A now-retired Fairfax County Public Schools teacher is facing criminal charges for allegedly assaulting a student and a colleague.
Detectives began investigating Mary Simons, 63, of Arlington after Child Protective Services received a tip on March 28 alleging that she had assaulted a student while teaching at Parklawn Elementary School in Lincolnia, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.
Former Fairfax County School Board member Janie Strauss, who has died at age 78, is being remembered as a community champion with a focus on improving the lives of youth.
Strauss, who served as the school board’s Dranesville District member for nearly 30 years, representing the McLean, Great Falls and Herndon areas, died at home on April 11 after a year-long battle with glioblastoma brain cancer, her family said.
At their first meeting after a stabbing at West Potomac High School this week, School Board members said safety and the Fairfax County Public Schools budgets are inextricably linked.
School Board members expressed sympathy for staff, students and families affected by the stabbing, but also used it as a rallying cry in an ongoing budget battle with the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
Fairfax County supervisors on Tuesday (April 22) gave the county school system an extension totaling nearly a full year to submit planning documents for expansion of Centreville High School.
The action did not sit well with the supervisor in whose district the school is located.
Starting next week, Fairfax County Public Schools will begin rolling out a pilot program intended to prevent guns and other weapons from being brought into school buildings.
Randomly selected high schools in the district will see the installation of OpenGate detectors at the building’s main doors, allowing students, faculty and visitors to be screened when entering the school.
Members of a Fairfax County School Board committee appear divided on whether high schools should adopt blanket rules and regulations for their graduation ceremonies, or whether each school should retain a degree of autonomy.
The matter arose as members of the board’s governance committee met Tuesday (April 1) to evaluate proposed updates to a host of Fairfax County Public Schools policies.
A teacher at White Oaks Elementary School in Burke has been found guilty of two counts of simple assault, stemming from multiple incidents involving students.
Elizabeth Yoshimi Nagagata, 63, intends to appeal the outcome of the March 31 hearing, which resulted in a total 20-day jail sentence, according to court records.
The Fairfax County Police Department has a message for those affected by the Trump administration’s downsizing of the federal government: Come check us out.
The department launched a dedicated recruitment initiative on Tuesday (April 1) “aimed at hiring experienced professionals seeking stable and rewarding career opportunities in public safety.”
Fairfax County staff have sketched out details of a series of bond referendums for the next five years that would raise just under $2 billion for facility construction and renovation projects.
With both economic uncertainty and higher interest rates causing headwinds, however, alterations could be possible — even likely.
A rally organized by local LGBTQ advocacy groups outside Luther Jackson Middle School in Merrifield last night (Thursday) served as both a celebration of the upcoming Transgender Day of Visibility and a call for solidarity.
During the half-hour rally, that solidarity manifested in dozens of passing vehicles honking in apparent support of the crowd, which had gathered ahead of a Fairfax County School Board meeting to support the trans community.
