Coraggio Consulting
Fairfax County School Board Meeting, Thursday, July 10, 2025

Date: Thursday, July 10, 2025
Place: Fairfax County School Board, Virginia
Length: 2h 19m (video)
Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV5mh54mC3A
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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[00:01:50] Time is 7:31 p.m. and this July 10th, 2025 regular meeting of the Fairfax County School Board will come to order. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by a moment of silence and a performance of the national anthem by Juliet Pascoe, a Mountain Vernon High School student.

[00:02:08] Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.

[00:03:30] Another round of applause for our incredibly talented student.

[00:04:27] Agenda item 1.02, announcements. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we have had to adjust our meeting agenda tonight, as the board cannot take official actions unless we have a quorum, which is, in our case, seven school board members attending in person.

[00:04:44] Mr. McDaniel is on route and will provide us with the necessary quorum, but in the meantime, we will be going to the beginning of the meeting with an agenda items that do not require a quorum to be present. We thank you for your patience and understanding. In accordance with Virginia code, the Fairfax County School Board has completed Superintendent Michelle Reed's annual summative performance evaluation for the 2024-25 school year.

[00:05:07] The summary has been posted on board docs for public viewing as per the board's strategic governance manual. I want to take a moment to welcome our new student representative, Faith McConan. Welcome.

[00:05:25] Ms. McConan is a rising senior at South County High School and is serving on the board as the student representative from July 1st to June 30th, 2026. To learn more about her, please visit the school board member webpage on the FCPS website, fcps.edu/schoolboard.

[00:05:44] 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.

[00:06:00] Tonight's meeting is being broadcast on Channel 99 and live streamed on YouTube and our website at fcps.edu slash live stream. Tonight's meeting is also being broadcast in Spanish on YouTube at youtube.com slash at fcps espanol.

[00:06:17] The Fairfax County School Board would like to welcome our new, now like to welcome our former student representative and would like to welcome you. Sorry, words. We would like to welcome the presence of our former student school board member, Ms. Sawant.

[00:06:36] Stand up. This is going to happen every time you come to a meeting now, so get comfortable. Agenda item 2.01, community participation.

[00:06:52] 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 business meetings and public hearings can be found on the school board website fcps.edu slash school board during the signup process community members acknowledge that 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

[00:07:29] your applause until the conclusion of a speaker's remarks. Audience members may not join speakers at the podium and should remain at their seats including when recording video or taking photos. We're grateful to those who have come to speak to us today and thank you for your cooperation.

[00:07:45] School board members will be listening but not responding. Madam Clerk, please call our speaker. Megan Sawant. Good evening everyone and hello again. I wanted to take this time to congratulate Faith and talk a little about how I met her and I'm so excited to see what you do as the new student representative.

[00:08:11] So I first met Faith through the Superintendent's Advisory Council when I worked on the Goal 2 focus group that spent the year meeting with subject matter experts and doing research on the strategies to improve chronic absenteeism in schools. And Faith was our co-chair and she went above and beyond to make sure that everyone was included in that conversation, that we dig deeper, that we ask the questions, that we We connected with other schools for data points, and thought critically about the impact of our work.

[00:08:37] I then got to work with her on the Student Leadership Development Program, and she made our work session so much more productive by asking questions, getting other students involved, and helping to refine the topics that we considered and passed. Faith, you are such a force to be reckoned with, and I'm so beyond proud to pass the baton to you, and I can't wait to see everything that you'll bring to the space.

[00:08:57] Always remember to stay true to yourself and the students you represent, even when times get hard you're going to make such an impact and please know that i'll be cheering you on from wherever i am i am so always always in your corner and i'm so proud of you so congratulations and good luck chair fish that was our last public speaker all right moving right along agenda item

[00:09:25] 3.01 student representative matters for the first time i call on miss mcconin good evening my name is faith mcconin i'm a rising senior at south county high school and i'm beyond honored to be be here today. Thank you to the superintendent's advisory council for entrusting me with this position and to Megan Sawant for her guidance and support as I transition into this role.

[00:09:50] When I think of this position, I think of the slogan, nothing about us without us. For a school system to properly serve its constituents, it must include the voice of those it serves. Students deserve someone who not only understands their experience, but who's committed to representing their concerns, ideas, and aspirations. Someone who doesn't listen, doesn't just listen, but amplifies. Policies that impact students should never be made without our input. As a student representative, it's my responsibility to ensure our perspectives are heard and generally considered. Adults may bring experience and structure, but students bring insight into what it's like to navigate the policies being made. Whether it's grade and reform, disciplinary practices, mental health resources, even how we use our phones in class, we're living these realities every day. A

[00:10:30] student representative bridges the gap between decision-makers and the student body, ensuring that every conversation at the board includes people at most affected by it. Through my two years in the Superintendent's Advisory Council, I've come to deeply appreciate how districts operate, how school districts operate and how powerful advocacy can be. Watching policy changes like grading reform take shape and knowing that student voices were part of that process has fueled my desire to keep pushing for thoughtful inclusive change. This year I've set three key priorities for my time in this role.

[00:10:57] First, I'm committed to reducing disproportionate discipline in our schools. Discipline practices must be fair, restorative, and equitable so that every student feels seen, supported, and given the opportunity to grow from mistakes and not defined by them. Second, I would like to elevate student policy, student voice, and policy decisions not just through my position but by building stronger channels for students across the county to be heard.

[00:11:17] That includes spotlighting voices that are often left out of the conversation. And third, I will work closely with leadership and student stakeholders to support the implementation of their revised grading and cell phone policies. These changes reflect years of student input, and my goal is to make sure they're rolled out in a way that works for everyone, for students, teachers, and schools.

[00:11:36] I would also like to take a moment to talk about the Student Community Advisory Committee. year we received 180 applications an incredible show of student interest and engagement the review process is currently underway and interviews will begin next week we plan to announce selected students in August and I can't wait to begin working with such a motivated and diverse group of leaders from across FCPS finally I'm honored to be working alongside these dedicated members of the board I deeply admire the passion each of you bring to your work and I'm looking forward to learning and growing with you throughout the year I don't take this position lightly and I know I carry the voices of more than 180,000 students with me and I'm committed to doing everything I can to represent them with purpose, heart and with integrity. Thank you again for this

[00:12:15] position and I'm very excited for Eliza Hudd. Agenda item 4, Superintendent Matters. I call on Dr. Reed for Superintendent Matters. Thank you Chairman Frisch. It's summer and I hope everybody's summer got off to a great start. The 4th of July weekend certainly was a beautiful weekend and the weather held out until of course the last couple days. I want to call out all the

[00:12:50] All the staff that worked valiantly this morning with the power outages from the storm last evening and the Annandale Terrace and Annandale High School programs, staff really worked hard to continue to provide quality experiences to our young people today.

[00:13:10] During our ESY the week prior, I did have a chance to visit the Canterbury Woods Summer learners and principal Christy McGeehan we well actually she's the ESY site administrator so we had visits to the fifth and sixth grade classrooms as well as other second grade classrooms and then our final stop was at preschool where we enjoyed working with the students who were there during the summer and it's exciting to see the extra effort our students and staff

[00:13:47] taking this summer. Tomorrow I'm gonna have a chance to go out to Graham Road and Annandale High School as well as Liberty Middle School to look at our algebra and credit recovery program so can't wait to do a little algebra tomorrow.

[00:14:02] A reminder to the community that our Boundary Explorer Tools survey and commenting feature closes Friday July 18th at 5 o'clock which I believe is next Friday so take one last look and next week is your last opportunity to comment on this iteration of the draft plans next week's an exciting week we're gonna be having our leadership kickoff on Tuesday which is hard to believe the kickoff for next year and then Wednesday and Thursday will be professional development for all school-based administrators so just a lot of

[00:14:41] excitement chairman Frisch I also want to just add a sobering note tonight as we continue to hear about federal funding freezes that may be impacting programs I know that we've got a number of our title programs we're looking at and we'll be able to share more of the impact next week and we're hopeful that the freeze will be unfrozen or that the freeze will thaw and that the monies will continue to come because the programs are so very important, but I'll be providing an update next week. So thank you, Chairman Frisch. Thank you, Dr. Reed. It would certainly be a shame

[00:15:20] for the students who benefit from those programs to go without and who said summer was a dull time for public education. It's very busy, very busy work. At this time, we're going to take a recess for a little bit while we wait on our final colleague to join us, but they should be here

[00:15:39] momentarily. So we will return to the dais in just a few minutes. Board members, please return to your

[00:19:18] seats. Our seventh has landed. Board members, please return to your seats. Agenda item 5.01,

[00:22:31] school board and virtual participation approvals. Ms. Marin has submitted a written request to attend tonight's meeting virtually due to personal reasons that she's at a professional development conflict in Scottsdale, Arizona. All those in favor of approving Ms. Marin's request. Ms. Dixit, Mr. McDaniel, Ms. Anderson, Ms. Seismarheiser, Mr. Moon, Ms. Lady and myself, that is unanimous.

[00:22:53] Ms. Marin, can you test your microphone and camera? Hello, good evening. Hi, we can hear you. Ms. St. John Cunning has submitted a written request to attend tonight's meeting virtually due to personal reasons as she is traveling and has a conflict. She is located in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. All those in favor of approving Ms. St. John Cunning's request, Ms. Dixit, Mr. McDaniel, Ms. Anderson, Ms. Seismar Heiser, Mr. Moon, Ms. Lady, and myself. That is unanimous.

[00:23:25] Ms. St. John Cunning, can you test your microphone and camera? My camera is on and I hope you can hear me. We can. Thank you. Agenda item 5.02-2025 Virginia School Board Association Business Honor Roll Proclamation. I call on Ms. Seismar Heiser for a proclamation. Whereas an excellent public

[00:24:03] school system is vital to the quality of life in Fairfax County and fundamental to preserving a strong democratic society now and in the future whereas public schools and local businesses are an integral part of this community and whereas the economic health of our community state and nation depends on a strong public school system and whereas collaboration between local public schools and local businesses and community organizations strengthen schools and the business community alike by providing a well-trained healthy and highly educated workforce and whereas

[00:24:42] many fairfax county local businesses play a crucial role in our schools in many varied ways including supporting schools with in-kind or financial contributions donating to scholarship programs supporting both curricular and extracurricular activities offering internship opportunities volunteering in our schools and sponsoring field trips and whereas the virginia School Boards Association Business Honor Roll allows local school boards to recognize and express their gratitude to local businesses for their support and vital contributions, especially as schools face increasingly budget uncertainty.

[00:25:17] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board hereby names EduFuturo, Navy Federal Credit Union, and Patient First to the 2025 Virginia School Board Association's business honor roll, showing appreciation for each entity's ongoing support of Fairfax County public schools. Your work has sustained our community in focusing on the goal of providing the best public schools and education that we can for every child who attends them. Is there a second?

[00:25:48] I second. Ms. Anderson, I'll call for the vote. All those in favor? Ms. Dixit, Mr. McDaniel, Ms. Anderson, Ms. Seismarheiser, Mr. Moon, Ms. Lady, Ms. St. John Cunning, Ms. Marin, and myself. that is unanimous congratulations agenda item 5.03 honoring 2025 outstanding fairfax county public school employees proclamation i call on miss anderson for a proclamation whereas the outstanding elementary new teacher award recognizing an elementary teacher who is within their first three years of teaching and demonstrates outstanding performance in superior instructional

[00:26:25] skills was awarded to andrea edmondson third grade teacher little run elementary school and And whereas the Outstanding Secondary New Teacher Award, recognizing a secondary teacher who is within their first three years of teaching and demonstrates outstanding performance and superior instructional skills, was awarded to Emmeline Andrea Mejia, Multilingual Learners Teachers Justice High School.

[00:26:54] And whereas the Outstanding New Principal Award, recognizing a distinguished educator and extraordinary leader who is within their first three years as principal, was awarded to Justin Simmons South County Middle School, and whereas the outstanding school-based operational employee award, recognizing a school-based operational employee who has made unique and exceptional contributions to FCPS, was awarded to Liliana Alfaro, Building Supervisor 3, Falls Church High School, and whereas the outstanding non-school-based operational employee award, recognizing a non-school-based operational employee who has made unique and exceptional

[00:27:31] contributions to FCPS was awarded to Daniel J. Matheny, Plumber Supervisor, Facilities Services and Capital Programs Office, and whereas the Outstanding School-Based Professional Employee Award, recognizing operational and/or non-instructional school-based employee who serves in a curriculum support or student support capacity and has made unique and exceptional contributions to FCPS was awarded to Raquel A. Joyner, Special Education Department Chair, Quandor Road Schools, and whereas the Outstanding Non-School-Based Professional Employee Award,

[00:28:11] recognizing a non-school-based operational employee who demonstrates commitment, fosters cooperative relationships, and has made unique and exceptional contributions to FCPS was awarded to Deborah March, John Lewis Leadership Program Manager, Department of Instructional Services, and whereas the Outstanding School-Based Leader Award, recognizing a school-based leader who demonstrates outstanding leadership and strengthens the learning environment through their work, was awarded to Dominic A. Williams, Assistant Principal, Union Mill Elementary School.

[00:28:44] And whereas the Outstanding Non-School-Based Leader Award, recognizing a non-school-based leader who demonstrates outstanding leadership and strengthens the learning environment through their work was awarded to Jay Nako, Executive Director, Professional Learning, Department of Strategy, Planning and Learning.

[00:29:00] And whereas the Outstanding Elementary Teacher Award recognizing an elementary teacher who demonstrates dedication, commitment, and the ability to propel students to high levels of success was awarded to Jason B. Erickson, physical education teacher, Dogwood Elementary And whereas the Outstanding Secondary Teacher Award, recognizing a secondary teacher who demonstrates dedication, commitment, and the ability to propel students to high levels of success, was awarded to Andrew W. Sherrock, Band Director at Glasgow Middle School.

[00:29:33] And whereas the Outstanding Principal Award, recognizing an innovative and highly effective administrator whose vision inspires and guides staff, students in the community to help lead their school to excellence, was awarded by Georgina I at Fairfax High School.

[00:29:51] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Fairfax County School Board congratulates and extends its highest commendation to winners of the 2025 Outstanding Employee Awards as exceptional employees who create and demonstrate the best instructional and support practices. Is there a second?

[00:30:07] Second. All those in favor, Ms. Dixit, Mr. McDaniel, Ms. Anderson, Ms. Seismarheiser, Mr. Moon, Ms. Lady, Ms. Marin, Ms. St. John Cunningham, and myself, that is unanimous. Congratulations. The motion passes. Congrats. i would like to welcome the school-based outstanding fcps employees and invite their families administrators colleagues and all those in support of the 2025 outstanding fcps employees proclamation to join the board for a photo at the front of the dais after the photo the

[00:30:41] guests and staff will depart the dais area and we'll take the next picture i would like to welcome

[00:32:46] the non-school-based outstanding fcps employees and invite their families administrators colleagues and all those in support of the 2025 Outstanding FCPS Employees Proclamation to please join the

[00:32:59] board for a photo at the front of the dais. I would like to invite Edu Futuro named to the

[00:33:57] VSBA Business Honor Roll their leadership and supporters of the proclamation to please join

[00:34:02] the board for a photo at the front of the dais. I would like to invite Navy Federal Credit Union

[00:35:17] named to the VSBA Business Honor Roll their leadership and supporters of the proclamation to please join the board for a photo at the front of the dais.

[00:35:58] I would like to invite patient first, named to the VSBA Business Honor Roll, their leadership and supporters of the proclamation, to please join the board for a photo at the front of the dais.

[00:37:22] All right.

[00:37:58] Agenda 5.04, Annual School Board Organizational Arrangements. As the outgoing chair, I will take a moment to provide some brief remarks. So as I conclude my time as chair, I've been reflecting on what we've accomplished together.

[00:38:14] It's been an honor to serve in this role, and I'm grateful for the trust you twice placed in me as we onboarded our new colleagues and our returning colleagues and got to work on behalf of our students, educators, and staff. I'm especially thankful to Superintendent Reed and division leadership for their dedication and partnership, the clerks and Providence district team for their invaluable assistance, and to Ms. Melanie Maron and Ms. Sandy Anderson, who served ably as vice chairs during my tenure, for their steady leadership throughout our collaborative work together when I stepped into this role I believed we could make our work more transparent and impactful and

[00:38:52] together I think we have over the past 18 months we've made our committee meetings more accessible to the public by recording and streaming them online for the first time ever we've also added new layers of transparency to one of our most important duties of school board members by posting a summary of the superintendent's annual evaluation online these changes make our work easier to follow and accountability stronger and more impactful. We've also made our meetings more efficient because as Ms. Anderson often reminds us, a public meeting that stretches past 10 p.m.

[00:39:25] is not very public at all. We've streamlined our agendas, restrained ourselves from speaking on items like proclamations, adopted a 48-hour rule for most motions allowing everyone on the board and the public time to engage and learn more. We've ensured greater fidelity to meetings run by Robert's rule of order, and the result, our meetings are regularly shorter than they have been in recent memory. But we haven't just improved how we work, we've also delivered on the substance as well. We approved the first collective bargaining contract in the history of Fairfax County Public Schools, finally giving our teachers and staff a seat at the table. We completed a

[00:40:04] comprehensive review of the school boundary policy for the first time in half a century. We updated our grading policy to enhance rigor and bring greater consistency across the division. Many of the academic indicators we monitor to ensure student success are trending in the right direction.

[00:40:20] We've also made significant progress on our joint environmental task force goals, putting more electric buses on the road, substantially expanding the number of schools with solar power, and initiating plans for net-zero school construction projects. These types of conservation efforts save us millions of dollars every year that can be reinvested in student success. And after years of work, we are finally on the verge of acquiring a western high school site a cost-saving investment in our future that will serve generations for of students for years to come and we've done it all while standing firm on our values our commitment to excellence equity and opportunity has never

[00:40:57] wavered even in the face of unprecedented attacks on public education from washington and richmond we've worked hard to ensure our schools remain a place where students feel safe supported and included where they can walk the halls of our schools free from the burdens of the outside world and focus on what really matters most their education this work has not always been easy but it has always been worth it i am proud of what we've accomplished together and i look forward to sitting at the end of the dais as we meet the challenges that lie ahead thank you all all right

[00:41:36] the moment i've all been waiting for the next order of business is agenda item 2.05 the annual organization motion section 22.1-76 of the code of virginia specifies that the annual organizational meeting a school board shall elect one of its members to serve as chairman and may elect one of its members to serve as vice chairman both for a one-year term and shall also approve other appointments and designations of responsibility necessary for board operations during the year i will now call on dr reed to conduct the selection process for the school board chair

[00:42:12] for the next year dr reed thank you mr frisch at this time i will open the floor to nominations for chair of the fairfax county school board i nominate sandy anderson for chair of the board is there a second second nomination sandy anderson has been nominated as chair are there any other nominations hearing no other nominations the motion before the board is to elect sandy anderson as chair of the Fairfax County School Board. I'll call on those members who

[00:42:50] nominated Ms. Anderson for comments first. Ms. Dixit, would you like to speak to your nomination? Yes, I would. First, I would like to thank Chair Fresh for his dedication, time, and steady leadership in this role. Being chair is no small task. It requires navigating complex decisions, balancing multiple priorities, and supporting a diverse group, all while helping the agenda moving forward. He did all this with grace and patience and I'm especially grateful the way he welcomed new members like me helping us feel included and confident in our roles. Thank you. I'm honored to nominate Sandy

[00:43:29] Anderson for the chair position. She brings a proven record of strong leadership, thoughtful communication, and collaborative spirit. She is strategic, approachable, and deeply committed to creating a space where all members can thrive. Her dedication to ensure positive outcomes for students has been clear in everything she does, always advocating with both compassion and purpose. These qualities make her exceptionally well suited to take on this challenging but very important role. Mr. Moon, would you like to speak to your second? Yes Dr. Reed.

[00:44:06] I'm happy to second the nomination for Sandy Anderson as the next chair of the Fairfax County School Board. Since she joined the board as the Springfield district representative last year. I have had the opportunity to closely observe her work as a school board colleague and also vice chair. When she invited me to second nomination, the first word that came out of her was collaborative. She wanted the board to be

[00:44:39] more collaborative in doing its work. Board members may not always agree on issues and bring diverse viewpoints and approaches to the work of the board. I believe Miss Anderson is the best suited to lead the board at this point in time. Having served as the chairman for a number of times, I know chair's work is not easy. I'm sure that you know that, Miss Anderson. But even fully knowing that, I want to thank you

[00:45:13] for stepping up to do that hard work. Good luck to you. Are there any other board members who may wish to speak. Mr. Frisch. Thank you. Sandy Anderson has served ably as vice chair for the past year and I often joke that she has an opinion on every font and every formatting choice for any document you can imagine but the truth is that that attention to detail reflects something much deeper. Her commitment to doing what's right the right way with care and intention

[00:45:49] In every meeting, every policy discussion, every decision, Sandy zeroes in on what matters, making sure our students remain at the center of our work. Her thoughtful leadership, sharp eye on the fine print, and tireless advocacy for public education make her uniquely suited to lead the school board in the year ahead.

[00:46:10] I've seen it firsthand, and I know she will lead with both conviction and compassion, and I'm proud to vote for her as our next school board chair. Ms. Marin, would you like to comment?

[00:46:23] I would. Can you all hear me? Good. Okay. You can hear me. Yes. Yes. Okay, great. Well, first I do want to thank Mr. Frisch for his hard work over the unprecedented length of service, shepherding the new, well, the current board in and with a ton of dedication. And when you listed all the accomplishments, there has been a lot done and, and strengthened. So thank you to Ms. Anderson. Thank you for continuing to facilitate the work of the board.

[00:46:54] you know what you're getting into. So that's really a good thing. And, you know, I appreciate having a thought partner in you to really think about the big picture things and how we can be most effective and also down to the little things like an Oxford comma. But so I am here at this conference that actually focuses on school board governance. And one of the things that I was just looking through the agenda for this weekend, it talks about how when school boards are most effective, that's when our students get their greatest benefits. So one of the things I'm

[00:47:32] reading, it says, by clarifying the foundational elements of the board's work through having explicit roles, responsibilities, governance, and onboarding, school boards can truly be equipped to drive systemic change. So I know that we have so many passions, all of us, but I think that you know miss anderson this is such a huge historic moment and an opportunity for us to figure out how this board can lead and really elevate ourselves um from a lot of details that can bring us astray so i i hope that we can do that work and again thank you for stepping up to

[00:48:08] um be at the helm of our of our flat board of 12 individual people which is a huge task in and of itself so thank you are there any other board members who wish to speak miss lady i'll be brief I think my colleagues have summarized Ms. Anderson's skill set quite well.

[00:48:29] I just want to share that, you know, from my perspective, I've really enjoyed—actually, I'll go back to the first time I met Ms. Anderson, and she came to my kickoff, and I didn't know who she was, and I never went to her kickoff. So that tells you a little bit about how to be a politician.

[00:48:45] She's a little better than me, I think. But since being coming on the board, a great respect for her past experiences in higher education, current work that she was doing, writing curriculum in the STEM world for K-12, and just all the work and her attention to detail, I think it's been highlighted effectively.

[00:49:03] So I think she will lead us beautifully. We both agree that collaboration is the best way forward. I appreciate my colleague Ms. Marin's comments in relation to the work that she's doing right now for professional development. So I'm just very excited to see Ms. Anderson step into the role as chair and working alongside her.

[00:49:25] Thank you. If there are no other comments, then we'll proceed with the vote, which requires a majority of votes from those board members present and voting. The motion before the board is that Sandy Anderson be elected chair of the Fairfax County School Board. All those in favor of the motion, please signify by raising your hand and saying aye.

[00:49:47] So that would be Ms. Dixit, Mr. McDaniel, Ms. Anderson, Mr. Frisch, Ms. Sizemore-Heiser, Mr. Moon, Ms. Lady, Ms. St. John Cunning, and Ms. Marin. I believe that's unanimous.

[00:50:03] At this time, I'm pleased to introduce the chair of the Fairfax County School Board, Ms. Sandy Anderson. I won't take up much of our time tonight because we have much work to do.

[00:50:21] Thank you to all my colleagues for their kind words. always makes you feel good to have people recognize the work that you do I've learned so much over my last year in the in my position as vice chair and I am extremely grateful to the board for giving me the opportunity to learn more in this new position I can't thank mr. fresh enough for his patience and mentorship throughout the last year I asked a lot of questions I would also like to thank dr. Reed for your study leadership and thoughtful approach to

[00:50:51] this work always. As Mr. Frisch noted, we have accomplished so much in our short time on the board together, and I am thrilled to be able to continue this work with all of you. So thank you very much. At this time, I will open the floor to nominations for vice chair of the Fairfax County School Board. I nominate Robin Lady for vice chair. It's mercy. Oh, sorry. It's okay. Sorry, my, my, my, I nominate Robin Lady to be vice chair. Thank you, Ms. St. John Cunning. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Ms. Sizemore Heiser.

[00:51:41] Robin Lady has been nominated for vice chair are there other nominations hearing no other nominations the motion for before the board is to elect Robin Lady as the vice chair of the Fairfax County School Board.

[00:51:57] I'll first call on those who nominated Miss Lady for comments Miss St. John Cunning. Thank you for when I first came on the board as a first time school board member I was really excited when I met Robin Lady because I was glad to have a colleague that had something in common with me.

[00:52:16] me since both of us have worked in FCPS for over 25 years. And we were both motivated to be on the school board to continue serving our FCPS community. In the almost two years that we've served together, I have come to see the dedication and commitment Ms. Lady puts into this work. It is informed by her years of experience working with students, families, and community. Ms. Lady's North Star is to see all FCPS students reach their fullest potential and she understands how that looks different for each student and that's a really important distinction that I admire. However,

[00:52:54] it doesn't stop there. Her experience also means she knows how important every FCPS staff member is and how valuable their work is. She understands how significant it is to create a positive school culture where staff members can show up to do their best work so our students can succeed aside from her experience in fcps miss lady has served on various boards as a board member and a board leader to that end she has worked diligently to create a cooperative culture among school board members as well as with the leadership team and this is a little known fact because she's very

[00:53:31] humble but this april the potomac and chesapeake association for college admission counseling presented Miss Lady with their highest honor the Apperson award presented to a member of their organization whose career embodies the ideals of providing extraordinary service to students some of the words used in that recognition apply to the work Miss Lady does on this board and I will use them quote perhaps what stands out most about this person is their deep dedication to lifting others they have supported colleagues around the desk generously sharing wisdom support

[00:54:10] and encouragement they have been a guiding light for many always willing to lend an ear offer advice and help navigate challenges big or small i admire that's end quote and i admire miss lady's ability to listen to others co-less information and then bring us together miss lady also continues to prefer to pursue professional development opportunities on her own dime and then generously shares all of this information and knowledge with this board so that it will inform and help us make the best decisions for the division i could go on and on but i do have

[00:54:48] a time limit suffice it to say it is a privilege for me to sit beside miss lady and work with a true champion for fcps teachers staff and above all students um i will add here that i cannot say enough about her integrity and the ability to build trust so it is really my distinct honor to nominate my colleague and friend to be vice chair for the fairfax county school board for the 2025 2026 school year thank you miss st john cunning miss Sizemore heiser would you like to speak to your second yes thank you i would and um if i may indulge miss lady before i start i'd like to say

[00:55:23] a couple words to our outgoing chair mr frisch um having served myself both as chair and vice Chair I know how incredibly difficult and challenging this role is and for Mr. Frisch to serve for 18 months of a role that takes a lot out of you in 12 months is really admirable and I just wanted to say a minute of thank you for your calm your collaboration your humor and having come on the board with you together in January 2020 just three months before a hundred year global crisis and being able to navigate that with you and then watching you lead us into a new board has been an honor and i just want to thank you so miss lady i have the privilege of also seconding your

[00:56:02] nomination and i'm thrilled about this while you are newer to the board you had decades of public service coming into here and work in public education and your list of leadership within your schools as well as in other boards in the community is very impressive not just starting your career as a secondary counselor in 1995 serving that in thomas jefferson and the recipient of the Director of Student Services Award in 2015, the Rising Star Program Award, and the President, which shows a lot of faith from your colleagues of the Potomac and Chesapeake Association.

[00:56:34] And funnily enough, Ms. St. John Cunney and I had the exact same quote that we were gonna share from your award, so I'm not gonna share it, but I did have it written here as well. I just wanted to speak also that I've seen you as leading the Governance Committee this year lead with grace and flexibility and really working hard to make sure the voices were heard and that our work moved forward.

[00:56:53] So thank you for stepping up into this very difficult role. It is, as I said, having served in both these roles, quite a challenge. And thank you for the time you're going to be spending the hours and hours and hours and phone call that you'll be taking and the dedication that you are showing to us and the school system by stepping up.

[00:57:10] So thank you. Ms. Dixit. I would love to support Miss Lady. And when I think of Miss Lady, I think of 27 years in FCPS. And it's like, I guess this will I'll take it with me for a long time.

[00:57:26] And and thank you for reminding that always. But in seriousness, I have a lot to learn from you. And, you know, you've been working in the school system. The insight you have for somebody like me who is being a parent but not being inside the school system, it's been a game changer for me.

[00:57:43] And and you are very clear on your your perspectives. I mean, nonpolitical political person, something I kind of relate to as well. So I would love to work with you, work beside you, and hopefully we'll have a great year ahead.

[00:58:01] Thank you. Mr. Frisch. Thank you. Long before either of us served on the board, Robin Lady and I were friends. And from the moment I met her, her passion for students and their academic success has been clear.

[00:58:18] And that passion hasn't faded one bit since her retirement from FCPS or her election to this board. she brings a keen understanding of how our schools operate on a day-to-day basis grounded in her decades of experience working in them robin knows what it takes to support our educators and our staff so that every student has what they need to thrive i know she'll bring that same commitment insight energy to this new role and i am incredibly proud to support her as our school board's next vice chair and not just because she did have a slice of the pie made

[00:58:53] tonight so congratulations miss marin hi thank you um yeah there's no doubt uh miss lady that miss lady knows the ins and outs of many parts of how our you know our system works and you know her view as a former long-time staff member is i always find valuable i do uh i do want to take this opportunity though to really pivot back to the work you know on the school board which is to

[00:59:27] manage the school board's work. And as much as each of us likes to be passionate and content experts at some things, this work of leading the board is about setting us up to do the most important things that only the 12 of us in this entire county can do. And I saw how the new vice chair to be forthcoming managed the governance committee. And so I think that that was a great sort of trial experience to see the challenges the opportunities things to do um and really elevate that now because it's we really have to you know again figure out how to work effectively

[01:00:07] and um it's not just about our passion for the content and the the results it's about how we get there methodically and using our you know taxpayer resources as best as possible so i will be um at your side ms lady and thank you for stepping up thank you ms baron mr mcdaniel thank you um and i apologize for being late i started my morning to the sound of birds chirping in park city utah and it was literally planes trains and automobiles today to get here so i just caught my breath congratulations to chair anderson i know you're going to do a fantastic job

[01:00:47] But for the to-be, I suspect, vice chair lady, I always know that if someone says anything about master schedule, I will see her hand shoot up. Or if someone says anything about Chantilly, I will see her hand shoot up.

[01:01:06] I can set my clock by it. Or Marshall or T.A., well, those are the big two. But what I most admire about Miss Lady is her passion for our 40,000 employees. And I can always depend that if maybe I don't see something that impacts employees, I know that she will.

[01:01:24] And having that experience is invaluable to her role and what she does. And I always know that if I have a question about how things actually go on in our schools with whatever it happens to be, I can pick up the phone and call Robin and get the answer and get an honest, straightforward, very candid at times assessment of things, which i appreciate candor so happy to support the nomination seeing no other comments then we'll proceed with the vote which requires a majority of votes from the board members present in voting

[01:02:02] the motion before the board is that robin lady be of elected vice chair of the fairfax county school board all those in favor of the motion please signify by raising your hand and saying aye miss dixit mr mcdaniel mr frisch miss sizemore hyzer mr moon miss lady miss st john cunning and Miss Marin and myself that is unanimous for all members present at this time I'm pleased to introduce the chair the vice chair of the Fairfax County School Board Miss Robin Lady congratulations

[01:02:39] again the board is going to take a very brief recess to just oh I'm so sorry yes can we have some brief remarks by our new vice chair thank you thank you colleagues for your kind remarks regarding my leadership and work with the board. I'm deeply honored and truly humbled by your nomination and election to serve as vice chair of the Ferris County Public School Board for the coming year. Your trust and confidence in me mean a great deal to me. As many of you know my journey with FSBS began long before my time on this board. I had the privilege of serving our students and community as a school counselor and later as a director of student services.

[01:03:18] These experiences coupled with my prior service on various boards as chair of numerous committees as a president of two associations have instilled in me a profound understanding of the dedication required for effective leadership and governance. I'm a strategic thinker, a lifelong learner, and a committed listener.

[01:03:36] My passion for education is unwavering and I truly believe in uplifting the incredible work of FCPS as the best public school system in the United States. In every decision we face, I consistently ask myself three fundamental questions: how will this impact our students, how will this impact our faculty and staff, and how will this impact our families?

[01:03:55] These questions serve as my compass, ensuring that our focus remains squarely on the wellbeing and success of our entire school community. I celebrate the collective gifts that each of my fellow board members brings to this table. It is a genuine pleasure to collaborate with all of you and with the exceptional leadership team of FCPS.

[01:04:11] Together, we strive to ensure that we provide the best possible education to every single student in our charge. To my colleagues on the board, thank you for your incredible support and encouragement as I step into this new role. The work of this board is immensely important, incredibly detail-oriented, and demands excellent communication.

[01:04:29] I promise to do my very best to serve this board and the entire school system with the dedication and integrity. I also ask for your grace when I inevitably make a mistake, and I promise to extend that same grace to each of you. I look forward to serving alongside Ms. Anderson and working even more closely with all of you in the coming year.

[01:04:46] Again, I'm incredibly honored and humbled, and I thank you for this nomination and election this evening. Thank you. - Congratulations again, Ms. Lady.

[01:04:57] The board will now take a very brief recess to re-situate ourselves, so nobody run away.

[01:06:18] The board will now reconvene and now call on Miss Lady for a motion. Strap yourselves in.

[01:06:34] This is a long one. The school board authorized organizational arrangements and appointments as follows. I move that the school board authorized organizational arrangements and appointments as follows. One, designate the 2025 school calendar of regular business meetings, which are typically held on Thursdays, as well as closed sessions and work sessions.

[01:06:57] The board's calendar of meeting dates will be based on the school year and will be published in July as detailed in attachment A of the agenda item. Special meetings, board committee work sessions, and other special functions will also be scheduled. Liaisons and committees will be organized to support the board's work.

[01:07:13] If needed, committees of three board members consider student disciplinary cases in closed meetings. Number two, set the salary of the board members at $48,000 per year and that of the board chair at $50,000 and reimburse all board members for travel expenses in the conduct of official business, including attendance at meetings, at the same rate as employees of the board.

[01:07:36] Compensate the student representative for attendance and participations at public meetings commiserate with the current minimum wage. The student representative shall also be reimbursed with the approval of the school board chair for expenses included while on the school board business. Four, appoint Marty Smith to serve as the superintendent's designee to attend any meeting of the school board that the superintendent cannot attend. Five, appoint Christina Setlow as clerk of the school board and Kevin Jackson and Janet Brown as deputy clerks of the school board, each with a corporative certi bond as required by the Code of Virginia. Six,

[01:08:14] appoint deputy clerks of the school board for the limited purpose of signing titles to school division vehicles and countersigning payment warrants as detailed in attachment B of the agenda item. Seven, appoint agents and deputy agents of the school board to examine, approve, and order payment of financial obligations of the school board and to approve disbursements made from all petty cash funds as detailed in attachment B of the agenda item. 8. Appoint agents and deputy agents of the school board to examine, approve, and order payment only in connection with the Educational Employees Supplementary Retirement System of Fairfax County as detailed in attachment B of the agenda item. 9. Authorize the

[01:08:52] chair and clerk to sign all legal documents for the board other than those requiring the signature of some other officer or officers, and authorize the vice chair to sign in the absence of unavailability of the chair and the deputy clerks in the absence of unavailability of the clerk. Ten, authorize Marty Smith, chief of staff, to execute official documents including those related to state, federal, and impact aid requiring the superintendent's signature and those related to the Virginia Department of Education reports, documents, requisitions, and other official correspondence in the absence of unavailability of the division superintendent effective through July 31 2026. 11 retain the

[01:09:31] following outside law firms as assigned and managed by the office of division council the firm of Hunton Andrews Kurth to provide general legal advice and litigation services the firm of Blankenship and Keith to provide general legal and special education advice and litigation services the firm of Franklin and Prokopik to provide workers compensation services The firm of Michael E. Kenney, PLC, to provide general legal advice and litigation services.

[01:09:57] The firm of Sands Anderson to provide general legal advice and litigation services, and such other firms as are determined to be necessary from time to time. Twelve, appoint two additional impartial hearing officers, Nancy Reeves and Ross Holden, pursuant to the Virginia Code and 22.1-311B.

[01:10:20] Upon a timely request for hearing pursuant to Virginia Code 22.1-309, and as required by the Virginia Code, the school board will refer such hearing to either an impartial hearing officer or a three-member fact-finding panel based upon the preference of the employee requesting the hearing.

[01:10:37] Is there a second, Mr. Frisch? Ms. Lady, would you like to speak to your motion? No, thank you. Mr. Frisch, would you like to speak to your second? Just for a few. No, I'm not. Thank you. Thank you. Seeing no other board members that wish to speak, I will call for the vote.

[01:10:58] The motion is before us on the screen. All those in favor, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Frisch, Mr. McDaniel, Ms. Lady, Ms. Sizemore-Hyser, and myself. Those opposed, oh, I'm sorry, and Ms. Marin and Ms. St. John Cunning were in the affirmative.

[01:11:20] And those abstaining, Mr. Moon. Madam Clerk, will you read the vote? So we're 8-0-1, the motion carries. Agenda item 6.01, performance review, emergency superintendent succession EL2 monitoring report.

[01:11:41] Each year, the school board assesses the superintendent in part on the basis of the school division's reasonable progress towards achieving the 2023 to 2030 strategic plan goals and adherence to a set of 13 executive limitations found on pages 14 through 31 of the board's strategic governance manual.

[01:12:02] The superintendent provides annual monitoring reports to the board for each executive limitation. The board then votes on whether or not the provided report is in compliance or if corrective action is necessary. I call on Dr. Reed for a monitoring report on executive limitation two, emergency superintendent succession.

[01:12:21] - Good evening, Chair Anderson, members of the board and the public. Tonight I'll be presenting executive limitation number two, which addresses the emergency superintendent succession here in Fairfax County at this point, just a reminder for those watching that the emergency superintendent succession executive limitation is critical and it does direct that I shall not fail to designate one other at least one other executive staff member as acting superintendent.

[01:12:57] excuse me, who is familiar with the board's governance process and issues of current concern and who would be capable of assuming the superintendent responsibilities should I become unexpectedly unavailable. So at the time of this report, to the best of my knowledge, information and belief, I've gathered information and evidence that I believe supports compliance with the board's expectations associated with this topic.

[01:13:25] So I want to clarify that in the event that there was some sudden reason that I've lost the capacity to serve, that I've designated Chief of Staff Marty Smith to assume these responsibilities. Consistent with this designation, you have voted on the annual school board organizational arrangements, which also include a recommendation to appoint Chief of Staff Marty Smith to serve as a superintendent's designee and attend any meeting in my place should I be unable to attend.

[01:13:57] One of the things that's important for the board and community to know is that our chief of staff, Marty Smith, works very collaboratively with our senior leadership team to address issues and emergencies that occur. I've been very clear with Mr. Smith on board policies, regulations, and the governance manual, as well as clarifying executive limitations and goal expectations.

[01:14:22] And Mr. Smith is very familiar with our division strategic plan, as well as the priorities for the division. At this time, Madam Chair, this concludes the summary of the monitoring report for Executive Limitation 2.

[01:14:37] And I'm happy to take any questions should the board have any. - I call on Miss Lady for a motion.

[01:14:54] - I move that the school board finds the superintendent is in compliance with Executive Limitation Number 2, emergency superintendent succession. I further move that the school board approve the monitoring report based on the superintendent's reasonable interpretation of executive limitation number two emergency superintendent succession as outlined in the strategic governance manual is there a second second miss lady would you like to speak to your motion uh actually you know I think this is pretty you know straightforward and self-explanatory but I do thank the superintendent for her hard work and the team she has around her thank you miss st. John Cunningham would you like to

[01:15:33] speak to your second just very briefly I think the superintendent has done a a great job of putting an excellent leadership team together um and just knowing that that leadership team is there uh should anything ever happen we know that they could keep things running because she has had a very steady hand in putting them together and guiding them um so i'm happy to second this motion thank you uh mr moon just one quick question uh dr reed uh as an attorney when

[01:16:10] I used to practice, there are, you know, sometimes I had to ask client a pretty uncomfortable questions, such as, what if neither of you is of your number? Ever thought about that?

[01:16:28] Not recently, but I suppose that's possible. But one of the things that we're generally careful about is we're not on vacation at the same time. So we look at our calendars for the year, and one of us is always going to be available by phone, text, or email 24-7.

[01:16:50] I suggest that for you to think about, just in case something were to happen to both of you, God forbid, that we may have somebody else to step in. Yes, sir.

[01:17:15] Okay. Seeing no other members that wish to speak, I'm going to go ahead and call for a vote on the motion, which is on the screen. All those in favor, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Frisch, Mr. McDaniel, Ms. Leidy, Ms. Sizemore-Hyzer, Mr. Moon, Ms. Marin, and Ms. St. John Cunning and myself, that's unanimous.

[01:17:40] Agenda Item 7.01, Policy Review, Emergency Superintendent Succession, EL2. The next order of business is the Policy Review for Executive Limitation 2, Emergency Superintendent Succession. Annually, the Board will review each executive limitation at the time the monitoring report is provided to determine if revisions are needed.

[01:18:01] Board members may offer amendments to executive limitations at our regular meeting, provided that they have sent the final amendment language to the board and clerk at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting, which it is to be considered. At this time, no amendments have been submitted in advance of this meeting, but board members may provide comments on executive limitation to emergency superintendent succession before we vote on maintaining the current language for the year ahead I call on Miss Lady for a motion I move that the school board maintains executive limitation to emergency superintendent succession as it is currently detailed

[01:18:38] in the strategic governance manual is there a second second Miss Lady thank you Miss St. John Cunning would you Miss Lady would you like to speak to your motion no thank you Miss St. John Cunning would you like to speak to your second no thank you seeing no other board members that wish to speak I will call on a vote on the motion which is on the screen.

[01:19:00] All those in favor, Ms. Dixit, Mr. Frisch, Mr. McDaniel, Ms. Lady, Ms. St. John, Ms. Sizemore-Hyzer, Ms. Moon, Mr. Moon, Ms. Marin, and Ms. St. John Cunning and myself. That's unanimous.

[01:19:17] Agenda Item 8.01, Academic Matters. I call on Dr. Reed for Academic Matters. - Thank you, Madam Chair. This evening's presentation focuses on our division's work to increase English language acquisition for our multilingual learners.

[01:19:35] And these touch especially goals one and goals three of our strategic plan. And our multilingual learner processes weighted 10 percentage points in the new VDOE school performance and support framework for school accreditation, excuse me, at all of our schools.

[01:19:54] So next slide, please. The English language development, again, is very important. Looks at research and how instruction, you know, effective instruction enables our multilingual students to more quickly exit sheltered classes and to become more proficient in English more quickly.

[01:20:22] And we've certainly worked very hard in the last year or two and particularly with new reading materials at elementary for our multilingual learners. So we're working very hard at this time to make sure that we are supporting in every possible way our multilingual learners.

[01:20:41] So next slide please. This WIDA access exam or the WIDA access test is used currently in 41 states and territories and federal agencies. It is currently the Virginia Department of Education approved English language proficiency assessment, and it's a comprehensive assessment that evaluates students in four critical domains of language, and that would be reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

[01:21:09] Tonight, we're going to share some preliminary data for our multilingual student progress. To do that, we'd like to begin by sharing a video with you that demonstrates multilingual student instruction in action during an elementary benchmark express lesson.

[01:21:28] And again, a reminder, this is the first time we've had elementary instructional materials expressly designed and intended for use by our multilingual learners. So if you would go ahead and play the video, please.

[01:21:45] Our ESL teachers have done an exceptional job this year supporting English language development for intentional alignment with the Benchmark Express curriculum. Because Benchmark Express parallels Benchmark Advance in the Gen Ed classrooms, our multilingual learners were positioned to access tier one more effectively the alignment allowed our ESOL teachers to pre-teach reinforce support and scaffold academic vocabulary and language structures in very meaningful content connected ways this work is grounded in what we know from research when english language learners receive explicit language instruction closely tied to the grade

[01:22:24] level content their language development accelerates and they're more successful in tier one instruction But today we're going to focus on the verbs, right? And yesterday we talked about, and well, we've been talking about how verbs have different forms, so different tenses, right?

[01:22:43] So a verb can have different forms. So one is the present. Another one is the future. This one? Past. Past. And the other one is the future.

[01:22:59] By working collaboratively with classroom teachers, our ESOL staff ensured that instruction wasn't happening in silos. They scaffolded text, provided language objectives, co-created opportunities for structured academic talk, practices all that significantly increased both receptive and productive language skills.

[01:23:30] Put all the pictures down and then all the cards. People are not a card. There is a lot of cards, but it's only six fivers. Oh, you have one.

[01:23:45] All right. Okay. What else? This one. Isn't that interesting? Does it spell the same? Yes. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Ultimately, the intentional use of Benchmark Express empowered our multilingual learners to engage more confidently in Tier 1 instruction, discussions and tasks in particular.

[01:24:08] We've seen not only improved language proficiency data, but also greater student participation and ownership in their learning. This kind of inclusive, high-quality instruction truly makes a difference in closing opportunity gaps for our multilingual learners. I want you to tell me a sentence to make using that verb.

[01:24:28] Or if you want a different verb, that's fine, but I want us to practice that with you. I will try it again. You want to try it? Yeah. Okay. Go. I meet Anderson and the partner. Okay. I love that sentence, but that sentence is in the present, because you said meet.

[01:24:46] Can you try again with the past tense? I meet, you're saying met. I met Anderson and the partner. That's a great sentence. Thank you. All right.

[01:25:07] So, at this point, I want to take just a little bit of a look over, we try to provide you with three years worth of data, and our multilingual learner progress continues to be a measure of students' gains in English language proficiency over a two-year period.

[01:25:26] So you can see that we have an increasing number of students that have met progress, well as an increasing number of students period but we've gone from 48.3% in 2023 to 57.1% in 2025 and the Virginia percents continue to lag so we're outperforming the Commonwealth at this time at least last year and we're hopeful that we will again this year the data has not been posted yet but we're excited about the progress our students are making and their hard work as well as

[01:26:05] the hard work of our staff and the parents supporting our students so next slide thanks the English language development is definitely a key to academic success and I think it's important also to remember this isn't just about numbers and data these percentages represent thousands and thousands of individual success stories these are students and we're now at well over 35,000 multilingual learners in our division and this represents tens of thousands of experiences so we're very excited about the progress we're making

[01:26:44] and look to accelerate that even further in the coming year so madam chair that is academic matters this evening and if there are any questions I'm happy to to answer them. Ms. Sizemore Heiser. Thank you and I just wanted to first say thank you for this presentation and for you and your staff's hard work with our multilingual students. I know that your staff works very hard. This has been a focus of efforts this year to really help support our multilingual students or as I like to call experience-rich multilingual students because the level of effort it takes and the amount of experience our students bring in and the

[01:27:21] knowledge and effort to speak more than one language is pretty impressive. So I think it's incredible the work that our multilingual students do and the experiences that they bring to our schools a couple things i just wanted to lift up i want to commend you for this progress to go from 48.3 progress in 23 to 55.5 percent to 57.1 is pretty darn impressive so i just wanted to say to you to your staff and all of our teachers who are working hard on that thank you for this Because as we saw in data that you presented earlier this year, our multilingual students,

[01:27:56] once they complete the multilingual program, actually do better on SOL scores than the average of our tests, I think, than many of our other subgroups. So our multilingual services work, not just for helping our multilingual students learn another language, right, English, in addition to however many other languages they speak, but it also works in terms of academic achievement as evidenced by the SOL score.

[01:28:23] So this is really great work. I just want to commend you and your staff for that. I do think we need to continue to work with our multilingual students to make sure they can access high-level academics while still in the English learner multilingual programming so that we don't lose their academic progress or give them the chances to develop their skills and talents even while on that.

[01:28:42] I THINK THAT'S AN AREA THAT WE COULD CONTINUE TO FOCUS ON, BUT THIS IS REALLY INCREDIBLE WORK. I JUST WANTED TO LIFT THAT UP. THANK YOU. YES, MA'AM. THANK YOU TO YOUR STAFF. YEAH, THANK YOU. I KNOW A NUMBER OF OUR STAFF ARE NOT HERE THIS EVENING AS WELL THAT HAVE WORKED VERY HARD ON THIS. BUT GOING FROM 2023 WHERE WE WERE ACTUALLY LAGGING BEHIND THE COMMONWEALTH TO MOVING AHEAD, IT REALLY UNDERSCORES THE EFFORT AND THE FOCUS. SO THANK YOU.

[01:29:06] MR. MOON. THANK YOU, MADAM CHAIR. i better get used to saying madam chair uh you know dr reed i thanks for the presentation i'm also happy to see a progress that we have made you know since 2023 a couple of questions that i have includes first of all do we have any certain target goal long-term goal whether that 57.1 which is great whether that should go all the way to certain level or or is our goal just to be above

[01:29:42] state personage i just want to hear you you might have presented this to us previously but i'm just not remembering it so i i'm certain we have goals what we want to think about is accelerating those 57 is certainly better than 48 but it's not where we want to be and i believe this year we've got GOT A NUMBER OF PLANS IN PLACE TO PROVIDE EVEN MORE ACCELERATION AND MS. NEEL DO YOU HAVE A SENSE OF WHAT OUR CURRENT TARGET IS BASED ON?

[01:30:18] I BELIEVE THE CURRENT TARGET THIS YEAR WAS 59% SO WE JUST FELL JUST SHORT OF THAT FOR THE ENTIRE UNTIL UNTIL 2030. THE STATE TARGET THOUGH WAS 56% SO WE MET THAT TARGET AND THIS COMING YEAR WILL BE 58%.

[01:30:37] percent so what is our long-term goal to 2030 yeah I'm not sure what which is saying because we don't have this year's data yet or if we do it's not in the chart you know if you could if you could get back to me in writing I'm again I'm happy that we are making a progress just wanted to see whether this was the ultimate goal or I don't want to sound unrealistic asking for at the same time I want to school system to set pretty high, pretty high goal to work toward.

[01:31:17] Another question that I have is a meeting multilingual progress. My understanding is that meeting means meeting state targets, correct? You know, VDO is set targets is the measure under this.

[01:31:34] And depending upon the level of proficiency, those targets might be different. Just for the public, would you be able to explain what those are? That's correct. So the VDOE progress target is based on the ELP level of a student, so the language proficiency level that each student starts at, and their grade level.

[01:31:55] So the state has established a matrix. So for example, if you're in second grade and you're a level one, you're expected to make a 1.0 level, you know, one level of growth each year. As you get older, when you get into grades 6 through 12, the amount of growth that you are required to make gets smaller based on your ELP level and your grade level.

[01:32:18] Thank you, Mr. Paulio. I don't want to discount the work done by a VDOE at the same time. I take a huge pride in capability of our staff in FCPS. Do you agree with VDOE's targets?

[01:32:35] Yeah, these are VDOE targets specifically. What I'm saying is, do you agree with those right targets for us? Yes, I would believe they are the right targets for us.

[01:32:53] I think we're always striving to do better. So I think as we look at students, we want them first and foremost to meet the VDOE target. But the ultimate target that we want them to make is to reach proficiency. So each year we're looking to make sure that students continue on that road toward proficiency, which in Virginia is to reach a comprehensive score of 4.4. So we're really looking at two things every year. Are students meeting the VDOE benchmark? And how close are they getting to proficiency? And as students get closer to proficiency, we don't want to stop that English

[01:33:31] language development. We want to continue on that to make sure that they do reach proficiency. We do not want students to languish you know at level 3 level 4 we want students to keep going to meet those to meet full proficiency and that's where as was mentioned earlier students really start to show that they can master academic content in the classroom. Thank you Mr. Paglia. I probably may want to send your email with a few more questions but that's for some other time. Thank

[01:34:00] you. Ms. St. John Cunning. Thank you and thank you for the great work for staff. FOR EVERYTHING THAT'S BEEN ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR MULTILINGUAL LEARNERS.

[01:34:18] DR. REED, SOME OF THE FUNDS THAT ARE CURRENTLY FROZEN, HOW WOULD THAT IMPACT OUR ABILITY TO SERVE OUR MULTILINGUAL LEARNERS IF THOSE FUNDS DO NOT THOUGHT? WE'RE REVIEWING THAT RIGHT NOW AND WE'RE GOING TO BE MEETING NEXT WEEK TO LOOK AT THAT.

[01:34:39] IT MAY FORCE US TO CREATE A DIFFERENT MODEL OF SUPPORT. you know unfortunately we're in tight budget times as you know so we're going to have to figure out what how we're going to best utilize the funds we do have available to us to support our students but we'll know more next week and the other question I have in terms of I know we measure multilingual students in terms of their proficiency in English but we do not conduct any

[01:35:18] testing in a separate language in terms of content so is it possible for a child to actually know the content but not be able to demonstrate that they know the content because they don't have the language proficiency I think it absolutely is possible and we've seen that and we've actually heard from students particularly in mathematics that there are students have expressed concerns at times that they've been placed in lower level math courses when actually understood the math content. So that's one of the projects Dr. Ponce and his team are

[01:35:53] working on for the coming year is to make sure that we can have a better match for mathematics placement for our multilingual students in particular. But absolutely that's possible. I just really the reason I asked that question is because I know that a lot of times there's a perception that maybe our multilingual learners may be academically at a disadvantage when sometimes they're not and it's just that they're not able to express what they do know and i just want us to all be mindful as a community and i know that as a school system we are

[01:36:30] about the many strengths that our multilingual learners do bring to our community into our buildings um and that it's really something that is unique is unique to fairfax county in terms of the variety of languages and even the variety of ways that some of our multilingual learners solve problems. I've seen them showing some of our students how to solve problems in a different way because they learned it in a different way in their country. So I just want to stress that sometimes the ability to not proficiently express your knowledge does not

[01:37:03] necessarily demonstrate that you are an academically weak student. No, I couldn't agree more. And we have students coming from all over the world who are multilingual. I think most recently in terms of a conversation that we had with one of our students was him and mccall or heman bakela right our time student of the year um with his science and came not speaking english uh to this country so not only was able to become a proficient english speaker but an amazing young scientist and an incredible young man right as one of our fairfax county high school students

[01:37:42] currently thank you thank you for all the work and to staff for all the work and for all the teachers um that are supporting our multilingual students and for all the teachers that are learning how to support multilingual learners without themselves being english as a second language um learner teacher and i i really appreciate appreciate that the county is moving that way so that everyone in that classroom in that school knows what the needs are of these students and that we're we're just supporting them and lifting them yeah thank you miss st john cunning i know

[01:38:16] that the current data is just shy of 90% of our teaching staff are working with a multilingual student so we're really excited about some of the new strategies and skills seeing no other comments we're gonna go ahead and move along agenda item 8.02 strategic plan update I call on dr. Reed for a strategic plan update all right thank you madam chair and members of the board lots of excitement tonight in our strategic plan update as we take a look at goal 5 leading for tomorrow's innovation this evening I'm going to be sharing some

[01:38:56] experiences of our recent 2025 graduates next slide please so next slide please we have provided a diploma to over 14,000 students as of the end of this year that is huge that's larger than many small towns across this country this represents a culmination of hard work dedication and growth for our students our staff their families and our school communities we're really working hard to prepare our young people for careers and lives and opportunities that don't

[01:39:35] exist today so in a community and world honestly yet to be imagined so our graduates we feel are ready for what's next and equipped with the tools. So let's hear from a few of the graduates who share some experiences about their educators and programs. Madam Clerk, please play the video. Goal five of the FCPS strategic plan focuses on preparing every student for the

[01:40:14] future. With strong, positive relationships and dedicated support, students feel safe, valued, empowered and ready to grow. Every child arrives with unique interests and goals and our role is to ensure that they have the support and opportunities to thrive on their individual paths to graduation. I think when I met Ms. Cox and Ms. Miller and Mr. Hardy I would say they were three teachers that that changed how I viewed the school because my first year coming here

[01:40:48] I think I had what was it all B's and F's or something and then within a month I raised it up to Cs and Bs. I've just known that everyone there, my teachers, my friends, my counselors, they've always been so supportive of me and the goals that I wanted to achieve and how they could help me. They care about the students so we know that they're paying attention and we can tell.

[01:41:09] The teachers, the adults in this building, they made you to feel like you belong to this school. My teachers, my youthful teachers, they were so making me try to like talk more, be more confident about it but what makes madison really a great place to be is basically other support fcps offers many pathways and opportunities from avid and jrotc to elective courses and non-traditional programs all designed to prepare students for the future thinking about it as a freshman ever joining the military was absolutely terrifying it wasn't until i actually

[01:41:48] joined jrotc when i realized that i could actually maybe do that my high school experience would be different without avid because i am an organized person but when it comes to school like i'm all over the place this helped me set boundaries down from and like learning how to like divide my my school work my sports and my my job avid is a great program it teaches a lot of skills that are getting ready for the next phase of life anywhere from organizational tools to time management to just interacting and collaborating with others in the classroom so it really sets the students up to

[01:42:24] have the skill set they need in order to go on whether it's a community college four-year college military or job they're going to have those skills they need in order to be successful i got into yearbook because one of my teachers she was my english teacher for my junior year and she was like oh guys try yearbook i love to do photography she talked to me about some scholarships to go into a convention we went to philadelphia and i think that was really important for me because he inspired me to keep going behind leslie behind hector there is a staff of people

[01:42:59] that made it possible that gave them the confidence to believe in themselves we would be remiss if we didn't say that their parents have done a tremendous job as well our students graduate with confidence and purpose ready for college the military or career training thanks to dedicated staff strong homeschool partnerships and excellent academic programs and resources mountain view gave Andrew and his classmates' voice on what happened to them during their school day.

[01:43:28] The staff here built a relationship and built community around Andrew. I think that I'm the first person in my family to go to college, so I feel like that will make my parents really proud. So I'm attending to Roanoke College to play baseball. I'm going to study sport management. So next year I'm entering my first year at VMI, Virginia Military Institute, and so i'm just very excited for the next chapter in my life i'm planning on studying criminology actually when i came here when i first came here i wanted to be a lawyer i still want to be a lawyer but then i decided i also want to be a judge graduation means finally finishing something i

[01:44:08] started like for four years which i'm proud of you know from being a little girl to now being like an eight-year-old exceeding in life it just means like accomplishment i feel like i feel like means joyful to me the strategic plan to me says that every child has the ability to do something to get to whatever it is their aspirations are it's our job to ensure we provide the resources to get there opportunities not only to in school but out of school does exemplify what that's all about excellence equity and opportunity so madam chair congratulations again to all our 2025

[01:44:44] graduates and their families all 14 000 plus of them and that concludes our july strategic plan update and we look forward to continuing to provide these monthly glimpses into the strategic planning progress so thank you madam chair thank you dr reed at this time i now invite board members to ask any clarifying questions or provide comments so we have miss seismor heiser thank you and you have that dr reed look because you know what's coming um i appreciate this presentation i i

[01:45:24] really want to applaud the variety of courses and options we have for our students to be able to find their path however and I really do and I think it's incredible the things that students can explore in our academies however I was really excited when I saw it it was about transitioning out of FCPS but we really didn't talk about our transition programs in this slide at all we talked about what some students have sort of want to do when they leave which is great and very interesting and sort of what they came into high school with and then

[01:46:02] staff that helped them more along the way and again that's great but we didn't talk about transition in this and that took me by surprise a little bit one of the things that I will say that I have been advocating for many many years while here is looking at our transition programming and really looking at the fact when do we design it and when have we holistically updated it I've said it before and I would take the opportunity to say it again when you look at our

[01:46:39] transition programming for 18 to 22 year olds and look at the numbers that access those programs it's probably less than 500 what are we doing for the rest in systematic programming for those who can be here till 22 what progress have we made towards that middle school early transition i know we put some staff into place but having a systematic middle school program to look at that four to eight year path i know there's issues with sliders but there's no issues with sliders up to six years to make sure i have two

[01:47:16] people i know who graduated this year from pulley with standard diplomas and the amount of challenge not for the students but administratively for the families to have to advocate was significant and and it is no surprise that the two students who graduate that have very active advocate families have been doing that for 10 to 15 years.

[01:47:44] I don't know what we can do, but we need to know what we have done, and I haven't seen anything of what we have done, and I was really hoping there'd be something in these slides about transitioning out, about what we have done to look at our transition programming.

[01:48:01] I don't know if I've not heard for 15 years any changes to it, and it's probably longer than that. Fair point. I will visit with our department and see where we can provide some, how do I say, some improvements for next year's slide deck.

[01:48:22] I'd just like to see some improvements for next year for transition programming, and then we can talk about it in our slide deck. Yes, ma'am. When you look at the long-term outcomes, we are doing a huge disservice by not looking at what we are doing and how to improve that on a holistic basis.

[01:48:44] And it should not take very active parents of 15 years for students who could access this diploma to get it. - Point taken. - Thank you. - Thank you, Ms. Seismarheiser. - Ms. Dixit.

[01:49:02] - Thank you Dr. Reed for the presentation. Always nice video accompanied with your presentation. I did want to like understand a bit about the equity commitment this line. We will center student voice data and use evidence to ensure each student is ready to make informed decision.

[01:49:19] How are we doing that? Is there any data point on that, or anything we can share? Thank you, Ms. Dixit. I believe we do. Ms. Neal, do you want to share what that data point would be? And we may need to amplify that in an upcoming Friday letter. But Ms. Neal?

[01:49:35] Yeah, so we recently wrapped up some initial analysis of our student experience survey. And as a part of that, there were questions in there and focus groups to look at students' perceptions around readiness for post-secondary. So we can provide some additional updates in the Friday letter for the board that pull out that student voice implications.

[01:49:51] And we're going to be weaving those data points in as a part of our goal reporting this coming school year. Thank you so much. There is obviously data coming out that the young men are not ready to go to four year college or not getting to that.

[01:50:08] You know, the vision or I said there it's different for girls and boys. Right. So for I just wanted to see if we are hearing the voices for the people who are probably lost and not speaking up.

[01:50:24] When you do focus group, is it by a school level? Is it by gender? How is it? - So we did some intentional focus groups, in particular looking at our multilingual learners, our students with IEPs.

[01:50:40] It was very intentional to try and center some of those voices that may not show up in some of our strategic plan work and understanding their individual experiences. So there's some insights in the report that are provided that look at what those students had to say as a part of a deeper dive into the data with them.

[01:50:59] OK, I'd like to see the report. And thank you for sharing that, Dr. Reed. Yes, ma'am. Seeing no others, we're going to go ahead and move forward. Agenda item 8.03, fiscal year 2025 year end review.

[01:51:15] I call on Dr. Reed for the fiscal year 2025 year end review. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'M GOING TO INVITE OUR CHIEF FINANCE OFFICER, MS. BURDEN, TO COME UP AND SHARE OUR FINAL YEAR-END REVIEW. MS. BURDEN. GOOD EVENING, CHAIRMAN ANDERSON, MEMBERS OF THE SCHOOL BOARD AND DR. REED.

[01:51:48] THE YEAR-END REVIEW OFFERS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR FINAL REVISIONS TO FISCAL 25 AND TO PROVIDE CARRY OVER INFORMATION AND OTHER REVISIONS TO THE FISCAL 26 APPROVED BUDGET. THE TOTAL FUNDS available for fiscal 25 are 87.2 million and that amount is influenced by several factors.

[01:52:07] The actual revenue variance which is an increase of 2.7 million and that's made up of an increase in state revenue, a decrease in federal revenue, but that decrease is just, we have two grant funds that support the operating fund, all the other grants are in the grant fund, IDEA and Carl Perkins, and any grant funds that are unspent have to be carried over, so that's why this appears as a reduction to federal revenue.

[01:52:34] And then we do have some increases in tuition fees and other, and that's largely Thomas Jefferson tuition and City of Fairfax. The actual expenditure variance, less reserves, commitments, and carryover is a decrease of $84.5 million, and that variance is primarily to do from savings from laps and turnover.

[01:52:58] And then we routinely carry over the outstanding encumbrances or obligations, undelivered orders, we have schools project carryover, schools that is the 10% that schools automatically get to carry over at middle and high and 25% at the elementary, as well as central office multi-year projects like textbooks, FCPSON, those kinds of things.

[01:53:24] Then we have department critical needs, which is $8.9 million, and that is a very limited amount. In previous years, we did have quite a bit more funds at carryover, and I think last year we allocated $26 million to departments as part of year-end.

[01:53:42] We just don't have the funds to be able to do that this year, and so the amount that is carried over for departments is $8.9 million. And then we have reserves of $8.6 million. The reserves are at $8.6 million. That number is usually $10 million, $2 million fuel contingency, and $8 million school board flexibility reserve.

[01:54:04] The school board decided to add additional school board assistance and fund it out of the school board flexibility reserve. That totals $1.4 million, so $6.6 million is what the flexibility reserve is in fiscal 26 and two million for the fuel contingency and all of that then we have two items that are previously identified adjustments the special education extended day contract 26.9 million

[01:54:42] will support those special ed teachers daily contracts by 30 minutes and that of course improves retention by compensating for additional compliance responsibilities also we set aside a beginning balance for not this year but next year fiscal 27 and 24 million is what we have available to be able to carry forward is the beginning balance that those two items together total 50.9 million leaving a remaining balance of 36.3 36.3 million represents about 1% of our total budget that is smaller than

[01:55:19] we've had in previous years due to items that were prioritized for year-end like the special ed contracts and you know of course we have had improvement in the number of vacancies and turnover throughout fiscal 25. So the recommended adjustments for fiscal 26 year-end amount to 36.3 million. The first item is the transfer to the health fund to replenish the health care premium stabilization reserve. One-time transfer of 30 million is recommended to increase this reserve which has been reduced due to medical claims that are higher than

[01:55:54] anticipated and increasing pharmacy claims transferred to the construction fund for major maintenance you may recall that I think back in 2014 we budgeted 10 million every year at Erie I mean for maintenance projects and due to budget cuts that was funded at six and a half million with the promise that every year at your end we would fund an additional 3.5 million to bring them back to that 10 million and so that's what this is for it'll help address the backlog of infrastructure maintenance again the school board flexibility

[01:56:30] reserve staff assistance at 1.4 million and that will fund those those positions and then we have two other items the graduation ceremony we need 0.8 million to support costs for venue rental transportation live stream and other logistical expenditures for graduation ceremonies across 25 high schools and the other programs and then the automated external defil I know it's going to botch that word but AEDs the yeah defilibrators defibrillators defibrillator right and that's point six million and that's to comply with

[01:57:06] Virginia Senate bill 817 SB 817 requiring additional AED units and climate control cabinets at all athletic venues then we again we have to carry over the unspent grant funding we already talked about the revenue that That was reduced because we're carrying it over and that's mostly IDEA funds and then a couple of hundred thousand of new grant awards that we've just became aware of.

[01:57:35] The other funds represent multi-year programs whose funds flow from year to year with fund balance and stabilization reserves as required. I don't usually go into those because they are multi-year. You also have the fund statements at the end of the document.

[01:57:53] For each fund, we have nine funds. Then there's the supplemental appropriation resolution whose purpose is to transmit to the county our final changes to fiscal 25, which is mid-year, third quarter, and year-end combined. Then the fiscal planning resolution represents the transfers from the operating to the other funds.

[01:58:12] And then the grants development summary provides information about fiscal 25 grants. This item is scheduled for action at the regular school board meeting on July 17th. Thank you so much. I don't see any lights yet.

[01:58:29] However, I do have a question. Earlier this year we voted in an expenditure out of the school board reserve related to the facility assessments. And I don't see that reflected in the amount that has been taken from the school board reserve this year.

[01:58:50] And so I just wanted to make it because I know moving forward that that reserve may become extremely important. I just wanted to make sure that that money had been allocated. I know that the intention was if it if it wasn't necessary to be utilized that we would put it back in the reserve.

[01:59:07] I just was hoping that we you might be able to speak to that. Yeah the school board flexibility reserve is not recurring funds that's budgeted in the budget every year. IT IS ALWAYS ONE TIME FUNDS THAT IS REPLENISHED AT THE END OF THE YEAR, AND YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT.

[01:59:23] THE ITEM YOU MENTIONED WAS FUNDED, BUT IT WAS FUNDED OUT OF FISCAL '25, SCHOOL BOARD FLEXIBILITY RESERVE. GOTCHA. THANK YOU SO MUCH. MR. MOON.

[01:59:39] WRONG MICROPHONE. OKAY. MR. THUNDS. THANK YOU. THANK YOU, MADAM CHAIR. THAT $30 MILLION TRANSFORMING TO HEALTH FUND, WITH THAT $30 MILLION, could you would you be able to tell me what the a a amount of fund will be next year in the reserve uh 50 it's going to be 55 million dollars 55 is that the optimal level or no it is not we will have to add additional funds to the um health um the psr the premium stabilization reserve

[02:00:16] um in fiscal 26 as well at year end if we have funds we'll be able to do that you know as you know we are self-insured which means our uh premiums cover our claims And when claims go up, then if premiums are not at the level that cover those claims, then it eats into the premium stabilization reserve, which is exactly what that fund balance is for, is to address the volatility that we often see in health care plans.

[02:00:46] Ideally, we would have about 50, 60 million. I'm sorry. We will have about 55 million this year, but we really need to have about 20 million more. I mean, that's best practices. Is that the optimal level?

[02:01:02] Yes. And that's pretty much best practices. Okay. Thank you. Another question goes to actual expenditure variance of $347 million. Could you correct me if I'm wrong that the 347 includes basically outstanding encumbered Obligations of 72 and schools and project over of 173, those are part of that 347?

[02:01:34] Yes. Okay. That as well as the department critical needs, the reserves, the beginning of all of that. Right. And that leaves 87. Correct. Would you be able to tell us the remaining 87, where those 87 may be coming from category-wise, whether they are what teachers or the you know staffing or the logistics or utilities or I want to have a sense of that yeah it's a little bit of everything but it is primarily um salary and benefits

[02:02:13] um I don't have that level of detail would you be able to give us like a big categories where doesn't have to be I don't I don't need to know every sense and diamonds going into a particular line item but generally where that 87 is coming from yes it is primarily salaries and benefits though and it is primarily from teacher accounts teacher yes it's 16 000 of our 25 000 employees are teachers and so you would expect so if you could put that into writing that would be helpful

[02:02:44] i'll be glad to okay thank you very much thank you so much thank you oh miss anderson it looks like miss marron's hand is on oh i'm so sorry miss burden um i've got miss marron and then miss dixon thank you i'm back no worries thanks thanks miss burden um so i'm just you know we're in a

[02:03:17] unique budget time and i'm wondering a few things um for the superintendent you know are we at a point where we need to perhaps think differently how we provide how we receive this year-end information and um perhaps my colleagues or the clerk if anyone could know must burn off the top of your head but is it our practice to not have a work session in between the presentation and the adoption and i'm having memories of ford's past talking about this um because it's a big deal

[02:03:51] um in this time especially since i don't seem to see uh what's been laid out in terms of preparing for any change in federal funding. So I guess that's a question for the superintendent is, you know, if you can recall, have we had a work session in between the presentation of the year end proposal and the board adoption? What's your thinking given this time, knowing that we had the shortfall for a local budget, the federal can be precarious? Should we be doing things a little

[02:04:26] bit differently at this time? So thank you, Ms. Marin. And it's my recollection since I've been in Fairfax that we have not had a work session on the year-end, and I see Ms. Burden agreeing with that, so I think that probably we haven't even prior to my being in the division.

[02:04:47] I think you raised a good point around the federal funding and the state funding and so forth. I don't know, again, we're talking at year-end about one-time dollars and not recurring funds, So I think fundamentally we're going to need to look at our program and staffing allocations in light of our new paradigm around funding.

[02:05:14] And I don't know that we can rely on one-time funds to support a new direction. I think these are unique funds and I think we can't always count on them.

[02:05:30] this year there are fewer funds than last but I take your point you know in terms of how we're going to need to cobble together budgets differently and I think it's certainly warrants you know a close look over the course of this next fall great well thank you and you know this of course goes with that Baldrige work you've been doing so you know if there's a time when we can expect to hear you know what a new approach might be you know I would be interested in that. I think, too, you know, our chief just talked about how things compared this

[02:06:06] year to last year. I do think we need to have that memorialized here in our public documents, but also so that we can analyze them and look at the trends and see, because, you know, again, we're going to need to figure out how to plan better. And so that is one thing also, that when we do these year-end presentations that, you know, what's listed in board docs is very helpful, but can we look at prior years and just like a reminder of, you know, what the board has done, what we've been able to carry over, what we've approved. I'm not totally

[02:06:42] saying let's do that, but those are things that I'm thinking about now at this time to be more informed. And then the last point I had was that we've just got to keep highlighting that we are using our instructional operational dollars to pay for facilities needs because of woefully underfunded capital funding and i believe that the three million now that's slated for the year-end isn't that in addition to what was it for the fy26 budget we approved it was 21 million

[02:07:14] is that accurate for maintenance projects right i'm going to ask miss wigginton to i don't have the exact number off the top of my head but there's about 10 million that was approved as part of the 26 approved budgets for major maintenance specifically and then we have some other things for like equipment and a few other transfers that might get close to the 21 million that you're talking about but specific for major maintenance it was 10 million okay thank

[02:07:48] you and so i mean the bottom line is is that we are using the dollars allocated to instruct children to pay for dilapidated buildings and i think we really need to you know keep talking about that and you know our joint task force with the board of supervisors we can begin at any time and so that's a topic and i just want to elevate that so um thank you yes ma'am and i i do think you raise a good point i think as our budgets become tighter for operating uh not utilizing those funds

[02:08:24] for capital or maintenance makes a lot of sense miss Dixon thank you miss burden for the presentation I have a question about the adult and community education fund and it says the total receipts is 8.1 million dollars which is 1.5 million lower than the revised budget due to decrease in tuitions of 1.6 million and the expenditure also says 1.6 million decrease from the budget so I'm i'm not a little confused it's like an even thing 1.6 million decrease in tuition and then

[02:09:02] 1.6 million decrease in the expenditure it's like washes off miss dixit you're correct so there was a shortfall of 1.5 million in the tuition review but since they had expenditures of that amount it practically nets to zero there was a small ending balance of about thirty thousand dollars in that okay that's very interesting actually how how the lower enrollment actually impacts the so my question about this is as we are in a tighter funding are we losing money and ace program is

[02:09:39] it just funded by fcps fully or what's the the collection on it is not fully funded as a standalone we do have operating funds that go into the ace fund regularly i think we have about a 300 000 MATCH THAT WE HAVE TO PROVIDE TO THE ACE FUND TO PROVIDE ESL SERVICES TO THE COMMUNITY.

[02:10:04] AND THEN I THINK THERE IS A STANDARD ANNUAL TRANSFER FROM THE OPERATING FUND INTO ACE FOR ABOUT 600,000 ON TOP OF THAT. SO ABOUT A MILLION DOLLARS OVERALL THAT THE SCHOOL OPERATING FUND TRANSFERS TO ACE EVERY YEAR AS PART OF THE APPROVED BUDGET. THAT'S NOT THAT BAD. I WAS THINKING I think we are funding, we are like $8 million funded by -- No, tuition.

[02:10:27] Tuition comes, covers the rest of it. Thank you so much. Ms. Seizmerheiser. Thank you, and I appreciate the opportunity to speak to this. I think, you know, every year it's really funny that I've been on the board. I don't think we ever had a work session on the year-end budget, and I think every year the question comes up around that, and it's just interesting to hear.

[02:10:49] I do think that, you know, we've got to be careful not to conflate ongoing needs with one-time dollars, too, because these are just one-time funds and from a carryover, which can change year to year as well. I do think, though, that there -- and we talked about this this last year, when I was vice-chair and became budget chair, we talked about when we're entering these changed budget times where our fiscal realities have changed at the local level, we -- the state is -- you know, there's still issues at the state level, and now we have significant uncertainty at the federal level as well which is something that's very new I think for the

[02:11:28] school system is this level of uncertainty from the federal we talked about the fact that I think our community has gotten used to you know not worrying as much about school funding and with the changes in the federal I think that this is an opportunity not just to monitor what's happening but to continue that communication with our community of there's a lot of stuff going on right so people will have a lot of different things that they're focused on and I think we just need to say look these changes at the federal level even though we don't know quite what they are yet like this may be coming this is what we're concerned about here's what's being said we've got to continue that education and keep that information

[02:12:08] right because we can't wait until it's done and then we're scrambling so I guess the question I have is what you know what are we doing as I know we're monitoring what's happening at the federal level what are we doing to help our allies and our partners including our funding partners go no you know here's that what the challenges are that were anticipated I think it's it's good for our board supervisors our state delegation who support public schools so much to also just have an understanding of some of the additional challenges we see that are potentially coming down the path so I think that it's been really interesting there's been very limited formal notification of the circumstances

[02:12:48] particularly from the federal side we are putting together some communications for next week and as i mentioned earlier i'll be sharing more detailed information at next week's board meeting we're taking a look at carryover and whatever options we have to maintain programming and at least some form but i agree with you i think that we want to make sure that we communicate clearly and timely and accurately and these situations are quite fluid we heard today in

[02:13:22] fact about new restrictions on Head Start enrollment I afforded that to you all but we have to look at it because we're getting it from the media the information right and not from a what I would call a trusted source in terms of this is actually what's going to happen so we want to make sure as we put information out that it's accurate and that we're thoughtful about how we're going to respond to it but I I take your point I it's a unique times I often wonder if we need to as you're hearing things from obviously vetted media

[02:13:59] sources right that we have some place that we can put on our website of here some of the things we're here because people ask what's happening what are you worried about it and I think we need to share that as we're hearing it so this what we're hearing in the media we're waiting to hear from the actual you know funding sources themselves but we're preparing for these things people want to what are we preparing for and what's the challenge going to be yes ma'am so i think that's important to know and i think also in terms of educating our our community on what the one-time carryover funds are that they are one-time funds and why we're limited in how we can spend them i think it's also important to make sure that as we're looking at it it's i know we don't want to use

[02:14:35] operational funds for major maintenance but we also have to maintain our schools and so i think that's something we need to talk about as well is that to maintain our schools and our hvacs we have HAVE TO DIP INTO THIS BUCKET AND SOMETIMES ONE-TIME FUNDS CAN BE USED UNIQUELY FOR THAT BECAUSE AN HVAC MAY BE A ONE-TIME EXPENDITURE. SO THANK YOU FOR THE PRESENTATION.

[02:14:52] THANK YOU FOR THE WORK. THANK YOU, MS. BURTON. I'M SURE THIS TIME. AGENDA ITEM NINE, CONSENT AGENDA. OUR ADOPTED RULES OF PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE, ROBERT'S RULES PROVIDE FOR A CONSENT AGENDA LISTING SEVERAL ITEMS FOR APPROVAL OF THE BOARD BY A SINGLE MOTION. MANY ITEMS LISTED gone through board review and documentation has been provided to all board members and the public in advance items may be removed from the consent agenda at the request of any board member prior to the meeting the consent agenda items are on the screen is there any objection to approving the

[02:15:27] consent agenda hearing and seeing no objection the consent agenda is approved agenda item 10 new business the following are new business agenda items there will not be a vote on these items this evening but action is scheduled for a future meeting agenda item 11 board matters next on the agenda is board matters without objection we will skip this agenda item for this week and this meeting will now recess at 9:45 p.m. to

[02:16:02] go into closed session and we'll reconvene after closed mr. Hall the answer

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