School Board Regular Meeting

Carolyn Pitchesgood evening ladies and gentlemen tonight is june 1st of 2026 and this is the regular meeting of the city of fairfax school board please stand for the pledge of allegiance

Speaker 7I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible,

Carolyn Pitcheswith liberty and justice for all. Okay, we have no changes to our agenda and there are no announcements. So our first item is the adoption of the agenda. May I have a motion, please? madam chair miss kelsey

Sarah Kelseyi move that the city of fairfax school board adopt the agenda as written and distributed may

Carolyn Pitcheshave a second i second okay miss kelsey moved miss bartle may second it all those in favor signify by saying aye aye none opposed the motion passes unanimously okay so next we're going to move on to our student recognition this evening and so i'm going to turn it over to miss dorsey um who is going to manage the recognition but i will ask student reps to come down to stand in front of the dias for pictures

Dorseystaffwhile they are coming down we will get ourselves ready and thank you everyone for coming we are so excited that you're here it's one of our favorite nights tonight we get to celebrate our outstanding students who make the city of Fairfax school so special a quick note before we begin we're gonna call the students by category we are gonna take an official picture with the student reps and then we are going to give the families a chance to take pictures themselves so please wait until our fantastic official photographer takes a picture. All of these pictures that our photographer takes are going to be on Facebook, City of Fairfax schools probably, hopefully by the end of the week. So let's go ahead and get started.

We are going to start with our youngest student today, our Daniels Run singer. Antonina, please come. There we go. Antonina is Daniel's run student. Antonina was part of the organization of American Kodai Educators, which is, we're going to call it OAK. I know. I know they're coming too. invite her music teacher, Ms. McCartan, to come down to take a picture. The Oak National Choir represents the highest level for elementary choral music for students whose teachers are members of the organization. Students auditioned in October for submitting audio recordings, which were reviewed by a national chorus committee. Those selected were placed in one of four youth choirs organized by grade level. Antonina was part of our elementary school. She got to travel

with her family to Chicago to perform at the Chicago Symphony Hall. It's an incredible musical achievement, and we would like to thank Ms. McCartan for sponsoring this because someone from Daniel's Run has attended for the last 10 years. Thank you. Thank you, it's Nina. Okay, and Ms. McCartan, can you stay one more time? Because we have two middle school students, Grace and Rania, can you please come? Grace and Yanya were part of our middle school OAK members. Again one of the highest achievements for a middle school course student. We want to thank them both for representing Katherine Johnson Middle School and our City Fairfax schools at Oak Thank you. will Amelia please come from Katherine Johnson.

Amelia was selected to the 2026 All-Virginia Middle School Chorus, which is the highest honor for a middle school student in the state of Virginia. It's a tremendous achievement and we are so proud of her. Thank you, congratulations Amelia. Is Priscilla Zhang here? Nope. Okay. We are going to move on to high school. Mr. Smith, you are excused. Thank you, Mr. Smith, the principal of Catherine Johnson Middle School. Busy time for Fairfax High School students. Our seniors graduate on Wednesday. We're so excited. And tonight is also the Fairfax High School Sports Banquet, so we know a lot of our seniors and our students are there, and we know that some of them have to get there. We're going to try to get you guys there as soon as possible.

Priscilla Zhang is not here, but we just wanted to recognize her. She was the winner of our Janice Miller Scholarship. Priscilla was on her way to VCU, and we wish her well, and we'll give this to her. We are now going to move on to Isabel. Isabel is a junior at Fairfax. Isabel was this Virginia State Rotary Speech Contest first place winner. She was also very busy with her speech team. You can go ahead and go ahead. Why don't you start with the picture. She was the VHSL State Runner-Up for Humus Interpretation and the Fairfax High Speech club earned second place is that correct in your district so congratulations to Isabel All right, we are going to actually do a new kind of recognition tonight that we haven't

done before that we have been talking about for a long time, so we're really excited. We're going to recognize several students who have made meaningful contributions to our City of Fairfax community. We want to thank them for their dedication, leadership, and work to make the City of Fairfax a great place to live and to go to school. The first we're going to recognize is Laura and Kevin Murray. Kevin is our alternate student rep, but Laura. If you have enjoyed the Fairfax High School Homecoming Parade, it is these two that are behind it. For the last few years, led by Laura and Kevin at her side, they have secured permits, organizing cars, coordinating hundreds of student participants and city leaders,

navigating weather changes, location changes, all the many details that go into running such a large community event. It is 100% student run and it has been done by these two. So it is absolutely amazing. it well they do it with grace and smile and great leadership and we are so thankful to them.

Speaker 7Congratulations.

DorseystaffWe want to wish Laura well. Laura is a senior and she's going to be going attending NOVA next year because she is going to be studying health sciences so she can become a diagnostic medical stenographer. All right. Thank you to Laura. Is Isabella or Estrella here? No. Okay. What about any of our superintendent advisory team? I know Anna Hardin is here. Anna, can you come? Brenda, Caroline, I see. Caroline, can you come down? Are any other SAT members here? Kevin also. So our superintendent group of parents, staff members, community members, and students who come quarterly to meet with our superintendent. They give advice on a number of different topics. We are so grateful to these high school students for their thoughtful feedback, student perspective,

and willingness to be part of important conversations. These kids are so energetic and mature and and they are representing their students well. All of them are coming back next year, is that correct? All the seniors are not here. So we hope that you will continue your service, and we are so grateful. I know Dr. Wright is thankful for you. And thank you so much to all of you for being on the superintendent advisory team. Thank you. Can Libby and Devin and Olive and Naomi come join us, please? If you have attended any of our Fairfax High School theater performances, faces will be familiar to you. These talented students are part of the Fairfax FX Players marketing team. Last year they won a Cappy, which is the highest recognition that you

can win within the DMV area for their marketing. In February I got to meet with these great kids and they asked if they could do an arts festival in April just a couple of weeks before their performance. I said absolutely not. That is a terrible idea. You guys are way too busy and thankfully they did not listen to me. These awesome kids were pulled off a beautiful Saturday afternoon. They had it filled with creative arts. There were booths for face painting and prop making, balloon artists, pizza cupcakes. Kids from all over came and most importantly they organized local schools to come and give a performance for their spring musicals. So they not only shared the stage with their fellow students from around the area but they helped

shine a spotlight on the incredible student talent across our area. We are so thankful. Libby, good luck to you at the University of Utah. Olive, you at Shenandoah. Naomi, you at Point Park. And Devin, we get to see you another year. Devin's a rising senior and I think was just named the president of the International Thespian for Fairfax. Also going to be in marketing next year. Is that right? That's right. Big shoes to fill, but we're so excited and we're so proud of all of them. All right, DECA, are you guys ready? All right, we are so excited to shine a spotlight on DECA. For those of you that don't know what DECA is, DECA is, first of all, DECA is one of Fairfax High School's most decorated and successful student organizations.

organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. The Fairfax-Hydeca chapter is not only one of the most recognized chapters in the state of Virginia, but across the country. Students, we're going to call you up by team, and then we're going to have you take a photo as your team, and then we're going to have you come up with your category, and we'll take pictures. And if we can, we're going to see if we can squeeze all of you guys in for a picture at the end. So let's start with Lyra and Ashley. Lyra and Ashley for integrated marketing. Lyra and Ashley were state finalists and they did attend the ICDC, which is the international conference in Atlanta this year. Is that right? Is Mrs. Walters here? Mrs. Walters, come join us.

sorry Mrs. Walters is the fantastic and Miss West please come join us these are fantastic DECA advisors and marketing teachers at Fairfax High School the hours that they put in to be with these students is just incredible traveling with them sponsoring all of their events and you will see these students are pretty impressive. Great thank you Lyra and parent picture. And Caitlin, Caitlin can you come up? Caitlin also is an integrated marketing and was a state finalist. And Caitlin did also attend ICDC, is that correct? Yes, yes, yes. Okay, good. Sorry, so many decades.

Sarah KelseyCaitlin Bailey?

DorseystaffIs Anya here? Thank you. Now we would like to recognize Dia, Sarisha, and Sleshma. These three were also state finalists for sports marketing and entertainment marketing. Congratulations. And Sleshma did attend the ICDC conference in Atlanta. Thank you. Is Haley, Sinai, and Catherine here? Is Hafsa here? Is Hafsa here? Did I? Oh, Hafsa. Hafsa, okay, sorry we didn't see you. Hafsa is here. Hafsa, thank you very much. Hafsa was a state finalist for financial consulting. Thank you. Ishawn, Donia, and Charles, are you here? They are here for their work with community giving. and Sean as far as I know you also received the DECA Foundation Scholarship they are our first place state finalists and Sean it looks like

what is North Carolina's loss is now Virginia's gain is that true? Sean was committed to the University of North Carolina and now has decided to stay home and go to the University of Virginia so congratulations to you on that Is Kaylee or Nari here? Miles and Sean, I know you two are here. Congratulations Miles and Sean for International Business Plan. Congratulations. I think Miles and Sean, you placed second at States and attended the ICDC as well, international competition. Thank you. I don't know if Jason's here, but Pari is here. Pari Patel. Yes, thank you. Pari also was a state finalist for International Business Plan. Thank you. Congratulations, Pari. Are Elle and Eleanor here? Didn't see that.

How about Samantha and Joshua? I know Joshua's here. Samantha? For anyone following our senior stories where we profile a different senior every day in the month of May, I'm pretty sure today's day is Samantha. Is that true? God, I recognize Samantha. Congratulations. And Jamie and Ellen, are you here? But I do know that Adi and Neeraj are here. Thank you. For their international career development and conference finalists, congratulations. Congratulations. All right, all you DECA kids, you, the smart ones, you all, come on. We're going to take one big group picture. We can do it. I know we can. Come on. All the DECA kids, come on. We're going to do one big group picture. You're going to have to squeeze in.

Some of you are going to have to maybe get down on your knees, but I know we can do it. I'm sure Mrs. Walters would love a group big old picture. If you're tall, start in the back.

Speaker 7Thank you so much. Okay. Is that the one you're on? No, go ahead. Oh, for goodness sake. Okay, I'm going to say, okay. Caroline Cronin. I'm sorry. There we go. I'm so sorry. Sorry about that. There we go. Thank you.

DorseystaffWe got it. You can do it. That's right. And this is for Mrs. Walter. She's going to love it.

Speaker 7Mrs. West.

DorseystaffLook at these deckas. There we go. Got to get Audie with the jacket and the shorts. It's awesome. All right. One big round of applause for all of our fantastic DECA students. Congratulations. Is there anyone that came late that we didn't get, or is there anyone that we might have missed? I think that's it. And we'd like since we have our fantastic student rep we'd like to say hello and congratulations and goodbye to Abby Lucas. Abby was our student rep for this year. for those of you that don't know the student rep comes to our every meeting in the first Monday Abby would do a report for all of our four schools she became an advocate for the city of Fairfax students she was also in charge of pyramid night which is where we welcome all of our elementary

students to a football game and we have games and Abby organized hundreds of volunteers and was ready for four to five hundred elementary kids coming. She volunteers at Daniel's Run which is where she went from. Abby is going to the to James Madison University to be pre-law. We are so proud of her and we are so so grateful for everything that she's done and from all of us from the city of Fairfax we wish you all the best. Can we please have one big round of applause for everyone and thank you so much.

Speaker 7Thank you. Okay.

Carolyn Pitchesokay the next item on our agenda is the introduction of our new student representative and we are keeping it in the family I'd like to welcome well we've been here all year but welcome you to miss Lucas's seat Kevin Murray we are so thrilled to have you do you want to say a few words

StudentI'm really excited for the opportunity of the upcoming year for the next city school board role and I really look forward to working with all of you we're

Speaker 7very excited to have you

Carolyn PitchesDoes anybody on the board want to say anything? Any words for words of luck, wisdom for Kevin?

StudentAbby, you want to? You got it, Kevin.

Carolyn PitchesOkay. All right. Next we will start our presentations to the board, and we have nobody signed up for citizen participation this evening. So we will go to our final report from Ms. Lucas. of the 2025-2026 school year.

StudentGood evening and happy June. As our school year comes to a close, here's a recap of what our Fairfax City students have been busy with this month. Fairfax High School has been busy and successful in the month of May as students completed AP exams and prepared for final assessments. Spring athletic teams competed in district and regional competitions representing Fairfax High with pride and sportsmanship. Students participated in a variety including the City of Stars prom, award ceremonies, fine arts performances, and senior celebrations. The school community also recognized graduating seniors through scholarship announcements, decision day celebrations, and preparations for graduation. As the year comes to a close, students and staff are looking forward to final events

and celebrating the accomplishments of the class of 2026. Katherine Johnson Middle School has spent much of May focused on SOL testing while continuing to participate in a variety of academic and extracurricular activities. Students showcased their talents through spring music concerts and performances, while clubs and organizations wrapped up projects and competitions for the school year. Eighth grade students participated in activities preparing them for transition into high school, including end-of-the-year celebrations and promotions preparations. Staff and families worked together to support students throughout the testing season, and the month concluded with students looking ahead to summer and their next academic journey.

The Providence Panthers had a busy month of May with SOL testing in grades 3 through 6 across three subject areas. The Panthers balanced the season with fun activities including a successful PTA fundraiser where the community raised $5,568 used to be for field trips and scholastic news, magazines, supplies for students, and other important uses. the Panthers played their second annual staff volleyball game against the Daniels and Dragons. There is a great showing from both communities. The Providence Panthers have several important end-of-the-year events, including Field Day on June 8th with a dunk tank, an orchestra concert, and a band and strings concert. Daniels and Dragons had an exciting and victorious volleyball game against the Panthers.

The Green Team hosted a community cleanup day in early May in partnership with Area 2 Farm S.L. testing and the end-of-the-year concerts occurred in May. congratulations to all the students who performed in band strings and chorus performances the PTA celebrated the amazing dragon staff with a week full of special meals giveaways and notes of appreciation the teachers felt loved and supported the end of month with the dragons and donuts family event where the families engaged with treats and community with each other as this is my last meeting as a student representative I want to express my gratitude and appreciation for each of the wonderful members of the board both of our for all their support this year and Kevin and Ms. King. I'm forever grateful for this

opportunity.

Carolyn PitchesThank you. Thank you, Abby. Next is our presentation from the student representatives of the superintendent's advisory team.

Dustin Wrightstaffgood evening to the city of fairfax school board my name is dustin wright you're very proud City Superintendent, and I'm even more proud to be here with two members of the Superintendent's Advisory Team, Ms. Vrenda Gunapati and Mr. Kevin Murray. One of the things we're going to talk about tonight is some of the important work that this group has done. I'll say you're not supposed to have favorites as a superintendent. All of the concerts you go to are the best. All of the sporting events you go to are the best. But one of the things I've enjoyed the most in these first six months in the role is working with the Superintendent's Advisory Team. Not only do we get to interact with wonderful students like you see by my side, but community members and staff members.

So it's truly been a joy. I think you're going to be impressed with some of the suggestions and work that they have to present for you tonight. So they are going to be presenting. I'm going to be the anchor weighing them down on this presentation. But you're going to hear some really great information and some great suggestions for the work of not only this school board, but our wonderful school division. As we look at the next slide, when I started having the good fortune of working with this group, we presented them with a challenge or a charge. We really wanted to put some structure to their work and have it be not only meaningful, but hopefully have it make an impact beyond their time on this team.

We started with a challenge of helping the school board and the division think about ideas for a strong and inclusive community engagement process. there, a lot of the things that we know that work. But we were trying to think about our unique situation here in the city of Fairfax and what might be something that's specific, achievable, and impactful. And I think you're going to hear some great suggestions for that. So when we look at the next slide, this group kind of went through a process of brainstorming. There was probably close to 20 to 30 different ideas at first about community engagement. And they started narrowing them down. They would get in small groups, talk about them, think about the pros, think about the cons of each one.

And really where they ended up with was thinking about, all right, if we want to have more engagement with our community, if we want to really hear the voice of our community and all the different stakeholders within that community, the biggest thing that we can do is we can go to them, right? We can go out into the community as a school division, out into the community as a school board. So you're going to hear those suggestions of what that would look like. And you're going to hear that around different school events that might be a good fit for this type of work, different city events that might be a good fit for this type of work, and some of the specific topics that might be good for these conversations.

And really what this group is proposing to you as a board is thinking about taking an existing event and trying to add a school board or a school division event onto it. So if there is a 7 o'clock band concert at Katherine Johnson Middle School, at 6 o'clock in the Katherine Johnson Library, there could be a school board office hour, or there could be a school board town hall or open forum, or there could be a city of Fairfax schools presentation on a specific topic that leads right into one of these events. So that's what you're going to hear about today. And I think you're going to have some really good suggestions and some really good ideas. And this group looks forward to taking some of your questions at the end.

So let's take a look at some city events that might be possibilities. So again, these are the brainstorms of our superintendent's advisory team. And if you've spent any time in the city of Fairfax area or the Fairfax High School Pyramid area, I bet a lot of these things would be familiar. So they suggested things like the Fourth of July event, the Movies Under the Moon events which happened at Van Dyke Park, all the different concerts that happened at Sherwood Center, the world's most populated use of our gym at the Fairfax High School Holiday Craft Fair. There's a sporting event going on every single weekend in every single gym and in every single field that we have at our schools. One of the few times the auditorium at Fairfax High School

sells out is the City of Fairfax Bands Holiday Band Concert. And you can see some other events, fall festivals, concerts, turkey truck, rock the blocks, and holiday tree lighting. All great things that this team is proposing that we could partner with to have an engaging community event. And now Ms. Gunupati is going to talk to us about some of the school events that might be a good fit for this.

StudentHello. I'm Brenda Gunupati. So we brainstormed a lot of school events. we had a few in particular that we thought would be really useful to engage our community one of them being pyramid events pyramid events bring together individuals from elementary schools middle schools and high schools in the city as well as their parents because most middle schoolers or elementary schoolers during pyramid nights come with their parents and that's really helpful to build the community by bringing in many different age groups as well as their parents. Another thing we discussed was the Fairfax High School Family Festival. We believe this was a very good community building event because Fairfax High School has many very good clubs and through those clubs

it increases engagement and they have fun little games at this event and many little kids love treats and their parents come along with them. This is great for community engagement because parents get to meet other parents, kids get to meet other kids another event we discussed was the fun fair which is a carnival this is great again kids come parents come it builds community engagement because it's fun people love to have fun and parents come along as well also back to school nights back to school nights are great because it's not just parents and kids it's teachers as well we get to increase that teacher and parents relationship and that's very very important to just school and again community building by building that trust within everyone in the city

schools along with that note of school luncheons I remember one of the biggest luncheons that I was always excited about was Thanksgiving luncheon in elementary school it was very fun I got to meet other kids parents and then my mom sometimes came and then met other parents and that definitely built community and it was a lot of fun and then community nights and on in elementary school I love karaoke night bingo nights them nights it was so fun and again kids come with their parents and it's fun because parents get to meet other parents and it really builds a community there

Studentsome of the other things that we had were the cultural celebrations so they have those at every single pyramid school and it'd be great to get the entire community right involved with every single school right get you out there get involved and then the dining for dollars and then the volleyball game between Providence and Daniel's Run like that's a big event that gets a lot of kids riled up right gets the parents involved you get a lot of volunteers there right from the high school and then you also have Eagle Fest at KJ and then you also have our nights so like explaining the different things like the third grade math curriculum how that's changed in the past I believe two years and then our

middle school right and then performances and concerts at the theater chorus band concerts and the parade like the city the Fairfax band performing the parade right it gets it gets many people attending right so that's the one thing that we kind of want to see focused on and getting more engaged in our community over to Dr. Wright.

Dustin WrightstaffSo what you'll see now, well first of all great job Brenda and great job Kevin, what you'll see now is some of the topics that this team brainstormed and you can see a lot of different things. We just put all of them on here and we know that because of the really powerful partnership that we have with Fairfax County Public Schools, some of these are topics that are very much specific to the city of Fairfax schools and our school boards. Some of these are a little bit of both organizations and some of them things that are more appropriate to discuss with Fairfax County Public Schools. But you can see those topics that are on the screen. And then with the stars, these are the ones that our team thought would be some of the

most important topics to discuss in the upcoming school year. But real quick, Brenda, Kevin, any of these that from a student perspective, you know, and remember the team had teachers that had community members, but from a student perspective, any of these that jump out to either of you that you'd like to share with the board?

StudentTo me, after school activities is a big one because as a student at Fairfax High School, I try to be very involved with the school and after school activities are very important to me.

StudentAnother thing that I really liked was the student staff mental health, right? We wanted to really focus on staff recognition. We had a lot of ideas for we had Teacher of the Week a couple years ago. We're going to try and bring that back next year with leadership. So that's what we're going to try and focus on.

Dustin WrightstaffAnd then I think, are you on the next slide for us, Kevin? Yes.

StudentAnd then for our setup for success on the next slide, we have our in-person hybrid. So like the meetings here, right, they're online, they're accessible to others. But maybe we could get like a little bit more when you're attending events, right, doing like getting on, you know, a lot of people use social media, media, right, posting more videos in the community, and then go out in communities. So instead of like searching people, getting them to come to our meetings, we go out to them, we ask them questions, and we basically just go out and ask the entire community, right, instead of getting people to come here. And then childcare. So childcare is a big want at many events, right. A lot of people really want to come to the events, but they can't really afford a babysitter

they can't afford to leave their kids. So another thing that Fairfax does, I think last year during the fall musical was Fairfax offered the, I can't think of it, we hosted like a childcare opportunity at high school and we played games with the kids. We took them into the chorus room and we, I taught to play Yankee Doodle on the piano while their parents got to watch the musical with older kids and it created a very vibrant community with the children.

StudentNext we have food. Food is a really big role. We discussed how having food in an event would be very convenient for families to come to, so that includes children, because it's hard and tiring to make food at home after a long So coming to an event with food, it's very intriguing. Interpreters. With how diverse Fairfax City is, we believe it's very important for interpreters to be there because since Fairfax City is very diverse, English is probably not everybody's first language. So having interpreters there is very important so that more people feel comfortable to come out if their first language is not English. Working with family liaison. It's very important because it builds that bridge between, like, maybe not being able to get to these events.

It fills that need. And incentives and raffles. It's just fun. People love to have fun. Fairfax City is all about fun. So having that would definitely bring out children as well as adults, and it builds community.

Dustin Wrightstaffand so in closing i'd like to uh first of all just thank kevin and brinda and all the members of the superintendent's advisory team for these great ideas and these great suggestions and for presenting to us this evening you've heard some ideas you've heard some thoughts about what we can do as a school division in the upcoming year and we'd be happy to answer any questions questions and we're gonna have Kevin play Yankee Doodle on the piano so you better ask lots of questions so but thank you

Carolyn Pitchesthank you miss Barlmay do you have any questions um

Lauren Bartelmefirst I wanted to thank you both for volunteering for the advisory committee and you guys have done some great things I liked a lot of the ideas you had for which events to highlight but I was curious I'm familiar with all of the events except for dining for dollars and I was wondering what that one is

Speaker 7dining

Studentfor dollars is basically like a fundraiser so say Fairfax High School has a lot of fundraisers for certain clubs like I'm in speech and debate and we had a fundraiser at Silver Diner and it brought money to us and it brought promotion to Silver Diner so events like that would really help build community involvement thank

Carolyn Pitchesyou thank you miss Kelsey

Sarah KelseyI also I also want to thank you guys for these ideas, because I know that is definitely something that we would like to have, is more people in the seats out here, too. I guess my question to you is, is your thought on this more we hold a meeting of some sort, or we just have a table at it where we can give information, or is it we just are there? What is the idea of how?

StudentWe were just hoping that the school board would be just more involved in the community, be at the events, right, show that you're there, right, be there for the community, and then to also kind of give information when needed. Okay.

Carolyn PitchesThank you. Ms. Hickman. Oh, hold on. Oh. Thank

Dustin Wrightstaffyou. But I would jump in real quick to just say it could be a little bit of both, right, or it could be, you know, the first version that you're talking about, Ms. Kelsey, where at that Dining for Dollars event, that could be an opportunity for school board office hours because you know you're going to have a confluence of your community members and stakeholders. Or again, at a book fair, the book fair could be going on in the library and then the school board or the city could, city Fairfax schools could host an event in the front foyer or in the gym or in the theater. So a couple different options could be at play.

Carolyn PitchesThank you.

Amit HickmanI love all this. I think it's really helpful. And it's actually something that I think as a board we had discussed at some point about kind of how can we do an office hours or an open coffee or something. So this lines really well and provides us with a lot of great feedback. Similar to Ms. Barrow-May, I just had a question on one of the topics, transitions. Do you know what, do you remember what that was alluding to?

Dustin WrightstaffI think I can jump in. I think it was primarily around that sixth grade to seventh grade transition and then that eighth grade to ninth grade transition. And so there's events that are explicit to that time frame for our students and our families, but it's just how to set people up for success. And we know that some of those transitions, if we're talking about that even before that, the spring of the eighth grade year for those rising ninth graders, to think about even before then so it's just that general topic of transitions is what the group was bringing up

Amit Hickmanokay great kevin i know you're a junior are you graduating are you i'm a junior as well great so i'm hoping we get to have both of you back on supervisor superintendent advisory committee next year

Carolyn Pitchesfirst of all thank you for all your great work and the time that you invested in this group this year we were the school board really appreciates that my question is around one of your topic ideas as well I it says FCPS then the city of Fairfax relationship is there something specific about the relationship or just how we interact with one another or is it operational that you're interested in as a topic

Dustin WrightstaffI'm fairly certain that this is one of the topics that were brought up by some of the adult members of our group so that's why I'll jump in

Carolyn PitchesI was Really? I was like, oh, wow.

Dustin WrightstaffSo again, multiple stakeholders in this group, but our students are representing us tonight. And I think it's just generally, it's something that this board has discussed before. The bigger conversations around awareness of the partnership between the city of Fairfax Schools and Fairfax County Public Schools, how can we continue to increase that awareness of what it is and the strengths that it brings to our students every single day.

Carolyn PitchesThank you. Does anybody else

Speaker 7have any questions?

Carolyn PitchesOkay. Well, thank you so much for the presentation. It was very, very informative. And obviously, you all put a lot of work and thought into this. So thank you. Next we have our presentation, Summer in the City, with Dr. Wright.

Dustin WrightstaffThank you, Chair Pitches, and good evening to the school board. It's my pleasure to discuss some of the many events that are happening in our schools this summer. You're going to hear events about students. You're going to hear events about our community. And I think a lot of what you're going to hear is things that are wonderful resources for our community members, but also things that are a realization of that City of Fairfax Schools promise that we have of providing wonderful resources for every single student. And especially when you think about our schools as being a resource of the community, I think you're going to see some good examples of that today. We're going to start by some of the community use that's happening in our building, where

you'll see that our parks and rec are some of the biggest tenants that we have in our schools, and we think that's great. A great resource of the city government to be utilizing a great resource here in the city with our school buildings. And so at both elementary schools and KJ, there's those Parks and Rec summer camps. You'll see a lot of theater performances. There's a theater camp and then an explicit presentation of Frozen Jr., the musical. So looking forward to that. And then there'll be a basketball camp at Daniel's Run. As we look at Daniel's Run and some of the things that are taking place at that school this summer, they'll have several kindergarten playdates and a kindergarten jumpstart program

that is funded by the City of Fairfax School Board. The summer PAC program is an extension of that year-long PAC program that's offered in our schools for students on the autism spectrum, and it's for our youngest students. And then you'll see a few other options through the PTA, and then we're really excited to be able to host a Get to Green Academy course for the teachers at Daniels run. At Providence, you'll see one of the things we talk about in our school division a lot is consistency. So you'll see a very similar set of programs for our kindergarten students and how they're marketing it this year. So there's the kindergarten play date. The Jump Start program helps our students get into the building, get comfortable, learn some of the routines,

and it also helps our staff start to get to know some of those students before the school year, which we know is so important with our youngest learners. And then that kindergarten safari is really kind of an open house, again, a time to get to know the building when it's not as busy as the official open house and back to school. You'll see that date of August 10th is before those the school-wide open houses, which is a little bit of just a better setting for our our students who are brand new to the building. As we look at Catherine Johnson Middle School, we have another program supported by one of our PTAs. We have the RISE student orientation, which is at each of our schools, you'll have some type of orientation program.

So this RISE program is for students, especially our seventh graders or eighth graders that are new to the area. It's a one-day program, so you go to one of the three days, and you kind of get a flavor of Catherine Johnson. I'm the parent of an eighth grader who attended this program, and I'm also the parent of two rising seventh graders who will be attending one of these days. It's a great way to go in there, see the building, start to get to know which hallway is Bevan, which hallway, you know, where does this one go, what is the aux gym, all of those different things. It starts to help our students understand what that is. So when they hit that first day of school, they're feeling comfortable.

They're feeling like they know that Katherine Johnson is a great place for them.

Speaker 7You'll see several other events

Dustin Wrightstaffat our Katherine Johnson this summer, including some math support programs which we think are a great opportunity for our students. And then finally at Fairfax High School, you'll see two really important academic programs. There's a credit continuation program which happens at all Fairfax County high schools. And then the World Languages Camp which is something that's again supported by the City of Fairfax schools. There are a wide variety for community members that are watching, a wide variety of sports camps offered by the boosters. A lot of them are week-long camps. They are offered for all ability levels. I know there's a golf camp, and you could have never swung a golf club before, and you can go and have a successful week there. So definitely a great resource in the summer for

students and families. And then finally, the Lions on the Rise program is very similar to the Rise program that you were just hearing about at Katherine Johnson. So it's an orientation program for the students that are new to the building, get acclimated, and they do some really great work because in the last year, as you heard at the Fairfax High School, State of the Schools, with the ninth grade academy programs and the ninth grade transition programs, a lot of that work gets started at this Lions on the Rise. So we're excited about that. And we want to tell you about a little bit about some of the work that's happening in our buildings this summer. And so fairly large projects. The first is that at the stadium at Fairfax High School,

the turf will be replaced. We're very fortunate to have a turf field. We're also very fortunate to have one of the first turf fields in the area. So that means we're going to need to be one of the places that are replacing it much sooner than everyone else. So that work will begin this summer. It will begin on July 6th, which is right after the 4th of July celebration. and then we think it will be finished hopefully in early August but we have plans in place in case it takes a little bit longer than that. One of the things that we've talked about earlier in the spring as well is the new electrical program that will be offered at Fairfax High School and that will be offered through the academy but will also have sheltered classes that are

specifically designated for Fairfax High School students and that electrical classroom rebuild So it's an existing classroom where they need to do some work to add, you know, 220 voltage plugs for welding Units and things like that that will be put in over the summer And we're looking forward to that and then finally at Providence Elementary School The security vestibule will be installed this summer and it's on track and and we're looking forward to this great addition To the school to focus on the safety and security in that building It's scheduled to be done in late August but there are contingencies in place and the team has a good plan in place in case it goes beyond that first day of school and then finally this is mostly just for the calendar

planning planners that are out there that to get some of these dates on your calendars you can see on the last slide at each of our four schools the open house events that they have and then the back to school night events that they have and so for families and parents at each of these schools you'll be receiving lots of this information directly from your schools and that's a great place to go if you have any questions about it but we wanted to be able to provide this for the community as well during this presentation so with

Speaker 7that

Dustin Wrightstaffchair pitches that concludes the summer updates presentation i'm happy to answer any of your questions

Carolyn Pitchesgreat thank you dr wright ms bartlemay do you have any questions for dr wright no thank you ms kelsey

Sarah Kelseyyeah i have a couple um Can you explain the math classes at KJ? Because I know that's something that's new this year. I haven't seen much about it yet, so I was just curious what these are.

Dustin WrightstaffYeah, that's wonderful. So the math summer support classes, where they are pre-algebra, algebra, and geometry focused, and students will have a packet for the course once they are registered and students will have access to our teachers on the dates provided from 2 o'clock to 4 o'clock that day. And I believe, Ms. Dorsey, is it an online or is it in person? Do you know off the top of your head? Yeah, so I think it's a hybrid format. But really it's open to all KJ students that are interested in this. I think of it more of staying fresh with math over the summer loss, but I know that the school is planning to put out more specifics about that in the near future. So it's a program for all students, whereas the Algebra Power-Up is a summer math support

specifically for rising eighth grade students that will be enrolled in algebra in eighth grade that are identified of needing just kind of a little extra support to make sure they're ready to be successful once they enter the class.

Sarah KelseyAnd then my other question is, because I know that Providence is used quite a bit by the city's parks and rec camps, how will building the vestibule affect those camps? Because they'll be going around the same time.

Dustin WrightstaffYeah, that's a really good question. So the, you know, some of it we're going to have to just communicate and coordinate. Some of it, it's possible that on the days of the camps, they'll have to utilize a different entrance. And I think one of the things to think about is a lot of the actual construction of the vestibule is, it's basically adding a interior wall is probably the simplest way to explain it so it's not like we're ripping the the front of the building off to put that in so i think some of that work can happen and they can still get through that main entrance but probably the most likely scenario is they're going to be using an alternate entrance during that time

Carolyn Pitchesi will say i believe that summer rec programs generally use the cafeteria side of the building they use the cafeteria doors and that i forget the number door but the one that's in the hallway right in front of materia

Sarah Kelseyokay that's what I was figuring but thank you the one

Amit Hickmanthing I did not see on here that I know we've discussed in the past is for elementary schoolers who are needing additional support over the summer I know that people have been bused to different places students invest you know where that is taking place this summer

Dustin Wrightstaffso that's something that I would need to get back to the if you know on two things so if it's taking place this summer and because those type of programs you know last summer providence had a title one support because they were because of the federal identification that they received they were provided resources for this additional summer program i'll need to check with the principals to find out if there are programs happening at all through Fairfax County and if they are happening where they are happening for our students. Mr.

StudentPhillips or Ms. Dorsey, do either of you know?

Amit HickmanOkay, thank you. That would be, I'd appreciate that update.

Dustin WrightstaffAbsolutely.

Amit HickmanOkay.

Carolyn PitchesI do not have any questions. It all looks pretty good, like it does every summer. So, but I too would love to know where they're having the summer program. I can't remember where they had at last was it below springs or they did have one okay all right thank you dr. right thank

Dustin Wrightstaffyou

Carolyn Pitchesokay we do not have any public hearings this evening so I'm going to move on to action items and our first action item is the approval of the May 4th 2026 meeting minutes the clerk has provided these minutes is there a motion

Amit HickmanI'm sure

Carolyn Pitchesokay miss Hickman I

Amit Hickmanmove that the city of Fairfax school board minutes of the May 4th, 2026 school board regular meeting is printed and distributed.

Carolyn PitchesOkay. May I have a second? Second. Okay. Ms. Hickman has moved. Ms. Bartle may have seconded. The City of Fairfax school board approved the minutes from the May 4th, 2026 regular meeting minutes as printed and distributed. Are there any changes, modifications or additions? Okay. Being none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. None opposed. The motion passes. We will move on to superintendent matters. So I will send it back to Dr. Wright.

Dustin WrightstaffAll right. Thank you very much, Chair Pitches. And members of the board, I would like to share a few brief updates and reflections as we begin the final month of the school year. As we begin the final month of the school year. It's hard to believe that it is June today, but it's also very exciting. I want to acknowledge the pace and significance of the work that has taken place over the past several weeks from the adoption of the city budget to the continued progress on our capital projects and to the end of the year celebrations across all of our schools. It's an important and busy season for the city of Fairfax schools. I'll start by talking about a few budget and planning topics for next year.

Our last regular meeting was on May 4th. So on May 5th, the city council passed their FY27 budget, and we want to again thank the mayor and the city council, city manager and their staff for the continued partnership and the support of the city of Fairfax schools. This budget supports our students, staff, schools, and long-term facilities needs. Also with the budget, we'll continue to monitor any final state budget actions and the potential impact on schools and localities. and we know that there's been some updates from Richmond about the timing and I think it's going to go right through June 30th in terms of decisions being made and we'll continue to keep the board and the public updated. We also

want to share that we're excited to announce that the City of Fairfax of Schools supplementary instructional fund requests from all of our schools were received and approved and these funds help provide additional opportunities resources and supports for the students and staff and this process is another example of how the city of Fairbanks schools is able to support our school based needs in a responsive and meaningful way like to talk about some great community partnerships and engagement earlier this month the school board and the parks and rec advisory board had a joint dinner and I was really excited to be able to provide some updates about the renovations that will be happening in both of our elementary schools because as you just

heard there's a lot of work a lot of great community activities that happen in those schools and so we're committed to being great partners with them to communicate and stay aligned about the use of all of our schools and the impacts from those renovations also in the month of May I was able to host a meeting to bring together the PTA presidents from all of our schools and I'm grateful for their leadership and advocacy and it's a really great conversation that I think will lead to some some good collaboration next year and then finally we we announced this earlier but the Fairfax Rotary recognized two teachers of the year so we're so excited to recognize Corey Knight and Megan Orris and was able to be a part of the recognition at the Rotary meeting

and speaking of the Rotary I have been asked to join the Rotary Club and I was asked to join the Central Fairfax Chamber of Commerce, and I'm really excited to be a part of both of these groups to stay connected with our civic business and community leaders. Focusing on our schools, we continue to prioritize being present in our schools and community, and so over the past several weeks, we've had a couple wonderful opportunities that I would love to highlight. You heard Abby talk about the Daniels Run Providence volleyball game. I just display I loved seeing our staff members you know spike and and bump and set it was awesome so I I do not possess athletic abilities so it's always great to see it in my fellow colleagues I was at Katherine Johnson this morning and

you'll hear a little bit about it in a minute but a huge thank you to the all the staff members at all of our schools and also a big thanks to Miss Dorsey for organizing the grad walk that took place and so we'll talk about that here in a minute. And then at Fairfax High School, this time of year, there's a lot of things happening in high school. Our athletic boosters hosted a golf tournament a few weeks ago where they raised over $30,000. We had two signing day events, one for our college and career-bound students and one for our college-bound athletes. We were able to highlight some great work that you heard from Dr. A at her state of the school is about the Pride Prep internship program where 40

students went out into schools, to businesses, to law firms, to community organizations, and served a really important role and then gave great presentations on them last Monday. And then two other things to highlight. The last Friday was the senior awards banquet at Fairfax High School where Ms. Hickman and myself were able to present the Janice Miller Scholarship Award, which is on behalf of the school board, and it was given to a wonderful scholar named Priscilla Jang. And then just a big congratulations in advance to the class of 2026 who will graduate on Wednesday morning. We're excited for the ceremony. And during the grad walk this morning, I got to see their new gowns. They look sharp. They look great. And so I think you're going to really love them.

oh and I forgot to mention go Fairfax Lions the the girls soccer team is going to be in the regional semifinal tomorrow night at Chantilly High School because our graduation takes place on the soccer field and it'll all be set up tomorrow night so it's going to be at Chantilly and definitely want to encourage all of you to be there to support those athletes so as we move into the summer months I'm encouraged by the continued alignment across our schools our and I remain excited about what lies ahead. The work is going to be complex, but it's strengthened by strong relationships and a shared commitment to providing outstanding opportunities for every student in the city of Fairfax. So thank you for your continued support.

Carolyn PitchesThank you, Dr. Wright. We'll move on to board matters. Ms. Hickman, I'll start with you.

Amit HickmanJust want to wish everyone a wonderful, happy, healthy, and safe end of the school year, and looking forward to a lovely summer. Congratulations to all of our graduates.

Sarah KelseyThank you. Ms. Kelsey? I wanted to also wish everybody good luck on their finals. I know those are coming up in like a week or two I think now. And also congratulations to all our graduates and then even all of the other students. You guys have worked very hard all school year so have a wonderful summer. Ms.

Lauren BartelmeI'll just echo good luck and congratulations to our graduates and good luck to all of our students on their finals and I wish everyone a happy summer.

Carolyn PitchesAnd yes, I will just echo all of that and congratulations to everyone who received recognition this evening. We're grateful for all the teachers who came and the administrators. So I hope everybody has a happy and healthy summer and a safe summer. And with that, I will, oh, sorry. I just want to, you sure? Nothing? Wish everybody a happy summer.

StudentI'm going to wish everyone a happy summer, and I look forward to seeing you at the parade.

Carolyn PitchesOh, see, you added that. Good, good, good. All right. And with that, just for Dr. Wright, I'm going to adjourn the meeting at 741. Thank you.