School Board Meeting 12/14/2021
The board met on Tuesday 12/14. The crowded agenda included recognizing new board members; approving new course offerings; presenting the 5-year capital improvement plan; approving the 2022-23 calendar; and the schools re-emphasizing a commitment to 14-day quarantines for unvaccinated close contacts.
My quick thoughts: congrats to the new board members. I wish them the best of luck, and I want to also thank the outgoing board members for their service. The new course offerings look quite interesting. There were more allusions to the sustainability academy. Hopefully more details will be given early in the budget process.
I think next year’s calendar will be less challenging than this year’s due to where some holidays fall in the calendar. Given that the legal justification for including religious holidays is based on changes in absentee rates, it seems that detailed attendance data should have been presented prior to approval. During future discussions about calendars, I do hope that more attention is paid to the ability (or lack thereof) of various families (including those who are economically disadvantaged and those with children with special needs) to participate in the care programs offered on holidays (secular and religious). As the board seems to be seeking to set a fixed calendar position for spring break, these considerations should be kept in mind for the (inevitable) future discussions around other spring holidays (e.g. Good Friday and Passover).
I think FCCPS is in a great position regarding Covid due to a high vaccination rate. Given that other districts in the region (as well as across the country) have switched to a 7-day quarantine with a negative test, I do not really understand why FCCPS is still adamant in enforcing a 14-day quarantine, especially now that CDC has endorsed test-to-stay protocols. Recall that vaccines are not available for children younger than 5, which is most of the student population at Jessie Thackrey Preschool, so the vaccine exception to quarantine does not apply to them. More thoughts below in the “Future agenda items” section. Timestamps are linked in the headings.
There were three public comments making the following points:
The board should consider week-long if there is increased absenteeism
The board should allocate potential increased funds for next year towards new non-administrative staff who interact directly with students
The board should consider changing the current 14-day quarantine policy for close contacts to a 7-day quarantine with a negative test. This aligns with what other neighboring districts (including Fairfax County Public Schools) are doing.
New Course Offerings at the Secondary Level:
Four new courses were approved for the secondary level:
Data Science
American Sign Language 4
IB Information technology in a global society
Energy DEMAND: Sustainability and Efficiency
You can find the course descriptions here. [As a statistician, I’m glad to see a data science course. The description is a little light on detail (it’s a new course pilot), but making this course coalesce with the lessons in a statistics course (for those who take both at the same time) could be useful.]
Q and A:
How does the IB information tech course integrate cyber security
Are we ensuring that the course catalog is getting overcrowded
Will ASL be recognized as fulfilling the IB language requirement? Currently no.
No current plans for JTP and Mt. Daniel.
For Oak Street Elementary, “the Pre-2012 section of the building will need new windows, renovated restrooms, expanded/renovated Kitchen, expanded/renovated Main Office and an expanded/renovated entrance lobby to meet ADA compliance.” ($3.5 million planned for FY 2026-2027
Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School
Floor replacement for the lower and upper levels ($125,000 per floor) (summers of 2022 and 2023)
HVAC replacement: $1.6 million, federally funding expected to cover $1 million of the cost (FY 2023)
Roof replacement: $1 million (FY 2030)
Meridian High School: stadium upgrades $600,000 (FY 2024)
Q and A:
Approval of FY 2022 Legislative Agenda:
You can find the legislative agenda. There was much discussion on how much to emphasize the Local Composite Index.
Approval of the FY 2022-23 Calendar
Here’s the new calendar. There was a request to change June 14 to a full day because June 16 (the last day of school) is also a half day. It is still TBD. No attendance data was presented and there was no further discussion.
Second reading and adoption of policies:
Security protocols and training, and what is that path to removing masks
Dr. Noonan discusses requests to change quarantine timing: Dr. Noonan said for those unvaccinated “I would suggest 1) that they get vaccinated and 2) be prepared to quarantine.”
Putting teeth in the DEI policy and a discussion on communicating the consequences of racist actions.
My thoughts on quarantine: The surrounding districts have moved to a 7-day quarantine with a negative test taken on day 5 of quarantine or later. This includes Fairfax County Public Schools, which falls under the Fairfax County Health Department. Additionally, the CDC has recently listed test-to-stay protocols as an appropriate mitigation strategy in schools. This recommendation is based on evidence from the UK, Los Angeles, and Illinois. The protocol in Los Angeles ended the “quarantine” (i.e. the period during which a student needs to get a test) after Day 7. Test-to-stay is dependent on enough testing supplies. Virginia is potentially starting a test-to-stay pilot in January. Fairfax County Public Schools has requested to participate; I hope FCCPS is also showing interest. In the meantime, FCCPS has the leeway to set its own quarantine policy. While the recommendation from Dr. Noonan to avoid quarantine is to get vaccinated, most of the students at JTP don’t have that option, and the evidence is clear that a 7-day quarantine sufficiently reduces the risk.
90 percent of elementary students are fully vaccinated
Musical performances are back
4 Provinces contributed to the Education Foundation Family Assistance Fund
Thanks to outgoing board members
My thoughts: 90 percent vaccination in the elementary schools is great. Those numbers have been reported to the schools from the Fairfax County Health Department. There is some discrepancy between that number and the numbers reported by VDH. I’m not sure what’s causing the discrepancy. It might be a combination of the Oak Street Elementary vaccine clinic not being included in the VDH numbers and the definition for “Falls Church” VDH is using. As a matter of curiosity, I’d be interested in how many people have submitted the vaccine cards for students at each school.
