At their first meeting after a stabbing at West Potomac High School this week, School Board members said safety and the Fairfax County Public Schools budgets are inextricably linked.
School Board members expressed sympathy for staff, students and families affected by the stabbing, but also used it as a rallying cry in an ongoing budget battle with the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
“I look forward to partnering with my colleagues on the school board and superintendent to advocate for new protocols and resources necessary to strengthen our layered security measures so that when parents and families trust their children to us, they can be assured that they are safe,” said School Board member Mateo Dunne. “I want our children to feel safe because they are safe.”
Dunne and School Board members Ilryong Moon and Ryan McElveen signed a letter this week calling on the Board of Supervisors to fund additional School Resource Officers (SRO) and fully fund after-school programs at the middle school level.
“For too long we’ve talked about bathrooms kids are afraid to enter or bathrooms that are locked because bad things happen in them, that time must end,” Dunne said. “We must work with the fierce urgency of now to ensure a situation like this never happens again. We must ensure we don’t turn a blind eye or act with complacency when our students are fearful and our parents are afraid.”
“This board owes [students] more than thoughts,” said Board member Marcia St. John-Cunning. “We owe them actions.”
Others said the stabbing highlighted the exceptional work expected of Fairfax County teachers with little reward.
“I don’t understand the continued pleading and begging it seems we have to do,” said Board member Melanie Meren. “Our teachers; look at what they went through in the high school yesterday. This is not a typical job. To think that they’re doing the same kind of thing as other people, who might be doing very hard work but at an office — I’m glad we were able to do what we could.”
After-school programs are one of the items on the chopping block as Fairfax County works to close its nearly $300 million budget deficit.
“Currently the budget underfunds FCPS to the tune of $149 million, or $120 million if governor signs the current state government proposal,” said School Board member Rachna Sizemore Heizer. “We are asking for the restoration of reductions of spending in programs like Middle School after school programs, high school crossing guards and more.”
Heizer said those programs account for roughly $7.7 million.
Heizer also said the School Board has asked that, if the Board of Supervisors approved a controversial food and beverage tax, that the revenue be allocated to Fairfax County Public Schools.
