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July 16 Meeting Recap: Educational Technology, New Secondary Math Basal Resources, and Skyview High School
Dear Neighbors,
We had our final Regular Board Meeting of the year last week, and along with it came a packed agenda.
The Board adopted new Math Basal resources for our Middle and High School students–which includes a hard copy textbook for each student this upcoming 2026-2027 school year! This was a multi-year effort, and I thank Dr. Reid and the review committee that helped evaluate and select these materials.
We also spent time reviewing and discussing a range of motions related to AI and instructional technology; you can hear more about these on my Facebook page, or read more below.
In addition, we confirmed our committee assignments for the year, and I”m excited to share that I was selected to Chair the Public Engagement Committee and serve as liaison for the Advisory Committee for Students with Disabilities. In addition, I’ll be one of five members of the Governance Committee, where we’ll work on reviewing and writing new policies.
The Board also approved a set of boundaries and discussed the phasing and transportation logistics for Skyview High School, which is the first new high school established by the county in more than 20 years.
Over this brief “recess", I’ll be spending time meeting with community members, PTAs, and prioritizing my work for the coming year. As always, I welcome your inputs and questions on every issue before the Board, and those that you feel I should bring forward. You can email me at Braddock@fcps.edu.
Yours In Service,
Tom Dannan
Braddock District Representative
At This Meeting
Liaison and Committee Assignments for 2026-2027
Public Engagement Committee (PEC)
Improving engagement with the public was a priority of mine when elected, and I’m honored to get to lead this committee in the coming year.
I’m hoping to use this as an opportunity to plan strategies, topics, timelines, and other matters related to Board/community dialogue and to coordinate physical logistics related to the Board's outreach to stakeholders.
Governance Committee
As a policy wonk, I was glad to be selected to join this 5-person committee, which is tasked with reviewing and writing a range of FCPS policies. This committee also defines governing values and process recommendations for Board action, supports Board work and self-assessments, and reviews and recommends to the Board proposed modifications to the Strategic Governance Manual.
Advisory Committee to Students with Disabilities (ACSD)
I’m excited to serve as liaison to ACSD again, and I want to extend my congratulations to Braddock’s very own Carolyn Haydon, who was recently elected to chair ACSD. She is brilliant, caring, and hard-working, and will do an excellent job in this role.
This committee advises FCPS on educating children with disabilities, participates in the development of priorities and strategies, and a host of other functions, including:
- Submitting periodic reports and recommendations regarding the education of children with disabilities to the division superintendent for transmission to the local school board;
- Assisting FCPS in interpreting plans to the community for meeting the special needs of children with disabilities for educational services;
- Reviewing the policies and procedures for the provision of special education and related services prior to submission to the school board; and
- Participating in the review of FCPS's annual plan.
Community Advisory Committee Actions
The Board approved the School Board Community Advisory Committee charges and bylaws for the 2026-2027 school year and appointed individuals to serve one-year terms on each Community Advisory Committee.
I’m grateful for the Braddock residents who put themselves forward this year, and I’m looking forward to working with them:
- Adult and Community Education Advisory Committee (ACEAC): Jennifer McVay
- Advanced Academics Program Advisory Committee (AAPAC): Dana Harlan
- Advisory Committee for Students with Disabilities (ACSD): Carolyn Haydon
- Career Technical Education Advisory Committee (CTEAC): Alexa Krezel
- Minority Student Achievement Oversight Committee (MSAOC): Dana Hines
- School Health Advisory Committee (SHAC): Erin Swiatocha
If you’d like to get in touch with any of the above committee members, please reach out to me at Braddock@fcps.edu.
Educational Technology Updates
We spent nearly 3 hours of the meeting considering seven motions relating to Educational Technology. One-off motions like these can be problematic (instead of doing comprehensive policy changes), and I do not like the idea of making last-minute changes right before the school year starts. Teachers work incredibly hard and they deserve to be able to enjoy their summer break without showing up with last-minute changes.
While most of these motions were just requests for information, several had operational impacts for the coming year. In the interest of progress, I spent a long time going through these over the previous week to understand their intent, and in some cases work to strengthen them.
I know many are impatient to see changes - I count myself among them - but we have to do this right, and to me, that means listening to educators, experts, and the entire community. Towards that end, I was glad to help lead the creation of an Educational Technology Review Committee back in May to do just this.
In the interest of transparency, I wanted to share information on each and how I voted:
Motion 1: Ban on Issuing Laptops for Pre-K and Kindergarten
While I supported the intent behind this change, and voted to approve it, my biggest concern is what these will look like in practice–for example, by removing this tool, what are we replacing them with? I asked Dr. Reid questions to that effect, and I’ve spoken with a number of kindergarten teachers about this in the days leading up to and after this vote.
In addition, I am already scheduling classroom visits in the first weeks of school to see this first-hand. If you are a K-2 teacher and would like me to come visit your class, please reach out!
I offered an amendment to this motion, which was adopted unanimously, to limit this prohibition pending recommendations from the Educational Technology Review Committee to the Superintendent and any resulting Board action, including the adoption of policy.
You can hear more of my thoughts in this video.
Motion #2: Developing a Laptop Storage Plan
Since this was a common-sense request and didn’t have an immediate impact on teachers, I was happy to support this. During the comments on this, I shared with Dr. Reid and her team sentiments I’d heard from teachers and principals around the bulkiness of laptop carts, and wondering if they could consider alternative storage methods.
Motion #3: Requesting an Inventory of Generative Artificial Intelligence tools and prohibiting use of Generative AI
Like the other requests for information, I was happy to support the first part of this motion. I’m also very hesitant about student AI usage until we can be confident we’re being intentional about it. Earlier this year, I voiced my support for a moratorium on AI use at the younger levels.
However, FCPS does have a number of extracurricular activities and elective courses that deal with AI in an intentional way, such as this project from students at Robinson, where they developed a generative app called CivicLens that helps people combat misinformation and algorithm-driven echo chambers. The original motion could have inadvertently banned projects like this, so I worked with staff and my colleagues to amend the motion to allow for cases like this, when pre-approved, at the higher levels.
 Motion #4: Developing an Approved-List Approach to Websites
This was an interesting one to work on, and you can watch my remarks here. I’m grateful to my colleague, Mateo Dunne, who approached me about supporting this motion, and I am further grateful to FCPS’s Chief Technology Officer, Mr. Gautham Sethi, who helped us refine it.
We had initially just intended to ask for recommendations about the feasibility of the “white-listing” approach (vs blocking sites one-by-one), but Mr. Sethi suggested that if we really wanted to know if and how this could work, we should pilot it. So we re-worked this motion to first ask for a pilot plan by December 10, and, if approved, to begin testing it by early February at select schools. If that pilot is successful, we could see broader implementation as soon as 2027-2028.
As it happens, several Braddock constituents have been working with Mr. Sethi and his team on an individual pilot of this approach.
Several colleagues and constituents have shared valid concerns about the risk of inadvertently blocking good research sites–especially for the upper levels–and it’s my hope that this approach will help us identify ways to mitigate that. Being able to first approve this pilot plan will give us flexibility in case we need to progress more carefully.
Motion #5: Feasibility study for students to opt-out of FCPS devices
Again, since this was essentially a request for information at this point, I was happy to support it. I will be closely monitoring their findings to understand the impacts–both positive and negative–on all students if we were to implement some kind of change.
Motion #6: Ban on private devices during the day
This motion would implement a ban on personal devices (e.g., laptops, tablets, and smartphones) during the instructional day. Having heard from a number of educators, I supported this effort, especially since it includes accommodations for students with disabilities.
Motion #7: Reviewing Feasibility of Blocking YouTube on FCPS Devices
While I recognize YouTube can be a useful learning tool, I’ve heard from countless parents and teachers that it is too distracting for kids. FCPS does offer the option, currently, for parents to block YouTube on their students’ devices
Over the coming months, I’m looking forward to hearing the recommendations from the Educational Technology Review Committee, along with direct input from teachers, administrators, and parents as we develop comprehensive policies around AI and instructional technology.
National Merit Scholarship Award Recognition
 The Board recognized the 2026 National Merit Scholarship winners at our meeting. Seventeen FCPS students were named 2026 National Merit College-Sponsored Scholarship winners. These students were rated based on their academic record including an essay, information about extracurricular activities, leadership positions, SAT scores that confirmed outstanding test performance, as well as recommendation and endorsement from a high school official.
Congratulations to Ronald Zhang of Lake Braddock Secondary School (computer science), who was selected as a 2026 National Merit College-Sponsored Scholarship Winner and earned the National Merit University of Maryland Scholarship.
Additionally, there were 31 FCPS students who were named 2026 National Merit Scholarship Winners. These students were evaluated on their academic record, including the level of difficulty of subjects studied and grades earned, scores from two standardized tests, contributions and leadership in school and community activities, a personal essay, and a recommendation from a high school official. The number of winners named in a state is in proportion to the state’s percentage of the national total graduating high school seniors.
Congratulations to the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Winners from the Braddock District:
- Manas Puri (business economics), Lake Braddock Secondary School
- Ethan Lee (biochemistry), Woodson High School
- James Ngo (computer science), Woodson High School
Year End Review
The Board approved the revenue and expenditure adjustments that were presented in the FY 2026 Year End Review, including year-end funds for extended day contracts for Special Education teachers and a transfer to the Health Fund to bolster the Healthcare Premium Stabilization Reserve that had been reduced in recent years due to increasing pharmacy and medical claims.
There was an amendment proposed to essentially pull $1.8 million in carryover funding to pay for transportation for elementary and middle school students who want to remain in their non-boundary schools for next year. I was not supportive of that amendment, as I felt it was important to shore up our Health Fund as recommended by staff.
Secondary Math Basal Instructional Resources
Earlier in the evening, we voted to approve the purchase of new Math Basal resources–including physical textbooks!--for Middle and High Schools, starting in the coming school year.
I’m grateful to the faculty and staff who spent months reviewing and providing inputs on these materials, and I’m excited to see the Superintendent bringing in hard-copy textbooks.
Some of the key attributes of the new materials selected are that they are engaging print materials, they directly align with SOL’s partnered with a strong vertical progression, and offer support for diverse learners and multilingual learners.
In my remarks, I expressed my excitement about having tangible textbooks for our students to learn from like we all used to, and thanked the staff for the work they have done and for putting the time and effort into selecting resources that align with what teachers and parents have been asking for - physical textbooks rather than learning math on the computer.
The Board voted unanimously in favor of the boundary recommendations brought forward by the Superintendent for Skyview High School. Although this does not impact any Braddock schools, I appreciate and commend all of the extensive work that has been done by Dr. Reid and her staff, especially Marty Smith, Erik Gordon, and William Solomon, as this is the first new high school the county has opened in over 20 years.
FCPS conducted extensive community engagement, including holding six community meetings, reviewing 15,000 map comments, consulting with the Superintendent’s Boundary Advisory Committee and driving through the community to note natural physical boundaries. While boundary decisions are always difficult, I appreciate the amount of effort and care that was put in to try and get these boundaries right.
The Board also adopted three follow-on motions to help improve boundary and facility decisions. The first follow-on motion directs the Superintendent to deliver quarterly updates to the Board about housing projected to come to market in Western Fairfax County for five years on a rolling basis, with the first report delivered as part of the FCPS Capital Improvement Program (CIP) public presentation as scheduled in early 2027. The second follow-on motion directs the Superintendent to deliver an after-action about the recent boundary work including lessons learned, suggested future improvements and information about how to mitigate any possible detriment caused by declines in enrollment that resulted from the Skyview High School boundary. The final follow-on motion directs the Superintendent to develop and present an analysis of possible pathways at Westfield High School.
Skyview High School Student Phasing and Transportation
The Board voted unanimously to approve the phasing and transportation recommendations for Skyview High School made by the Superintendent. For the 2026-2027 school year, eligible students may opt in to attend Skyview HS. The phasing for the years after the 2026-2027 school year is as follows;
 Students who live in the boundary will be provided traditional bus service, which will be funded by the operating budget. Skyview students who live out-of-boundary will have depot transportation.
Middle School Configuration Review
The Board voted to approve a motion to direct the Superintendent to evaluate best practices for middle school configurations (either Grades 7-8 or 6-8), establish a standard FCPS configuration for middle schools, and identify near-term and long-term opportunities to transition particular middle schools to the recommended configuration in order to promote academic achievement, reduce overcrowding in elementary schools, ensure effective capacity utilization, and support the accomplishment of Strategic Plan objectives.
I voted in favor of this review because FCPS is one of the few school districts in the nation to include sixth grade in elementary school rather than in middle school, and I’m interested in learning more about what the research shows is the best configuration for our students, including whether any changes could improve overcrowding in some elementary schools. However, I’ll be following this closely as I’m unsure what the impact could be on our secondary schools and their feeder schools.
Looking Ahead: Back to School Meeting
Our next Regular Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, August 27th at 7:00pm at Luther Jackson Middle School and you can view the full agenda here on BoardDocs once it is posted. These topics were among those introduced as New Business at the most recent meeting.
New Business (for action at our next meeting)
All meetings are broadcast live on Channel 99 (Verizon channel 11) and on the FCPS website. Recorded meetings are also posted on the FCPS YouTube channel. You can also visit the community participation webpage to sign up to speak at regular meetings or public hearings.
The views contained within this newsletter reflect the views of the individual school board member who is the publisher of this newsletter and may not reflect the views of the Fairfax County School Board.
© Fairfax County Public Schools, Fairfax County, Virginia
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