cranford, excuse me, of Woodson High School, a prominent district resident, just an all around great kid who's going to do great things.

[03:26:05] I think he's going to Syracuse. And that was my time. And so since I am the only person between the rest of this room and being done, at 10:25 PM, this meeting is adjourned.

[03:26:21] Who won?

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