Falls Church City Public Schools

School Board meetings, presentations, and performances from Falls Church City Public Schools.

Falls Church City Public Schools is a education podcast hosted by Falls Church City Public Schools, with 166 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Falls Church City Public Schools hosts Falls Church City Public Schools, a education show with 166 episodes published.

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  Falls Church City Public Schools

  Falls Church City School Board Work Session and Special Meeting, September 22, 2026

  Sep 23, 20262h 43m

  The meeting opens with the board recognizing retiring Director of Communications John Brett for 20 years of service to FCCPS. Dr. Terry Dade and Marybeth Connelly then explain how the district will build its next five-year strategic plan. The plan covers 2027 to 2032, and the district will gather input through focus groups, town halls, and a steering committee. Board members weigh in on their own role in that process. In the second half, Dr. William Bates and Mr. Knight, our new Director of Assessment and Accountability, present a three-year look at student performance. They cover state tests, STAR benchmarks, English learner progress, locally developed history assessments, and IB and SAT results. They also answer board questions about how teachers use the data in the classroom. The meeting closes with a closed session on personnel and legal matters, approval of the consent agenda, and a preview of upcoming items. This audio has been edited to remove 23 minutes of silence while the board was in closed meeting.

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  Episode #2

  Powered by People: Dawn Mills, Transportation Coordinator

  Sep 22, 20263 minS1

  Dawn Mills spent 31 years driving buses in Fairfax County, retired, and quickly discovered she hated it. So she came to Falls Church City Public Schools as a driver, fell in love with the job, and stepped up to become our transportation coordinator. Host Alisha Prince talks with Dawn about what goes on behind the scenes of every bus ride: placing new students and kindergartners on routes, managing routes all year long, and scheduling every field trip and athletics trip for every school. Dawn also shares why driving in Falls Church felt stress-free, what she loves about our polite, chatty students, and why she keeps seeing the same neighbors out walking their dogs. Plus the fun questions: the coffee creamer that gets her going each morning, the one word she'd use to describe Falls Church City, and how she'd redesign our buses if yellow weren't required. (Hint: it involves a lot of little handprints.) Powered by People introduces you to the unique people who keep FCCPS running every day.

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  Falls Church City Public Schools

  Oak Street Elementary Principal Coffee | September 18, 2026

  Sep 18, 202635 min

  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

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  Falls Church City Public Schools

  School Board Regular Meeting: September 8, 2026

  Sep 10, 202656 min

  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.

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  Falls Church City Public Schools

  Meet the Team: Mount Daniel Principal Coffee — September 2, 2026

  Sep 8, 202654 min

  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.

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