SB 🧵

"SB members quietly created new staff..totalling $1.5 million. Meanwhile FCPS leadership announced reductions to the no. of special ed. leads in ES & the no. of adv. academic resource teachers.."

Stephanie Lundquist Aurora calls for an independent audit of FCPS spending. "Bad things happen in the bathrooms.."

@MateoDunne argues for various budget amendments incl. adding security personnel at MS & HS.

Ms. Meren seeks to suspend the rules & cut off all debate, to stop any change to the (lousy) budget deal negotiated w the teachers union.

SB Mtg 🧵:

The SB votes to amend the SRR to have the Chief Equity Office study the "disproportionality" of punishments dispensed when a student has a weapon or commits an assault.

The timing of this equity measure, so soon after the recent stabbing, is head scratching.
"Voting down a motion you haven't even given the time..to discuss w the motion makers.. & then voting for a motion that we never discussed publicly is poor public policy."

Ms. Meren criticizes the SB for voting down a motion complying w VA law restricting cellphones & voting instead for a less stringent measure.

SB Mtg 🧵:

For the second meeting in a row, embattled budget chair, Kyle McDaniel, attends the meeting remotely. bizjournals.com/washington/new… The school board announces that the next student representative will be Faith MeKonen, a South County HS junior.

SB Mtg 🧵:

Budget Chair Kyle McDaniel, who is currently being sued for allegedly embezzling funds to use on strip clubs & vacations, logs in remotely.

Only in a broken system lacking accountability, like FCPS, would this be met with complete indifference wusa9.com/article/news/l… The SB passes a relatively small budget adjustment as part of the 3rd quarter budget review, using funds from a vaping class action settlement to fund additional security equipment.

SB Mtg 🧵:

SB votes to approve the boundary study scope to alleviate overcrowding at Coates ES & Parklawn ES to include some 35+ schools.

The goal is to get a jump start on boundary changes for these schools prior to the comprehensive boundary review.
The SB votes to get rid of the Family Life Education Curriculum Advisory Committee (FLECAC) & instead make FLE curriculum decisions through an internal FCPS committee subject to public & SB review.

SB Mtg 🧵:

Community speakers call for more transparency & meaningful dialogue in the boundary review process, urging FCPS not to break up communities.

FCPS appears poised to continue its modus operandi of ignoring the community to decide behind closed doors based on equity. "If we want to be the tech center of this nation, we must graduate students w a strong math/science background."

Dr. Reid calls for increased math graduation requirements (e.g., adding math/trig & having 4-yrs of math) in response to news that VA students are last in math scores

SB Mtg 🧵

"Quite honestly, our data usage & data planning has multiplied exponentially."

@FCPSSupt reports increasing FCPS tech use.

Todays WSJ notes educators increasingly question whether the shift towards more tech in school has benefitted learning search.app/y7Ts5oyYTduB9m…

"Schoology... That's a horse that needs to be taken out back & shot."

@MateoDunne notes that Schoology is not being widely used b/c people hate it.

Mr. Dunne also notes the above article & argues that we need to not blindly move forward w tech use where it doesn't aid learning

SB Mtg 🧵:

4 years after the FCPS unions successfully engineered some of the longest school closures in the nation (causing immeasurable damage to students), the SB prepares to ratify FEU's collective bargaining agreement.

The agreement will:
-make it harder to fire bad teachers
-commits $150 million that FCPS doesn't have in its budget,
-grants sick & bereavement leave applicable when roommates are sick/deceased
-gives union reps 50% more paid leave per year for union activities than there are instructional hours in a school year. The school board gives lengthy speeches extolling the agreement as necessary to strengthen our school system.

Missing from the speeches is any real argument that the agreement will benefit student outcomes or any acknowledgement of the funding difficulties given the lack of budgeted $ and the fact that FCPS salaries (when pension $ is included) are already near the top of the market.

"This is at best a demonstration of indifference, at worst a dereliction of duty. Either way it's a betrayal that destroyed the community's confidence in fcps leaders & the credibility thereof."

Community members are sharply critical of FCPS leadership & lack of transparency during Hayfield fiasco. SB 🧵 continued...

Dr. Reid represents compliance w FCPS HR goals, touting collective bargaining efforts, improvements in HR systems, increasing retention rates, & diversity hiring efforts.

SB Mtg 🧵:

Following many plaudits for her performance to date, the SB unanimously votes to extend Dr. Reid's contract until 2028 at a salary of $424k (plus benefits). The SB votes to use $3 million in reserve funds to complete a comprehensive facility condition assessment of all FCPS facilities & buildings, to assist in determining maintenance & renovation needs of aging facilities.

SB Mtg 🧵:

Dr. Reid congratulates Spring Hill Elementary School for being named a National Blue Ribbon School by the US Dept. of Education. doe.virginia.gov/Home/Component… The student rep notes problems with FCPS's grading policy, specifically that:

-classes where the heavy grading emphasis on summative work falls victim to small sample sizes & doesn't reflect student performance
-the liberal retake policy burdens teachers & demotivates students.

SB Mtg 🧵:

"Every single school district needs to be talking about JLARC, b/c imagine how many buses they could buy."

SB Chair Frisch calls for more Richmond $ to be provided to school districts, so those districts can spend the extra $ on electric buses. FCPS has added 105 electric buses using grant $.

Unfortunately, the buses can't be used for double-back routes bc there aren't charging stations all around the district. The grant $ came w no $ at all to build infrastructure & the buses can't be used for field trips or sports bc they can't guarantee the ability to charge them.

SB Mtg 🧵

The SB rejects a motion from @MateoDunne to allocate $8 million towards year end funds for a comprehensive facilities condition assessment of all buildings & facilities & to establish a new renovation queue based on that assessment.

In a surprise move, Mr. Dunne calls for an outside investigation into the allegations re: the Hayfield HS football prgm (allegations of ineligible players, cyberbullying, & more).

Mr. Dunne labels the recent internal investigation "not credible," highlighting that 15 football players came from other districts.

SB Mtg 🧵:

Many grassroots @FairFACTSMatter members in the audience today calling for a halt to proposed boundary policy changes.

Emily VanDerhoff (union leader that fought to keep schools closed indefinitely) loudly booed when voicing support for the boundary policy changes. Mr. Frisch pauses the video testimony of activist Robert Rigby speaking in support of the boundary change policy due to loud booing from the crowd.

SB Mtg 🧵:

The SB elects Karl Frisch as the SB Chair for the next year. The vote is 10 in favor, 1 abstention (McElveen) & 1 opposed (Dr. Anderson).

Sandy Anderson is unanimously elected as Vice Chair. "I believe this represents an example of waste. Wasted resources. Wasted funding by FCPS."

@MateoDunne opposes FCPS's long lost of outside law firms as duplicative.

FCPS wastes significant legal $ every year, in recent years suing parents & initiating unnecessary lawsuits to advance agendas (e.g., to preserve permanent mask mandates).

SB Mtg 🧵:

On Sex-Ed, the SB votes to ask the Family Life cmte to study whether to recommend teaching gender identity in ES. The community review process reflected community opposition to this measure.

The SB also voted to not include both the male & female reproductive systems in the 4th grade puberty video.


During the strategic plan segment, Dr. Reid highlights the Davis & Pulley Career Ctrs, which provide career opportunities to students w disabilities aged 18-22.

SB members highlight the need for these centers to serve more students beyond the small % currently being helped.

SB Mtg 🧵

Activists speaking during community participation renew the push for combined gender sex-ed classes despite enormous public opposition to that proposal from teachers, parents, & students.

Many expect a SB vote on this will occur at the 6/27 mtg.



Board members question options to address an idle food storage warehouse that FCPS isn't using.

It is yet another terrible procurement decision made by the prior supt. to sign a 5-year lease for the warehouse, which is wasting $300k a year.

SB Mtg 🧵

"I believe that we have a sacred responsibility as elected officials to listen to the voices of our constituents.."

@MateoDunne proposes a budget amendment to focus salary increases on classroom instructors, rather than increasing the salaries of central office staff.

The SB resoundingly rejects Mr. Dunne's budget amendments, essentially ignoring the fact that central office staff are already being paid at market levels, whereas classroom instructors are not.

SB Mtg 🧵:

The SB considers the following changes to the SR&R:
-Adding language on neurodiversity
-changing some definitions, incl. to self defense standard
-increasing penalties for marijuana/THC to conform with VA standard
-changing Title IX lang. to conform to fed standard





The SB passes Dr. Anderson's SR&R amendment designed to limit cell phones being used for instructional purposes by requiring the principal (or their designee) to approve the use.

SB Mtg 🧵

Precocious 8-year old, Olivia B, gets rousing applause during community participation in calling for more kindness & a day to learn about students with disabilities. Dr. Reid gives a report on strategies used/considered to tackle chronic absenteeism & discipline disproportionality.

Strategies for the former incl. ⬆️communication w parents.

For the latter, FCPS suggests increasing "restorative justice" & proactive measures.

SB Mtg 🧵

The Schoolboard votes 7-2 to authorize a settlement w a student that sued the board, w Ms. Meren & Dr. Anderson opposed.

It's not clear if this settlement is in B.R. v. Fairfax County School Board, the suit brought by a student alleging she was repeatedly sexually harassed & raped while FCPS failed to act. Today's mtg is the first under new rules that cut down on the amount of speeches permitted supporting nonbinding proclamations.

The new rules have had a beneficial effect: significantly reducing the amount of lengthy speechifying taking place.