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You are Here: Fairfax County Public Schools > Departments, Clusters > Superintendent's Office > Superintendent's Community Advisory Council > SCAC Minutes October 12, 2004
Superintendent's Community Advisory Council
SCAC Minutes
October 12, 2004Lynn Terhar opened the meeting and asked Council members who had not attended the September meeting to introduce themselves. She then asked Jack Dale for Superintendent's updates.
Dale noted that an article in the Kansas City Star had said that a representative of a Muslim organization in the Herndon area was visiting public schools in the Herndon area to discuss Islam. The article caused a great deal of blog traffic. Most of what appeared on blogs and resulted in e-mails and phone calls to FCPS was inaccurate. In FCPS, teachers teach about religions but do not teach religion. All religions receive equitable treatment.
Dale discussed the FCPS Leadership Team (LT) retreat to discuss the School Board targets. The LT classified all but one of the 10 targets into two groups: 1. minimum competency expected to be achieved for 100 percent of students, 2. other student achievement goals that we might like to meet for every student but that we do not necessarily expect to; these are things students should aspire to. This second category includes the things that make FCPS not just a good school system, but a great one. These things include AP and IB courses and high SAT scores; we need to get a clearer idea of what these types of standards should be for elementary and middle school children. The School Board's vision is "a gifted and talented education for all students." What does this mean in practice?
Dale mentioned that Tom Brady is leaving his position as FCPS chief operating officer and is taking a similar position with the District of Columbia Public Schools.
The Classrooms for Kids project has not been worked out yet, but it will involve various uses of FCPS-owned property, possibly including turning some of it over to the county government for park and recreation uses, selling some land to developers, and turning some administrative buildings into schools. Each item of property will be dealt with individually, and there will be opportunity for public input on each. The disposition of the different properties will, overall, be good both for FCPS and for the community as a whole.
Nell Hurley said that the Woodson community supports Classrooms for Kids.
Jeanine Martin asked who on the FCPS staff would be coordinating this project now that Brady was leaving. Dale said Dean Tistadt would be coordinating it.
Boyce Williams said she had heard Realtors urge potential buyers to move to Loudoun for the schools. Tracy Pless said it is unethical for a Realtor to say something like this and that she could not believe an agent would do this. The Northern Virginia Association of Realtors needs to educate its membership.
Eileen Kugler said that for years she has offered $1,000 to anyone who can find a real estate ad that advertises "great schools" about a house whose residents attend a multicultural school. So far, no one has claimed the $1,000.
Terhar introduced Diane Pruner, Jeff McFarland, Amy Dobbs, and Chris Morrow to discuss high school academies. Pruner said that there is now no "vocational education." What has replaced it is "professional technical education," which requires more technical instruction. The FCPS professional technical academies allow students in grades 11 and 12 to do advanced work in these areas. Professional technical education covers a broad array of subjects that includes, for instance, Korean, Chinese, and fine arts. Academies are schools within schools, and many of the teachers are straight from the industries they teach about. Pruner distributed information about the academies and their offerings. Criminal justice is the fastest growing specialty.
The School Board's target 7 calls for increases in the numbers of students receiving industry certifications. The School Board has funded the cost of the first time a student takes an exam for certification. Industries typically require that teachers pass the exams before any of their students take them.
McFarland distributed folders with information about Marshall Academy . Marshall has an international business focus, includes courses for industry certification, and has business partnerships and internships for students in businesses. There are 900 students in Marshall Academy .
Morrow said he is an instructor in physical and vocational therapy at West Potomac Academy . The facilities there are as good as those he trained with at George Washington University . His program offers dual enrollment at Northern Virginia Community College .
Amy Dobbs said she had always been interested in physical therapy since she needed it herself when she was 11 years old. She now interns three days a week at Fort Belvoir .
Hurley asked why Chinese is taught at an academy. Pruner said this was done to have enough students to justify the class. There are not enough interested in the subject at any one school. Hurley asked why academy courses are not offered at all schools. Pruner said the teachers typically do not want part-time contracts, and there are not enough students at one school to justify a full-time position. Pruner also said that a committee is now studying ways to spread academy courses to more schools.
Lynn Dysart asked if academy instructors need to be fully credentialed as teachers. Pruner said an instructor can be hired under a technical license but can teach only one subject. Such teachers then take education courses during their first three years.
McFarland said that, when recruiting instructors, he looks for people working in an industry who have also done some kind of instruction.
David Temple asked whether FCPS merges academic and professional technical students. Pruner said that we do. The two types of courses are not listed separately. McFarland said that schools integrate academic and professional technical instruction. Schools are not employment agencies; all students are prepared for college.
Kugler asked Dobbs how she felt about leaving her base school to attend an academy; Dobbs said that in her case the academy was in her base school but that she would have been happy to travel to the program if that had not been the case. McFarland said that attending an academy in a different part of the county expands a student's networks; this is a positive thing.
Kugler asked whether students typically want professional technical courses from the beginning or do they "discover" this possibility as sophomores. McFarland said this varies with the student. Morrow said he does not see students stressed out by the demands of the combination of academic and professional technical courses and the travel to the academies.
Pless said Realtors do not know about the academies and asked Pruner to write an article for the NVAR newsletter and to arrange for staff members to be at the FCPS table at the NVAR convention.
Dobbs' mother said that the academy program her daughter is in is a blessing for the whole family. They are a Marine family that moved back to Fairfax County because of the schools. The academies are just one example of FCPS excellence.
Morrow noted that the Pulley Career Center is just behind his school and that his academy students will be operating a wellness program for Pulley students.
Suzanne Levy said one of her sons is in the Chantilly Academy photography course but that her younger son, who attends Fairfax High, was not aware of academy courses. She suggested that the academies hold Saturday open houses at the academies. She asked if it was possible to have some shorter courses. Pruner said this is being considered; now that all high schools are on block scheduling, it might be easier to do this.
Temple pointed out the need for health-care professionals. NVCC is training people in these areas; FCPS should work with NVCC to increase the numbers of trained health-care workers to fill the need.
Laura Floyd asked whether there is competition for spaces in the academies. McFarland said there is. Attendance and interest are very high, and there are waiting lists for many courses.
Joe Bury asked whether entrepreneurship (such as in Internet marketing) is emphasized in academy courses. Pruner said the School Board had just approved course specifically in entrepreneurship. Many new courses are developed because of student interest.
Terhar asked whether taking academy courses made it more difficult to take enough courses for which SOL end-of-course exams are offered so that students can get enough "verified credits" to graduate. Pruner said that students seem to be able to do both.
Brenda Greene noted Marc Fisher's column in the Post about Bailey's Elementary School. She said it was good to know that principals have the right to speak out.
Dysart asked if it was possible for SCAC to discuss single-school GT centers.
Baumgartner said that teaching students thinking skills was the only way to provide the "GT-quality education" the School Board calls for.
Baumgartner asked what was being done to help students and employees in risk categories to get vaccinated for flu.
Levy asked whether "Mathematica" software is being used to teach math in FCPS schools. Bill Oehrlein said he would check on this.
Andrea Sobel said we tend to think of students as in two categories and that we need to think more of a continuum of needs and interests so that students in the "middle" have their needs met.
The meeting was adjourned.