Fairfax County School Board members are mulling whether to increase the number of student representatives on the body.
The proposal, currently in the exploratory stage, is part of a broader push toward more direct engagement with the 180,000-plus students enrolled in Fairfax County Public Schools.
At a Tuesday, Feb. 11 meeting, the school board’s public engagement committee discussed the idea of more student representatives, but there was no push to move forward immediately.
“I don’t know that yet I’m convinced this is the solution,” Melanie Meren, who represents the Hunter Mill District, said.
Meren and Franconia District Representative Marcia St. John-Cunning recently participated in a program sponsored by the Virginia School Boards Association that looked at how different localities handle student representation on school boards.
“It was very informative and very interesting to see what is done in other jurisdictions,” said St. John-Cunning, who chairs the public engagement committee.
FCPS added a student representative to the school board in the 1960s. Initially, the position came with some voting authority, but that was stripped out in the 1970s.
The current representative is Megan Sawant, a student at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. She’s the 54th student to hold the position.
Student representatives are elected by the countywide Student Advisory Council each April, with the student serving on the board for the duration of the next school year.
Student representation on school boards varies across Northern Virginia:
- Alexandria has three student representatives.
- Prince William County has two representatives and an alternate.
- Loudoun County uses a rotating slate of students, each one participating in a single School Board meeting during the year.
- Arlington County doesn’t have a student representative.
Given Fairfax County’s size, having more than one student representative could spread out the burden, At-Large School Board Representative Ilryong Moon suggested.
“That’s worth discussing,” he said, as it might allow for “more student voices to be reflected” on issues important to the student body.
The committee asked staff to research the issue more. Any change most likely would be part of a revision of the school system’s student representative policy, which is up for a five-year review in January 2026.
That timeline suggests any change would likely take effect for the 2026-2027 school year at the earliest.
At the committee meeting, board members said that, with or without student-representative changes, additional efforts are in the works to hear from students.
“When they do speak up, it’s amazing what they have to say,” St. John-Cunning said.
Screenshot via FCPS/YouTube
