South Lakes High School parents’ worst fears around the well-documented traffic problems at the Reston school came true this morning (Sept. 1) 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.
United Airlines has announced two new international destinations to be served from Dulles International Airport next year.
Daily service to Toulouse, France, is slated to begin on April 26, 2027 before three-days-per-week service to Milan, Italy commences on May 28.
Nearly four in five parents say their child brings home mostly B’s or better. We built a K-8 math program, and when we assess children, about 8 in 10 turn out to be at least a full grade behind in some area of math.
In our first study, about 6 in 10 of the children we assessed were two or more grades behind somewhere, usually in one or two areas.
Is our test simply hard? No. Our results are close to those of the federal NAEP test, which finds only about 1 in 4 US eighth graders proficient in math.
A child who has learned this week’s steps can get the worksheet right without knowing why they work. That is often enough for an A or a B, until a test asks for more.
Homework looks fine too, since it practices the topic just taught. Neither shows the missing earlier skill, so extra practice goes to this week’s topic, not the gap underneath.
Even Virginia’s state test can reassure too easily: a 2026 federal study put its 2022 fourth-grade “proficient” bar in math among the nation’s lowest.
Math builds on itself, so a missing skill does not stay small. Kindergartners we assess are almost never behind, but from third grade on, more than 9 in 10 have a gap somewhere. Research agrees: children who start behind tend to fall further behind, and fifth graders’ grasp of fractions predicts their high-school algebra results.
Our second study looked at more than 10,000 answers from more than 250 children who recently signed up for Level Up, including questions from earlier grades.
The misses were not math in general: basic multiplication and division facts mostly held up. What tripped them up was a few topics from a grade or two earlier, the ones this year’s math is built on: second-grade subtraction at the end of fourth grade, fourth-grade fraction word problems at the end of fifth, and fifth-grade decimal ordering at the end of sixth.
Fractions kept coming back: among children finishing seventh grade, about 8 in 10 of those asked missed fifth-grade fraction word problems.
One child in our study, just out of fifth grade, missed a fourth-grade fraction question and its fifth-grade version. Practice started with the fourth-grade topic. Within two weeks, the child had mastered all nine of its skills, then four from the fifth-grade version.
That is the approach: find the real gaps, start at the deepest one, and practice each skill from three sides:
Identify: recognize the idea, like picking which picture shows three quarters.
Construct: build the answer yourself, like marking three quarters on a number line.
The owner of the vacant Sheraton Tysons Hotel is rethinking its plans for the property, which has been sitting untouched more than two years after Fairfax County leaders approved a conversion.
JBG Tysons Hotel LLC, a fund managed by Bethesda-based developer JBG Smith, still wants to turn the approximately 7.66-acre site at 8661 Leesburg Pike near the Spring Hill Metro station into housing, but instead of retaining the hotel’s shell, the Tysons West developer is now seeking the county’s support for a full demolition.
Fairfax County supervisors on Aug. 25 recognized the founder and owner of Jake’s Gourmet Popcorn and Jake’s Ice Cream, who recently was honored by the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society (PBATS).
The organization earlier this summer presented Robin Rinearson with its Ability Transcends Challenges Award for her efforts to integrate individuals with disabilities into the Fairfax County workforce.
Event location
Online event (see link)
*Mamistad Groups meet IN PERSON-only the introductory Zoom call is virtual. 🙂
Pregnancy and new mom groups are a lifesaver when it comes to normalizing those feelings we just can’t be prepared for.
Lane Closures Lifted for Labor Day — “The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) encourages motorists to plan ahead, stay alert and keep safety top of mind throughout the Labor Day holiday weekend. VDOT will be suspending many highway work zones and lifting most lane closures on interstates and other major roads in Virginia from noon on Friday, Sept. 4, until noon on Tuesday, Sept. 8.” [VDOT]
N. Va. Residents Killed in Beltway Crash — Musammat Shamima Begum, a 46-year-old Burke resident, and her daughter Areebah Jahin, 23, of Alexandria were both killed in an apparent drunk-driving crash on I-270 in Montgomery County on Saturday, Aug. 29. The driver of the other vehicle involved in the crash has been charged with manslaughter, homicide by motor vehicle while impaired by alcohol and causing a life-threatening injury by motor vehicle. [Maryland State Police]
Teen Missing for Two Weeks — “Virginia State Police issued a CODI Alert Sunday night for a missing 17-year-old girl who authorities say could be in danger. The alert was issued on behalf of the Fairfax County Police Department for Jasmin Ismary Garcia, 17.” According to the FCPD, she was last seen in the 2300 block of Hunters Woods Plaza in Reston on Aug. 18. [Patch]
Some Localities Seek Sales Tax Approval — “Voters in 47 Virginia jurisdictions will weigh a 1% sales tax to fund school construction and modernization costs. In Northern Virginia, the revenue could also support transportation projects. This comes as leaders face funding challenges for aging school facilities and rising demand to support Metro and other local transit systems.” [Virginia Mercury]
Former Fairfax Student Jailed for Groping in ICE Custody — A former Fairfax High School student who was convicted in April of assault after groping female students is now in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office officials say. Israel Flores Ortiz was picked up by ICE from the county jail yesterday (Monday), three days before his scheduled release on Sept. 3. [FOX5]
Fire Response to Reston Senior Apartments — The Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department responded around 5:47 p.m. yesterday to a fire alarm at the Hunters Woods Fellowship House (2231 Colts Neck Road). According to scanner traffic, the fire prompted some residents to evacuate, but no injuries were reported, and the fire was determined to be “minor,” resulting from food cooking on a stove, an FCFRD spokesperson said.
Student Training to Take 911 Calls — “Lily Smith, a West Potomac High School graduate, will head right into the workforce to answer 911 calls in Fairfax County.” While taking an emergency services class at her school, Smith landed an internship with the Fairfax County government, which led her to accept a job offer at the county’s Public Safety Communications Training Academy. [NBC4]
Reston Community Center Candidate Forum Tonight — “Reston Community Center (RCC) will host the 2026 Preference Poll Candidate Forum on Tuesday, September 1, giving Reston residents an opportunity to learn more about the candidates seeking appointment to the RCC Board of Governors.” Three seats are up for election, with voting taking place in person and online on Sept. 4-25. [RCC]
It’s Tuesday — Expect mostly sunny skies with temperatures peaking near 96 degrees, and the heat index reaching up to 100. At night, there’s a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms before 2 a.m. It will be partly cloudy with a low of about 77 degrees. [NWS]
Want more local news? Check out our newest sister site, WSHnow, with the latest from across the region.
Good Monday evening, Fairfax County. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.
The following articles were published earlier today — Aug 31, 2026.
Here is what’s going on Tuesday throughout the county, from our event calendar.
There is a 20% chance of showers before 4 pm and a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 5 pm, with mostly sunny skies and a high of 96°F, feeling like 101°F. Winds will be calm, shifting to 5 to 7 mph from the west in the afternoon. Tuesday night, expect partly cloudy skies with the same 20% chance of showers and thunderstorms before 2 am and a low of about 76°F, with light and variable winds. See more from Weather.gov.
The MonumentCam screenshot above is used with permission of the Trust for the National Mall and courtesy of EarthCam.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to discuss the day’s happenings in the comments.
A construction worker was rescued from a precarious situation by Fairfax County firefighters this afternoon after getting stuck down a 40-foot concrete pit in Lorton.
Units with the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department were dispatched at 1:46 p.m. to the Noman M. Cole, Jr. Water Recycling Facility (9399 Richmond Highway) after the worker became suspended below ground while working on upgrades at the wastewater treatment plant.
The Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations is backing neighbors in their fight against the planned Plaza 500 data center campus and its associated electrical substation in Lincolnia.
The federation voted at its membership meeting last Thursday (Aug. 27) to oppose the 34-acre data center campus at 6295 and 6299 Edsall Road proposed by Starwood Capital Group and a substation proposed by Dominion Energy.
Within the next few years, all middle school age students who qualify for advanced academic programs in Fairfax County Public Schools will have the opportunity to take those courses without leaving their neighborhood schools.
Under a plan approved by the school board on a 10-1 vote last Thursday (Aug. 27), FCPS will transition over several years from a model that let many students opt out of their assigned local school to join other students at one with an established advanced academic program, or AAP, center.
