Countywide

Superintendent Addresses Handling of Former Glasgow Counselor — “Fairfax County parent Staci Ali-Ibrahim sat at the end of a long table at Glasgow Middle School Thursday night, and asked Superintendent Michelle Reid why Virginia’s largest school system doesn’t have a clear plan in place to ensure they are notified by law enforcement when a staff member is arrested and charged with a crime.” [WTOP]

Springfield Students Upbeat After First Week of School — “Everyone at Forestdale seems to be having plenty of feelings this week. The prevailing one is joy at being back together again, and hope that this year — the second one back full time after pandemic lockdowns — will be even less disrupted by COVID-19 than the last one.” [DCist]

Former Glasgow MS Counselor Faces New Charge — “A former counselor at a northern Virginia middle school has been charged with providing false information to the state’s sex offender registry. Virginia State Police said they arrested Darren Thornton, 50, on Thursday in Richmond. Thornton’s tenure as a counselor at Glasgow Middle School…has prompted multiple investigations.” [Associated Press/WTOP]

Counselor Conviction Raises Reporting Questions — “Fairfax County leaders and Virginia’s Attorney General are calling for changes after a counselor convicted of sexually soliciting a minor stayed employed at a middle school years after his arrest.” A letter asks the General Assembly to look at “how Virginia handles information sharing regarding the arrest and conviction of people between jurisdictions within the state and across state lines.” [WUSA9]

County Lags Behind Regional Affordable Housing Goals — Producing just under 7,500 new affordable housing units over the past three years, Fairfax County is nearly 5,000 units behind a goal set by the Metropolitan Council of Governments in 2021. Inflation, rising construction costs and “skyrocketing” housing values could complicate the county’s efforts to meet its ambitious target for the next decade. [DCist]

McLean Man Arrested for Soliciting Minor — “Montgomery County police said they believe a Virginia man charged with sexual solicitation of a minor may have solicited other victims. Jose M. Jimenez, 34, of McLean, Virginia, was arrested after starting a social media conversation on Aug. 11 with a Montgomery County detective who was posing as a 15-year-old girl.” [WTOP]