At the first Fairfax County School Board meeting of this academic year, September 1, our Vice President of Communications, Jenna White, addressed the board and the community during public testimony in the auditorium at Luther Jackson Middle School in West Falls Church.
Jenna used the story of a Navy Seal who organized the settling of an Afghan refugee family in Florida: he said “I did what any good Navy Seal would do….I called in the local PTA!”
To a warm reception from the crowd in the auditorium, Jenna described the 170 PTAs in our county that bring together staff, families, students and community members to do the hard work of addressing the problems of our schools in the wake of the pandemic.
She talked about the PTAs goal that every child reach their full potential in public education.
Particular problems she mentioned are drops in scores in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, known as “the nation’s report card”) and the grave impact on student, staff and family mental health caused by the pandemic.
Jenna promised that the FCCPTA and local units would do the hard work made necessary by the challenges of present circumstances, and ended by thanking the elected officials for their work.
Jenna’s speech was met by applause by the audience, which included PTA members, other parents and staff, and students and community members. Great representation for the FCCPTA!
Watch the 2 minute remarks here:
Local unit members and leaders, and members of the board of the FCCPTA will continue to advocate at the school board meetings, in community meetings, and with administrative staff with the goal, as Jenna said, that each child grow and meet their potential. Now is the time for PTA members to step forward and let our voices be raised in public!
School board meetings this fall are 9/15, 10/6, 10/20. 11/3, 11/14, 12/1 and 12/15. Registrations for the speaker lottery begin four days before that, and end two days before at precisely 7 p.m. (Tuesdays, except for the second November meeting, when you must register before 7 p.m. on 11/10).
Speakers may be virtual, in-person or pre-recorded. It is easy to register online here, beginning four business days before the meeting and ending Tuesdays (except for that 11/10 deadline).
For questions or suggestions, contact Robert Rigby at vp.advocacy@fccpta.org