Sign up to receive Weekly Reflections by email. Hello Team FCPS, Well, what a blustery weekend and start to our work week!! Wow, it has felt like I have been in the middle of the Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day movie for the last several days ;>)!! I think it was Piglet that barely hung on to the kite strings ... At least we have been able to traverse the recent weather without major incident in our community and for that I am grateful. Congratulations to Oakton High School on making history as the first-ever FCPS girls flag football champions!! With college scholarships already available and Olympic inclusion coming in 2028, there’s never been a better time for our student athletes to get in the game! As you are probably aware, this year was the first time that we offered girls flag football in FCPS, and there were 775 students who joined the program, which was sponsored by the Washington Commanders. What an incredible milestone for the future of this exciting new sport in our division! I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to all the players, coaches, athletic staff, officials, and supporters who helped make this inaugural season such a success. Go Cougars!! Speaking of football, eight teams delivered highlight-reel performances under the Friday night lights, earning wins to advance in the playoffs!! Congratulations to Centreville, Fairfax, Lake Braddock, Madison, South County, Westfield, and West Springfield for well-played games. And a huge shout to all our families and community members who embraced our new safety measures that enhance our security for everyone at playoff games. Go Wildcats, Lions, Bruins, Warhawks, Stallions, Bulldogs, and Spartans!! Part of Tuesday’s School Board work session focused on our Fiscal Year 2027 Fiscal Forecast. Each year, the fiscal forecast from our budget team provides an early look at FCPS’ finances for the next fiscal year. This helps to inform the proposed budget that I will present in late January. You can watch the work session online or view the presentation to learn more about our budget priorities, the instructional and support programs that are at risk without full funding, and how Virginia’s education funding formulas shortchange students all across the Commonwealth. One such formula is the Standards of Quality (SOQ) formula, which tells schools how many of each type of staff members they need and how much funding that the state will support for those positions. The SOQ underestimates how many staff members schools need and doesn’t account for the real number of, and cost of providing an education for, students who need extra support (like special education students and Multilingual Learners). As was shared during the School Board work session, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) found that ALL of Virginia’s school divisions spent a combined total of $6.6 billion more than what the SOQ indicates is needed! I encourage each of you to follow our Fiscal Year 27 budget process and be sure to visit the FCPS website to learn more and help keep our community strong. Our excellence depends on full funding for our world-class teachers, rigorous academic opportunities, and diverse extracurriculars. Together, all things are possible! On Wednesday night, we held a meeting of the Superintendent’s Boundary Review Advisory Committee. Key takeaways from the meeting are available on the FCPS website, including materials that were shared with the committee. During the meeting, Erik Gordon, FCPS’ chief of Facilities and Capital Programs, recapped the boundary review work-to-date and the remaining timeline. Then the advisory committee members broke into their region and division wide subgroups to review the more than 9,000 comments from the Boundary Explorer Tool. The advisory committee continues to guide our work as we enter the final stages and will be making its recommendations to me later this month. I will review and consider their recommendations before presenting my final recommendations and a proposed implementation plan to the School Board. Board members will review the final proposal, hold a public hearing, and approve any boundary adjustments in January. On a related note, the School Board voted to approve the western high school to be a comprehensive high school with traditional boundaries, which includes a special programming pathway option. The board also approved an enrollment plan, in which Grades 9 and 10 can opt-in for the 2026-2027 school year. As always, you can learn more about the comprehensive boundary review on our website and sign up to receive the School Boundary Review newsletter. On Thursday morning, I shared remarks at a meeting of Junior Achievement of Greater Washington, which is a group of business leaders from around the D.C. area whose mission to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy aligns with FCPS’. As you may be aware, all FCPS eighth graders participate in a financial literacy curriculum, titled Finance Park. We have partnered with Junior Achievement for 15 years to bring this program to our students. The curriculum is delivered through mathematics and civics classes. The culminating experience is a trip to the Finance Park facility, located next to Frost Middle School. At Finance Park, students immerse themselves in a reality-based decision-making process addressing aspects of individual and family budgeting, including housing, transportation, food, utilities, health care, investments, philanthropy, and banking. Our partnership has had quite the impressive impact. Over the past 15 years, Finance Park has hosted: We know that financial literacy is more than balancing a checkbook [for those who still do that ;>)] or creating a budget — it’s about understanding opportunity, risk, and the power of planning. We want our students at FCPS to leave high school ready not only for success in the classroom, but for success in life. Our partnership with Junior Achievement helps us do that. Learning happens best in community!! In the Academic Matters portion of last Thursday’s School Board meeting, I discussed Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and inclusive practices in FCPS. These are part of FCPS’ 2023-30 Strategic Plan’s Goal 2: Safe, Supported, Included, and Empowered and our equity commitment to amplifying student voice in order to inform our approaches, honor students' identities and experiences, and ensure student safety and well-being in an inclusive school climate and culture. Inclusion benefits students by improving academic, behavioral, and social-emotional outcomes. A key focus of our work is implementation of the Universal Design for Learning framework, which helps us minimize barriers to learning and proactively design instruction so that all students, including those with disabilities, Multilingual Learners, advanced students, and all types of learners in between, can engage meaningfully in our classrooms. We are also updating how we provide services and making it clear that students should learn in the least restrictive environment (LRE) – meaning students should be included in general education classes as much as possible, unless a student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) team decides that specialized instruction provides them a better path to success. Our UDL phased rollout is already underway: for the 2025-26 school year, 12 schools are in Phase 1, followed by 81 schools in Phase 2 in 2026-27, and then the remainder in 2027-28. Early feedback from schools in the Phase 1 cohort are encouraging, with snippets of feedback provided on the slide above. While we still have much work ahead, I am inspired by our collective momentum and the meaningful shifts happening in our classrooms. Go Team FCPS!! In the Superintendent Matters portion of the School Board meeting I shared a heartfelt thank you to our community for supporting the recent bond election. I also expressed my appreciation to Len Forkas and the rest of the Bond Citizens Committee for their hard work supporting our division. Just over 7 in 10 Fairfax County voters approved the Bond Referendum – the highest approval in the last three referendum cycles – and we are so grateful for our community’s continued commitment to the power and promise of public education! Together all things are possible!! Early on Friday morning, I attended a meeting of the Public School Leadership Network at George Mason University. The meeting was an opportunity for Delegate Vivian Watts and other elected officials to hear about our funding challenges and get feedback from the regional elected leaders present. On Friday evening, I attended a performance of Annie at Annandale High School. It was great to see such a fun seasonal show with so many students involved. I also appreciated Director Kylie Murray’s comments, “As a theatre company, we have explored what it means to hold great wealth today and more importantly, what it means to share it. We have reflected on the idea that true prosperity comes not from accumulation but from connection. At its heart, Annie is a story of resilience and hope, a reminder that even in the hardest times, we are stronger together. As families in our own communities face uncertainty, may this story inspire you to look for light and make connections that help support one another.” I couldn’t have said it better … Go Atoms!! On Saturday morning, I stopped by Liberty Middle School for the FCPS middle school cross country championships. This is such a grand event with so many of our middle school student athletes, staff, families, and community members cheering them on throughout the season and on the day of our FCPS championships. It was great to be a part of the healthy and competitive event showcasing so many middle school students and their achievements, persistence, and teamwork!! Thank you to all of you who supported these events throughout the fall, this work matters. Later on Saturday morning and early afternoon, I held a meeting with members of the Herndon community at Herndon Middle School to discuss their boundary concerns as well as members of the West Springfield community at Irving Middle School to hear about their concerns related to the boundary process. These conversations are very helpful as we work through this boundary process and support a world class education experience for each and every one of our FCPS students. Saturday afternoon, I attended a performance of Arsenic and Old Lace at Herndon High School. It was a great opportunity to enjoy the incredible artistic efforts of our many young adults involved in the theatre arts. Herndon High School Theatre Arts Director, Scott D. Pafumi, shared; “As part of our Season of American classics at Herndon High School Theatre, we are proud to bring back audience favorite, Arsenic and Old Lace. This comical farce, historically set in Brooklyn, NYC during the WW 2 era, tells the tale of two octogenarian spinster aunties who embark on a community service of killing off lonely old men who visit their boarding house and then burying them in the basement. Add in several wacky characters, incompetent cops, and a pair of young lovers, and you have the recipe for a madcap evening in the Victorian home of the Brewsters. After all, we could use an evening of comedy, even if we die laughing!” Go Hornets!! I wish each of you a great week ahead ;>), and trust that you will find some time to get out and enjoy these fall days. I love the crunchy and colorful leaves and am reminded of the line from Emily Bronte, “Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree." I think our workout will include raking for the foreseeable future … Take good care, Michelle Reid, Ed.D. Superintendent Sign up to receive Weekly Reflections by email. Dr. Reid writes about all the great things happening in Fairfax County Public Schools. This week, she hosted a meeting on Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Learning, attended a Rotary Club meeting, visited Aldrin Elementary School, and more! Dr. Reid writes about all the great things happening in Fairfax County Public Schools. This week, she went to a ribbon cutting for Crossfield Elementary School, two boundary meetings, a middle school track meet, and more! Dr. Reid writes about all the great things happening in Fairfax County Public Schools. This week, she held a meeting of the Family Vision Group, attended several school musical performances and the Special Olympics Polar Plunge, presented her Proposed FY 27 Budget, and more!