| Fairfax County Schools
With Superintendent Daniel A. Domenech
Thursday, March 20, 2003; 1 p.m. EST Superintendent Daniel A. Domenech leads Fairfax County Public Schools, which serve more than 160,000 students. Recently, the school system has grappled with how to make up the days lost to the February snowstorms, which cost 10 days, when the district had only planned for three. (Read the article.) The school system has also been helping parents, students and teachers increase their preparedness in the event of an emergency. A transcript follows. washingtonpost.com: Mr. Domenech, welcome to washingtonpost.com's Live Online program. With the war now underway, what role does the school system play in explaining what is going on and assuring students of their safety? Daniel A. Domenech: The events that our school system has been subjected to over the past two years have prepared us for the current crisis in Iraq. We have developed security plans that have been praised by the U.S. Office of Education and The Office of Homeland Security and our staff is ready to deal with all contingencies. We are prepared and flexible.
Our teachers are also ready to review and discuss world events with our students. We have schools that live with diversity on a regular basis and a student population that reflects all parts of the world. Current events becomes a living curriculum with outstanding opportunities for learning.
Falls Church, Va.: Has FCPS made a decision concerning overseas travel of student groups over spring break? Daniel A. Domenech: Effective as of today international travel is restricted until further notice. The State Department has indicated that Americans overseas represent "soft targets." We will not place our students in harms way.
McLean, Va.: With regard to the so called "Gifted and Talented" Program for Middle Schoolers, it is difficult to get a straight answer as to what is the plan. I have read in the local newspapers and our elementary school news that: "Eventually the Honors program will be available in all middle schools and will take the place of school-based GT services." I understand that this approach is already in place for math. I am strongly in favor of an honors program over a GT one. Primarily, an honors program is more equitable in that admission is based upon criteria that parents and students can understand. It helps to level the playing field in that it is open to all, notwithstanding cognitive tests scores that were administrated in the early elementary grades. The focus is on achievement, rather than innate cognitive ability. Why is it then, that the folks at the GT Program Office are saying that it may be years or perhaps never before admission to accelerated instruction will be open to all in all subjects, irrespective of whether a student was previously deemed "gifted and talented"? Why can't you just scrap the middle school GT program entirely and replace it with a cross-the-board honors program, allowing students to work at an accelerated pace in their particular subjects of strength? Daniel A. Domenech: We are certainly moving in the direction of the honors program but we have not decided that the current GT program will be abolished.
McLean, Va.: Will school-sponsored spring vacation trips be cancelled? Daniel A. Domenech: As of right now, international trips and trips into the District and New York City are restricted. No decision has been made on all other field trips.
Falls Church, Va.: This question is not really pertinent to either of the topics listed but I hope you will have time to respond. With graduation, school accreditation, and now NCLB all being driven by the SOL tests, isn't this putting too much emphasis on one group of tests? Daniel A. Domenech: Although we very much support the need for accountability, we are concerned that high stakes testing is narrowing the curriculum. In essence, the tests have become the curriculum. We are also concerned that effective June of 2004 many children will be denied a high school diploma for failure to pass a single test. This is putting more weight on a test than any test can bear. The answer to your question is yes.
Annandale, Va.: The results of the Oct. '02 administration of the Standford 9 TA show continued improvement by the students in Fairfax County, specifically students in grades 4, 6, and 9 who annually take this test. The teachers and other staff members should be proud of the job their doing to help the students, but since this is a nationally normed achievement test that will no longer be used in Fairfax County, how are we to continue to compare our students achievement with those across the country? Why is this test being eliminated? Is this test being eliminated by the Virginia Department of Education across the state in preparation for the NCLB initiative, that at this time, Virginia has no concrete plan for implementing this legislation? Daniel A. Domenech: The Stanford was eliminated by the State as a cost cutting move. They will need to develop additional SOLs to be in compliance with No Child Left Behind, the Federal law. You are right that we will be left without any national test to compare ourselves with schools around the country at the lower grades. We do have the SATs and the Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests at the high school level.
Herndon, Va.: First of all I wanted to thank you for adding the 30 minutes of additional instructional time to make up for the lost snow days. I realize that this may be inconvenient for some, but the additional time, especially before the SOL tests may be critical for some students. I know that instructional time was lost in every subject but do you think that some of the additional time added to each day should be specifically used for preparation for the SOL tests that will decide whether our children will graduate? Daniel A. Domenech: I assure you that our teachers are very mindful of the SOLs and will spend time preparing the students for the test. At the secondary level this is done by teachers who have end of year SOL tests for their subjects. We are also providing after school remediation programs for students in need of additional preparation.
Springfield, Va.: When Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology opened its doors, Fairfax County had a much smaller student population. With competition so keen, are there any plans to set up another similar magnet school, or to at least to expand the curriculum offered at TJ to other high schools? Daniel A. Domenech: There is a study under way to look at a Jefferson type sub school at Mt. Vernon High School. We have also added 30 additional seats per class for Jefferson admission. All of our schools currently offer either Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate courses. There are plenty of challenging programs for our students in all of our high schools.
Oakton, Va.: I realize the school system is committed to keeping our children safe -- hence the willingness to cancel school when only a moderate amount of ice or snow has fallen. What I don't understand, however, is why some middle schoolers need to get up at 5:45 a.m. in or to make a 6:30 a.m. school bus. For much of the year, it is pitch black outside at that time, and many children are walking 1/2 mile to their bus stops. I realize that you need to stagger bus schedules, but if ever there were a safety issue, this is it. Daniel A. Domenech: Unfortunately, our transportation schedule is restricted to the availability of buses and drivers. We currently operate one of the largest bus fleets in the nation, larger than Greyhound. To accommodate later start times we would need to buy more buses and hire more drivers. The finances aside, we cannot hire the number of drivers we currently need.
Reston, Va.: If the current world situation were to continue for months rather than days or weeks, how will high school proms and graduations scheduled for venues in Washington be effected by the restriction on student activities to D.C? Daniel A. Domenech: We will be appraising the situation on a regular basis and will revise our policy as new information might suggest. We do communicate regularly with the Washington Metropolitan Area Council of Governments and my colleagues in surrounding school systems. We can only hope that the situation will have changed for the better by graduation time.
Fairfax, Va.: Dr. Domenech, Do you think it necessary to cancel field trips the day they took place for many students in Fairfax County? Students at the high school near me lost over $7,000 that they had already paid for the trip to New York City. Daniel A. Domenech: We have been advising parents and students all year that, pending world events, field trips could be canceled and the school district would not be held liable for financial losses. The safety of our students is our primary concern and we will act immediately to ensure safety.
Springfield, Va.: To whom does your statement "international travel is restricted until further notice" apply? Does it apply to privately sponsored international trips where the teachers are the group leaders, the teachers advertised the trip in the school and their students are enrolled on the trip? A fellow worker said that Montgomery County School Board has a similar statement, but it does not apply to privately sponsored international trips. Daniel A. Domenech: Our policy applies only to school sponsored trips.
Alexandria, Va.: The war and the NCLB discussions have sort of pushed budget discussions off the radar screen. Will Fairfax Schools have enough money to do a good job next year? Daniel A. Domenech: Two factors have resulted in this year being a relatively "good" budget year. The school system has been taking steps for the last two years to save money and be more cost effective. The saved money was not spent but rather was applied to the next year's anticipated shortfall. Also, Governor Warner presented a budget that did not reduce our education funding. These two factors have resulted in a budget that at this point is only $3.5 million apart from what the County is offering. Last year at this time we were $61 million apart.
Alexandria, Va.: I note that Fairfax County Public Schools was recently cited by the federal government for its security preparedness -- and I found the Web site on safety very helpful. But there are a lot of rumors around my daughter's school about locking parents out if there was a chemical attack. Would you really do that? Daniel A. Domenech: Your concern relates to the "shelter in place plan." There is some confusion on this. Shelter in place has saved many lives around the country over many years. When a location or school is enveloped by a potentially fatal chemical or biological cloud, all windows and vents are shut, power is turned off, and no one is allowed in or out of the building until the all clear is given by public safety officials. If parents could be safely standing outside the school waiting to pick up their children, then clearly there would be no reason to keep the children locked in the school. This is a short term strategy and is not intended to keep children in school for a prolonged period of time.
Fairfax, Va.: There was talk of adding two additional staff development days for teachers in the beginning of the 2003-2004 school year. Is that still in the plan? Daniel A. Domenech: Our budget includes two additional staff development days for teachers with a salary increase of one percent for the two days.
Oak Hill, Va.: What is the FCPS policy concerning compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act, which gives high school students' personal information to military recruiters? Daniel A. Domenech: We are obliged to provide student information to military recruiters and we are doing so.
Vienna, Va.: This is actually a statistics question! We are looking for a new house somewhere in Fairfax County, and since we have two kids we are paying a lot of attention to elementary school test scores as a measure of local school quality. However, I have been told that some schools have deceptively high test scores because the school hosts a gifted/talented magnet center, and some have deceptively low test scores because they host centers for students facing special challenges. I know that each school is accountable for all its students, but reporting the scores in aggregate is not really sensible. It affects housing prices, just for starters! Can the county statistics people come up with a better way of reporting these oh-so-important scores for the elementary schools? Daniel A. Domenech: Let me suggest to you that you are making a serious mistake if you pick a school on the basis of test scores alone. A test score simply reflects average performance. A better approach is to pick where you want to live and then visit the local school. Staff will be happy to show you around. All of our schools have much to offer to children with a multitude of needs. We cater to the individual needs of all children, not just to the average child.
washingtonpost.com: Dr. Domenech, thank you for being with us today for a very timely and lively discussion. Daniel A. Domenech: My pleasure.
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