Countywide

(Updated at 11 a.m. on 6/27/2023) The Fairfax County School Board voted 9-1 last night (Monday) to raise member salaries to $48,000 with an additional $2,000 for the board chair, starting Jan. 1, 2024.

Aiming lower than what staff proposed, the raises are comparable to compensation for other paid school boards governing large school systems elsewhere in the country and raises approved in previous years, Mount Vernon District School Board representative Karen Corbett-Sanders said.


Countywide

This past spring, Fairfax County Public Schools launched a new Twilight Program to assist students whose “life circumstances” beyond the classroom complicated their ability to attend classes.

The program operates outside of the traditional 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. high school day with the goal of helping students graduate on time, FCPS Special Projects Administrator for the Non-Traditional Schools and Programs Joe Thompson says.


News

(Updated at 12:45 p.m. on 6/16/2023) As Pride Month got underway, a pair of hate incidents targeting the LGBTQ community shook up Falls Church and West Potomac high schools.

At Falls Church High School (7521 Jaguar Trail) in West Falls Church, a student admitted to stealing a rainbow Pride flag from the school and burning it, principal Ben Nowak said in a message to the school community on June 6.


Around Town

The work of local school students will be on display in the latest exhibit at the Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art (Tephra ICA) in Reston

Part of a partnership with local schools that’s in its fifth year, the “Emerging Visions” exhibit will feature work created in response to an exhibit put on by artist Dominic Chambers last fall.


News

The Fairfax County Police Department has bolstered its presence in Franconia today (Wednesday) after a man reportedly tried to abduct a child near Island Creek Elementary School yesterday.

The encounter occurred at 4:15 p.m. when a 10-year-old was walking on Morning View Lane to get to a playground, police said:


Countywide

The unexpectedly long-running saga of Fairfax County Public Schools’ delayed National Merit Scholarship commendation notices has added a new page.

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares has petitioned the Fairfax County Circuit Court to require FCPS to turn over the full report it commissioned from an outside law firm in January, killing any hopes school officials had that releasing a summary of the review’s findings would resolve the state investigation.


News

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.


Countywide

(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.


News

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.


Countywide

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.


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