The Education committee has prepared two drafts of a letter to Dr. Brabrand and Members of the School Board

Both letters begin:

• In light of your recent plan to bring students back into FCPS facilities, we would like to advocate that you refocus your efforts toward delivering a high-quality education to all children. While we appreciate that the COVID pandemic is unprecedented, and we do not underestimate your operational challenges, we would like to echo School Board Member Rachna Sizemore Heizer's recent statement that over the last year FCPS has often not "center[ed] the needsÉ of the students."
• Your Return to School plan formally adopted on February 4 is a step in the right direction, but we believe it represents just the beginning of our recovery. During this pandemic, significant damage has been done to our children's development. Governor Northam recently said that "even if the decision is difficult," offering in-person schooling is needed "to prevent irreparable learning loss and psychological damage."

The letters differ on their emphasize on the urgency of getting Fairfax County School students back in the classroom.

• Version 1
• Version 2

Link to a PDF version of the letter Dr. Brabrand and Members of the School Board:

We write to urge you to refrain from enacting significant changes to the admissions process for the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology (TJ) until you have participated in fully collaborative public engagement. While we believe more diversity is an important goal, we have substantive concerns about using a lottery process to select students for admission. A deeper community conversation is essential to evaluating any proposal this consequential to both individual students and the school's success as a valuable community asset.

Dr. Brabrand released his proposal to change TJ's admissions process on September 15, and is asking the School Board to approve a final proposal on October 8. This time frame provides inadequate opportunities for stakeholders to engage in transparent public comment and discussion. Major changes such as those suggested in Dr. Brabrand's proposal must require more thorough evaluation and discussion among administrators, parents, teachers, educational experts, and the community. These could include, for example, public hearings, panel discussions, individual testimony, and perhaps a task force. Such mechanisms are designed to result in substantively better policy while also improving community support. There may be ways to improve diversity at TJ that are less divisive and disruptive of TJ's central mission.

Careful analysis of Dr. Brabrand's proposal is crucial because the stakes for our community are high. TJ is a central element of FCPS' strong reputation for excellence in education. In turn, that reputation is a foundational component of Fairfax County's economic growth, as our schools help the County retain and attract business investment.

TJ provides a uniquely supportive environment for gifted students, students (in the words of the Virginia Department of Education) "whose learning levels are remarkably different from their age-level peers." From its beginning in 1985, TJ has represented a commitment to providing a nurturing environment for students who need a more challenging program than available at their base high schools. This commitment is important not just for the students themselves, but because the development of exceptional talent is aimed at the improvement of society at large. At TJ we might foster the next Katherine Johnson or Anthony Fauci. We urge you to prioritize the identification of such talent in any future TJ admissions process, and advise you to deliberate more fully before changing the existing one.

Sincerely,

The President and the Education Committee of the Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations
Ed Saperstein and Nancy Trainer, co-chairs and Bill Barfield, Federation President

Dr. Brabrand and Members of the School Board:

Last semester, FCPS was slow to adapt in the face of the Coronavirus pandemic, and the seemingly abrupt change in plans in July to drop the hybrid option caught families by surprise. Certainly COVID-19 has made it very challenging to have quality schooling for our kids, and in a Town Hall in July Dr. Brabrand welcomed help from the community. In this spirit, we wish to share with you the following suggestions that we hope will help FCPS during 2020-21.

Overall, FCPS should improve its communications. We applaud Dr. Brabrand's commitment to host virtual Town Hall meetings weekly as the start of the school approaches, and periodically after that. Yet we are concerned that these Town Halls may not be sufficiently publicized, and therefore the crucial information they are conveying is not accessible to all. It is crucial during this dynamic school year that information be freely flowing both upward (from parents to teachers, from teachers to principals, and from principals to central administration) and downward (the reverse). With this in mind we offer the following suggestions:

• Change the "News You Choose" default so that families are automatically opted in to relevant communications from FCPS; you could create a new Coronavirus-related category which sends everyone these very important updates unless they opt out. This channel should then be used to disseminate all information about how schools are adapting differently this year.
• Take some of the communications burden off of principals by either having central office staff record videos to be disseminated, and/or provide a clear script, template, or other guidance on how schools are changing their operations this year. This will help the community have confidence that FCPS speaks with one voice.
• Ensure that there are clear channels to communicate upward—from parents, students, and teachers—so that best practices are shared and problems are solved quickly. These channels need to be clarified for the new school year (and perhaps new channels created) so that they are obvious and accessible to all.
• Overcommunicate via multiple formats to release information. For example, during Dr. Brabrand's August 12 Town Hall, some of his guests used informative slides to help communicate the advice they were providing to parents. These slides should be disseminated widely regardless of whether parents were able to watch the Town Hall.
• Consider soliciting views from students, parents, and teachers via regular surveys throughout the year. This tool has been occasionally used by FCPS but may be more useful during a tumultuous time, to properly calibrate both successes and challenges during the year.
• Include parents in the planning and implementation of changes where possible, so that communities come together and operations can be smoothed. Parents may be able to help with such tasks as laptop distribution, or the changing extracurricular environment. Generally, more hands make lighter work.

Thank you for your continued hard work on behalf of our community.

Sincerely,

The Education Committee of the Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations
Ed Saperstein and Nancy Trainer, co-chairs

Link to a PDF version of the letter

Remarks of Nancy Trainer on Proposed Revised FY 2021 FCPS School Budget on behalf of the Education Committee of the Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations at the virtual Fairfax County School Board Meeting of 12 May 2020

• My name is Nancy Trainer, and I am co-chair of the Education Committee of the Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations.* Tonight I am speaking on behalf of the Federation's Education Committee.
• Some of you are not, perhaps, familiar with the Federation itself, or how unusual it is that I am speaking this evening. The Federation is an 80-year-old umbrella organization for homeowner, civic, and community associations. We are proud to work alongside FCPS lobbying in Richmond and traditionally are represented within FCPS' many committees and task forces. By this point in the budget cycle, we often don't feel the need to provide additional input.
• But these are not usual times. We are unusually concerned with FCPS' reaction to the Coronavirus pandemic, particularly with what we believe is a misplaced emphasis on equity concerns at the cost of unifying our community by providing our children with an excellent education.
• Excellence is job #1 at FCPS, implicit within your mission statement: "[T]o inspire and empower students to meet high academic standards, lead ethical lives, and be responsible and innovative global citizens." Now more than ever, our children need us to empower them in reaching for those high standards. Fairfax's strong support for its public schools is predicated on their excellence.
• Excellence will now require FCPS to engage in continuous innovation. Our students may return in some form to our school buildings, but they may encounter a hybrid of distance learning and in-person learning, and we may need to shift quickly as circumstances require. We accept that some students and some teachers will not adapt easily, and we share the concern that this risks exacerbating particular imbalances. However, our bigger risk is paralysis. We risk failing to meet this moment quickly and boldly.
• We believe that FCPS' large size and diverse student body are assets—not obstacles—to the kind of nimble experimentation the moment requires. But to unleash pedagogical innovation, FCPS must loosen its focus on equivalence among regions and among schools. As Emerson said, "Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Now is the time for us all to stand together as FCPS. Yet if we are to support every child by name and by need, then we cannot treat all children the same.
• We commend Superintendent Brabrand for his strong collaboration with County Executive Bryan Hill, which facilitated a budget that properly sets the same priorities in our schools that our County has set for its lines of business. We believe that the adjustments proposed in this budget are appropriate and prudent, particularly as they preserve school-based positions and maintain existing programs.
• We also commend FCPS for pivoting quickly to provide our families with hundreds of thousands of meals since school closed on March 13. Finally, we look forward to hearing updates from you on what educational practices are working best in our new learning environment.
• Thank you for your time this evening, and for all the time you spend on various school matters. We look forward to working together to help support our schools.

* The two co-chairs of the Education Committee are Nancy Trainer and Ed Saperstein.

• Link to a PDF version of the testimony

• On 26 April 2020 at-large Fairfax County School Board member Abrar Omeish and Virginia Secretary of Education Atif Qarni hosted a livestream on the latest in education. Click here if you wish to hear the broadcast.
• On Thursday, 30 April 2020, she, Virginia House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn and Health Committee Chair Mark Sickles will be providing local and state health and legislative updates. Click here to tune in for that at 7pm.

• FCPS has created a Parent Resource Center that includes workshops, consultations, and other guidance. You can also call (703-204-3941) and email (prc@fcps.eadu). They are open M-F 8am-4pm.
• If you are in need of technical support for your student, FCPS has created a guide here.
• For more advice resources go here.

Remarks of Nancy Trainer on Proposed FY 2021 FCPS School Budget on behalf of the Board of the Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations at the Fairfax County School Board Meeting of 27 January 2020

• My name is Nancy Trainer, and I am co-chair of the Education Committee of the Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations.* Tonight I am speaking on behalf of the Federation's Board.
• We would like to commend the Proposed Budget's continued focus on maintaining instructional quality by improving teacher and staff compensation. We agree that FCPS must place priority on attracting and retaining the finest educational personnel, and so we must pay our staff like the professionals they are.
• Since salaries comprise just one element of employees' total compensation, however, we also urge you to explore options to create more flexible compensation packages. Younger employees may have different needs than employees close to retirement, and creative compensation packages could help recruit and retain staff without any additional spending. This is a suggestion we have offered in the past, but with so much new energy on the School Board, we hope you will engage anew to ensure the entire bundle of employee benefits remains responsive to an evolving marketplace. On this subject of our evolving marketplace, we would like to renew our suggestion that you establish a Department of Strategic Planning and Innovation to support "Ignite," which is the name for FCPS' strategic plan. We believe it is essential that FCPS keep abreast of market challenges and trends, and also create a system to measure and monitor strategic success, so that our schools' investments are made well. Such an office could help ensure that strategic thinking and innovative programs are implemented consistently and in a relevant way within the organization, that we are thinking at a higher level than budgets often inspire.**
• continue to appreciate FCPS' support for the Federation's Legislative Package. Our joint work in Richmond during the last legislative session helped provide FCPS with the freedom we had long sought to determine our own starting date for the school year. In 2020 we are both seeking to equalize the revenue-generating authority of counties with that of cities. Such authority could help diversify the County's revenue base, which could, in turn, improve funding for our schools. We will also work to increase the state's funding for students who receive Free and Reduced-Price Meals, asking the commonwealth to provide such funding on a per-student basis.
• Given the vast sums that the Proposed Budget requests, we hope this Board will continue the previous Board's commitment to fiscal responsibility. We commend Dr. Brabrand and his staff for working closely with County Executive Bryan Hill and his staff to jointly plan budgets, and we call on all of you to intensify such collaborative work between FCPS and the County. In the past we have seen great benefits flow from a close relationship built between each district's Supervisor and his or her School Board counterpart, and we hope that our new School Board members will engage in such a spirit of partnership.
• Thank you for your time this evening, for your collective service to the children in our community, and for all the time you spend on various school matters. We look forward to working together to help support our schools.

* The two co-chairs of the Education Committee are Nancy Trainer and Ed Saperstein.
** The Federation passed a resolution concerning this issue in December, 2018 which is attached for your reference.

• Link to a PDF version of the testimony

The Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations did not prepare remarks for the budget for FY 2020 as there were few issues of disagreement.

The Federation commends the new Superintendent, recommends Fairfax County Public Schools create manageable strategic initiatives, engage in "best practices", and establish a Department of Strategic Planning and Innovation:

• Link to the initial draft FCPS' Strategic Plan Resolution
• Link to the revised draft FCPS' Strategic Plan Resolution to be voted upon at the December 2018 membership meeting
• Link to the FCPS' Strategic Plan Resolution approved at the 20 December 2018 membership meeting

Remarks of Nancy Trainer on Proposed FY 2019 FCPS School Budget on behalf of the Board of the Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations at the Fairfax County School Board Meeting of 27 January 2018

• My name is Nancy Trainer, and I am co-chair of the Education Committee of the Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations.* Tonight I am speaking on behalf of the Federation's Board.
• We would like to commend the Proposed Budget's focus on improving FCPS' market position with regard to teacher and staff compensation. We agree it is vital to pay our staff like the professionals they are, to help FCPS attract and retain the finest educational personnel. To this end, we would like to reiterate a suggestion we have made in years past—that FCPS explore options to make its compensation packages more flexible. We believe FCPS' benefits package represents an important inducement for current and future employees. At the same time, younger employees may have different needs than employees close to retirement. FCPS has the opportunity to make compensation packages overall more attractive to various employees without any additional spending, by simply allowing flexibility within the system.
• We would also like to suggest that as FCPS continues to address its teachers' compensation, it should not focus solely on that metric as the key to teacher hiring and retention. FCPS has raised both class size floors and average class sizes, and continues to seek the right level of standardized testing to ensure accountability while maintaining a creative, individualized approach to education. We suggest that FCPS perform a thoughtful review of administrative requirements on teachers and staff, with an eye toward ensuring a work environment that is viewed by employees as part of FCPS' "benefits package" overall.
• We continue to appreciate the help that Dr. Brabrand and this Board have lent toward the Federation's 2018 Legislative Package, and recognize your commitment to fiscal responsibility as together we seek to diversify the sources of investment in our County and in our schools. Because we know that our government must operate as responsible stewards of both the public trust and public dollars, we call on you to continue and intensify collaborative work between FCPS and the County, in all areas feasible.
• We commend the progress you have made to date in jointly planning budgets, and presenting a unified fiscal forecast presentation. Yet more can and should be done collaboratively between our schools and our County. For example, we believe there is still work to be done to ensure that our capital assets are built, maintained, and utilized with an eye toward what is best for Fairfax County as a whole, rather than simply what is best from either the County's view, or from FCPS' view. The "One Fairfax" model will succeed best if our schools and our County government work together wherever possible, whether the topic is budget processes, infrastructure, or technology.
• Thank you for your time this evening, for your collective service to the children in our community, and for all the time you spend on various school matters. We look forward to working together to help support our schools.

* The two co-chairs of the Education Committee are Nancy Trainer and Ed Saperstein.
Link to a PDF version of the testimony

• On 30 January 2017 Nancy Trainer spoke to the Fairfax County School Board on the Proposed FY 2018 FCPS School Budget on behalf of the Board of the Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations

• On 28 January 2016 Ed Saperstein spoke to the Fairfax County School Board on the Proposed FY 2017 FCPS School Budget on behalf of the Education Committee of the Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations

• Discussion on the resolution
• The FCPS Capital Imptovement Program (CIP) proposes establishing two "One School Centers," one at Franklin Sherman and one at Chesterbrook; thus the plural "Centers" rather than "Center."
• This is a novel idea proposed by the CIP. The word "Center" has always been defined in FCPS as a school that gathers students from more than one school into a "Center" school. Currently, Franklin Sherman and Chesterbrook Level IV AAP students have the choice to either stay at their base schools for the Local Level IV program or head to Haycock (their "Center"). This proposal would remove the option for these students to head to Haycock. It would not create a "Center" in the manner that we use that term today. It would essentially re-label the Local Level IV program at each of these elementary schools as a "Center" without any substantive changes to the student population or program.
• Neither school population has asked for this change. This is a change proposed by the Facilities staff at FCPS. As for the number of AAP students, our resolution mentions that not a single elementary school consistently identifies more than 50 students per grade level as Level IV-eligible (which is essentially "critical mass" for a successful gifted program). That is true for both Franklin Sherman and Chesterbrook.
• Draft for Board consideration dated 3 Aug 2015
• Board Approved Draft for membership consideration dated 6 Aug 2015
• The membership approved the Resolution on 17 Sep 2015

PDF copy of Revised Education Committee Draft Resolution on Infrastructure Joint BOS/FCPS Committee

In a sequence of three Joint Fairfax County Board of Supervisors (BOS) and Fairfax County Public School Board (SB) Committees over the past 5 years, the supervisors and school board members have expanded existing cooperative actions, but as the most recent joint BOS/SB Budget Committee has stated "the wants/needs can not be achieved with the projected revenues".

Information on Previous Efforts Seeking Budget Reductions through Cooperation Between Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and Fairfax County School Board, including summaries of the accomplishments and shortcomings of the three Joint BOS and SB Committees, is provided in Attachment 1 to the resolution.

A draft letter to the District Councils on the subject is also provided.

PDF copy of Draft Resolution on Infrastructure Joint BOS/FCPS Committee

Whereas, the ad-hoc BOS/FCPS Infrastructure Committee has made recommendations to provide some additional funding for construction and renovation of school facilities, and

Whereas, the County’s and FCPS’s facilities staff have standardized maintenance, including major maintenance, and renovation/construction categories, and

Whereas, this BOS/FCPS ad-hoc committee has recognized the need to improve the design and construction practices in their recommendations that (1) County and School staff should continue to employ Value Engineering, and (2) the staffs should highlight significant project savings and reallocation to their Boards, and

Whereas, the County’s cost for new construction has been $264 per square foot, and FCPS’s cost for new construction has been $160 per square foot, and

Whereas, the County and FCPS may be leasing overly expensive and unneeded storage and other space, and

Whereas, both the County and FCPS may realize significant savings through a review the potential for telecommuting and reassessment of space needs resulting from significant reductions in administrative and maintenance positions and warehouse space, and

Whereas, the County is budgeting for a review of the status of County facilities in the FY15 budget, and

Whereas, the BOS have proposed a joint FCPS/BOS working group to review the condition of School and County facilities, and

Whereas, the County and FCPS use different criteria and rating systems for determining the conditions of facilities and the priority for renovation, and

Whereas, the County and FCPS may not be using similar methods when determining the number of square feet, e.g., perhaps non-building space is being factored into the comparative calculations.

Therefore, the Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations (Federation) (1) commends the members of the BOS/FCPS Infrastructure Committee for the cooperation shown in their work to address facility needs by both the County and FCPS, and (2) commends both boards for taking steps to implement the recommendations contained in the Committee’s report.

Furthermore, the Federation recommends the County and FCPS facilities staff, under the auspices of the BOS/FCPS Infrastructure Committee (1) develop common criteria for assessing facility condition and the urgency of renovations, and (2) jointly carry out inspections of both County and FCPS facilities, and (3) ensure that square footage comparisons are of comparable entities, and

Furthermore,the Federation recommends that the County hire a qualified, independent, contractor to evaluate the County’s design and construction process, and FCPS and the County’s utilization of space.

• The Advanced Academics Programs Advisory Committee (AAPAC) advises the FCPS School Board on the needs of advanced learners and the programs offered to meet those needs. Membership includes citizen, teacher, and principal representatives, a student representative, and the Coordinator of Advanced Academic Programs.
• Building on the recommendations and observations delivered by AAPAC to the School Board in June 2013, and the FCPS AAP 2013 Program Review, the School Board charged this committee to:

  Identify best practices for ensuring that FCPS’s AAP services are implemented successfully at the local school level and identify avenues of communication that will ensure that all members of the community are aware of the continuum of advanced academic services available to students who have the potential to succeed.

• For AAPAC members, current research and analysis confirms that there are many areas in which FCPS excels in designing advanced academics programs. In fact, FCPS may be considered among the best in class in this area. Nevertheless, the implementation and quality of advanced academic services (across the full continuum of service) is inconsistent across the county, within Clusters, and within pyramids. While better communication may help to increase understanding about what is or should be expected from advanced academics programs, fidelity of implementation requires specific metrics, timelines, and accountability for results.
• The committee also concluded that in order to grow from our past successes, a culture supporting advanced academic programs must be embraced and promoted at all levels of the system including the Superintendent, Central Office Staff, Cluster Administrators, School Level Administrators and Classroom Teachers. The culture should be supported by the availability and appropriate incentives for professional development.
• To that end, the committee recommends that FCPS:
  1. Embrace transparency in objective setting, reporting, metrics, and results.
  2. Establish tools to systematically assess advanced academics services at each school, by service level, with the specific intent to learn from each other and continuously improve practices across the county;
  3. Encourage peer- to-peer mentoring between school professionals across the county to enhance knowledge and implementation of best practices;
  4. Incent professional development to increase and retain the number of teachers that obtain endorsements for teaching advanced academic learners; and
  5. Provide tools to AAP students and their parents to develop meaningful individualized academic plans to pursue robust secondary and higher education.
  6. Establish an elementary and secondary school data base on the availability of extracurricular activities supporting the development of critical thinking skills such as chess club, math clubs, robotics, Odyssey of the Mind, etc. should be accessible by parents. When a club is not available at a local school and there is an interest by students, they should be given the opportunity to either participae in na neighboring schools club or efforts should be made (where there is sufficient interest) to gain support from business partnerships, and/or community associations such as the FCPTA, FCAG or other community group to establish a local club.
• Together and done well, these activities will celebrate and share the areas in which FCPS excels, reinforce a culture of continuous improvement in the delivery of advanced academic services, and facilitate learning from and by stakeholders across the county. Ideally, by creating an environment where teachers are encouraged to take advantage of professional development opportunities and collaborate with their peers both within the building and across the county, teachers will feel positive about the environment and our students will benefit from this positive academic climate.

• Saturday, March 1, 2014, at Woodson High School, 8:00 a..m. to 2:00 p.m.
• Parents register online at www.fcps.edu/dss/conference or call 703-204-3941
• For more information, click here