South Lakes High School parents’ worst fears around the well-documented traffic problems at the Reston school came true this morning (Tuesday) after a teen was struck by a car.
Around 7:54 a.m., parents called 911 to report the crash. According to social media posts from multiple witnesses, the force of the collision sent the youth into the air before he landed. Scanner traffic indicates his foot may have been injured.
“Preliminarily, the driver of a vehicle struck a 16-year-old student who was walking to school,” the Fairfax County Police Department told FFXnow. “The teen was transported to an area hospital with minor injuries. The driver remained on scene.”
The driver has been charged with failing to stop before entering a highway, a citation that carries a $97 fine.
“Officers continue to investigate this incident,” the police department said.
According to the FCPD, the student was not in a crosswalk at the time of the collision. The crash reportedly took place near the entrance from South Lakes Drive near doors three and four — not a spot where a crossing guard had been previously stationed.
Tracy Holmgren, whose ninth and twelfth graders attend the school, said she saw the crash from inside her car on South Lakes Drive.
“In front of me, you could see the car turning right out of the kiss-and-ride lane,” she said. “It was at the exact same time the kid was crossing the street. The gentleman driving the car that hit the child looked left, but did not look right before he turned. The kid was hit hard and went flying maybe 7 feet.”
According to Holmgren, students don’t often cross at that spot, but there are additional areas where teens cross the four lanes that also lack crosswalks. Additionally, the corner where the teenager was hit “doesn’t continue safely into the school” and has trees that need to be trimmed.
“You can’t see much,” she added.
Holmgren thinks that not only should the original crossing guard be restored, but there should be more added to cover high-traffic areas.
“I just know from what my kids are telling me, and communicating with other kids in the school, that they do not feel safe without a crossing guard,” she said.
The crash comes amid growing criticism of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors from community members and other elected officials for eliminating funding for police crossing guards at public high schools, including South Lakes.
“There is no one there [at South Lakes High School] to direct traffic,” Reston Association Board President Travis Johnson said at an RA board meeting last week. “I’ve personally seen kids trying to cross the street while student drivers are driving far too quickly down the street and almost hitting them. I’ve seen buses almost hit these kids, both pedestrians and drivers. It’s a bit of a nightmare.”
In response to police staffing challenges dating back to at least 2024, the Board of Supervisors approved a budget in May that cut funding for crossing guards at 11 high schools: Annandale, Centreville, Chantilly, Edison, Oakton, South County, South Lakes, West Potomac and West Springfield.
Hunter Mill District School Board Representative Melanie Meren, who has been a vocal critic of the move to cut funding for high school crossing guards, posted video footage of the teen sitting at the curb. She said that school staff had to step in to direct traffic.
In the video, she asked hypothetically: “Is it time yet for a crossing guard at our high schools, to protect our children and residents?”
The Board of Supervisors is considering whether to use carryover funds allocated in fiscal year 2026 that weren’t spent to potentially restore funding for high school crossing guards. Approximately $400,000 may be earmarked as a placeholder.
Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn, who represents Reston, issued a statement this morning saying that while the crash didn’t take place at an intersection where a crossing guard was previously posted, it “highlights that our school safety programs should not be the target of discretionary cuts.”
“The Board of Supervisors should restore funding for school crossing guards at the other South Lakes Drive entrance — the flag pole entrance — and any other high school that presents an unacceptable risk,” he said.
New pressure to restore funding
The Board of Supervisors addressed the impacts of the cuts to the crossing guard program, and the crash at South Lakes, during a Budget Policy Committee meeting this morning.
“We in the last couple years have invested a lot of money and work with VDOT on Wink-o-Matics, on striping, on improvements,” Chairman Jeff McKay said. “We have put in place speed cameras. I know we need further cooperation with schools on that issue to be able to keep … the speed cameras that we have put in place, and to be able to approve future ones is going to take cooperation and assistance from the schools, as I recently learned, to be able to make sure we can sustain our video program, which was not in place just a few years ago.”
He concluded that “a lot of work, a lot of money, a lot of effort has been spent on these issues, and I want to make sure the community understands those things before just jumping to conclusions based on anxiety and and anger that is out there.”
Since the $400,000 amount is a potential placeholder, supervisors asked county staff how realistic that number would be to alleviate some of the emergency issues.
“The total dollar amount needed to restore to all school crossings would be … about $900,000,” said County Executive Bryan Hill.
School crossings could be covered by police officers on duty, not through overtime, though the $900,000 amount would be to cover contracted crossing guards.
In addition to eliminating the 13 full-time crossing guard positions last spring, the county is also hiring contractors to fill vacant elementary and middle school crossing guard positions instead of relying on uniformed police officers. The changes amounted to a $1.89 million reduction from the FCPD’s budget.
According to staff, last year, only one high school had crossing guards that could direct traffic. The others were all level one guards, which only allowed them to stop traffic.
Staff and McKay pointed to the fact that the FCPD had said the move would free up officers, particularly during rush hour, to handle other calls.
“After three years of budget reductions … we cut the low-hanging fruit,” said Tom Arnold, deputy county executive. “You know, in previous years, that there were no good options for the reductions last year.”
The county had considered cutting co-responder, crisis intervention team, and school resource officers (SROs) instead, Arnold said.
“They all come at a cost,” he said.
“I think saying it was a choice between co-responders and this was a false choice,” responded Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity. “We could have cut something else in the budget.”
Herrity asked Arnold if he and Police Chief Kevin Davis have “the flexibility to restore high school crossing guards immediately, where you see that there are conditions that warrant it.”
“Could we? Yes. Is it ideal? No,” said Arnold. “But we would look to enlist the help of other specialty units and so forth that would allow us to do it to try and not cause additional strain on patrol. So we can make it work. ”
“What Deputy County Executive Arnold is stating to you is that we do not have the crossing guards to restore,” added Hill. “So, that would be the police officer. There’s a difference between a crossing guard and a police officer.”
It would take time to fill the crossing guard positions, so the county would have to rely on police in the interim, Hill said. The county also isn’t sure that it would be able to fill all positions, which start at just over $36,000 a year and may not include benefits, depending on the number of hours worked.
“We hire about 2% of the school crossing guards that apply … We’re looking at what else can we do,” Arnold said. “And as you all have asked in the past, what can we do to hire more? We know the contracting guards are one answer … We’ve had 235 applications over the last two years, and we’ve hired 10.”
Several supervisors suggested that Hill take action to restore guards at the high schools identified within the past week as having particularly challenging traffic issues: Edison, South Lakes, West Springfield, Centreville, and West Potomac.
McKay suggested that the county look at “not just what police might be able to do there, but what we can do in partnership with schools.”
“Schools also have roving security officers that are not school-based,” McKay said. “I don’t know how they’re being utilized in this conversation. We have SROs at those schools that have capital equipment, i.e. their police cars that could very easily be positioned from a visibility standpoint as an interim in those schools.”
McKay noted that the teenage pedestrian at South Lakes was not in a crosswalk, and police cited the driver for failing to stop. He called for a “sustainable” solution through “partnerships,” given the county’s larger issues with pedestrian safety.
“This is not a police problem,” he said. “This is not a county problem. In large cases, this is a pedestrians and/or drivers not paying attention problem … We have pedestrian accidents, sadly, that happen way too often in this county that have nothing to do with schools. So, it’s a problem with people, drivers, and pedestrians understanding what they’re supposed to do and not supposed to do.”
Shortly after the supervisors’ discussion, Fairfax County School Board vice chair and at-large member Kyle McDaniel issued a statement saying that he has been in conversations with the supervisors, Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid and other school board members.
“I am optimistic that we can restore crossing guard functions at our high schools through a combination of police officers, crossing guards, school resource officers, and working with VDOT and FCPS Safe Routes to Schools staff,” McDaniel said.
When asked how FCPS prepared over the summer for the loss of crossing guards, an FCPS spokesperson told FFXnow that families and staff at affected high schools “were notified in advance of the start of the school year that the County had cancelled the crossing guard programs.”
“While we are thankful that the [South Lakes] student’s injuries are not serious, this incident serves as a reminder of the critical importance of having crossing guards and other traffic and pedestrian safety measures at our high schools,” FCPS said.
The statement continued:
“As we consider longer-term improvements, we have requested that the County restore crossing guards to our high schools with the greatest safety concerns, which includes South Lakes High School. We encourage students, families, and drivers to use extra caution when traveling to and from school, follow all traffic laws, and remain alert for pedestrians and other vehicles. The welfare of our students, staff, and community remains a top priority.”
State legislators express concerns
Concerns about the removal of crossing guards from high schools have also now reached Fairfax County’s state legislators.
State Sen. Stella Pekarsky (D-36) and Del. Laura Jane Cohen (D-15), both former school board members, released a letter this morning urging the Board of Supervisors to “reinstate the funding for crossing guards at our high schools before our community faces the unimaginable.”
Their full letter to the Board of Supervisors is below.
We are writing to express our deep concern regarding the Board of Supervisors’ decision to eliminate high school crossing guards at Fairfax County Public Schools. Our citizens deserve our joint efforts to prioritize student, pedestrian, and driver safety on our busy roadways.
Our crossing guards have a long history of helping students safely navigate the traffic congestion around our high schools before and after the school day. While the board insists that its decision was based on data, we have not yet seen data that suggests crossing guards are not necessary. In fact, as former Fairfax County school board members, we know that, over the years, there have been multiple pedestrian accidents in front of our schools involving students and staff. Most assuredly, the presence of crossing guards has kept many more accidents from happening.
Just a few days into the school year, we have already heard countless reports of near misses from parents whose children walk or drive to school every single day. Only this morning, we heard a report that a student was hit. As you know, our high schools have thousands of students and staff that must navigate highly congested neighborhood streets to get to and from school. Many do not have sidewalks or safe crossing spaces. The combination of brand new drivers and driver distraction being at an all time high, calls for increased safety measures, not cuts.
We urge the board to reconsider its decision and reinstate the funding for crossing guards at our high schools before our community faces the unimaginable.
As always, we remain committed to partnering with you to prioritize the safety and wellbeing of all students and staff in Fairfax County.
