Tag: school board
School boards sue governor over masks
The Fairfax County School Board joined with six other school boards in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Executive Order 2. That document gives parents the right to disregard the state’s universal mask mandate. The other plaintiffs include the school boards of Alexandria City, Arlington County, City of Richmond, Falls Church City, … Continued
FCPS will notify parents about the importance of safe gun storage
Secure gun storage could help prevent school shootings, like the recent one at Oxford High School in Michigan. [Jake May/Flint Journal] Fairfax County Public Schools will notify parents and guardians about Virginia’s secure firearm safety law, Superintendent Scott Brabrand announced Dec. 16. FCPS will also inform parents about why secure storage is essential and other … Continued
Survey seeks input on parking lot in Justice Park – even though that proposal dead
Justice Park with Justice High School in the background. A survey from Mason school board member Ricardy Anderson revisits the controversy over whether a parking lot should be created in Justice Park to accommodate a forthcoming addition for Justice High School – even though Fairfax County Public Schools and the Park Authority both rejected the parking lot … Continued
Fairfax County board approves plastic bag tax
Many plastic bags end up in streams. [Litter Free Virginia] The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors passed a 5-cent tax on disposable plastic bags Sept. 14. The new tax takes effect Jan. 1, 2022, and applies to bags provided to customers at grocery stores, convenience stores, and drug stores.
School board approves employee bonuses
The Fairfax County School Board on Aug. 26 approved one-time $1,000 bonuses to all full-time and hourly contracted employees, including bus drivers and food service workers. Temporary hourly employees will get $500 bonuses.
Former Justice High School principal Penny Gros promoted to assistant superintendent
Gros [FCPS] Penny Gros, the former principal of Glasgow Middle School and Justice High School, continues to move up in the Fairfax County Public Schools hierarchy. The school board approved her appointment as the assistant superintendent for Region 4, effective July 1. In that role, she will be responsible for student achievement, assessment, and the … Continued
School board approves boundary change but parents upset with lack of community engagement
The boundary adjustment map approved by the school board. Click to enlarge. The Fairfax County School Board approved a boundary adjustment June 17 that changes the attendance areas of elementary schools within the Justice High School pyramid. While the school board passed a motion to reduce the negative impact on families in the Sleepy Hollow … Continued
Antisemitic flyers target Fairfax County school board members
Antisemitic and homophobic flyers have been distributed in Fairfax County aimed at members of the Fairfax County School Board. The flyers say they are from the Ku Klux Klan. In response, school board member Stella Pekarsky (Sully), said, “hate group attacks like these are meant to terrorize entire communities. When we are confronted with such … Continued
School news roundup
Students in the Environmental Club at Woodson High School (above) raise vegetables for local food pantries. Belvedere Elementary School has a similar program. These school news items and photos are from Fairfax County Public Schools. Back to school – The vast majority of students plan to return to in-person learning for the 2021-22 school year, … Continued
Sleepy Hollow families oppose school boundary change
Sleepy Hollow Elementary School [FCPS] Residents of the Sleepy Hollow neighborhood are fighting Fairfax County Public Schools’ plan to transfer their children from Sleepy Hollow Elementary School to Beech Tree Elementary. Many parents say transferring students after the disruptive pandemic year would be traumatic, and they charge FCPS hasn’t given them a solid rationale for … Continued
Parents invited to school boundary study meetings
Modular units handle the overflow at Glen Forest Elementary School. Fairfax County Public Schools is moving into the next phase of the boundary adjustment process for elementary schools in the Justice High School pyramid. FCPS is considering changes to the attendance areas to accommodate overcrowding at Glen Forest Elementary School in Bailey’s Crossroads and address … Continued
School board rejects proposal to close school for four more religious holidays
Despite intense lobbying from families and faith communities, the Fairfax County School Board adopted a 2021-22 calendar that does not close schools on four holidays important to the Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh communities. Religious groups and individual families had urged the board to close schools on Rosh Hashanah (Sept. 6), Yom Kippur (Sept. 15), … Continued
School board to consider elementary school boundary changes
A boundary adjustment could relieve overcrowding at Glen Forest Elementary School in Bailey’s Crossroads. Families in the Justice High School pyramid are invited to a series of meetings March 9 and 10 to discuss a proposal for adjusting elementary school attendance areas. Many of the elementary schools that feed into Justice have experienced an increase … Continued
Fairfax County School Board delays in-person instruction
Staff at Poe Middle School prepare new books for delivery to students’ homes. [FCPS] The Fairfax County School Board agreed to pause Superintendent Scott Brabrand’s updated plan for returning all students to in-person learning. Under Brabrand’s proposal, presented at a school board work session Jan. 5, students in groups 1-4 (certain special education and career and … Continued
Fairfax County school board adopts holistic admissions policy for Thomas Jefferson High School
The entrance to TJ is modeled after Monticello. [Keith Pham] The Fairfax County School Board has agreed to a new, holistic admissions policy for Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, beginning with TJ’s class of 2025. “The board sought to develop an admissions policy that recognized historical inequities and addressed racial and socioeconomic … Continued