School Board Meeting - 04/26/2022
We’re back with a roundup of what’s been going on at the FCCPS school board meetings. The last work session included an update on the collective bargaining resolution, preparing for the fall’s annual data presentation (what data to include and how it should be presented), developing a calendar policy (rather than having an involved annual process), and a budget presentation that included a request of ~$1.9 million for various one-time expenditures, including $150,000 for teacher laptops at the elementary and preK levels and $750,000 for interactive displays at the middle, elementary, and preK levels, among other items.
The board would like feedback on the calendar from the community. You can contact the board about this issue or any other at schoolboard@fccps.org. The next meeting will be tomorrow night.
Chair Downs noted that while the committee members include individuals representing teachers, support staff, and administrative staff, there were no staff from operations represented. Special effort is being made to reach out and get input from operations staff.
The committee is exploring what aspects of employment may be subject to collective bargaining.
The committee is meeting twice per week for 1.5 hours each time. The goal is to present a draft resolution to the board by the end of May.
You can find the slides here.
The various academic data points are on slide 15.
New state testing requirements (growth assessments) will be implemented next academic year
Proposed non-academic data points (honors, extracurricular participation, etc.) can be found on slide 17.
Vice Chair Gould suggested including a longitudinal perspective, expressed caution on comparing to neighboring districts, and expressed interest in not just focusing on our accolades but also presenting data on where we can improve.
Board member Dimock expressed interest in getting comparisons with individual schools in other districts (rather than district-level comparisons) because FCCPS is so small.
Vice Chair Gould shared further thoughts on data usage for decision making. He also echoed board member Silverman’s interest in addressing student mental health, as well.
Board member Tysse expressed interest in ensuring that students are not being assessed with too much frequency, especially with the new state requirements starting next year. This concern was echoed by board member Silverman and chair Downs.
Since 2019, there has been much more community involvement in the calendar process due to a change in Virginia law allowing a pre-Labor Day start.
Board member Reitinger (along with the rest of the board) strongly expressed having a calendar policy that lay out the rules to follow for calendar creation: when to start, the length of breaks, what holidays to include, etc.
You can find the presentation here.
New one-time funding requests include:
$150,000 for elementary and pre-K teacher laptops
$750,000 for interactive displays at the pre-K through middle schools
$400,000 to replace flooring at Mary Ellen Henderson
$72,000 for storm water maintenance at Oak Street
$500,000 for Food Services support
TBD placeholder for strategic planning
Member Silverman expressed interest in seeing a list of other projects that were considered but not included in the final list presented to the board. This was echoed by member Reitinger, as well.
