As we‟ve prepared for the new school year, I have been

talking with our teachers and staff about the “Four C‟s” –

Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking and

Creativity. And I‟ve related these concepts to the skills our

students need to attain true 21st century learning.

I‟m going to use the examples of some of the teachers

featured in the Annual Report that you found on your seats

today to show how these concepts come to life in our

classrooms.

This is Toni Rader of Loudoun County High School. Toni has

been teaching English since 1980.

Two years ago, Toni started working with Microsoft‟s

InterroBANG program. This is a social network, problem-

solving program. It involves students selecting online

challenges and completing service missions in the real world.

They post evidence of their work online.

Because it‟s online, Toni‟s students get feedback on their work

from students and adults around the world. Toni still teaches

the basics of English, but she‟s found an innovative way for

her students to use technology that makes her subject more

relevant to them.

This summer, Toni was one of 102 teachers selected by

Microsoft to take part in the Innovative Education Forum

at the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington. With

six representatives, Loudoun County had the most

participants at this event. The purpose of this gathering

was to show the ways Microsoft wants to incorporate

technology into the classroom.

Every day our students use numerous technological

devices to do everything from texting to gaming to school

research. We can‟t expect them to simply disconnect

when they enter the classroom. Technology is the primary

method through which they acquire information.

One of the projects selected by Microsoft was an online

graphic novel about Virginia‟s history created by Laura

Rahn and her fourth grade class at Mountain View

Elementary. This year-long project featured students

conducting extensive research followed by the

incorporation of that research into a book.

Laura told us she still believes in pencil and paper. She

still believes in turning the pages of a book. But she also

believes in Microsoft‟s vision that asks us „Where will we

be in five to 10 years?” She is developing the skills our

students and teachers will need to function in that world.

Antonio DiBari is a history teacher at Park View High School

but, as with most teachers, his subject matter extends far

beyond any subject title. Tony says he teaches students “life

skills,” such as the proper use of technology, sorting through

the vast amount of information that‟s thrown at them on a

daily basis, and organizational skills.

Tony is also an AVID (Advancement Via Individual

Determination) teacher. AVID is a program that takes

students who have the ability to be good students and gives

them the organizational and communication skills they need

to move to the next level.

Communication can be random and overwhelming in our

world. Tony, and teachers like him, want students to

distinguish meaningful communication and the way to

communicate effectively.

The “Sage on the Stage” style of teaching is dying in

Loudoun County. We collaborate with students to get them

connected to the curriculum. Two teachers who

demonstrate collaboration at its best are Sharon Evick and

Jackie Olson, who teach fifth grade at Rolling Ridge

Elementary.

Sharon teaches regular-education students and Jackie

special education in one of our most diverse schools. They

teach their students to reach across cultural differences

and differences in ability to find answers collaboratively.

Students learn that their classmates, no matter what

obstacles they face in life, can contribute to the learning

process and that everybody learns differently. By seeing

these differences, students discover ways to enhance their

own methods of learning.

People who say “Those who can‟t do, teach” have never met

Al Young. Al, who teaches guitar at Smart‟s Mill and J.

Lupton Simpson middle schools, is a world-class jazz

musician who has toured the world on behalf of the U.S.

State Department.

Eighteen years into his teaching career, Al said he‟s still

growing as an artist and wants to convey that sense of

growth through learning to all his students.

People talk about STEM education and its importance to

21st century learning. STEM stands for science, technology,

engineering, and math. I like to expand that acronym to

STEAM to include the arts.

Without the creativity found in the arts you can‟t shape the

other elements of STEM into useful tools to enhance the

world around us.

A teacher who models collaboration and creativity is Scott

Sprengel, an art teacher at Newton-Lee Elementary.

Scott was an architect who couldn‟t find satisfaction in his

career; a satisfaction he has found in the classroom.

Scott collaborates with classroom teachers so that

students create art that relates to the social sciences and

math units they are studying.

Like a lot of our teachers he brings professional skills to

the classroom that go far beyond an ordinary teaching

résumé. He brings a collaborative approach to a subject

that can help connect all parts of the curriculum in a

creative manner.

This is Jason Comins, one of our physical education

teachers at Belmont Station Elementary. OK, you may ask

what a gym teacher has to do with the art of collaboration

and creativity; these are the guys who oversee jumping

jacks, right? Wrong.

Our physical education classes now include lessons on

nutrition, discussions of how our body functions, and

strategies for keeping your body fit for life. Physical

education now incorporates parts of several academic

disciplines.

Jason‟s work has been considered so cutting-edge that

he‟s been an instructor in the First Lady‟s fitness program

at the White House.

When he started teaching in 1989, John Bonfadini was a

wood shop teacher. Today, he‟s a technology education

teacher at Mercer Middle School. John‟s change in title is

more than semantics.

Today his students use computer generation to design

houses. They construct miniature bridges that they

designed. John also teaches practical skills such as using

a hammer, saw and pliers.

Teachers like John incorporate math, science and even a

little history into their subject. They do what every good

teacher does: make the subject relevant to their students

by showing how it applies to everyday life.

Today, I‟m going to add a fifth “C” to my usual four; and

that “C” stands for “Commitment.” I don‟t know of anybody

who exemplifies commitment better than Denise Wingfield,

who teaches Advanced Placement biology and

independent science research at Dominion High School.

Denise gets up at 4:30 every morning so that she can open

her lab to students at 6 for extra research. This kind of

commitment builds a bond with students that‟s invaluable

in building student success.

Her students have a ritual through which they acknowledge

this bond: when they‟re accepted to college, they buy

Denise a sweatshirt from that college. She now has more

than 300 sweatshirts in her collection. It‟s worth noting that

the latest one is from Dartmouth.

Loudoun‟s commitment to improving science education took flight

in 2005 with the opening of the Academy of Science. Last year‟s

Academy of Science graduating class of 59 students was offered

$5.1 million in scholarships. Beyond numbers, the

accomplishments of Academy of Science students have been

remarkable.

The young lady on the left is Academy of Science alumna

Elizabeth Asai, who is now a junior at Yale. Last year she earned a

$100,000 national grant to refine a miniature camera that can help

doctors detect melanoma from a remote location.

The young men pictured here are the team the Academy of

Science sent to the International Space Olympics in Russia last

October. The young man at the left in this picture, Ari Dychovsky,

won that competition. He also took part in the International Youth

Science Forum in London this summer.

But our science curriculum goes far beyond the Academy of

Science as evidenced by this video clip of our Summer STEM

Camp.

Click to play video clip

The level of scientific excellence the Academy of Science

reflects is now evident throughout our curriculum at all

grades. During the last school year Dr. John Mather, a

Nobel Prize winner, lectured at Belmont Ridge Middle

School about the Big Bang Theory.

Famed oceanographer Robert Ballard spoke to more than

100 of our students at a science symposium at George

Washington University.

This summer, we again held the Go Girls Genomics Camp

at George Washington. By partnering with organizations

such as the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the

Jason Project we‟ll make such opportunities available to

even more of our students.

Since 2009, Loudoun has been part of George Washington

University‟s Teachers in Industry Project. Begun with

primarily STEM teachers, industry partners later requested

that the program also include English and language arts

educators.

This summer program connects the business world with the

classroom and gives teachers a hands-on look at the jobs

they‟re preparing students for. You also get to do some really

cool things, like test an F-35 flight simulator at Lockheed

Martin‟s Flight Demonstration Center in Crystal City.

Here Loudoun County‟s Math Department Chair, Nicole

Kezmarski, gets into the cockpit.

We often cite our business partnerships when they

contribute to our intellectual capital. But I‟d be remiss if I

didn‟t also mention the local partners who watch out for our

students‟ physical well-being. Loudoun Inova Hospital has

expanded its Mobile Health Services to include serving the

more than 650 students whom we have identified as

homeless.

Even in a county with the resources of Loudoun, there are

students who find themselves without the basic necessities

of life. We hope that by working with the “Hope Bus” we can

make sure that all our students have the basic human

necessities that form the foundation of any successful life.

I‟d like to publically thank Inova and its director of Mobile

Health Services, Donna Fortier, for the work they are doing

on behalf of Loudoun‟s homeless.

Donna would you please stand.

This is Dawn Hitchens, an American Sign Language teacher

at Loudoun Valley and Woodgrove high schools. It would be

hard to find a better story about the things a dedicated

teacher can accomplish than the one Dawn exemplifies.

A couple of years ago her advanced students became aware

that not all Virginia‟s public colleges accepted American Sign

Language as a foreign language for the purpose of

admission.

They, and Dawn, sought to rectify this situation. They wrote

to members of the General Assembly, they testified before

committees in Richmond, and on May 23rd, Governor

McDonnell signed into law a bill that requires colleges to

consider American Sign Language a foreign language in the

admissions process.

That‟s a life lesson in persistence and working within the

political system for the common good.

A decade after we started the Foreign Language in

Elementary School, or FLES, program, enrollment in

foreign language – including American Sign Language – at

the seventh- and eighth-grade level is growing by leaps

and bounds.

In a world made smaller by technology, knowing how to

communicate in more than one language is a critical 21st

century skill.

Today we integrate our subjects and track student progress

as a learning team so that we‟re sure our students see how

what we‟re teaching them relates to the real world.

The four C‟s of collaboration, communication, creativity, and

critical thinking are evident in our classrooms every day.

Now I‟d like to talk about the world beyond our classrooms.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, like its Loudoun

counterpart, has long understood the relationship between

education and commerce.

I‟ll give you a moment to read the words you see on the

screen. These words come from a report distributed by the

U.S. Chamber.

The report also states this lasting truth. (Pause) What‟s

amazing about this report, which is titled “Our Children Are

Cheated – the Crisis in American Education” is that the

Chamber distributed it in 1947.

I think the statements it makes about the importance of

education in American life are as true today as they were 64

years ago.

Here are some facts I‟d like to share with you about

Loudoun‟s schools.

First are some that illustrate what we consider when

building our budget and our capital needs assessments. As

this slide shows, nearly one in five Loudoun County

residents attends public school. That‟s a remarkably high

number.

As you can see from this chart, our annual growth rate is

more than 3,000 students per year.

We‟ve managed to deal with growth while our overall

budget has decreased.

This year we have virtually the same budget as we did

three years ago with more than 9,000 additional students to

serve. We were able to achieve those results by increasing

class size, freezing salaries, freezing non-school based

hires, and charging various student fees.

The bulk of the increase in this year‟s budget is made up by

our first raise for employees in three years and increased

health and retirement costs that we had been given a

holiday on in the past. I‟d note that we have added no new

programs.

Even with an increased budget this year, we have seen a 14

percent decrease in our average cost per pupil over the past

four years.

While the cost per pupil has also decreased in neighboring

jurisdictions, Loudoun still ranks next-to-last in this category.

By any means you measure, our taxpayers are getting a

large return on the dollars they invest in education.

As you can see, our graduation rate and SAT scores

continue to rise.

We also have developed a culture of saving, as exemplified

by our energy management program.

Since 1993, we have saved more than $41.1 million dollars

by monitoring our energy use and becoming more energy

efficient.

We estimate we have cut our potential energy use by 28.7

percent.

During the last six years, we have added more than 1.4

million square feet of building space to the school system.

During that time, the average energy use per square foot

has dropped 15 percent.

As this graphic shows, we‟ve built 29 schools during the last

decade. That‟s many more schools than are in the typical

American school district.

What makes this statistic even more striking is that the

average school district in America has seven schools

according to statistics from the U.S. Department of

Education.

We realize the tough times we‟ve gone through economically.

But when our School Board asks for new schools, it does so

on the basis of need. And as you‟ve seen, the rate at which

our student population grows creates a definite need.

During the past four years the School Board has asked that

10 schools – three high schools, a middle school, five

elementary schools and a new technology center – be placed

on the November referendum so that they could be funded

through bonds.

Of those requests, two elementary schools and a high school

have actually been placed on the ballot and have received

funding.

The need for new schools, especially new high schools, is

acute here in the Ashburn area.

Without relief, two of our high schools, Briar Woods and

Broad Run, will be far over capacity for the 2015-2016

school year unless we open HS-8 and HS-6, as planned,

for that school year.

This November we‟ll have five school projects on the ballot

asking for permission to issue 169.6 million dollars in bonds.

This is a large amount of money, but I‟d note that in two of

the past four years, there have been no schools on the ballot

while our need to accommodate students continues to grow.

I‟d also note that the referendum is not a vote on whether

the schools should be built; that has already been decided

by the School Board and the Board of Supervisors, but only

on their method of funding.

As business people, I know you found the latest Manpower

Group Survey of Business Needs as alarming as I did. For

the first time, more than half the firms surveyed could not fill

critical positions.

Also for the first time, more critical workers from overseas

who are trained in America are going home after that training.

Industrial giants like Siemens have well-paying jobs go

wanting for lack of qualified workers.

These are the jobs that need to be filled in descending

order of need. While these professions represent a diverse

group of skills, there is one thing common to all of them:

education. You see “laborer” up there and you may say

“That‟s not something that requires an education.”

However, in cases like Siemens, the laborers they‟re

looking for are able to service complex robotics and

oversee an automated production process.

Like almost everything in this world, the definition of what it

means to be a laborer is changing. Here‟s what Loudoun‟s

schools are doing to meet those changes.

The first step toward getting students into higher education is getting

them onto a college campus at a young age. Our “College in Six”

program, which started last year, saw every sixth-grader -- more than

4,000 students in all -- visit one of the colleges you see represented

here.

In seventh grade, this program has college students visiting

classrooms to discuss college life.

Through “College in Six” all of our middle schools will develop a

partnership with a Virginia or Metropolitan area college or university.

During the past several years we have developed sister

school relationships with schools in China, Singapore, and

Germany. Our culinary arts students at Monroe Technology

Center completed a two-year exchange program with Konrad

Adenauer Schule in Main-Taunus-Kreis, Germany.

Benjamin Phillips, a Monroe graduate, will represent the

United States in the printing category at the “World Team”

competition this October in London. To build a true

understanding of the world we live in, it‟s necessary to visit

that world.

A common thread through all workplace success is

leadership. We‟ve been building this for the last two years

through the Navy Junior ROTC program at Loudoun County

High School.

The 200 cadets we‟re enrolling this year is almost double the

number that started the program. Our cadets have learned

discipline, respect, and the principles that lead to success in

the military or any career they might choose.

They‟ve had unique experiences such as sailing aboard the

USS Iwo Jima and taking part in Fleet Week in New York.

We also offer organizations such as the Future Business

Leaders of America and DECA, an association for marketing,

that connect students with the business world and allow them

to develop professional skills while still in high school.

Our Teacher Cadet program has grown from 34 students in

2002 to 137 last year. We want our students to explore

potential post-school careers while still in a safe learning

environment.

I am happy to report to you that your public schools continue

to provide excellent learning opportunities for our students.

Just like the world around us, we in the schools cannot sit

still. Our obligation is to work with you, with our parents, and

with the community to meet the needs of all of our students.

I understand the pressure that growth places on our

community, and I understand that we see that pressure most

clearly in our schools. That said, I know you agree with me

that we cannot afford to shortchange the future. The

students in our schools today will be the business women

and men of tomorrow. They will fill the professions and lead

our communities. Our obligation to them and the future is to

do our best to equip them for the challenges they will face.

We believe that by focusing on the 21st Century skills of

Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, and Critical

Thinking, we will enable all of our students to lead

productive lives that will enrich their families and their

communities.

We are heading into elections in November that will be

critical in determining the future of this Loudoun community

that we love. Your schools cannot meet the demands put on

them without the support of all of our elected leaders. That

support can be seen as a negative tax on the present or as

an investment in the future. We in the schools are

committed to providing our young people the best education

possible in a County that has the material wealth to invest in

their future.

For those who seek to lead our community I promise that

we want to collaborate with you; to be a true partner.

Accusations and confrontations have not, and will not, get

us to where we want to be as a community. Only through

true collaboration can we achieve our collective vision.

We want to continue to engage in critical thinking -

examining what we do and how we do it to ensure we are

doing the best we can with the community‟s tax dollars.

We are investing in our most precious community asset,

our children. I want to assure those who will take office in

January that we will work with them using the core values

found in the four C‟s, and we will continue the fifth C of

Commitment. We want to communicate with you now,

before the election, and once you are elected. If you have

a concern or a fact you want to check, please call us.

We‟re always ready to provide information for you.

Our children learn that Communication is a two-way

engagement. If we speak and listen to one another, our

children will win and the future of Loudoun will be bright.

Thank you, and I would now be happy to take any

questions you may have.