Countywide

Fairfax County schools to close Wednesday due to snow, meal kits available

By Angela Woolsey
A Fairfax County school bus in the snow outside Vienna Elementary School during Winter Storm Fern (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Fairfax County Public Schools has once again canceled classes in the aftermath of Winter Storm Fern.

With an abundance of ice and frigid temperatures slowing road and sidewalk cleanups, FCPS announced that schools will be closed tomorrow (Wednesday), though this time, central administrative offices will open on a two-hour delay.

“Crews are moving through secondary routes and subdivisions, but progress will be slower due to extremely cold temperatures,” the Virginia Department of Transportation said. “Bare pavement is not a realistic expectation right now. Thanks for your patience while we continue operations.”

Wind chills below 0 and 8 degrees are expected in the D.C. region overnight, raising the risk of hypothermia, according to the National Weather Service, which issued a Cold Weather Advisory for 7 p.m. tonight through 11 a.m. tomorrow.

This will be the third consecutive snow day for local students, who were already set to be released two hours early tomorrow to mark the end of the year’s second quarter. With Thursday and Friday designated as student holidays for staff development and teacher workdays, students will wind up with a full week off.

The final day of the second quarter has now been moved back to next Tuesday, Feb. 3, giving teachers more time to wrap up assessments and grading, FCPS Superintendent Michelle Reid said. The student holidays will take place as scheduled.

Acknowledging that the extended break may be challenging for students who rely on school meals during the week, FCPS will distribute free meal kits tomorrow through Friday (Jan. 30) to all children under 18 between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

“Children do not need to be present to pick up the kits,” FCPS said. “No proof of eligibility or identification is required.”

Pick-up locations will be Annandale, Falls Church, Herndon and Mount Vernon high schools, along with Dogwood, London Towne and Lynbrook elementary schools.

Families are limited to one meal kit per child for each day. Tomorrow, the kits will contain a breakfast, lunch, snack and supper, while the Thursday and Friday kits will have only a supper and a snack, according to FCPS Food and Nutrition Services.

The kits contain the same food served during regular meals in school cafeterias.

The full school closure announcement is below:

All FCPS schools are closed Wednesday, January 28, but central offices will open 2 hours late. Central and school office 12-month employees should report to work in person, safety permitting. In accordance with Regulation 4417, telework-eligible employees may telework or take unscheduled leave. Please check in with your supervisor to report your status. The unscheduled leave policy is in effect for all other employees.

The following activities in schools and on school grounds are canceled:

  • Extracurricular activities.
  • Interscholastic contests.
  • Team practices.
  • Field trips.
  • Middle school after-school programs.
  • Professional learning and training courses.
  • Adult High School and GED.
  • Adult and Community Education (ACE) classes.
  • Recreation programs and community use by outside groups not affiliated with FCPS.
  • Homebound instruction.

School Age Child Care (SACC) and Beyond the Bell (BTB) centers are also closed. Additional updates will be available on the FCPS website and the FCPS mobile app.

In an effort to support students who may be experiencing food insecurity while our schools are closed, Fairfax County Public Schools Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) will be providing meal kits for students tomorrow, Wednesday, January 28, through Friday, January 30. The Food and Nutrition webpage has additional details about the meal kits and where they can be collected. No proof of eligibility or identification is required.

Families and staff can refer to the Weather Resources on the FCPS website for additional details about community resources during winter storms, and where to get the latest snow information from Fairfax County and VDOT.

Fairfax County offices to reopen and other status updates

Fairfax County government offices will reopen tomorrow after closing for the first two days of this week, but employees have been granted unscheduled leave.

“Teleworkers are expected to telework or use personal leave. Emergency service personnel should report as scheduled,” the county said.

The reopening will mean the return of libraries, community centers and other public facilities. All courts will also resume operations, though the Fairfax County Park Authority has yet to announce its status for tomorrow.

Fairfax County Public Library noted that the status of individual branches may change, depending on the conditions at each facility. The Richard Byrd and Culmore libraries will remain closed for HVAC repairs.

Fairfax Connector will operate limited Saturday service with some routes using snow detours. The bus system’s stores in Reston and at the Franconia-Springfield Metro station will follow a modified schedule, opening at 7 a.m. and closing at 3 p.m.

In Fairfax City, CUE bus service will be back to normal tomorrow, and trash and recycling collections will resume. It’s not clear yet if city buildings will reopen.

The Town of Vienna announced that, as of noon today, crews had plowed and treated all roads within town limits, though many sidewalks remain blocked.

Vienna offices will open on time tomorrow, as will the community center, teen center and Bowman House. Wednesday trash and recycling collections will move forward as scheduled, though Monday and Tuesday customers will have to wait until next week for pickups.

The Town of Herndon will open all town offices during regular business hours tomorrow, but it will offer “liberal leave” throughout the day to eligible employees. Wednesday’s trash collections have already been canceled.

“The parking lot at the Herndon Municipal Center and some on-street parking spaces in the downtown area have been cleared and are open,” the town said in a 5:20 p.m. update. “Town crews continue to focus on main travel routes and making improvements to neighborhood roads at this time. Once conditions in these areas improve, crews will shift their focus to municipal parking lots.”

The town acknowledged complaints from residents whose driveways became closed off by snow pushed aside by plows — a concern that also came to the attention of the Virginia Department of Transportation.

Both Herndon and VDOT said they understand the frustration, but some snow and ice cleared from streets will inevitably pile up in driveways and along cars parked by the curb.

From the Town of Herndon:

Plow blades are angled to push snow to the right. As the plow moves down the street, all the snow in its path is carried forward and to the side in a continuous row to the right of the travel lane. Driveways open directly into that path, so the snow being pushed along naturally spills into those openings. The same occurs when crews plow past street parked cars, which leaves snow and ice around them. The plow cannot lift its blade at every driveway because doing so would leave large piles of snow on the road and would make travel lanes impassable.

VDOT advised shoveling snow to the right side of the driveway when possible, clearing a path on the left side.

 

About the Author

  • Angela Woolsey is the site editor for FFXnow. A graduate of George Mason University, she worked as a general assignment reporter for the Fairfax County Times before joining Local News Now as the Tysons Reporter editor in 2020.