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.


Countywide

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.


Countywide

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.


Countywide

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).


News

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.


News

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).


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