Issue: Freedom of Speech

Read the details here of a new document obtained exclusively by Independent Women’s Network, as Fairfax County Public Schools debates a controversial new policy, “Truthful Education.”

Details from the contract:

• On Aug. 5, 2022, Fairfax County Public Schools contract with Lisa Williams, to pay her $56,000 for “strategic coaching” and “guidance” of school board members from August 2022 through June 2023, on “issues related to organizational transformation” that “enhances engagement, coaching and leadership.”
• “Objective 1” is headlined “Transformative Coaching.” The proposal notes that Fairfax County Public Schools “will identify a team of leaders to engage in coaching with Dr. Williams.”
• The work is divided into three sections: “Onboarding,” “Dissecting theory of action” and “Positioning for strategic action,” with “pre-work,” coaching sessions and “post-work.”
• The contract runs from July 8, 2022, through May 31, 2024. The proposal includes language that parents shared trying to decipher its wordiness.
• Williams will get $4,000 per month for 11 months between August 2022 and June 2023, plus $12,000 for three sessions, at $4,000 per session, and $250 per hour for work at the request of Superintendent Michelle Reid.

The controversial new resolution is viewable at this link and readable in its entirety below.

New “Truthful Education” resolution:

Truthful Education in FCPS: Support for Educators and School-Based Administrators Resolution

Whereas, Fairfax County Public Schools and the community it serves are committed to provide an academically rigorous education that promotes a responsive, caring, and inclusive culture where all feel valued, supported, and hopeful;

Whereas, essential to that inclusive classroom culture is an education that is academically rigorous, positions students to be the leaders of their own learning, reflects all voices, and respects the need and desire of our students to know the truth about historic and systemic injustice;

Whereas, FCPS educators, school-based administrators and central office staff are developing curricular resources to meet our students’ needs and the high expectations of our community around our historic truths, representative literature, critical thinking, and social justice;

Whereas, recent events have caused many FCPS educators and school-based administrators to fear that implementing these necessary curricular improvements could lead to personal or professional harm; and

Whereas, in the Teacher and Administrator Performance evaluation protocol, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) requires teachers and administrators to demonstrate a commitment to equity, and provide instruction and classroom strategies that are culturally inclusive and foster responsive learning environments and high academic achievement for all students;

Whereas, it is the role of the Board and the Superintendent to support educators in carrying out the clear and important educational expectations of the VDOE and Fairfax County community that our students are critical thinkers and effective collaborators who acknowledge and understand diverse perspectives and cultures, essential goals of the FCPS Portrait of a Graduate;

Now, therefore, be it resolved the FCPS School Board commits to protect and support educators and school-based administrators in FCPS as they develop and implement antiracist, equity- and justice- based classroom resources and pedagogy that meet the high aspirations of each and every one of our students and of the Fairfax County community.