The Oak Street administrative team sat down with families this morning, and this is the full conversation.

Principal Karim Daugherty opens with her own path into the job, from teaching and the PBIS work that came before it, through her years at Beech Tree, to four years at Oak Street. She lays out what she leads by: give students real leadership opportunities, trust teachers with decisions and not just classrooms, treat parents as partners, and answer the phone.

Assistant Principal Carrie Checca traces a route that runs from a small school on Long Island through twelve years in California, where she helped found a charter school and got her first taste of IB as its coordinator. Special Education Administrator Abby Poplstein, now in her second year at Oak Street, talks about student-centered data, the partnership between special education and general education teachers, and making sure every student can get to the SCA table and the safety patrol roster.

The second half is a guided tour of the Primary Years Programme, and it carries well in audio. Ms. Checca explains the learner profile and why the same language follows a student from JTP through Meridian, what student agency looks like when a fifth grader chooses how to show what they learned, how the six units of inquiry pull science, math, and language arts into one central idea, and why an Oak Street teacher should never be surprised at the end of a unit.

A note for listeners: the presenters work from slides throughout, including a fifth-grade unit of inquiry and the IB journey poster. The video version on the FCCPS YouTube channel shows those visuals, and the slides go out to Oak Street families in Tiger Times.

Runtime: about 34 minutes.

Falls Church City Public Schools | fccps.org

Two weeks into the 2026-27 school year, Superintendent Dr. Terry Dade brings the Falls Church City School Board his Opening of Schools report. You'll hear how convocation kicked off the year and what each of the five FCCPS schools is celebrating and working toward. Dr. Dade also describes how staff began districtwide AI training in August. He shares a preliminary count of 32 more students than last year, and he expects that will make FCCPS one of the few districts in the region to grow this fall.

About five minutes in, the Board plays the "mascot off-season" video made for convocation. It's a visual piece, so you may want to watch it on the FCCPS YouTube channel.

The Board then approves the first reading of Policy ILBC, College Board School Day Program, which a new state law requires. FCCPS has already set up an optional SAT for seniors at no cost and the PSAT for sophomores and juniors this October. Board members ask whether juniors could someday choose the SAT instead. Student representative Sanaa Washiko explains why an October test date matters for seniors facing early college deadlines. The Board also adopts Policy IEB, National Motto, which Virginia law requires.

The meeting wraps with Board member comments and a preview of a busy next meeting: a draft strategic plan timeline and the academic performance report.

Note: This audio has been edited to remove the silence while the Board met in closed session.

This episode replaces an earlier version that was missing several minutes of the recording. This one is complete.

Principal Tim Kasik opens the school year by introducing the Mount Daniel leadership team and explaining how the building runs. Recorded on the eighth day of school, this is the only in-person Principal Coffee of the year.

Kasik, Assistant Principal Lindsay Covey, Special Education Administrator Kate Mahr, PYP Coordinator Shonta Robertson, and Administrative Assistant Nora Pishner each introduce themselves, then walk through the classroom teams, the student services and Encore specialists, and the front office and health room staff.

The second half turns practical. Covey lays out the K-2 daily schedule, including two Encore blocks, two recesses, roughly 100 minutes of literacy, and the intervention and enrichment period the school calls Danny Time. Robertson explains what inquiry-based learning looks like for five-, six-, and seven-year-olds under the IB Primary Years Programme. Kasik decodes the FCCPS calendar, including the difference between early release Wednesdays and long Wednesdays, and explains what visiting the building looks like on a narrow residential street shared with neighbors.

Parents ask about literacy and math screening windows, whether kindergarteners bring home homework, screen time in aftercare, biking up the hill to school, and who to email first with a question.

Kasik also previews the year ahead for Principal Coffees. Most topics will now be pre-recorded and released here and on YouTube, covering the Primary Years Programme, special education, and enrichment.

Portions of this session reference the FCCPS calendar and staff slides shown in the room. The video version on the FCCPS YouTube channel includes those visuals. Spanish and Russian versions are available on both the YouTube channel and this podcast feed.

Mount Daniel families can find weekly updates in Danny's Corner, which arrives on Thursdays at 7:45 p.m. Division news arrives daily in Morning Announcements at 6:45 a.m.

Snow machines, Muppets, and a ninja gym. Najla Muhammad has purchased all of them for Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School, and she is the first guest on Powered by People, a new FCCPS podcast hosted by Chief Operating Officer Alicia Prince.

Najla has been the finance assistant at the middle school for 15 years. Colleagues call her Moneybags. She makes sure teachers have classroom supplies, whiteboards, and testing materials, and she handles the purchases that become the moments students remember, including the water slides for field day and the ninja gym the PE team brought to the school through a Falls Church Education Foundation grant.

Powered by People celebrates the staff behind the work that keeps our schools moving, from the classroom to the bus lot, the cafeteria to the front office. New episodes go behind the scenes with the people who make Team FCCPS work.

Principal Tim Kasik opens the school year by introducing the Mount Daniel leadership team and explaining how the building runs. Recorded on the eighth day of school, this is the only in-person Principal Coffee of the year.

Kasik, Assistant Principal Lindsay Covey, Special Education Administrator Kate Mahr, PYP Coordinator Shonta Robertson, and Administrative Assistant Nora Pishner each introduce themselves, then walk through the classroom teams, the student services and Encore specialists, and the front office and health room staff.

The second half turns practical. Covey lays out the K-2 daily schedule, including two Encore blocks, two recesses, roughly 100 minutes of literacy, and the intervention and enrichment period the school calls Danny Time. Robertson explains what inquiry-based learning looks like for five-, six-, and seven-year-olds under the IB Primary Years Programme. Kasik decodes the FCCPS calendar, including the difference between early release Wednesdays and long Wednesdays, and explains what visiting the building looks like on a narrow residential street shared with neighbors.

Parents ask about literacy and math screening windows, whether kindergarteners bring home homework, screen time in aftercare, biking up the hill to school, and who to email first with a question.

Kasik also previews the year ahead for Principal Coffees. Most topics will now be pre-recorded and released here and on YouTube, covering the Primary Years Programme, special education, and enrichment.

Portions of this session reference the FCCPS calendar and staff slides shown in the room. The video version on the FCCPS YouTube channel includes those visuals. Spanish and Russian versions are available on both the YouTube channel and this podcast feed.

Mount Daniel families can find weekly updates in Danny's Corner, which arrives Thursdays at 7:45 p.m. Division news arrives daily in Morning Announcements at 6:45 a.m.

Falls Church City School Board Work Session and Special Meeting, August 25, 2026

Audio from the School Board's meeting on the second day of the 2026-27 school year.

Dr. Terry Dade lays out his four goals for the year: a strategic plan for 2027 through 2032, implementation of the division's AI policy, wellness and belonging work across all five schools, and the district's first comprehensive capital improvement plan.

Chief Operating Officer Alicia Prince delivers the school opening and operations report, covering summer building projects, the new contracted maintenance model, first-day transportation and food service, and the updated facility rental fees that took effect August 1. Board questions on those fees run about 15 minutes and make up the longest discussion of the night.

Board members Amie Murphy and Mary Kate Hughes open the board's year-long review of technology use in schools with a formal statement and a timeline running through spring 2027. The board also approves the superintendent's first contract addendum and welcomes student representative Sanna Washiko.

Running time: 53 minutes.

Two weeks out from the first day of school, the School Board heard public comment on parental leave and committed to a careful fall review of all leave policies and regulations. Chair Kathleen Tysse noted FCCPS was among the first divisions in Virginia to adopt paid parental leave when the board passed it unanimously in 2023, and that new state paid family and medical leave legislation takes effect in 2028. Board members Anne Sherwood, MaryKate Hughes, Jerrod Anderson and Bethany Henderson each weighed in on the difference between policy, regulation and day-to-day practice.

Dr. Terry Dade previewed four draft goals for 2026-27 — the next strategic plan, AI policy implementation, wellness and belonging, and long-range facilities planning — with details coming at the next meeting. He also outlined what families can expect on cell phones and AI when school opens, and shared a report from summer school, new staff orientation, and a successful General Assembly outdoor learning grant.

Board members previewed the advisory committee orientation on August 18 and the athletic boosters community tailgate on August 28.

This recording covers the open portions of the regular meeting. The audio has been edited to remove the quiet time while the board was in closed session.

The Falls Church City School Board closed out the school year June 23 with advisory committee reports, the district's five-year International Baccalaureate evaluation, and adoption of FCCPS's first Use of Artificial Intelligence policy.

Committee chairs walked the board through a year of work: the Business in Education committee facilitated more than 200 student-business partnerships and launched the Biz Buzz newsletter; Advanced Academics tracked a rise in advanced-academic identification to roughly 25 percent of students in grades three through eight; and Health & Wellness reported on the intersection of AI and student wellbeing. Chair Kathleen Tysse shared that the Falls Church Education Foundation has returned $326,579.72 to the schools this year, the largest investment in the foundation's history, including $100,000 for the Family Assistance Fund.

Dr. William Bates presented findings from February's in-person IB evaluation, which praised FCCPS's well-resourced classrooms, strong instructional leadership, and psychologically safe school culture, and offered five division-level recommendations. The board also approved the FCEF office lease, a collective bargaining agreement and side letter with the Falls Church Education Association, and adopted policies on the use of AI, the school attorney, and safe storage of prescription drugs and firearms.

Listen for the full discussion. Falls Church City Public Schools | www.fccps.org

The Falls Church City School Board closed out the 2025–26 school year at its June 9 regular meeting. The board gave first-reading approval to a new artificial intelligence policy, a collective bargaining agreement covering certified staff, and a financing agreement for two new propane school buses.

The evening opened with Business in Education awards honoring six community partners, followed by recognition of the district's student representatives, including a resolution celebrating outgoing student liaison Aiden Harper. Discussion on the AI policy ran long, with the board refining language on human oversight of grading and discipline decisions and folding consequences for misuse into the student code of conduct. Dr. Terry Dade closed with reflections on a strong first year and a thank-you to staff heading into summer break.

Listen for the full discussion on collective bargaining, the bus purchase, three first-reading policies, and end-of-year board comments. Meeting materials are available on BoardDocs.

A big night in Falls Church City — the School Board's May meeting packed more than four hours of consequential decisions, honest conversation, and community celebration into one session.

It opened the way the best meetings should: honoring the people who make FCCPS work every day. Four staff members were recognized as Employees of the Year, with tributes that were equal parts heartfelt and hilarious. Brannon McLaughlin of Jessie Thackrey Preschool — dubbed the school's "sticker queen" and "resident life coach" — was named Academic Support Staff of the Year. Roberto Fuentes, the quietly dependable custodian who "was trying to hide out in the back," took Operations Support Staff of the Year. Josh Singer, the IB Diploma Coordinator who keeps Meridian's "IB world spinning on its axis," was named Professional Specialist of the Year. And Kieran Shakeshaft, the Henderson history teacher known for showing up to class in full Black Death regalia, earned the Teacher of the Year award — with one board member's son summing it up simply: "Obviously he won. He's the GOAT."

From there, the board dug into its full agenda. Dr. Jennifer Santiago delivered the district's equity and belonging report, including a candid discussion of achievement gaps, the new racial accountability framework, and the power of school-based equity teams. Chief Operating Officer Alicia Prince walked the board through the results of a long-overdue transportation audit — and fielded sharp questions about walk zones, bus safety, propane versus electric buses, and what it actually means to enforce a one-mile standard in a 2.2-square-mile city.

Then came the main event: the adoption of the FY2027 budget. After months of community input and a new collaborative process with City Council, the board voted to approve the operating, food services, and community services budgets — with Chair Tysse calling it a budget they could all be proud of.

The meeting closed with forward-looking work on AI: a data-rich presentation on where FCCPS teachers actually stand on AI readiness, followed by Dr. Dade sharing what students themselves said in their own research and town halls. Spoiler: they think Turnitin is broken, they see AI as an equity issue, and they unanimously agree that using it on summatives is cheating.

Falls Church City Public Schools | fccps.org