Fairfax County government offices will close, but public schools will remain open tomorrow (Wednesday) for Veterans Day.
Fairfax County Public Schools students will head to class tomorrow as usual after the school board voted this spring to no longer observe Veterans’ Day as a student holiday. Seeking to reduce disruptions to the standard five-day school week, the board also considered Indigenous Peoples’ Day for elimination, but that proposal didn’t pass.
Educators at Lake Braddock Secondary School protested mandatory weapons detection duty with a “walk in” this morning (Nov. 5), as the local teachers’ unions await the Fairfax County School Board’s decision on a formal grievance filed against the policy.
Around 18 members wearing their union t-shirts met at 7:20 a.m., chanted “let us teach,” then quietly walked into the Burke school at the start of their contract hour, 7:30 a.m., in protest of the duty implemented at the school last year.
Some of the most high-profile actions the Fairfax County School Board is expected to take during the 2026-27 school year will relate to the use of technology, particularly in emerging areas such as artificial intelligence.
Based on feedback from a newly established advisory committee, Fairfax County Public Schools staff presented early drafts of two policies — one for use of educational technology in general and one for emerging tech — to the school board’s governance committee for its input last week (Oct. 27).
Two people have been hospitalized following a collision between a truck and a Fairfax County Public Schools bus on Richmond Highway during the afternoon rush-hour, police say.
Officers and Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department units were dispatched at around 4:56 p.m. for the crash at the intersection of Richmond Highway (Route 1) and Mohawk Lane in Woodlawn, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.
The Fairfax County School Board is asking lawmakers in Richmond to increase state funding for K-12 programs, provide state-funded universal Pre-K programs, and make changes to Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act as part of its 2027 Legislative Program.
In preparation for the General Assembly’s coming session in January, the school board voted unanimously (with the exception of one absent member) on Oct. 8 to adopt eight priority positions for the state legislature and another 11 at the federal level.
Back in March, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology student Daniil Prokofev went for an 8-mile run from the Lincolnia school to his home. That run led to the development of a web-based app that will someday be able to help all Fairfax County Public Schools students find safe routes to school.
The route Prokofev took on his run in March, suggested by Google Maps, wasn’t particularly safe, as several sections had no sidewalks and there were busy intersections to cross.
Fairfax County Public Schools will examine its use of instructional apps and software, following two recent unanimous votes from the school board.
At its Oct. 8 meeting, the Fairfax County School Board, by an 8-4 vote, approved a carve-out in the division’s digital device restrictions to allow kindergarteners in need of additional reading support to use the literacy program Lexia during this academic year — a move that affects about 30% of kindergarteners.
Fairfax County Public Schools’ legal bid to restore funding withheld by the U.S. Department of Education due to its policies supporting transgender and other gender-expansive students has found new life.
A three-judge panel from the U.S. Appeals Court for the Fourth Circuit ruled 2-1 yesterday (Thursday) to send the lawsuit filed by FCPS and Arlington Public Schools (APS) in August 2025 back to a federal district court that had previously dismissed the complaint.
Fairfax County Public Schools this week celebrated the launch of a new program to help young learners make safe choices in the water with an immersive “water safety festival” featuring visits from Olympic swimmers.
Students from grades 3-5 gathered at the Skyview High School swimming pool on Tuesday (Oct. 13) to try out the basics of swimming, paddle from inside an inflatable boat, and hear from two-time Olympic gold medalist Cullen Jones. Maritza Correia McClendon, an Olympic silver medalist, also visited earlier in the day.
Fairfax County Public Schools has acquired a quantum computer, touted as the world’s first for kindergarten through 12th-grade students, for its new Skyview High School in the Floris area south of Herndon.
Roughly the size of a small refrigerator, the computer is expected to be installed in December and become available next spring to FCPS students, enabling them to explore quantum concepts, understand how the machine differs from a traditional computer, and test problems.
