The renovation of Reston’s Armstrong Elementary School is expected to begin in the spring of next year, according to Fairfax County Public Schools.
The school system has formally submitted a proposal before the county to add 126,000 square feet and modern amenities to the school.
“The increase in space will accommodate anticipated future enrollment,” FCPS spokesperson Julie Moult said. “Additions will provide a new administration wing with a new main entrance vestibule, a new library, an extension of the classroom wing, and two new pre-K classrooms. Renovations will enhance current classrooms and learning and support spaces, improve the bus and kiss and ride loop, and create new outdoor play areas.”
The project is currently in the design phase and was funded by a 2021 bond, Moult wrote in a statement. Built in 1985, the school’s current enrollment is 360 — well under its design capacity of 786 students — but the school building is in need of “significant” improvements, according to the application.
The renovated building will feature a new one-story administrative suite and a two-story classroom addition along the front of the school building. A one-story library addition is also planned on the west side.
“With the proposed renovations, the existing design capacity will increase by 14 students for a design capacity of 800 students,” the application states.
Three new playgrounds are also planned on the southern portion of the property. The parking lot will also get 36 more spaces on the existing playground area — a number that includes eight ADA spaces.
The project is expected to finish in the summer of 2026.
(Updated at 4:20 p.m.) The current admissions process for Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) does not discriminate against Asian American students, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has ruled.
A majority of the three-judge panel backed the Fairfax County School Board’s argument in support of admissions policy changes intended to increase diversity at the prestigious magnet school, reversing a lower court’s ruling that sided with the Coalition for TJ.
The advocacy group filed a lawsuit against the school board in March 2021, arguing that the changes adopted in 2020 were intended to reduce the number of Asian students at TJ in violation of the Constitution.
In an opinion published today (Tuesday), Circuit Judge Robert King says the Coalition failed to prove that the school board intended to discriminate against Asian students, who have, in fact, seen “greater success in securing admission to TJ under the policy than students from any other racial or ethnic group.”
“After thorough consideration of the record and the appellate contentions, we are satisfied that the challenged admissions policy does not disparately impact Asian American students and that the Coalition cannot establish that the Board adopted its race-neutral policy with any discriminatory intent,” King wrote.
Since taking effect with the Class of 2025, the admissions changes — which included dropping a required test and application fee and taking into account a student’s economic, special education or English-learner status — have resulted in offers going to a broader range of students in terms of race, geography and income.
The Class of 2025 was the first in a decade to accept students from all middle schools. It also saw an uptick in Black, Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students, Fairfax County Public Schools reported. Both that year and last year, Asian students still received a majority of offers.
“The court reached the correct decision, and we firmly believe this admission plan is fair and gives qualified applicants at every middle school a fair chance of a seat at TJ,” John Foster, the school board’s division counsel, said in a statement. “We look forward to offering seats to a new group of remarkable and incredibly well-qualified young scholars in the years to come.”
U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton had ruled in February 2022 that Asian students were “disproportionately harmed” by the admissions changes, which he said were implemented in a “remarkably rushed and shoddy” process.
Hilton ordered that FCPS stop using the new policy, but the appeals court agreed to let it stay in place while the lawsuit continued.
While King said that Hilton’s judgment “went fatally awry” in not addressing how racial and ethnic groups other than Asians fared under the new policy, Circuit Judge Allison Rushing argued a dissenting opinion that the changes were “passed with discriminatory intent and disproportionately impact a particular racial group,” even if they appear race-neutral on paper.
“The twelve-member Board plainly stated its intention to craft an admissions policy for TJ that would reform the racial composition of the student body to reflect the racial demographics of the district,” she wrote.
The Coalition for TJ says it wasn’t surprised by the ruling and intends to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“We are disappointed by today’s ruling, but we are not discouraged,” Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Erin Wilcox, who has been representing the coalition, siad. “Discrimination against students based on their race is wrong and violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection. We look forward to asking the Supreme Court to end this illegal practice once and for all.”
The Supreme Court is already considering a case on affirmative action in college admissions. Some universities have started to review their practices, with the mostly conservative justices expected to defy precedent by declaring race-conscious admissions unlawful.
Fairfax County Public Schools plans to hire an investigator to find the source of an anonymous email that decried the idea of a “colored individual” coaching Oakton High School’s cheerleading team.
Referencing former coaches from the past two years, the email was sent to the school’s current cheerleading coach, Jillian Domenech, shortly after she took over the position in March, as first reported by WTOP.
Domenech reported the email to administrators, but the school’s technology staff was “unsuccessful” in identifying the sender, Oakton High School Principal Jamie Lee told the community in a message on May 8,
“FCPS works hard each day to create a school environment where all students and staff are valued and feel accepted and supported,” FCPS said in a statement. “We condemn all hateful behavior. FCPS has attempted to establish the origin of the email as part of our own internal investigation. Unfortunately, we have been unable to do so. Moving forward, we intend to retain a third [party] investigator to delve further into this matter.”
News that FCPS plans to initiate an external investigation into the email comes after two months of inaction, the Fairfax County NAACP said in a news release today (Wednesday) calling for an outside, independent investigation.
According to an excerpt shared by the civil rights organization, the email sender claimed to be speaking on behalf of “many” parents and students who “would not feel comfortable with another colored individual coaching cheerleading at Oakton.”
“While this may be seen as racist or having a prejudice against certain races of people, the last two years have shown that this is just not something that has worked out,” the email said. “Our school and history of coaches have been predominantly white. Many of the girls were shocked to see another coach last season with such dark and strong features.”
According to WTOP, the email specifically referenced former co-head varsity coach Faith Dabrio and her predecessor, who are both African American. Dabrio told WTOP that she was unaware of the email until a parent contacted her about it last week.
Dabrio described the culture of the cheerleading team as “welcoming” but felt a lack of support from the school administration when handling “internal drama,” which culminated in a social media threat by a student that contributed to her decision to step down in November.
The Fairfax County NAACP says its education committee has been communicating with FCPS about the email, but those conversations have only “yielded ever more entrenched efforts to obfuscate and deflect blame, rather than to accept the reality of the situation and deal with it effectively.”
“The more time that passes where children are subjected to a threat of unknown origin and unknown magnitude, the greater the danger to their physical and emotional well-being,” the organization said, stating that the message suggests a “racist culture” within Oakton’s cheer team.
The NAACP also requested that it be allowed to see the full results of FCPS’ investigation, citing “the danger this email poses to current students, the failure of FCPS to act with urgency, and the long-standing culture of racism referenced in the email.”
In her message to the community, Lane said she “recently” met with students on the cheer team and their parents to “reiterate that Oakton High School stands united against all forms of hate, racism, and discrimination,” a sentiment for which they expressed full support. Read More
Fairfax County Public Schools is proposing some notable updates to its student policies.
At last week’s school board meeting, school officials laid out a number of proposed revisions to its Student Rights and Responsibilities handbook, including how cases of bullying are handled, what’s interpreted as appropriate clothing, and the potential for increased punishment for substance misuse.
The presentation from FCPS Assistant Auperintendent Michelle Boyd was relatively brief due a planned school board work session next week (May 23), which will likely be spent discussing the proposed dress codes updates, Providence District School Board Representative Karl Frisch noted.
Essentially, FCPS is looking to update verbiage around the dress code, which was last reviewed in 2016. The update will not include a ban on pajamas that was initially proposed earlier this year but has since been reconsidered.
Proposed language includes the dress code supporting “equitable educational access” while not reinforcing stereotypes or increasing marginalization:
FCPS’ student dress code supports equitable educational access and is written in a manner that does not reinforce stereotypes or increase marginalization or oppression of any group based on race, color, national origin, caste, religion, sex, pregnancy, childbirth, medical condition, household income, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, disability, age, or genetic information.
It also clarifies that the same rules apply “regardless of the student’s age or gender” while providing examples of what isn’t allowed, including clothing that depicts or promotes use of weapons, alcohol, tobacco, or drugs.
Any violation and enforcement of the dress code will continue to be addressed in a “discreet” manner, showing respect to the student, and “minimizes loss of instructional time.”
“Violations of the dress code should generally be treated as minor infractions unless they are repeated or egregious in nature (e.g., streaking, hate speech),” the current code says.
However, this can leave much open to interpretation for school staff and administration. Several school board members noted that some language could be included to ensure a more standardized interpertation across the school system.
“I know we are trying to thread a needle here between what kids recognize as appropriate dress and not,” Springfield District School Board member Laura Jane Cohen said.
Also being proposed is a shift in what happens when there are alleged acts of bullying. The school system is now seeking to require that a principal or staff member notify a parent or guardian of every student involved in an alleged act of bullying within 24 hours of learning about the incident.
The update would also better define that bullying involves a “power imbalance” and what that could look like.
“Examples of a power imbalance include, but are not limited to, greater physical strength or size, access to embarrassing information, or greater popularity or social connectedness,” reads the updated definition.
Also proposed are updated definitions of harassment, hate speech, and hazing, along with potentially more severe punishments. For example, hazing could become a Level 5 infraction, which is the most severe and could result in law enforcement getting involved.
In addition, students with a first-time hate speech infraction would be required to participate in “culturally responsive intervention.”
FCPS is also tweaking its handling of substance misuse in response to recent incidents. While incidents involving alcohol, marijuana, and inhalants customarily result in a two-day suspension, the school principal can decide to levy even more disciplinary action if the conduct has “substantially disrupted the instructional program [or] endangered the well-being of others.”
This could mean a referral to the superintendent and a suspension of up to 10 days. There are number of other changes being asked for, including rewordings and clarity in terms of verbiage, but as Boyd said, those are “relatively minor in nature.”
After next week’s work session, a revised draft is set to be presented to the school board at the end of the month. The school board is expected to vote and adopt the updated students’ rights and responsibilities by the end of June.
The influx of federal money that has helped buoy Fairfax County Public Schools and other school systems around the U.S. as they emerged from the first year of the Covid pandemic is starting to run out.
Facing a September 2024 deadline, FCPS officials presented a plan to the school board last Thursday (April 27) for spending approximately $57.5 million remaining from the $188.8 million in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) awarded by the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021.
The biggest item in the plan is $22.2 million to extend contracts for special education teachers that compensate them for an additional 30 minutes of work per day, which FCPS says “is imperative” to attracting and retaining those faculty members.
“Our special education students were some of the students most impacted during the pandemic, and as a result, our special education teacher workload has significantly increased as they work very hard to meet the needs of those students,” FCPS Chief Academic Officer Sloan Presidio told the school board.
FCPS has 27,839 students with disabilities, who make up 15.5% of its enrollment, state data says. Based on data from before the pandemic, a report released last fall found significant disparities in test scores and discipline between those students and their peers not in special education.
In December, a U.S. Department of Education investigation determined that FCPS had failed to provide adequate support to special education students when it shifted to virtual learning early in the pandemic.
The proposed ESSER plan includes nearly $200,000 for compensatory services that FCPS is required to provide under its agreement with the DOE. The funds cover staffing as well as legal fees needed to reimburse for parents “for external educational costs incurred by them due to the pandemic-related school closures.”
When at-large school board member Abrar Omeish asked whether it was appropriate to use the funds on “trying to clean something up,” Presidio said the DOE confirmed it’s “an allowable expense” to address learning losses — one of four categories covered by ESSER.
While the spending plan mostly focuses on existing expenses, like a school health officer and the return of an expanded summer learning program, FCPS has proposed two new “projects”: $1.2 million to upgrade its website, and $250,000 to contract outside agencies that will work with chronically absent students.
About 15% of FCPS students missed 10% of school days or more during the 2021-2022 school year, according to the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE).
“Essentially, we’re identifying individuals that can connect with the student and connect with the family, understand the root causes of why that student is not able to attend school,” Presidio said. “It might be a health issue, it might be a transportation issue, it might be a work issue and a scheduling issue, and really help try to resolve those for the student and family as best as possible.”
He said counselors, teachers, social services and other school workers will stay involved, but the chronic absenteeism provider will have more capacity for the “labor-intensive” task of working with individual families.
“We need somebody who’s able to actually do those home visits and really coordinate and kind of case manage the services for the student and to be able to spend time with the family and student to understand what those root causes are,” he said.
Some school board members expressed concern about the amount of ESSER funds going to staff positions, from social workers to academic tutors, given that the money will run out after the 2023-2024 school year.
Presidio noted that some positions previously covered by ESSER have been phased out, like social distancing monitors, while other expenses, like additional English as a Second Language workers, have been incorporated into FCPS’ regular budget.
However, he acknowledged that in many cases, decisions will need to be made about “can we afford to retain any of these positions or do we lose them all.”
The proposed ESSER budget for fiscal year 2024, which begins July 1, is scheduled to be approved by the school board on May 11. FCPS then hopes to get the VDOE’s approval by May 31.
Fairfax County Public Schools is in the process of instituting new safety and security measures, including vape detection in bathrooms, expanded background checks, and a drone pilot program for the incident response team.
At last week’s school board meeting, FCPS Superintendent Michelle Reid delivered a comprehensive update on several security and safety measures in advance of a “community conversation” on May 8 at South Lakes High School in Reston.
In addition to touching on previously reported steps, like employee background checks and a joint effort with the county to install speed cameras near schools, Reid shared that FCPS is in the midst of a pilot program placing vape detection tools in bathrooms at several schools.
“This will immediately detect use at our schools and we are monitoring its effectiveness right now,” she said. “We think it’s prudent to pilot it to see whether it delivers on its promise before we actually install it in all schools.”
However, Reid later said the installed vape sensors have provided “mixed results so far and I’m not sure that’s the answer.”
The idea for installing sensors of this nature was first broached in 2019, but the program was only first implemented recently.
Vaping is a major concern among parents and schools, not only due to tobacco and marijuana use but because of the potential for overdosing. There have been reported cases where the substances used in vaping cartridges are laced with fentanyl.
The vape detection sensors are currently being used in two high schools and one middle school, an FCPS spokesperson told FFXnow. They declined to specify the exact schools, citing a need to balance information sharing with concerns about compromising security.
Also in the pilot phase is a weapons screening system utilizing “software that would detect weapons coming onto campus” and front office panic alarms, Reid said.
FCPS didn’t share which or how many schools are included in the weapons screening and panic alarm systems pilots.
“It is too early to provide feedback on systems that are already being piloted or explored, such as vape detection…or weapons detection and panic alarm systems,” the spokesperson said.
Reid also mentioned briefly a drone pilot program for the school system’s incident response team.
“[The drones are] able to go to sites that may not be able to be secured right away so that we can get information back and forth to division security staff,” Reid said.
Information about costs or when this drone program could be used was not mentioned at the meeting or in FCPS’ response to FFXnow. Read More
Going forward, all Fairfax County Public Schools workers will be required to undergo regular background checks and notify the school system of any arrests while they’re employed.
The expanded background check policies will be implemented after an investigation last year found “systemic gaps” in the hiring process, FCPS announced yesterday (Tuesday).
The independent investigation was prompted by the discovery that former Glasgow Middle School counselor Darren Thornton had remained employed for months after he was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor in Chesterfield County.
Effective since March 12, the new regulation is part of a “continuing effort to provide safe schools and workplaces for all students and staff,” FCPS said.
All employees, including temporary, hourly and substitute staff, will be reviewed through the National Sex Offender Registry, starting this month. This summer, anyone hired before August 2006 will also need to make an appointment where their fingerprints can be scanned for review by the Virginia State Police and FBI.
Employees hired between Aug. 1, 2006 and July 1, 2022 already have digital fingerprint scans on file, so those will be automatically resubmitted, FCPS says.
All employees are now required to disclose to the FCPS Office of Equity and Employee Relations (EER) any arrests for felonies, misdemeanors or other “acts that impact a person’s ability to work” that occurred after they were hired.
FCPS says its Department of Human Resources will start submitting all employees for criminal record background checks “periodically to monitor for unreported criminal record activity.”
“Additional types of background checks may also be used for periodic monitoring,” FCPS said. “Not every arrest would lead to action; however, a barrier crime, felony or a crime that impacts a person’s ability to work may have cause for dismissal.”
FCPS Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid told families on Aug. 18 that Thornton had been fired after officials were notified of his March 11 conviction and sentencing, which called for supervised probation in place of a suspended five-year jail sentence.
Thornton was originally arrested in November 2020, but Chesterfield police later said their emails alerting FCPS to the sex crime charge bounced back. The 50-year-old Mechanicsville resident was arrested for a second time in a separate sting operation on June 9, 2022.
After he was terminated by FCPS, Virginia State Police arrested Thornton for failing to provide complete and accurate information to the state’s sex offender registry.
In addition to indicating that it will require regular background checks, the Fairfax County School Board said following the independent investigation in September that it will make changes to its processes for verifying licensure, documenting employee leave and dismissing workers convicted of certain crimes.
David Walrod, president of the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers, expressed support for the new background check policies, stating that the Thornton case showed the limits of relying solely on law enforcement for notification of crimes by employees.
“Ensuring that employees have a clean criminal record at the start their career is important but ensuring that employees maintain clean criminal records is an important part of ensuring the safety of our students and staff,” Walrod said in a statement. “I commend the district for taking this step, and I am glad to see that Dr. Reid has taken decisive steps to ensure this happens.”
Spurred by the Thornton case, the General Assembly passed a law last month requiring all public school divisions in Virginia to designate a contact for law enforcement and courts who will manage reports related to any school employee arrests or convictions for felonies. Sponsored by state Sen. Scott Surovell, the measure will take effect on July 1.
When Vienna Elementary School celebrates its 150th anniversary next month, the occasion will double as a milestone for the entire Fairfax County Public Schools system.
Opened in 1923, the 74,904-square-foot home of the Vikings at 128 Center Street South is the oldest continuously operating public school building in the county, though the school as an institution can trace its origins back to the founding of FCPS in 1870.
“Vienna was one of the first three or four schools that began FCPS,” Vienna Elementary principal John Carmichael said. “So, while we’re celebrating Vienna’s birthday, it’s really Fairfax County Public Schools’ birthday as well.”
Vienna Elementary School will commemorate its sesquicentennial by hosting a birthday party on May 19 to excite the 381 students who currently fill its halls, complete with cake, games, music and food from Vienna Inn.
Carmichael and other school administrators have been planning for the celebration for about a year now. Around Thanksgiving, they brought current and former parents of students into the fold by convening a committee to help organize and promote the event.
While there will be speeches reflecting on the school’s history, including recognition of its segregated beginnings, the organizers want to keep the proceedings fun and engaging for all students, from kindergarteners to sixth graders, Carmichael told FFXnow.
Aside from the president of the school’s student council association, a sixth-grader who will comment on her time at the school, kids will be able to savor the treats and games free of any obligations.
“We want the students to be able to enjoy and, just as they would in a birthday, get to play games, activities, have cake and eat food,” he said, noting that some students have asked if he remembers what it was like when the school first opened.
Though he does “have the white hair,” he quipped, Carmichael’s memories don’t stretch back quite that far.
Vienna Elementary cites 1872 as its founding year, since that’s when the original school building on its current site opened. However, that location was preceded by one on Park Street between Church Street and Maple Avenue that was established for white students only in 1870 after Virginia passed the Public Free Schools Act.
“Two segregated schools operated in Vienna during those early years,” Jeff Clark, an FCPS spokesperson and unofficial resident historian, said. “The Vienna ‘Colored’ School, as it was called in historic records, for Black children, operated out of a church on Lawyers Road until a one-room schoolhouse was constructed in the 1890s.”
The “colored” school later became Louise Archer Elementary School, whose first principal will soon be honored with a historical marker.
The existing Vienna Elementary School building was the fourth one on the Center Street site. Preceded by a four-room school that burned down in 1919, the facility was built in 1922 and consisted of eight classrooms and an auditorium before expanding with subsequent additions and renovations — most recently in 2010, per the FCPS capital improvement program.
The school remained segregated until 1965, when FCPS finally integrated schools system-wide.
Carmichael says he plans to acknowledge that history in his opening remarks at next month’s celebration. Other attendees will include Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid, Providence District School Board Representative Karl Frisch, and Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn.
A Facebook page has been set up so people can RSVP to the event. Anyone who attended Vienna Elementary or is otherwise connected to the school is welcome to stop by, Carmichael says.
“We’re trying to just bring anybody that may have gone to the school in the past,” he said. “If they’re able to come, they’re more than welcome to join, because at the end of the day, a school is really just a family. It’s a community.”
Photo via Google Maps
A Reston woman who teaches at James Madison High School was arrested yesterday (Thursday) for reportedly having a sexual relationship with a student.
The student “disclosed an inappropriate sexual relationship” to school administrators, who notified law enforcement on Wednesday (April 12), the Fairfax County Police Department said in a news release today (Friday).
“Detectives were notified and assumed the investigation,” the FCPD said. “Detectives determined Allieh Kheradmand, 33, of Reston had unlawful contact with a student over the past several months.”
Kheradmand works at Madison as a learning disabilities teacher. She has been employed by Fairfax County Public Schools since 2016, according to police.
She has been charged with four counts of indecent liberties by a custodian of a student, a felony offense in Virginia. She’s currently being held without bond at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, per the FCPD.
Kheradmand has been placed on administrative leave, FCPS Superintendent Michelle Reid and Madison principal Liz Calvert said in a message to families and staff.
“In Madison and across FCPS, our primary responsibility is the safety and security of everyone who enters our doors,” Reid and Calvert wrote. “This is something we take very seriously. As educators, we are entrusted with the wellbeing of the children in our care every day. It deeply affects us when someone appears to have broken that trust.”
The FCPD advises anyone with information about this case, or other possibly related incidents, to contact its detectives at 703-246-7800, option “4.” The department also accepts anonymous tips by phone (1-866-411-TIPS) and online.
The full message from FCPS is below.
Madison High School Families and Staff,
We need to inform you that Fairfax County police have announced that a teacher at Madison High School has been arrested and charged with four counts of indecent liberties by a custodian of a student. The employee has been placed on administrative leave.
In Madison and across FCPS, our primary responsibility is the safety and security of everyone who enters our doors. This is something we take very seriously. As educators, we are entrusted with the wellbeing of the children in our care every day. It deeply affects us when someone appears to have broken that trust. Please contact Fairfax County Police Major Crimes Bureau if you have any information you would like to share at 703-246-7800, option 3.
If you have specific concerns about your student, please contact our main office or your child’s school counselor. You can find your child’s school counselor on our website. School staff will support students in any way they need.
Sincerely,
Liz Calvert
Principal
Madison High School
Dr. Michelle C. Reid
Superintendent
Fairfax County Public Schools
(Updated at 10:55 p.m.) The presence of Fairfax County police and school security has been enhanced at Glasgow Middle School in Lincolnia today (Thursday) in response to rumors that a student might bring a gun.
Fairfax County Public Schools is working with the Fairfax County Police Department to investigate “third and fourth hand anonymous rumors” that a student had threatened to bring a gun to the school today, Glasgow principal Victor Powell said in a message sent to families last night (Wednesday).
“We believe we have identified the students who may be involved, connected with those families, and the investigation will continue,” Powell wrote. “Out of an abundance of caution, we will have additional uniformed school security and police presence/patrols at the school tomorrow.”
FCPS said it had no further comment on the investigation. The FCPD confirmed that it investigated the rumors last night and added more officers at the school today as a precautionary measure, but the threat didn’t appear to be substantiated.
The gun rumors may be linked to a fight that took place “between several students” outside the school’s main office earlier this week, according to Powell.
“One of our assistant principals was struck during the incident but was not seriously hurt,” Powell said.
He didn’t share how many students were involved in the fight but said that all of them are being disciplined in accordance with FCPS’ Student Rights and Responsibilities policies.
Today will be an early release day for students, who also have tomorrow (Friday) off to mark the end of the school year’s third quarter.
Powell expressed hope that the short break will give students a chance “to reset and come back to school following the expectations of behavior that we have for all — respect, kindness and resolving our issues with healthy and safe choices.”
“Please take this time to talk with your students over the long weekend about your expectations as well,” he said. “As a team, I know we can get our Glasgow Panthers back on track.”
The full letter to families is below:
Dear Glasgow Middle School Families,
Good afternoon. Earlier this week, there was a fight between several students outside of our main office. One of our assistant principals was struck during the incident but was not seriously hurt. All of the students involved are receiving disciplinary consequences in alignment with our Student Rights and Responsibilities.
There are now third and fourth hand anonymous rumors spreading around school that a student also threatened to bring a gun to school tomorrow. We are fully investigating these rumors in partnership with our Office of Safety and Security and the Fairfax County Police. We believe we have identified the students who may be involved, connected with those families, and the investigation will continue. Out of an abundance of caution, we will have additional uniformed school security and police presence/patrols at the school tomorrow.
We hope that this short break at the end of the quarter (early release tomorrow and no school on Friday) will give students time to reset and come back to school following the expectations of behavior that we have for all – respect, kindness and resolving our issues with healthy and safe choices. Please take this time to talk with your students over the long weekend about your expectations as well. As a team, I know we can get our Glasgow Panthers back on track.
We recognize that these past two years have been incredibly challenging, and we do have supports in place. Please reach out to your child’s counselor.
Humbly,
Victor L. Powell, Principal
Photo via Google Maps
