Fairfax County鈥檚 school board on Thursday voted to nix a volunteer community group that advises on long-term plans for school facilities.
The division鈥檚 Facilities Planning Advisory Council is scheduled to be disbanded by April 1, after a 8-3 vote in support of the move. In place of the council, the Comprehensive Planning and Development Committee is adding five seats.
The Facilities Planning Advisory Council, according to the school system鈥檚 website, gives the school board advice on long-term plans for educational and educational support facilities. It meets twice per month, and this year, it studied projects such as solar panels in parking lots and electric vehicle charging stations. It鈥檚 also exploring best practices for handling a deferred maintenance backlog.
Some Fairfax County School Board members think the advisory council doesn’t coordinate with the Comprehensive Planning and Development Committee because it operates separately. This division, according to some board members, results in the council offering insight on projects that are not related to the district’s most pressing needs.
But Doug Taylor, who spoke during the public comment portion of Thursday鈥檚 meeting, said the Facilities Planning Advisory Council has provided leaders with ideas for improving procurement methods and strengthening sustainability efforts.
鈥淣o Comprehensive Planning and Development Committee member has communicated that the Facilities Planning Advisory Council is advising on irrelevant topics,鈥� Taylor said.
School board members in favor of the move to disband the advisory council argued that by elevating some community members to the Comprehensive Planning and Development Committee, their input will carry more weight.
鈥淲hat this motion does is take the function of Facilities Planning Advisory Council, which is an expert input, and it injects it right to a standing board committee, and it gives those members, those community members, a vote at the table, a seat at the table to help the division inform facilities planning policies,鈥� board member Kyle McDaniel said.
鈥淭his is not eliminating public input. It’s not eliminating parent voices. It’s not eliminating any expert input that we value as a school division,” he added.
But Katie Hermann, the current Facilities Planning Advisory Council chair, said the group brings independent analysis and recommendations to the school board.
鈥淭here’s no status or professional gain serving on Facilities Planning Advisory Council,鈥� Hermann said. 鈥淥ur members are volunteers who are professional engineers, planners, analysts, environmental specialists and industry experts who offer their time because we believe in strengthening Fairfax County Public Schools long-term facilities planning.鈥�
The school system has two types of committees. Advisory committees, such as the Facilities Planning Advisory Council, have community members who board members appoint and community members who represent organizations. They meet once a month and create a report for the school board, which is nonbinding.
Board committees, such as the Comprehensive Planning and Development Committee, have both school board members and community members. The board and community members then collaborate to create recommendations together.
This new school board member vote will eliminate the advisory committee and only have the board committee.
鈥淚t actually elevates our community members to a level that our advisory committees aren’t there, and that’s what we’re trying to do here with Comprehensive Planning and Development Committee and Facilities Planning Advisory Council,鈥� board member Rachna Sizemore Heizer said.
鈥淩ecognizing the expertise and the value that the people on Facilities Planning Advisory Council bring, we’re trying to elevate them to the table with us at Comprehensive Planning and Development Committee, so we can jointly address the issues around facilities and have the conversation,” she added.
Board member Ryan McElveen, one of the three board members to vote against the plan, said his view 鈥渋s that you don’t elevate something by decimating it.鈥�
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