Covering Annandale, Bailey's Crossroads, Lincolnia, and Seven Corners in Fairfax County, Virginia

Evans: Special-needs forumula benefits Mason schools

Mason District school board member Sandy Evans, who is running for re-election, has clarified her position on Fairfax County Public Schools’ needs-based formula following an article in the Washington Post yesterday about the influence of political consultant Catherine Lorenze. Lorenze is helping run several school board candidates’ campaigns, and advised Evans in 2010. The Post … Continued

Change of leadership for Phillips School

Phillips Big changes are coming to the Phillips Programs for Children and Families, which operates the Phillips School in Annandale. Sally Sibley, who has been president and CEO for 42 years, is retiring at the end of September. The Phillips board of trustees has named Nancy Mercer to take on that role, beginning Oct. 1. … Continued

School bond includes funds to expand Thomas Jefferson HS

The $252.75 million school bond referendum on the Nov. 8 ballot doesn’t include any major projects for regular public schools in Annandale or the Mason District. It would, however, provide more than $84.6 million for renovations at the aging Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. TJSST, in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County, just … Continued

Former students have fond memories of Masonville Elementary

Masonville Elementary in 1974-75. Former Annandale resident Carol Morris Dukes has such fond memories of the long-gone Masonville Elementary School in Annandale, she created a Facebook group for alumni to share their memories. She believes it’s especially important to reconnect now that the building has been torn down.  A new elementary school under construction on … Continued

FCPS Superintendent Jack Dale to retire

Dale Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Jack Dale plans to retire on July 1, 2013, at the end of his current contract. “I have served an extraordinary 42 years in public education, and I am honored to have had the opportunity to lead this world-class school system,” Dale, 62, said as he announced his plans to … Continued

Fairfax County public schools closed Friday, Sept. 9

All Fairfax County public schools will be closed on Friday, Sept. 9, due to flooding, FCPS announced Thursday evening. Also cancelled: extracurricular activities, team practices, games, field trips, middle-school afterschool programs, professional learning and training programs, adult and community education classes, and recreation programs. Office are open with an unscheduled leave policy in effect.

Parents: Back-to-school night is approaching

Sam, a third-grader, and his brother, Benjamin, a first-grader at Bailey’s Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences, are among the 177,000 Fairfax County students who headed back to school today. Parents will be heading back to class, too, this month for the annual back-to-school night to meet the teachers and see where their children are … Continued

FXCO school board weighs overcrowding vs. diversity

The issue of whether the need to maintain balanced diversity should outweigh the need to reduce overcrowding at Annandale High School dominated a school board work session on proposed boundary changes July 18. Board members engaged in a thoughtful, in-depth conversation about the larger issues raised by shifting the boundaries of  more than 20 schools in … Continued