Superintendents Teacher Advisory Committee (STAC) MeetingMarch 5, 2014

Weve had 10 snow days. Looking at getting a waiver from the State, but it doesnt look good. Dr. Garza is going to talk to some of our neighboring districts to see what they are doing. (Power in numbers) Last day of school is currently the 24th as a half day.

Question about not waiving snow days, and using it as a way to start earlier next year (Kings Dominion Law) Dr. Garza, What have we learned about our snow days? Do we want to look at how we structure our snow days, moving forward? (shes asking for our input about future snow days)

Question about pushing testing schedule further into June to make snow makeup days more productive? Dr. Garza, We havent asked that question.

Question, Theyve been saying on the news that when the governor declares a state of emergency, it makes it easier to apply for a waiver for snow makeup days. Dr. Garza smiled and shook her head. You still have to apply for a waiver and appear before the board.

Question, Would that Monday (June 23) be a half day for elementary or a full day? Dr. Garza, Not sure.

Question, Some surrounding districts build in time and bank it throughout the year. Dr. G, We are looking at that.

Question about going beyond 11 snow days. What happens then? Dr. Garza sent note to School Board this morning asking that same question.

Budget:

Dr. Garza, Many of you have reached out to the school board and I thank you for that. They are feeling a little bit of pressure from teachers and community. Thats good. Keep it coming.

Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors advertised two cent tax rate increase. This doesnt mean it will happen; it just leaves the door open for consideration.

There are some folks that only want a step increase for classroom teachers. Dr. Garza, Everyone throughout this system works hard. We dont want to parse this out. Its a dangerous and very slippery slope. Dont get caught in the trap. Most of our employees are classroom teachers. Everyone in our school works hard, the IAs, counselors, assistant principals, librarians, etc. (Again, her message is, Dont turn on each other. We have to stick together.)

Question about central office and if they are part of the proposed salary increase. Questioner was implying that central office doesnt deserve an increase. Dr. Garza, Theres a tendency to think that because we cant see what someone is doing, theyre not working as hard. Everyone works hard. We should not pit one employee group against one another.

The majority of the school system employees are classroom teachers. A step increase will cost $41 million. $30 million of that is for classroom teachers.

Some of you may have seen the analysis we did. If we dont get the county transfer and state money, then we get no step increase, and we will have to cut more than what weve proposed. If we only get the 2% from the county transfer and $27 million from the state, there will not be a step increase.

Cautioning folksOur fight and our challenge right now is fighting misinformation. Im receiving a lot of emails that are not factually based. We are going to try to combat that.

Question about Herrity and Cook (Supervisors) and their expressed frustration about Salary Lapse. Some of that frustration is by design, I mean, I meet with Pat Herrity all the time. This is for the media.

What is a salary lapse? Our budget is a projection. So we have a salary compensation line item in our budget. Its based upon the number of positions. If we have a retirement, in many cases, we hire someone at a lower salary. The county has a higher salary lapse than FCPS, and they have less employees than we do. There is no hidden money. Every year, when we close out the budget, we have a year-end balance. All that money is apparent. Typically, organizations our size, they expect that you have 2-3%. This is just a way to point fingers. I promise you, there is no hidden money. We adjust our compensation allocation every year. What we do is, we look at that salary file at the end and adjust it. The county doesnt do that.

Help me combat thisdont believe everything you read and hear. If you hear something that concerns you, please let me know so we can help set facts straight.

Question about the attrition rate FCPS is above the national attrition rate. When you live in an area thats highly competitive, its not uncommon for there to be higher turnover.

Guest Dr. Sloan Presidio Superintendent of Instruction. He came to speak to us and asked all of us to give round of applause to Dr. Garza for her hard work.

(Presentation on STAC website) http://fcpsnet.fcps.edu/supt/councils/stac/docs/1314/STAC_March%205%202014_draft.pptx

One thing I tried to illustrate is the future direction we are headed in.things we are working on School Board with and starting to take out to the community.Slide one:

1. Portrait of a Graduate. Our attempt as a system to say, What are the outcomes we want kids to achieve? What are the attributes we want kids to have? Framework is a 21st century framework. Moves us from a defensive framework where outcomes have been dictated to us by things like NCLB. 2. IF our outcomes have changed, then we need to think about how we measure student achievement. Working with school board to have balanced assessment. We dont want tests based on standardized, multiple choice tests. Doing work to think about how we might change assessment. Idea is to substitute assessments, not add more. 3. Strategic Plan. How can we focus our work to be sure we achieve those desired outcomes? We are clear that we cant ask schools to do more; we need to be more focused and support schools in what weve asked them to do.

Second Slide

Illustrates different pedagogy of the past and present. Concept based, inquiry based instruction. Helping students access information and think about the information they are using.

Third Slide

Instructional Support How does that impact the work in instructional services? How does it change instructional domain? Best practices for teaching and learning is very broad. What are the kinds of tools and resources that teachers need? Can we help develop materials such as curriculum planning tools? Can we help develop tools (rubrics, etc.) to help teachers in their classrooms? Planning and pacing guides are long and deep. Can we take that back up to a reasonable level? Can we live at the standards level? Can we put our planning and pacing guides together? Curriculum How do we provide curriculum to support the project and problem based activities to help students engage in exciting learning experiences? We have a lot of curriculum in advanced programs (like STEAM) that wed like to provide to everyone. What kinds of things do we need to do to support kids to help them be successful? What kinds of things do we need to do to support kids? Early learning.

Questions?IB school problem we are running into is time. More and more is going onto our plate, but whats coming off? A: Were trying to have those conversations. What has to shift and change if were doing to try something new? Depth over breath.

Dr. Garza, What can we take off? Its quite shocking to see all the assessments across the country. Do we have to measure everything at the division level? I think the answer is no. Art, music, etc. How can we know that students are making progress at every campus without measuring every student at every school every year?

We are working on what we can take off the plate assessment-wise.we are also working at the legislative level at the stateWe are working with our School Board on what we need to measure. We cant measure everything.Passages Report Presented to the Board in the Spring and it only looks at the major passages of time.not every grade and every subgroup. Link is pasted here:http://www.fcps.edu/schlbd/monitoringreports/passagesmonitoring.shtml

Email explanation from Dr. Garza to School Board and Board of Supervisors:Dear School Board and Board of Supervisors:Its come to our attention that thereare questions related to salary lapse savings and ending balance. Salary lapse is comprised ofturnover and vacancy savings. Turnover represents the savings realized when experienced employees retire or leave the system and are replaced bystaff with less experience, who earn a lower salary. This is recurring savings.Vacancy represents savings generateddue to positions being unfilled at some point in the fiscal year. This is one-time savings.As part ofFCPS'budget process, the salary base is reducedby the recurring turnover savings from the prior year in addition to reducing the budget by the projected salary lapse savings for the budget year. In the FY 2015 Advertised Budget the salary base was reduced by $26.6M as compared to FY 2014 to recognize the turnover savings. In addition to reducing the base, the FY 2015 Advertised Budget includes budgeted salary lapse savings of $42.5M. As it relates to ending balance, eachyear state and local governmentsend the year with an available balance to ensure that they meet revenue projections and do not exceed expenditure appropriations. As a result, FCPS, like Fairfax County Government, historically has ended each fiscal year with an ending balance. This ending balance includes any additional lapse savings above what was budgeted. With approximately88% of the budget allocated to compensation, the majority of the ending balance will also be derived from the compensation accounts. The expenditure variance in FY 2013 represented 2% of the $2.5B operating budget. Of thevariance, 68% came from compensation accounts. The amount of budgeted lapse savings is based on historical trends while the year to year variance depends on employee and department actionsinfluencedby economic and external factors. For example, as departments are facing budget reductionsthey mayholdpositions vacant to mitigate employee layoffs; thereby, generating additional vacancy savings. FCPS, like the County, monitors percent variance from actualto budgeted expenditures. This information with other external requirements is taken into consideration as future budgets are developed. Thank you and please do not hesitate to contact me if you have additional questions.Karen Garza

Town Hall Meeting Location Date

Hunter Mill District Meeting Frying Pan Park - 2709 W Ox Road, HerndonSaturday, March 1 - 9:00 a.m.

Dranesville District Budget Meeting Great Falls Library - 9830 Georgetown Pike, Great Falls Wednesday, March 5 - 7:00 p.m.

Springfield District Budget Meeting West Springfield Government Center - 6140 Rolling Road, Springfield Monday, March 10 - 7:00 p.m.

Braddock District Budget Meeting Kings Park Library, Braddock Hall - 9000 Burke Lake Rd, Burke Wednesday, March 12 - 7:30 p.m.

Dranesville District Budget Meeting Herndon Town Council Chambers - 765 Lynn Street, Herndon Thursday, March 13 - 7:00 p.m.

Mason District Budget Meeting Annandale High School (Lecture Hall) - 4700 Medford Drive, Annandale(south side of Route 236). Use Entrance 1, which is the main entrance to the school. Tuesday, March 18 - 7:00 p.m.

Providence District Budget Meeting Dunn Loring Admin Center, 2334 Gallows Road, Dunn Loring Tuesday, March 18 - 7:00 p.m.

Dranesville District Budget Meeting McLean Community Center - 1234 Ingleside Avenue, McLeanThursday, March 20 - 7:00 p.m.

Lee District Budget Meeting Franconia Government Center - 6121 Franconia Road, Alexandria Wednesday, March 26 - 7:00 p.m.

Sully District Budget Meeting Rocky Run Middle School - Cafeteria - 4400 Stringfellow Road, Chantilly Thursday, March 27 - 7:00 p.m.

Braddock Town Hall Robinson Secondary School - 5035 Sideburn Road, Fairfax Tuesday, April 1 - 7:30 p.m.