Corbett Sanders discusses teacher pay, equity, boundary changes at town hall

Mount Vernon district school board representative Karen Corbett Sanders shared the latest on Fairfax County Public Schools’ FY 2019 budget request, highlighted developments at local schools, and listened to families with pressing concerns at a two-hour town hall meeting at South County High School on Tuesday night.

Karen Corbett Sanders

Fresh off attending a joint meeting between the school board and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Corbett Sanders said that for the first time since 2008, it appears likely that the Board of Supervisors will support the full budgetary ask from the school system, enabling teachers to get paid at market scale. Additionally, the school system’s potential $25 million increase in bonding authority will enable its building renovation cycle to be shortened by four years, reducing the number of students in trailers.

In mid-March, FCPS will release its “equity plan” to ensure equity in all schools and programming, said Corbett Sanders. The plan has come to fruition under the leadership of FCPS chief academic and equity officer Francisco Durán. Last November, the school board and Fairfax County Board of Supervisors adopted a joint social and racial equity policy called One Fairfax.

Corbett Sanders reported that there are “lots of good things going on” in the Mount Vernon district schools that she represents. Among other developments:

• Two previously conditionally accredited schools (Mount Vernon Woods and Saratoga Elementary School) now have full accreditation.
• Thanks to Project Momentum—a turnaround program for schools with accreditation challenges—several Mount Vernon district schools are serving as models for the state.
• GrandInvolve—a volunteer program enabling older adults to form bonds with students in Fairfax County’s Title I elementary schools—has expanded to Mount Vernon and Lee district schools.
• The soon-to-be-launched “Passport to Mount Vernon & Lee” program for 4th graders may eventually be extended to other grade levels.

During the remainder of the town hall, Corbett Sanders opened the floor to constituent questions and concerns. Perhaps the largest and most vocal group attending the meeting was several parents and staff members from Fort Belvoir Elementary School who expressed concern about the safety and well being of students there. They cited nearly daily incidents of student-on-student and student-on-staff violence, and their frustration at not being able to get the situation properly addressed.

While acknowledging the school’s recent staffing additions and changes, Fort Belvoir ES parents expressed concern that the unique challenges and needs of military children and families were not well understood by administrators, and that potentially helpful resources like behavioral health specialists were being underutilized.

“Public schools are failing us horribly,” said one mother.

Corbett Sanders promised to meet as soon as possible with the families and other stakeholders.

“Let’s fix the problem,” she said.

Another group of parents—some from Rolling Valley ES—voiced dismay over the fact that their children were selected for busing next fall to Key Middle School/Lee High School instead of Washington Irving Middle School/West Springfield High School where many of their longtime classmates are going.

Corbett Sanders said that Fairfax County still has 55 “split feeders” that she is keen on eliminating. Unfortunately, she noted, there is no easy solution, as short-term fixes at one school tend to negatively impact others. Several schools like Washington Irving and West Springfield are currently over capacity, at least partly due to unanticipated changes in the makeup of how and where people live in Fairfax County, said Corbett Sanders. She promised to raise the issue again with FCPS Superintendent Dr. Scott Braband.

“I will ask him for possible solutions; I think we need a holistic approach,” she said, adding, “We have to do a major boundary change across the county.”

Corbett Sanders also said that under Dr. Braband, FCPS is starting to “grow its own” teacher workforce, creating pathways for instructional assistants to secure teaching credentials.