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please rise for the pledge ofallegiance, a moment of silence and the performance of thenational anthem by the stenwood elementary school singers underthe direction of marti fucile. i pledge allegiance to theflag of the united states of america and to the republic forwhich it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, withliberty and justice for all. o say can you seeby the dawn's early light what so proudly we hailedat the twilight's last gleamingwhose broad stripes and bright

starsthrough the perilous fight o'er the ramparts we watchedwere so gallantly streaming and the rockets red glarethe bombs bursting in air gave proof through the nightthat our flag was still thereo say does that star-spangled banner yet waveo'er the land of the free and the home of the brave[ applause ] good job, you guys. that was a beautiful job.

thank you so much for joining ustonight. parents, thank you so much forbringing your children out to share their talents with usmadam chairman, i would like toall those in favor raise your hand. ms. hough, corbett sanders,evans, strauss, mclaughlin. opposed. abstaining, hynes, derenakkaufax and mcelveen.

that motion passes. 2.03. a few announcements. if you would like to receive acopy of the agenda and any agenda item that is beingdiscussed that information is on the table in the auditoriumzrans. tonight's agenda is available onthe school board on the fcps webpage. the meeting is streamed liveonline.

select school board from thefulmen you and click on the watch live button on schoolboard meetings webpage. please turn off our silence yourcell phone. i do want to recognize carolynpitches from the city of fairfax school board is in the audience. thanks for joining us. [ applause ]i believe- i was told mr. press, thanks for joining us. our former school board rep.

welcome. thank you so much. [ applause ]i call on ms. chu for tonight'sannouncements. november 11, 2016 isveterans' day. veterans' day formerly armisticeday, signed by the allies and the germans in 1918, endingworld war i after four years of conflict. at 5:00 a.m.

in 1918 the germanssigned the armistice the day began with a laying down ofarms, blowing of whistles, impromp tu parades and closingof places of businesses. there were many demonstrations. no doubt the world had neverwitnessed rejoying so much. veterans' day is in honor ofthose living and dead who served with the u.s. armed forces. the school board directs schoolpersonnel to provide students with instructional activity tohonor americans.

many schools have events wherethey invite veterans and active duty military. in addition november 14-18 isamerican education week. american education week wasestablished in 1921 by the national education associationto raise public wearness of the importance of public educationin america. this year's theme, great publicschools, a basic right and our responsible, reminds allamericans of the importance of public education and offeringthe opportunity to celebrate

public education and honor thosewho ensure every child receives a quality education. community leaders are invited toserve as educators for a day to get a glimpse in the day of alife of a school worker. american education weekincludes, parents, educational support professionals andsubstitute educators. november 13-19 is geographyawareness week. geography awareness week is anattempt to focus on geography as a critical awareness, spatialthinking through maps a critical

skill students can develop asthey learn geography. geography awareness week wasestablished by presidential proclamation to ensure ournation's economic competitiveness, nationalsecurity and livability in the 21st century. thank you. thank you, i call on mr. mcelveen for a resolutionhonoring those of the human relations advisory committee.

i'm proud to be reading this. whereas the work of the humanrelations advisory committee, hrac dates back to at least the1980's and two members have served for more than a decade. whereas the hrac has assistedthe school board in fulfilling commitment to equal opportunityas essential components of education excellence. the hrac have had numerouschairmans, andy shallal, may kheder, the late charlie dane,judy far baugh and shaista

keating and trung nguyen. as a result of the charge ofschool year 2009-2010 the hrac worked with equity andcompliance to enhance the performance of school-basedhuman relations committees and improved methods for obtainingfeedback from economically challenged a sociallymarginalized and implementstandards of good human relations, inclusion, diversity,modeling, partnering and communication.

now therefore the fairfax countyschool board appreciates the numerous of years of service ofthe members of hrac and will continue develop programs tosupport good human relations, the portrait of a graduate andthe mission of fcps. i so move. do i have a second. seconded by ms. mclaughlin. that is unanimous.

i would like to invitemembers of the hrac to join me at the dais for a photo with theboard. if you can come through thisgate here. [ applause ]recognition of school psychology awareness week. i call on mrs. corbett sandersfor the recognition. the theme for the 2016 schoolpsychology awareness week is, small steps change lives.

the goal is to highlight howtaking small steps can build greater successes and developsthe academic and social/emotional skills studentsneed to promote personal achievement, growth, andresilience as well as a sense of belonging and well being. school psychologists work in alleducational settings to positively impact the academicand social/emotional development of students through theprovision of mental health services that build resilience,promote developmental assets and

foster good citizenship. their most importantresponsibility is to ensure the welfare and safety of students. to fulfill that responsibility,school psychologists strive to attain and maintain highstandards of em pirically based practice and ethics in theirdaily work. school psychologists collaboratewith teachers, parents and school personnel to create safe,healthy learning environments for all students.

school psychologists collaboratewith school teams and implement multitiered prevention andintervention strategies, suggest improvement to classroomstrategys or parenting techniques, bring assessment ofdata collection to measure problems and outcomes ofintervention and encourage practices that effectivelypromote student learning and mental wellness. the school board appreciates andrecognizes our school psychologists and the supportthey provide to the fcps.

i would like to invite theschool psychologists in the audience this evening to join meat the dais for a photo with theboard. [ applause ][ applause ] the next order of business iscitizen participation. speakers are requested to limittheir remarks to not more than three minutes, the school boardwill not hear statements of issues scheduled for publichearing, capital improvement,

program budget and boundaries. complaints involving individualstudents or school based employees should be dregted tothe appropriate school principal or school official. speakers should refrain fromusing personally identifiable information in connection withan individual student. speakers are expected to delivertheir comments with the decor rum of the conduct of thepublic's business. tonight 10 citizens have signedup to address the board.

i will start with moniquebaroudi to be followed by kathryn weber, to be followed byrobert rigby. baroudi. it's working. my name is monique baroudi. i'm an fcps graduate and parent. i'm here to speak to you tonightabout the premier work force section of your strategic plan. strategy number eight statesfcps intent to recruit and

retain high quality employeeswho have valued, respected and rewarded for their efforts. policy 1501 states in part theschool board shall inform the community about policies plansand programs of the school system and additionally theschool board shall invite and encourage the advice and counselof county citizens. i have spoken about fcpsunwillingness to encourage the advice of citizens regarding thechange of policy 1450. i would like to address yourlack of engagement with one of

your most valuable resources,your employees. they spend hours and hours a daywith our children and have input about how this policy should beimplement td. unfortunately, you have failedto take advantage of this resource and chosen to alienatea large portion. when policy 1450 was amended thecommunity was assured nothing would be changed and aconsultant would be hired to address the questions. despite claims nothing haschanged and the implementation

of the policy is on hold, i canassure you that is what we are not experiencing as parents. i spoke about the changes ofpolicy 1450 to an employee. this employee was appalled tolearn of the sexual acts they would have to describe tostudents as part of the new curriculum. this employee stated, quote,when i signed a contract to come work for fcps, i didn't sign onfor this. one would think the consultantwould meet with fcps employees

to get their input about howbest to implement the new policy to make a safe environment forall fcps students. unfortunately, a search of thefcps website and boarddocs a consultant that was hiredreturns not a single reference. but a google search of jeffpoulet and fcps results in a report about fcps pride about ameeting with superintendent garza, glisten, p. flag,students, teachers, administrators and staff on june22 of 2015. they were given jeff's name as aconsultant and an invitation to

meet with him two months laterin august. apparently fcps is willing toengage students, teachers, administrators and community onthis topic. it is no wonder the spring 2016employee engagement study showed 58% of responding employees arehopeful about the future of fcps. you overwork them, underpaythem, alienate them and disregard the input they have toshare. i urge you to repeal the changesto policy 1450 and start down a

path of true communityengagement encouraging the advice and council of countycitizens and employees. kathryn weber to be followedby robert rigby to be followed by ben nakhavanit. hello, i'm kathryn weber. i'm a fairfax county resident,parent and educator of 25 years teaching in public and privateschools and an fcps graduate. i would like to speak creating apremier work force and the various ways fcps is insteadpromoting a hostile work

environment. allowing males to use femaleshowers, bathrooms and locker room in complete disregard forthe vast majority of students a hostile environment has beencreated. 9 of 10 developing teenagersgrow out of gender confusion if nurtured, supported and council,surgery cal remove of vital body parts is being encouraged. students are coerced torecognize a false reality in science and deny the reality ofthe subjective wins to those in

authority. there is promotion of softimportant and harmful behaviors in the fle and immoraleindoctrination of students that gender is irrelevant. -- any student not submitted tothe guidelines in the updated fr & r handbook creating a hostileenvironment. educators may have to violatetheir conscience, moral and religious beliefs, scientificunderstandings and their own professional judgments.

violations first amendmentrights, coercion of speech, forced association of harmfulbafrs, violation of religion, suppression of freedom of thepress, possible teacher contract and numerous federal and statework laws. where is the love, compassionand peace that used to be present in our schools? where is the joy and the hopethese young people and teachers need and deserve? it is all been left behind.

and now our young people aresuffering from many things including depression, highsuicide rates, general loss of motivation and hope for thefuture. let's use our resources well tosolve the problems rather than give into the short-termsolution of complying with passing trends. because all that does is givefcps low morale and hostile environment for teachers andstudents alike. thank you for your time.

robert rigby, to be followed byben nakhavanit, to be followed by kimberly begg. my students could all tellyou what that means. hello, everyone. my name is robert rigby. and i'm one of the latinteachers at west potomac high school. i have come to encourage latin 4to our dual enrollment course offerings according to therecommendation of the committee.

let me brag about our program infairfax county. fcps offers latin languageclasses at almost all of our secondary and high schools andseveral middle schools. thousands of students takelatin. most of our schools havechapters of the national and virginia junior classical leagueand hundreds of our students compete in the state conventionin late november in just a couple of weeks. we even have our own quiz bowlcompetition�-- in which fcps

teams excel and many of ourstudents take and win awards in the national latin exam. our students learn sentencestructure, ancient history and mythology and read�-- fcps hasone of the largest and healthiest latin programs in thecountry. we are a shining star. now for dual enrollment. adding dual enrollment latin toour course offerings will enhance what we can offer ouradvanced students.

for many students dualenrollment has the advantage they can participate in arigorous, demanding and instructive course throughoutthe year and earn a college credit without the stress ofsitting for another high stakes test in the spring. i'm not suggesting that dualenrollment take the place of a.p.rather, it will offer an alternative for students who areoverloaded with many tests for which they must cram in may.

students who do not typically dowell on such exams will have the chance to demonstrate theirachievement at a high level during the school year and stillbe rewarded for it. the proposed gpa boostacknowledges that also. the motto of my school, theworld's greatest high school, is [�speaking latin�]which means to the stars through struggles. dual enrollment latin willenable our students more to reach the stars.

so to take an oft quote usedquote from horace [�speaking latin�]carpe diem seize the day and add dualenrollment latin to our class offerings. thank you for listening. ben nakhavanit to be followed bykimberly begg and george alber. good evening. thank you for having me here todiscuss my views on policy 1450 nondiscrimination.

i understand that title ixprohibits discrimination on programs that receiveassistance. this phrase is ambiguous and aunilateral move without the passing of legislation ofcongress has interpreted to cover discrimination on thebasis of genetic sex and gender identity. i'm very disappointed that thereis a huge disconnect between the citizens who have paid our taxeslike my wife and i and the actions of the board regardingtitle ix.

we live in a democracy. and have a constitution withchecks and balances. 11 states have sued the federalgovernment regarding tight �-- title ix. last week the supreme courtheard the case. issues a stay to maintain policythat protects privacy in commune cal facilities. i looked at my tax paymentsbefore i came to this meeting to remind myself of my vestedinterest.

the 2017 budget shows schoolsreceives 53% of the funds, $2.1 billion. by using our money the memberssitting on the board need to remember 2.1 billion times thatyou work for the tax paying citizens like my wife and me,not the other way around. therefore, it baffles me, pattyhynes, since you were the chairperson, how can the boardrush to approve a policy which was adamantly not wanted by theparents? i need to remind you yousigned up to premier work force.

i will get to that. the board has received thousandsof e-mails and armed police and security guards at your meetingbecause the community was clearly against you. patty hynes quoted there arepeople who have a difference of opinion of what we do. people in the communityparticularly parents have questions about what it meansfor the children, there is an obligation to answer thosequestions to parents have the

information to understand whatis going on in their kids schools. i truly believe in that. if you think about what you saidand your actions did align with the tax paying citizens and 2.1billion reasons the citizens will not have those types ofquestions because we will understand your actions. in conclusion, i want you tothink 2.1 billion times about the decision that the communitywants and overturn your unwanted

and illegal policy. election day is next week. i want to remind you some voterswill use the meals tax as a referendum on your actions. in reference to the qualityfications of our superintendent, i recommend that person hascritical thinking skills and can offer a different perspectiveinstead of being a yes person. thank you again. begg mr.

alber and stellamorabito. i appreciate the opportunity toaddress this board. i live in herndon with myhusband and our five children ages 2 to 10. i'm a busy lawyer. we have a busy home. and yet i felt obligated to takethe time to be a voice for fairfax county's children. the selection of a newsuperintendent is a momentous

occasion. i have been in washington formany years and have seen what well-funded pressure groups cando. the effort to mainstream thetransgender agenda has been incredibly successful andtragically many confused and vulnerable young people havebeen convinced they were born into the wrong body. the activists have ignored themedical experts like former top psychiatrist at johns hopkins,dr.

paul mchugh who says tosupport the transgender agenda is to promote and collaboratewith mental illness. those pushing this extremeagenda convince young people this board has received a letterfrom four associations of medical professionaling urgingyou to stop promoting transgenderism. the american college ofpediatricians, the association of american physicians andsurgeons, the christian medical and dental associations and thecatholic medical association.

together they represent over20,000 physicians and health care professionals. these are professionals who careabout science not political correctness. truth does not become less truewhen a majority speaks it and falsehoods do not become factswhen a majority believe them. our new superintendent must careabout science and truth not political correctness. he or she should affirm thebeauty and differences among our

children including the littleboy who likes to cook and dance and the little girl who likes toplay baseball and climb trees. i was that little girl. above all, our newsuperintendent must have the courage to fight for what isbest for our children. even and especially when thatmeans challenging the fashionable yesterday radicalideas of today's activists. [ applause ]george alber to be followed by stella morabito to befollowed by laura murphy.

hi. thank you for the opportunity tospeak about early childhood education. i believe all of our childrenshould receive free, high quality, equitably fundseducation that includes affordable pre-k, subsidized ifnecessary. who among us would disagree. as the county begins discussionsabout the fiscal 2018 budget we must ensure this is a budgetpriority.

the preschool access gap isdirectly responsible for a significant gap in kindergartenreadiness, which follows our children all through their fcpscareers. a strategic plan to close thepreschool�-- within a short time frame with budget goals for eachof the years must begin in fiscal year 2018. i call on the superintendent andthe school board to work with the fairfax county government tomake closing the preschool access gap a top strategicbudget priority this year and

every year until all children,all of our children enter our schools prepared to succeed. each year almost 1,000 fairfaxchildren qualify for head start but end up on the waits listbecause there are not enough classrooms. not fixing this isconsequential. for example, think about theachievement gap. the achievement gap is a highpriority in fcps strategic plan, very high priority, but studentoutcomes continue to show

stubborn socioeconomic gaps. the most recent report despiteall this effort and fcps state test scores and on-timegraduation rates show no appreciable gains. yet we ask ourselves why thesegaps are so stubborn when we have in front of us a powerfultool to address this gap. equitable access to pre-k.it is possible to close that gap. we must put a high priority onit.

preschool is the best investmentwe can make in the public sector. every dollar in high qualitypre-k saves $7, reduced remediation, on time graduationrate, lower incidence of crime, less teenage pregnancy, and onand on. so i call on you to provide thefunds, not just the plan, but the funds beginning in the 2018budget year to close this gap. let's target these dollars andefforts toward the neediest of our children.

stella morabito to be followedby laura murphy to be followed by may killgananhello. my name is stella morabito. i'm a writer and i have been atax paying resident of fairfax county for several years. i also study�-- systems andserved as an intelligence analyst with the focus onpropaganda and media analysis. so i'm speaking tonight becausei believe most of what we are dealing with in this policy1450, the gender identity

policy, is political propagandapure and simple. for me that is the biggestissue. propaganda like this is reallydangerous. it is basically what it is is aprogram that manipulates people through psychologicalconditioning. the goal is always group think. that empowers elites anddisempowers just about everybody else. what interests me most is howviolently this policy disrupts

the actual structure of ourlanguage. i'm sorry, i again need toremind you to sign up for tonight. the gender policies. you talked act sacrecommendation. we didn't have gender identitypolicy on our agenda tonight. it is all connected. i hope you will make aconnection. it is definitely connectedwith the whole thing.

i think we are dealing�-- whenwe are dealing with any of these kinds of policies, it doesassault language, people's ability to communicate andespecially with the silencing tactics that are in inherent inthese policies, the punitive measures, when a student maybehas to go along with certain things. it is a very old tactic calleddivide and conquer and manipulation of language is keyin all of this. i am going to have to go back togender identity because it is

based on a premise, the wholepolicy, well, definitely up for discussion, includes a premisethat sex is assigned at birth. it is a false premise that isbuilt into school policy. and into all these programs. it forces everybody to denytheir own physical reality. it applies universally, itdesexes everybody. this is mind hacking. it is mind hacking on a grandscale. i have a note from george orwellon that thing.

if thought corrupts language,language can corrupt thought. a bad usage can spread bytradition and imitation even among people who should and doknow better. it is a very hostile environmentfor learning that is being created by that policy and suchpolicies. it is anti-conversation andanti-friendship. if we know what is good for reallearning we won't vote for it. laura murphy to be followedby meg kilganan to be followed by john kochka.

members of the school board,dr. garza, all familiesincluding those in head start deserve decent appropriateness. fcps teacher wrote thefollowing. i want you to know i forwardedmy e-mail to my administrator and the english departmentchair. they need to know. they need to know after 27surgeries and confined to a wheelchair for the past 18 yearsthis high school junior has

endured many obstacles andchallenges. this family understood every daylife would be different for their son. nothing could prepare them forwhat happened in the summer. this high school juniorconsulted an fcps reading list. this is a story of friendshipand acceptance and testing strejt in an uncertain few. the main character in "the lastleaves following" suffers als and with his friends onlineended his life.

one boy responded people likethat should fing die, he is taking up our space, too manydraining our resources. they should do us a favor. this junior never considered hislife to be a burden after reading this book he began tosecond guess himself. his mother said the character inthe bookended his life because he was a burden to his mother. this fairfax mom said it is notthe case with him. it broke my heart to hear himall but apology for the extra

things we do. i'm off to return this book tothe library and be done with it. we need a happy book. and ice cream. while the book did illustratethe value of friendship, it left the reader with a distorted viewof human life. staff took action and offered aacceptable solution but it was not countywide. there is an epilogue, not by theauthor, but this amazing young

man. he just completed the army10-miler in a wheelchair with his proud mother and father. he received a record in shot putand participates in the wheelchair basketball leaguerarnged 14th in the nation. i shared with his mother this isthe story all fcps children should be assigned. whether books include teenassisted suicide, teen violence, parents and students at aminimum deserve warning.

let's be clear, it is not aboutcensoring or banning. it is about notifies. regulation 305 included highschool only because fcps never imagined books containing thesetopics would be assigned to middle or elementary schoolchildren. please amend the regulation andmake it apply to grades k-12. carefully vet each and everyassigned or recommended book, identify books containingsensitive material, offer an acceptable alternative andrestrict those books that don't

comply of reasonable standardsof decency and appropriateness. our students deserve nothingless. meg kilganan and john kochka. i'm going to yield my time tonaser khater. give your information to ourclerk. no problem. thank you for allowing me tospeak tonight. my name is naser khater i camehere tonight to talk about second dare school coursesoffering.

things are now, my family willnot be able to enjoy high school in fairfax. i came to this country 30 yearsago from the middle east, i'm a muslim. i'm a citizen of the unitedstates right now, thank god. i heard a lot about america, thefreedom of speech, freedom of religion, and chose to comehere. until recently i was a singleincome. my wife had to get a job for $8in a restaurant to be able to

support the family her and i arerunning. last year i heard about policy1450. i had to quickly take my kidsoff to a private school. this school is charging me a lotof money. $140 for a very simple jacketwith a logo. and $70 for the pants. nevertheless, i have two auntswho live in syria, half of my family, my mom side of thefamily butchered by assad. the other half is refugee injordan.

i support my mom in jordan. i support my wife's family inlebanon, southern lebanon. i'm really speechless but i wantto really talk about policy 1450. i decided to move to fairfaxcounty because it offers the best standard of living and thebest education and thank you so much for what you guys aredoing. i really appreciate that. now i kind of regret doing thatbecause of that policy.

i paid top dollar for my house. i commute. i suffer like everybody elsehere. 45 seconds. i just want to say the publicschools are for everybody. not for me right now. i have a 5-year-old son inkindergarten. i don't know what's his futurebecause i can't afford to send him to private school like mytwin daughters.

i say public schools are foreverybody. i want to ask everyone here whogets to decide who's rights or beliefs matters the most infairfax county? i just want to say 4.6% offairfax county are muslims. they share my same views. this policy completely againstmy religious beliefs and i would like that i consider my firstamendment rights as a citizen i would recommend the repealing ofpolicy 1450. [ applause ]thank you.

john kochka. the best way to encourage apremier work force is teach our kids to tell the truth, are theycredible in a job interview? do they do what they say. the big lie by this school boardhappened september 23, 2015, when i sent the fairfax countypublic schools a freedom of information request askingplease send me all the discrimination complaints bytransgender students in fairfax county prior to may of 2015.

brandon reece wrote me october15, 2015, saying there are no responsive documents to yourrequest for copies of any county. fairfax county public schoolsdoes not track the number of students identified astransgender. an informed source told me thereare less than 20 transgender students in the entire foixprogram, 186,000 students. on may 7, 2015, members of thefairfax county school board claimed policy 1450 wasparamount for the protection of

transgender students who wereroutinely bullied. mr. mcelveen mr. moon, ms. mclaughlin and six other boardmembers deceitfully built a straw man of bullying as ajustification for policy 1450. after policy 1450 was passed onmay 7, 2015, the fairfax county public schools hired jeff pouetto draft regulationings during the summer of 2015.

foster, who were the fairfaxcounty purchasing agents negotiated his contract? mclaughlin, can you producea written request for proposal and when was it issued? mcelveen, what criteria wereused to evaluate mr. pouer'sproposal. hynes, as required byvirginia contracting code section 2 prnt 2-6, provideproof that two or more offerers were existed and interviewed forthis work.

corbett sanders, where wasthe public notice for this request for proposal? koufax, who were the finaltwo bidders selected under section 2.2? through 1132 for negotiation. strauss, can the boardproduce a comy of jeff pouet's contract. evans, how many was he paid? evans, what didsuperintendent garza know and

when did she know it? i find it troubling our electedofficials cannot answer simple straight forward questions abouttheir activities, how they recklessly endangered ourchildren and spent our tax dollars. nine members of the fairfaxcounty school board have willfully and habitually lied tothe public, using unethical contracting practices. i strongly recommend thesesolans of sodomy follow the

leadership of superintendentgarza and resign immediately. they are unfit to serve. we turn to 3.02, studentrepresentative matters. chairman evans, i would likea point of order. yes. i do think it is veryimportant that the audience here in the auditorium and those athome should at least have factual statement from thisboard which is the board has taken no action at all about anydraft regulations on 1450.

so the presentation that any ofus have approved contracts, that we withheld information from thepublic, i think it is important that we at least be clear on therecord because i, well, i do support and appreciate citizenparticipation, we need to make sure the board that the publicat least understands that if there is misinformation outthere in the public we need to help clear that up. there has been no action by thisboard. we have not drafted as a boardany regulations.

whatever work thesuperintendent�-- mclaughlin, i appreciatethat clarification. all we did is update a policyto not discriminate. again, this is not on ouragenda. i know a number of members ofcitizen participation spoke to that policy. it is not on our agenda. it is not that it is not onour agenda. i think we have a duty andresponsibility to make sure the

public is clear about what isfactual and what is perception. i think we need to move on. chu. thank you to all the speakerswho came tonight. first i would like to welcomeboy scout in the audience from troop 1970 in reston virginiaworking on his citizenship in the community badge. if you could please stand. as well as other boy scouts.

and i would like to welcome aformer boy scout student representative inspiration ofmine ben press in the audience today. thank you so much, ben, forbeing here. [ applause ]i'm going to try to keep my comments very brief, but youwere and you still are a huge inspiration to me in my career. thank you for coming today. i'm going to try to keep mycomments brief as the first

quarter ends i hope all studentshave had a wonderful start to the year. yes, the student informationsystem where your grades are is not currently available. just a note to the students whohave contacted me. this is for the purpose ofteachers to put their grades in. don't stress out. i'm sure all your grades will befine and you can continue to have a great school year.

in addition to the handful ofstudent voters out there as well as all other citizens in ourcommunity who are voting, i urge you to vote in favor of themeals tax referendum. the 4% referendum can provideour county with a benefit for our students, a lot of resourcesdedicated our students and i urge students to keep informedand vote yes on the meals tax referendum. those are my comments. item 3.03, strategic planhighlight video.

i call on dr. garza for theintroduction. thank you, madam chairman,members of the board. as you all know this is oursecond year to present reports to the board following everygoal. i believe the work has certainlybeen well received by the board and our community. the ability to identify what ourvision and future of the vision, the direction we are headed andthen progress reports from the

staff on these�-- on thestrategic plan. so tonight we will have thefirst report, the goal three premier workforce report. i will invite dr. chace rameywho will be presenting the report. i have to acknowledge and i'msure as he will in just a moment, our wonderful h.r. team. we had quite a number of otherleadership team members and

others throughout theorganization who contributed to this report. it certainly is a herculeaneffort. i will acknowledge. these folks are working hardgetting school started and completing this report. i think you will find it usefuland beneficial. we are starting tonight with ourfirst video based on a school board retreat, you have askedfor these videos that used to be

spotlight on learning. you asked, i thought it was agreat idea to have the videos highlight work in the fieldrelated to the report being presented. this is our first one tied tothe report. we are looking forward tosharing the work that will be reflected more deep in thepresentation later. i also want to point out to theboard also to the members of the public that might be watching istonight we will have the

presentation. we ask for the board to�-- fortheir questions and comments primarily to be focused onclarification because monday we will have a more in depthdiscussion about the content of the report. we have a fairly lengthypresentation, and a work session for the board members to delveinto the report and final action as a subsequent board meeting. the work session is this comingmonday.

it is just a short few daysaway. you have an opportunity to getmore in depth on some of the report items. i want to reflect, too, threeyears ago, four years ago, the board used to not get class sizereports. that is included as a regularitem in the report as well as some other information. we are going to start with thevideo and immediately thereafter dr.

chace ramey will come up andmake the presentation on goal 3 premier workforce. so roll the video, please. in an ever competitive jobmarket the methods of recruiting and hiring top talent arechanging. we look at unique ways fcps isfinding and hiring top educators. hiring new teachers is somethingthat takes place over summer break, but there the process ofearly hiring, teacher contracts

are offered in the spring forthe upcoming school year. this gives school staff and newemployees a lot more time to get acquainted. the earlier we are able torecruit and hire teachers, it allows us more opportunities toconduct more interviews. to make sure we are getting withright fit for our school that meet the needs of our students. math teacher shannon gray wasoffered a job for the upcoming school year.

she said this process helpedreduce the stress for preparing for her new career. before i accepted my offer ofemployment with mr. derose helet me know this was my new home, i was free to ask anyquestions, reach out anyone and i would be helped. so that was really cool becauseuntil the first day of school in my mind i thought that i wasstill kind of a guest and that was absolutely not the case.

it was really cool to know thatbefore last school year ended i was welcomed aboard as a teammember. as a principal, when we areable to recruit quality staff members at an earlier time frameit allows us to shift the focus from staffing on to what mattersmost and how do we support and develop our teachers in theclassroom. and then when i got moreserious about accepting the offer here, i came back and metsome more teachers, i met with an instructional coach and thosewere things that my student

teaching experience didn't offerme. teacher attention benefitswith the early hire process. if the teacher has a successfulfirst year that teacher is more likely to stay with fcps in thelong run. competition with surroundingschool districts is a factor. fcps can offer an employee wellbefore other school districts. finding new teachers in today'scompetitive market includes recruits in social media andcollege campuses. our team is working hard tohave a wide variety of

strategies to bring top talentto the organization. we have been trying some verydifferent things and being innovative in our approaches. one of the things we attemptedthis year was send a team to puerto rico to try to identifytop candidates for some of our hard to fill areas such asimmersion teachers, spanish immersion teachers. i think we went down therewith eight vacancies and school started we had filled 10vacancies.

an 11th candidate is going to bea long-term sub right here in this building. [�speaking spanish�]i think our h.r. team looked outside the box and put togetherthis recruiting trip to puerto rico. it allowed us to meet with over80 candidates and applicants eager to come here to fairfaxcounty public schools and met the criteria we needed. more important was to speakthe target language.

it is also understanding theculture. and being a part of the culture. so each of our teachers here,they are bringing aspects of their culture also into theirlessons. they are teaching me, too. they are teaching me theircultures and you can expand your knowledge in that way. i love that. in the end it is wayne notonly for london town, but all

our immersion schools that weare willing to go find the staff that is needed. so i would say was the tripworth it? totally. not only are they great withtheir spanish language, they're elementary certified, they bringwith them classroom experience and intense love for learningand meeting the needs of kids. that is what i needed. that is what i got.

seeking hiring and retainingthe finest educators is the secret to a successfulenvironment. utilizing creative and new ideasin recruitment and hiring provides a means to findtomorrow's great teachers. [�speaking spanish�]good evening. welcome, dr. ramey. i. is a pleasure to present thegoal 3 premier workforce. the video capturing two excitingstrategies with are utilizing to

recruit a premier workforce. i'm the champion of goal 3, thiswork is not done by one individual or one department. the recruitment, retention,development and, engagement, growth and care of a premierworkforce is done by all of us. as dr. garza mentioned andmentioned by the h.r. team, dee holly brown, michael drager,shawn mcdonald and kevin sills. their teams work endlessly tosupport fcps' talented and

educated employees. my colleagues proswridsignificant leadership and support as we collectivelystrive to cultivate a highly effective workforce dedicated toensuring achievement for all students. the school board adopted ignite. the plan encompasses four goalarea. we made a presentation in the2015-2016 school year. goal 3, premier workforce, waspresented to the board in

november 2015. now just by chance, that is thesame night that the board approved my appointment as thenew assistant superintendent of h.r.well, i'm thankful you didn't make me give the report 20minutes after my appointment, i'm not only privileged but alsohumbled to stand here tonight to share with you about theinformation about the tremendous people working for fcps andpopulate our truly premiere work force.

goal 3 are two overarchingstraenlt strategies. strategy eight, recruit andretain high quality employees, valued, respected and rewardedfor their efforts. desired outcomes outlined on thescream and seven monitoring metrics support this strategy. the monitoring metrics providethe guide post for tonight's presentation as we will shareinformation on each of them over the course of the evening. the strategic plan is a livingdocument and was shared with the

board at theent of the summerupdated certain metrics throughout the plan. this is true for goal 3. as such we provide data in theupdate, excuse me, data an update to information presentedlast year and additional data points not highlighted in lastyear's presentation. fcps currently employees 28,500full time and part time contracted employees. 13,000 hourly and temporaryemployees that work for the

division. as the slide that picks, we haveindividuals employed in a variety of positions that allsupport our students. collectively these individualsare the heartbeat of our system and make fcps a destinationschool system for students and adults alike. the first monitoring metric forstrategy eight relates to employee compensation. the school board has had anongoing conversation about the

compensation study when theinitial market study was additional data was shared infebruary of 2016, a picture of how fcps pay rates compare tothe market. in march a recommendation offcps salary and pay rates be competitive with emphasis onlarger step increases toward the beginning of the scales. with the compensation philosophyin mind the next was to begin work on recommended pay scales. during july they were presentedto the board.

these scales emphasized marketcompetitive salaries and faster career earnings through enhancedmovement by employees on the scale. the recommended teacher salaryscale is scheduled for multiyear implementation and therecommended school base administrator scale is scheduledto takes effect in 2018. while the work continues, thefocus will shift to complete work on the assistant scale, theunified scale and differentiated supplemental pay model for ourteachers.

we have brought back to theschool board in december along with an update withpara-professional and unified scales. recommendationings will bebrought to the school board of the unified scale in earlyspring of next year. with full or phasedimplementation beginning early as fiscal year 2018. the board has shown a strongcommitment to invest the teacher and staff salaries.

we continue to work on this. the next metric is level ofsatisfaction with employee experience. for this metric we looked at twodata services, new employee engagement survey which waspresented for the first time in spring of 2016. the results provided a window inthe window where the division is doing well related to employmentengagement and areas where we could focus our efforts.

of note, 77% of ofcpsrespondents are engaged or highly engaged and 88% agreewith the statement i'm proud to work for fcps. there is room for growth. enhancing their engagement withemployees and the school system. half employees agreed theyreceive recognition for their work and slightly more than halffelt appreciated for their efforts. one strategy the division willembrace in response to the

employee voice being heard is anexpansion of our employee recognition program. while we will provide an updateand more detail through goal 2, caring culture, this is animportant piece of maintaining a the expanded will include formalas well as informal channels of recognition. also at this time we would liketo thank the education foundation as it has committedto support these efforts and continue to help sponsor ourhonors night.

we truly appreciate theirsupport in recognizing employee success. the other data source utilizedlooking at employee satisfaction levels is the employee exitsurvey, in use since january 2015 and responses are collectedvia e-mail from employees who voluntary sbrat from thedivision. respond dents can�-- the top sixfactors are reflected on the slide. as of last year personalreasons, followed by salary and

pay rate were the top reasonsgiven for separated from fcps. the same question for supportstaff and i.a.'s the response is similar. personal reasons and pay werethe top reasons for the second year in a row. this information is being sharedrelating to the employee's experience, it is beneficial aswe continue to work on the compization study and make surefcps pay rates aptd salaries are market competitive.

the rational of departures, exitdata 68% of employees left fcps have fewer than seven years ofservice in the division. it ties to our next metric,retention rate of teachers at critical years. before focusing on our teachersin the first five years of our careers which research tells usare critical years for teachers, we are providing informationraring overall teacher turn over. the turn overrate is increasesslightly over the last three

years. this is an unfavorable trend itis still five points below the national average. when we focus on our teachers intheir first five years, fcps is trending better than thenational average. retention rates for five-yearteacher cohort the most current cohort represented by the thirdbar the lightest blue. national research suggested that41% of teachers leave the profession in the first fiveyears.

these are represented by thegray bar on the far right for each-year. fcps' retention rate is slightlybetter than this as we lost only 38% of our teachers from our2011-2012 cohort during their first five years making ourretention rate 62% in year five. while better than nationalaverage, we consider losing more than a third of our teachers asignificant concern. work is underway to reversethese trends. it is anticipated that theenhancement to the salary

schedule will increase teacherretention rates as teachers reach years four, five and movein the middle years. in looking at the recruitmentand retention of high equally staff the next metric is hirerates in difficult to fill positions and high need schools,including length of time to fill. we focused on project home umtclassrooms. we created specific events tosupport hiring of teachers at these schools, but even withthese efforts we still run into

challenges in terms of staffing. in order to limit the number ofvacancies and move closer to our goal of being 100% staffed inall schools on the first day of school we have implementedseveral recruitment strategies and continue to develop more. several are outlined on thisslide and the next, however, i want to highlight three. recruitment trips, hiring eventsand early contracts. fcps developed strongrelationships with several

universities. we work to maintain thesepartners we need to expand and explore different recruitmentopportunities. we are going to make strategicrecruitment decisions based on current need, university programstrengths and employee connections and networks. we will add trips touniversities and hiring where the focus is a field we identifyas critical to fcps or to universities we know have astrength in certain

instructional areas. for example, slippery rockuniversity has a strong special education program. so slippery rock would be on therecruitment schedule with an express intent of recruitingspecial education teachers. likewise, we will leverage ouradministrator relationships with universities when we recruit. recent research shows the numberof individuals entering teaching programs has declined by 35%over the last five years and in

2016 there were less teachersentering the work force than any of the 10 previous years. have seen increase incompetition in recruiting teachers. last spring fcps was one ofabout 40 school districts there to recruit. the problem, there were only 25candidates available. so the number of districtslooking for teaching talent is outpacing the number ofindividuals graduating in the

field. it is no longer enough to simplyshow up. we must foster and nurturerelationships by leveraging the alumni relationships already inplace we can further our certain i would like to use chief ofstaff marty smith for this example. marty went to the university ofiowa. marty taught in iowa citycommunity schools before he came to fairfax.

it makes sense to send marty toiowa to recruit. he not only understands theschool and the culture, but he can have a shared experiencewith the teachers we are trying to bring to fairfax in he knowswhat it is like to go to a school in the midwest and cometo the east coast to work. turns i know about that myself. building relationships is thecore of our work a personal connection with be a powerfultool in recruiting individuals to join our team.

we know individuals haverelationships with fantastic colleges and universities acrossthe country and we need to leverage these relationships isas we maintain and enhance our we are expanding the effort tobring talent to us. we added a late summer hiringevent this year. as we look parted to 2017 hiringseason, we plan to add an additional hiring event in may,which would bring the number of fcps hiring fairs to three. the new may event and the hiringevent in february provides

candidates and principles anopportunity to connect earlier in the process which is anotherimportant factor in recruiting effective teachers. offering early contracts isdefinitely an area of focus for us. as this slide reflects, we havedone the vast majority of our hiring during the summer. this is simply too late. we need to shift the bulk ofhiring to earlier in the season

so as to place fcps in aposition to obtain the most effective teachers available. in 2015 the division offered 39early contracts. in 2016 we increased this numberto 97. while this an improvement for2017 our goal is to offer more than 200 early teachingcontracts. we want to provide as manyavenues as possible for principals to hire effectiveteachers and we feel early contracts is one of the besttools at our disposal.

utilizing these strategies andothers on the slides we are working to reduce the number ofvacancies at project schools as well as all schools in thedivision. this slide projects thevacancies in p.m. schools thispast summer. it highlights the number ofvacancies we had in these buildings which ranged from sixto 21. we still have handful ofvacancies in this building and working hard to fill them witheffective teachers as quickly as

possible. also feeding into our effortsaround recruitment, hiring and retention is our next metric. number of qualified applicantsper advertised position. what we are showcasing thisevening is our applicant pool for the different fcps criticalfield positions. overall, the division had 2,140teaching vacancies this year. 1,173 of those were in criticalfields. this means that approximately55% of our vacancies for school

year 2016-2017 were fcpsidentified critical fields. the number of licensedapplicants listed on the far right column in also key to ourwork. this year we had more candidatesapply in critical fields than we had vacancies. however, that doesn'tnecessarily mean the applicant was available when the buildinginterviewed with the position or the individual was necessarilyone we would consider highly effective and qualified for theposition.

this is another data point thatsuggests moving the hiring window to earlier in the springis an appropriate recruitment strategy as it is a way toprovide better access for our principals to a broader anddeeper pool of talented teaching candidates. while we are focused on hiringthe best teachers and staff members for all positions, weare conscious of having a diverse workforce. it is important to resemble ourcounty population and our

students see adults that looklike them holding positions in the division. we have looked at racialdiversity. this reflects nonwhite employeesamong teachers, school based administrators and nonschoolbased administrators. we continue to refine ourrecruitment strategies to expand our pool for more diversecandidates as we build and maintain a premier workforcethat better serves the students with serve.

last year the board said allemployees be paid a living wage of at least $13. no contracted fcps employeeswere paid less than 13.13 an hour. effective october 1 of thisyear, fairfax county adopted an update living wage of $14.50. arlington county and alexandriaadopted living wij of $14. our work force against thebackdrop of the $14.50 living wage in the county.

certain employees are being paidbelow $14.50. custodian i, food service,p.h.a. and transportation attendants. it does not affect all employeesin this student but in total 1,075 employees paid below thecounty's newly adopted living wage. we have started to look in thecost of associated to bringing all employees to $14.50 and costthe division and estimated $1.5 million.

prior to moving to strategy ninei did want to point out several initialives connected to apremier workforce. the work of supporting ouremployees is shared among many offices and departments andintertwined with the other goal of the strategic plan. one of these efforts is my time. in january 2017, fcps willlaunch a new paperless time and attendance system that willallow for the electronic submission and approval of timesheets and leave request.

we have named the system my timeto make the time entry more efficient for our employeesacross the division. we will share more informationduring goal four, i wanted to mention it as this is amultidepartment project ongoing since last winter. we have a dedicated team workednearly around the clock. their efforts are outstantding. we are in the midst of offeringtrainings in the division. we are excited about my time, avery beneficial tool for our

employees and look forward tothe january launch. i would like to thank ouremployee associations and advisory groups as they play akey role in maintaining our tremendous workforce. they provide great collaborationand serve significant partners in goal 3 and the entirestrategic plan such. we truly do thank them. the second overarching strategyfor goal three is focused on growth and professionaldevelopment.

specifically strategy 9 is afocus for the division to focus on growth and leadershipopportunities by providing meaningful professionaldevelopment and quality feedback on performance. there are two desired outcomesto strategy nine, three monitoring metrics provide theguide post for this work. these metrics identify the areasof focus as performance evaluation ratings, professionaldevelopment program evaluation and employee settlement of p.d.

offerings, p.d. is our shorthasn't phrase for professional development. for the first metric we aresharing the evaluation data for teachers and administrators. 97% of our teachers are ratedeffective or highly effective. for our administrators thatpercentage is higher, 99% of administrators rated effectiveor highly effective. in fcps the focus and purpose ofevaluation is growth and improvement for all of us.

for this to take place and forevaluation to be truly effective the process must be paired witha quality professional development program implementedwith a high sense of fidelity. we created the office ofprofessional learns and family engagement in 2016. this office will lead inleadership development and systemwide professionaldevelopment for the county. as a starting point, the officewill conduct a professional development needs assessment inthe 2016-2017 school year.

the results of this evaluationwill be presented in spring 2017. the analysis is important, theexciting part of the work is a development of a comprehensiveplan for each employee. this outcome is responsive tofeedback fcps has received from staff. through the engagement surveyemployees provided support for the division p.d. programmingand noted that training and fcps

sponsored professionaldevelopment supported them in their jobs. this positive feedback throughthe engagement study mirrors individual employment pd programassessment feedback we received through surveys through m my tltor training session. employees have found greatvalues in the p.b. beinginvolved. the office of professionallearning and family engagement will enhance the these effortsin support of our premier

workforce. now, while not technically anoverarching strategy of goal 3, garza mentioned we presentclass size update. to further mitigate large classsizes the adopted regulation was revised prior to the 2016-2017school year and guidelines to keep elementary schoolclassrooms below 30 students. $10.8 million was added to thefiscal year 2017 budget and $1 million as part of the fy 2017final budget review. when we look at class size,multiple factors are considered

before adding additional staffto a building. this work is a collaborativeeffort between the region assistant superintendent, h.r.,finance and the building principal. support for the stafflingprocess is provided by special services, i.t. and facilities k4punctuates the collaborative approach utilized in staffingfcps schools. i would like to extend a thanksto kristen michael and their finance team as they work inclose partnership with h.r.

our teams do a tremendous jobtogether to support our scoots and regions through a difficultand sometimes emotional process. as we look at specific classsize information for kindergarten our starting pointis every kindergarten chaz is staffed with a teacher andinstructional assistant and kindergarten classes should notexceed 28 students. while the provided informationshows seven classes above our 28 student cap, class size data waspulled on september 30. all but one class size concernhas been addressed since then.

the only one class with morethan 28 students is due to a teacher vacancy. we take a varied approach togrades 1-3 as opposed to 4-6. the class size cap is 29 for allgrade levelings, we provide instructional assistant with 28or 29 students in first through third grades. there will be 75 clams that havebeen provided an additional i.a. support. five glasses in grades onethrough three and 70 classrooms

in four through six that exceedthe class size regulation. there are varying reasons andthe caveat that will allow with conjunction to keep a classabove 29 students. if the principal decides tomaintain a class above 29 students the principal mustcommunicate this to the school community so it is aware of thecircumstance. several of the factors thatcould lead to classes of 30 or more are captured on the slide. the five classes in grade onethrough three are related to a

teacher vacancy we continue toremedy. we have a small number ofclasses with 30 or more students in grades four through six wemade significant strides from last year. we have redoosed the number offour through six grade classes above our cap by 44%. while the factors in the proveuse slide address reasons that we may see reasons we exceed theregulation, this information speaks to why we see differentclass sizes in different

buildings and throughout thedivision. we have elements that impact theconfiguration of classes. our students don't come to us inequally distribute td nice box sets. as much as we would like to havethem show up in groups of 25 to distribute among classrooms,grade levels and schools that is not our reality. one example in the same schoolyou could have 63 second graders and 81 fourth graders.

all other factors being equalthe school would qualify for three teechlers at each gradelevel, three classes of 21 students in second grade and 27students at fourth grade. the same scenario could play outbetween school buildings. school a could have 63 fourthgraders school b has 81. again, each school assuming alltheir factors are equal would qualify for three teachers. school a would have fourth gradeclasses of 21, school b, fourth grade classes of 27, all classeswithin the class size

regulations. in is based on one of manyfactors we can considered, it is the complexity of the staffingand the benefit of the class size regulation. without the regulation theschools could have fewer sections but more than 30students in each classroom which is something we work diligentlyto avoid. we want to provide a snapshot ofthe staffing reserve balance, a fund to address class size needswhen enrollment exceeds or less

than allocated for staffing tomeet unique needs and address large elementary school classsizes. recurring funds and one-timefunding resulted in a staffing reserve of 481.5 positions,teachers and i.a.'s. the chart provides the staffingreserve balance as of september 30, we have allocated severaladditional positions and the number remaining in reserve iscurrently 11. the staffing reserve is closelytied to our work with strategy 8 in goal three.

we did start with 170 vacancies,which was actually a 15% reduction from the previousyear, many of these okay �-- vacancies is we allocated 200positions from the reserve since august 1 to address enrollment,unique needs and class size concerns. exceptional employs make fcpsfor students and work. we are prude of our employeesand their daily efforts to ensure that the 187,000 studentsserved in fcps schools receive excellent instruction and findacademic successes.

goal 3 as part of the strategicplan fcps position to recruit, retain, develop and grow apremier workforce to serve as a success for portrait of agraduate. i thank you for your time andlook forward to continue our conversation during monday'swork session. thank you so much, dr. i wanted to remind board memberswe have a work session scheduled for monday to go into deeperdetail and ask dr. rameyquestions then and any comments

at that time. i'm happy to have any questionsboard members might have. garza, did you have furthercomments you would like to make tonight? i have nothing else to add. looking forward to thediscussion on monday. i do see mr. moon. madam chairman, i want to addto monday work session is 90

minutes allocated to discussthis particular goal report and as much as possible if boardmembers can send in the questions they may have inadvance so staff can be better prepared to respond to give usall the answers they can on monday. excellent. we will see you on monday, dr. item 4.01, confirmation ofaction on closed meeting, the board will confirm actionregarding issues regarding

student disciplinary matters. board members have discussedeach individual case and at this time a motion to confirm therecommended action. corbett sanders. i move to excuse fromattendance at school certain students identified in theclosed meeting pursuant to 22.1-254 paragraph b.seconded by mr. all those in favor raise yourhasn't. palchik, hough, corbett sanders,strauss, evans, moon, wilson,

derenak kaufax. all opposed. abstaining. hynes, schultz and mcelveen. item five consent agenda. our adapted rules, roberts rulesprovide approval of several items in one section. items may be removed from theconsent agenda at the request of any board member.

one item 5.01, approval ofschool board meeting minutes has been removed from the agendatonight and on the consent agenda on the next meeting. 5.02, early head start. 5.03, approve course offeringsas recommended by the course review kmeemt. 5.04, appoint individuals toserve on committees as detailed in the agenda item. is there any objection toapproving the consent agenda?

hearing and seeing none, theconsent agenda is approved. new business. 6.01, award of contract forhollin meadows elementary school renovation and additionsproject. authorize the superintendent offacilities and transportation services to execute, deliver andadminister the contract on behalf of the school board. 6.02, awartd a contract for thestuart high school biological chemistry labs to the lowestresponsive and responsible

bidder and authorize thedivision superintendent or the assistant superintendent offacilities and transportation services to execute deliver andadminister the contract on 6.03, approve the recommendationof the selection advisory committee for the superintendentsearch firm. 6.04 aadopt the resolution ofschool bonds and authorize the chairman or vice chairman withthe advice of legal counsel to negotiate, execute andadminister the school board tax certificate and all documentsappropriate and advisable and to

do all things necessary tocomplete. 6.05, approve the strategicplan. we move to superintendentmatters. garza. thank you, madam chairman. members of the bother. we had a delightful afternoon tosurprise springfield estates elementary school teachers andstaff. i was joined by tammy derenakkaufax.

the school has been named anexemplary school in the u.s. department of education. it is highly rigorous and quitedifficult to get this quite distinguished honor. it is one of seven in virginiathat was awartded this honor and 329 in the country. recognized for closing theachievement gap and all students can meet high level ofachievement. it was a wonderful visit andclearly an outstantding school

in every way possible. we extend our congratulations tomary randolph principal. i was joined by dr. lockhard andjeff platenberg. they just finished a beautifulrenovation. a lot of good things happeningat springfield estates elementary school. they are now the fifth fcpsschool in total to receive that blue ribbon status.

it is quite the honor. also want to thank members ofthe leadership team and school board who joined me tuesday as iwas recognized by the fairfax county board of supervisors. i certainly want to thankchairman bulova, supervisor smyth and supervisor storck andall the members of the board for their warm and certainly verykind remarks. i was truly humbled by theirrecognition. i want a couple of otherannouncements.

gretchen haslen, the headcounselor at kimmel mills was the state library of the year bythe virginia association of school librarians. she has been head librarian for10 years was named potomac region librarian of the year. respected leader at kilmer anddebt cade to cooperative learning and teaching. i have visited her library. she is an outstanding librarian.

kilmer middle school only hasrecognition of a wonderful librarian, but also our teacherof the year is at kilmer middle school as well. one final announcement. 42 artist teachers will berepresented by 52 works of art in the 2016 fcps artist teacherexhibition which opens saturday november 12 at the workhousecenter in lorton station. the fcps partners with theworkhouse art center to organize this annual exhibitionshowcasing the talents and

artistic achievement of ourteachers. it is a wonderful event and weare appreciative to recognize the talents of our wonderful artteechlers. thank you, dr. we go to board committeereports. i call on mr. mcelveen forreport on public engagement committee. at our last pec meeting wediscussed the idea of an a.p.

summit. we will bring that to the fullycooked board in our upcoming work session. we gave feed back on our websitewhich i think all of us view as a work in progress. we continue to receive feedback. i would continue the communityto let us have it on that. finally, we discussed the issueof informing school board members about events that occurin the community, sometimes all

of us agree we are left in thelurch and don't find out about things until the last minute. we will continue to work on thatissue. i call on ms. hynes for areport from the audit committee. the audit committee met onoctober 26. we updated the audit work plan. we received updates on currentaudits. the committee also approved afew minor amendments to the fy

17 audit plan. i asked the chair to put that ona work session in december if possible so we can bring thosechanges to the full board to be approved by the full board. not many and only one issubstantive. we will bring that to the board. the audit committee meets againnext wednesday november 9 and there is an audio tape availableof the october meeting on the website.

i go to board matters. mcelveen. i would echo dr. garza'skudos for mary ozga at springfield estates. mary was my first boss,actually. it is no surprise she hascracked the whip and transformed that school into great place tobe. so congratulations, mary.

i was proud to continue myschool visits last week and i was able to visit twain middleschool with new principal mr. miller and clairemont elementaryschool. they are doing great. clairemont just recentlyfinished theoren�-- their renovation and it lookswonderful. i was able to honor the schoolas a blue ribbon school. i went back later this eveningfor the community celebration and was fortunately able to seemany old teachers, friends,

colleagues as i was a parent atthat school for many years. so congratulations to mary andthe springfield estates team. a well deserved recognition andvery happy to be with you today. wilson. and thank you to all the folkswho came out to my office hours recently. i will have additional officehours this month on november 30 at 10:30 at the chantillyregional library. come out and keep me company foran hour and a half from 10:30 to

12:00. i wanted to thank beth downeyand for inviting me to come to the fairfax student firefighteracademy event held at the academy this week. it was really incredible to seethe students involved. there are 15 fairfax countyseniors from 10 different schools participating in aprogram that will ultimately lead to their certification asfirefighters and possibly joining the fairfax county firedepartment.

that is an incredible programand one i hope we can build on in the coming years. so thank you very much. first i just wanted to sharewith my colleagues that i really appreciated the opportunity lastnight to visit with north springfield elementary school atthe invitation of their ptsa. chad mccray is the principalthere. they are going through arenovation right now thanks to the support of our fairfaxcounty citizens and bond

renovation. but it was really wonderful tosee such a very large turnout of elementary school parents. so very much engaged in theconversation about the fiscal needs of our school system andjust really appreciate those opportunities to see how caringand engaged and thoughtful our parents are in this schoolsystem. i also wanted to share that thisveterans' day, a week from tomorrow, i will have a specialveteran in mind.

and that is corporal jessicaellis. she attended canterberry woods. she was killed in iraq in 2008. with the 101st airborne as amedic, earned the bronze star and purple heart. she is currently being honoredat the women's memorial at washington national cemeterywhere she is also buried. if you were to google jessicaellis or visit arlington national cemetery you can seemany of the mementos that

reflect her service to ourcountry. canterberry woods are looking athonoring her with a wall plaque so every day the kids atcanterberry woods can learn about an american hero who was aclassmate who went through the halls of canterberry. her parents now live in oregon. they are honored her daughterwill be remembered and help teach our children what ouralumni in fairfax county have done in support and fighting forour country.

to all of our veterans out thereand our families, who will be thinking about the veterans andtheir families a week from friday, i just wanted you toknow that i, too, will be making sure to really think carefullyabout how much their sacrifice means to me and to my family andto our community. thank you for all that you do inkeeping us a safe nation and a safe world. last couple of weeks i have beenbusiness. i met with parent groups at bothcentreville and woodson high

school and attended a couple ofconcerts, along with dale yeah palchik, representing providencedistrict. also last night i was at thewestfield high school for a concert. i want to thank and applaudefforts made by dr.�-- department for the job well donefor the mental health and wellness conference on saturdayat fairfax high school. the parking lot was packed. people were taking a hugebenefit of a lot of the

presentations, parents andeveryone who was there, myself i atentded a couple of sessions. you and your staff have done awonderful job. mrs. strauss. i want to thank the p.t.a.'sed aclaire view and franklin sherman. they invited me to speak attheir recent meetings. i want to congratulate mcleanmarching band.

they are state champions. they won the u.s. bands virginiastate championship, best color guard, best music, overalleffect, best percussion and best visual. last friday at homecoming i wasable to see their wonderful performance called story my oflife. it is fabulous. we hope the band will come andbe honored here at a meeting and perhaps play something for us.

wouldn't that be fun. congratulations mclean highschool. i want to congratulate all ofour students in fairfax county as they conclude their firstquarter of the year and wish them a wonderful long weekend. enjoy. i would also like to encouragethe community to provide feedback on the draft calendarsthat have been posted. this is the first time thatfairfax county has made a

recommendation and we will bestarting school next year before labor day so please take a lookat those calendars and provide feedback. there is a link on the website. i would encourage all of ourservice members who have veterans' day off to visit thelocal schools. we are doing things at each ofour local schools and it is quite an exciting and movingtribute in celebrating the veterans, all of our veterans.

a special shoutout to the travismannion foundation working with west potomac high school on aday of service on veterans' day. so thank you all. hough. thank you.and on the calendar subject, i have received a lot of e-mailsand i'm appreciative of those. it is my first time goingthrough the full calendar process. i love the open feedback as wellas people filling out the survey

where you can choose one. the open feedback is veryhelpful and i'm sure other board members agree. so keep those coming. i have office hours coming upthis friday 12:30 at richard birnd again in a couple ofweeks. more notification will be goingabout that. palchikyes, thank you. we had the opportunity tocelebrate a lot of achievements

these past two weeks. our kill moore librarian is thevirginia librarian of the year. congratulations to gretchen. it is great to celebrate withher and her family. i also like mr. wilson had theopportunity to visit one of our firefighter academy programs. this was at falls church highschool. with the beloved penny kelly anda firefighter from prince

william county wanted to checkout our program and see what they can do there. it was great to be there. also we did get a chance tocelebrate our wonderful retirees and savor the food of chef brianwhich mr. moon especiallyenjoyed. it was healthy and nutritious. so was the guitar group. the oakton chamber was amazing.

they are the only high schoolperform at this year's virginia music education conference. so we are proud of them. our very own luther jacksonmiddle school director had a world debut of the piece shewrote for her students who performed it along with oakton. it was a beautiful event. thank you for joining me, beingmy date mr. i had a chance last minute to beable to participate in something

that was very touching today. my cousin's wife was naturalizedright here in providence district. i had not been to anaturalization ceremony since my parents several decades ago nowand one of my favorite things about it was that the official,the government official from d.c. who came out spoke verybeautifully and at one point quoted one of my favoritewriters, david foster wallace. often the most importantrealities are the ones that are

easier to overlook. while my cousin's wife will notbe able to vote in these elections, it is too late toregister this year, i hope those of us who can will remember weshouldn't take it for granted. we have very important decisionsto make. be educated. get out and vote. a lot of issues on our novemberballot. i hope to see you at the pollson tuesday.

hynes. yeah. i was sad but glad to be atmount vernon high school's michael m. skinner fieldhouseover the weekend for the funeral of mike skinner. he died at 92. he was a fixture in thatcommunity. i'm a new yorker born and raisedbut did spent my senior year of high school at mount vernon.

i was not happy to be spendingone year at another school. being there one year, it isinteresting mr. skinner is theonly administrator i remember from that time. he had that way of connectingwith students. some of the remembrances of himwas about how you could sort of hear his footsteps down thehall, as the a.p. when i was there, can have the role asenforcer. i do remember one story, i hopei haven't already told it, i

must have skipped a classbecause mr. skinner came andpulled me out of my class to talk to me in the hallway. i don't know if i had a bad day,but i fell apart. i started crying. you would think i had broken hisheart. he melted feeling bad he made mefeel badly. that is my memory of mr. skinner.

it is an accurate memory of alli heard over the weekend of his really important role in thatcommunity and that school. he never lost touch with theprincipal. in fact, he would call regularlyto give advice. we knew those relationships withthe key of really strong he was just a walking example ofthat. i also was able to be out lastnight at the mcnair p.t.a. meeting. i want to thank ken snead whowas out there with his team

talking to that community aboutthe fact that they have, oh, they have two full gradesoutside in the back yard in quads. they are so overbooked in a wayat that school. and i know that facilities hastried every possible thing to zoff that problem over the lastfew years because they kept me in the loop. last night we were able topresent a potential solution to the p.t.a.

at that school, it isa large piece of property to build an upper school on thebackside of the property and still have a full soccer fieldand, you know�-- so i think it is a great plan. we are just at the beginningstages. i was happy to see good turnoutfrom the path. i know our design andconstruction folks will do a great job on it. it is nice to present asolution.

maybe four years out,unfortunately, but these things take time. that is a good sign. i just want to quickly, youknow, we've had a lot of citizen participation lately and i justwant to mention one thing and maybe it is something we need tothink about. some of the speakers, i know weare loosy goosy about what you say in related to something onour agenda. that is our rule.

i do think it is importantspeakers try to make a credible connection to something on theagenda. i only mention it because thereare folks who would like to sign up to speak about things on ouragenda and they haven't been able to because the citizenparticipation is only 10 slots and fills up quickly on monday. i would ask citizens to maybemake an effort you are talking about something on our agendafor the evening. to correct a few things thatwere said tonight, employees

were consulted in thedevelopment of policy 1450 and the regulation. they met with employeeorganizations and i know that actually in the development ofit leadership and the school system superintendent met withthose opposed. the suggestion that the schoolsystem has not met with everyone in the community who needed tobe heartd and wanted to be heard, is not accurate. this meeting is adjourned.