Countywide

(Updated at 12:35 a.m. on 11/8/2023) The Democratic Party’s hold in Fairfax County remains strong, despite Republican efforts to make headway by centering issues from high taxes and “parental rights” in public education to highway tolls.

Preliminary general election results show that candidates supported by the Democrats, either officially or through endorsements, are in line to win every seat on this year’s lengthy ballot — except for Springfield District supervisor.


Countywide

(Updated at 2:25 p.m. on 11/7/2023) Early voting is over, and Election Day 2023 is less than 24 hours away.

Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. tomorrow (Tuesday). Virginia now allows same-day registration, though those voters will cast provisional ballots that are counted and validated later by the Fairfax County Electoral Board.


News

(Updated at 3:50 p.m.) Marcia St. John-Cunning no longer needs to run as a write-in candidate to become the Franconia District’s next school board representative.

The former Fairfax County Public Schools interpreter and family liaison re-qualified for the general election ballot yesterday (Wednesday) after a county judge let her submit two more pages of signatures supporting her petition for candidacy.


Countywide

All Fairfax County Public Schools employees will get a bump in their paychecks, starting next year, after the school board unanimously approved 2% raises last week.

The additional pay was made possible by the budget that the Virginia General Assembly belatedly adopted in early September, which provided money to raise teacher salaries across the state. But school board members and FCPS workers argue that overall state funding for education falls far short of what they need.


News

(Updated at 11:10 a.m. on 10/30/2023) The Democratic-endorsed candidate for the Fairfax County School Board’s Franconia District seat has been disqualified due to an error on her petition to get on the ballot.

The Fairfax County Office of Elections has posted a notice on its website informing voters that Marcia St. John-Cunning was disqualified yesterday (Wednesday) by a Fairfax County Circuit Court order. A judge ruled that her petition was invalid because of an error in her address on its front page.


News

Fairfax County Public Schools is moving forward with a name change for W.T. Woodson High School.

The Fairfax County School Board voted 10-0 with two members absent on Thursday (Oct. 12) to drop former FCPS superintendent Wilber Tucker Woodson as the namesake of the 61-year-old school at 9525 Main Street outside Fairfax City.


News

The renovation and expansion of Dranesville Elementary School is slated to begin next year — despite some lingering concerns.

The Fairfax County Planning Commission voted unanimously on Wednesday (Oct. 4) to approve a nearly 44,000-square-foot addition to the school at 1515 Powells Tavern Place in Herndon.


News

Woodson High School may soon drop “W.T.” from the beginning of its name.

The Fairfax County School Board launched a formal process last week to consider renaming the school just outside Fairfax City, adding it to a growing list of local institutions and landmarks whose monikers have been reevaluated in recent years.


Countywide

The Coalition for TJ is petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to consider its lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology’s admissions policy, which was revised in 2020 with the goal of diversifying the student body.

In the petition filed Monday (Aug. 21), the advocacy group argues that the changes approved by the Fairfax County School Board discriminate against Asian students, who saw their share of the magnet school’s incoming classes drop from more than 70% to closer to 60% in the past few years.


Countywide

Fairfax County Public Schools has officially announced that it will not implement the Virginia Department of Education’s recently finalized model policies regarding transgender and nonbinary students.

Yesterday (Tuesday), FCPS Superintendent Michelle Reid released a statement confirming that FCPS won’t adopt the new guidelines after a “detailed legal review” found that its current policies are “consistent” with state and federal law.


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