May 2023 School Board update

I can’t believe it’s already June. May went by very quickly as the board recognized BIE winners, as well as the robotics and scholastic bowl teams, passed its budget, heard from students about gun violence prevention, and received presentations/updates on summer at FCCPS and collective bargaining. 

Before moving on, I wanted to highlight an opportunity for parents interested in learning more about special education services. FCCPS is partnering with VDOE to host an in-person session of Critical Decision Points for Special Education Parents for FCCPS parents this Friday (June 9). If you are a FCCPS parent interested in understanding more about IEPs, special education services, and related topics, this should be a very helpful event. 

One of the fun things about being on the school board is being able to publicly recognize the contributions that community organizations and businesses make to the schools. Thank you and congrats to the following businesses for their support for FCCPS:

• 38NorthStudio

• Moore Architects

• The Biscuit Factory

• Balanced Female Fitness

• Integrity Tire and Auto Repair

• Pimmit Hills Pollinator Company

• Ryan & Wetmore, PC

• Harvey’s Restaurant

You can watch the presentation and read more about their contributions to FCCPS.

Even more exciting is recognizing the achievements of various student groups. You can watch the recognition of the scholastic bowl team here and the robotics team here. 

The new associate principals (starting next school year) for Mary Ellen Henderson and Meridian introduced themselves to the board. Congrats to Peter Laub (Meridian) and Steve Pickering (MEH).

The board also passed the operations, food service, and the community services budgets. Among other things, this budget implements paid parental leave and a new pay scale for teaching and non-teaching staff. 

At the board’s work session in May, Elijah Pelton and Rachel Grooms (of Meridian’s Gun Violence Prevention Club) discussed the topic of gun violence in schools and what they are doing to address the issue. You can watch them here. 

The board received a presentation of summer programming at FCCPS. You can read the presentation here and watch the presentation here. The board discussion starts here with questions around the length of summer school and enrollment in the high school courses (particularly around how summer school enrollment affects future course load and available options), among other questions, being answered. 

Andy Young presented the city government’s energy action plan to the board.

The board also received an update on collective bargaining. The certified and non-certified bargaining units both voted in favor of the Falls Church City Education Association being the exclusive bargaining representative.