County leaders have now joined School Board members in pushing for more early budget collaboration, to avoid repeating an impasse that soured relationships last spring.
At a Sept. 16 meeting of the Board of Supervisors’ Budget Policy Committee, County Executive Bryan Hill said school leaders needed to develop a “budget of reality” for fiscal 2027.
Some Fairfax County School Board members hope closer collaboration with their Board of Supervisors’ counterparts will make for smoother future budget processes than was experienced earlier this year.
Fairfax County Public Schools needs to convince local elected officials and the broader community that “we are being as strategic as possible with every dollar,” Mason District School Board member Ricardy Anderson said during a school board work session on Tuesday (Sept. 9) about budget planning and communications strategies.
Fairfax County Public Schools is rolling out advanced weapons detectors to all middle and high schools, but is that enough to keep schools safe? At least one member of the school board says no.
“Technology can identify a weapon or observe a fight, but it requires a human to intervene to seize the weapon or stop the fight,” Mount Vernon District Representative Mateo Dunne told FFXnow.
Competing rallies outside at Luther Jackson Middle School in Merrifield yesterday (Thursday) quickly commanded attention away from Fairfax County’s first school board meeting of the new academic year.
Dozens of activists from pro-LGBTQ+ group FCPS Pride showed up to applaud the school board for supporting transgender students, while the anti-abortion organization Students for Life of America gathered to condemn Fairfax County Public Schools officials over recent allegations of employees helping students obtain abortions.
Many Fairfax County School Board members initially celebrated the purchase of the now-defunct King Abdullah Academy building in the Herndon area, but that excitement is now being tempered by a simmering conflict over what form the proposed new high school should take.
There are a range of models available, from traditional or traditional-with-academies types of school to a magnet program similar to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.
With just a few months to go before they’re expected to vote on new school boundaries, many Fairfax County School Board members say there are still critical information gaps that need to be addressed.
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is undergoing its first boundary review in nearly four decades, an overhaul that could have a dramatic impact on students and their families.
Those attending Fairfax County School Board meetings in the future may need to give themselves a little extra time to get settled in.
Starting this school year, Fairfax County Public Schools announced that it will expand its growing weapons screening program to school board meetings, requiring attendees to pass through OpenGate detectors before gaining entry.
The new student representative to the Fairfax County School Board is urging school leaders to enforce consistent standards, now that new restrictions on student phone use are being rolled out countywide.
Starting with the upcoming 2025-2026 school year, Fairfax County Public Schools will prohibit students in all grades from using their cell phones at any point during the day — with the exception of high school students during lunch. Teachers can also no longer incorporate phones into instructional activities.
A second member of the Fairfax County School Board is angling for a spot on the county’s Board of Supervisors if James Walkinshaw is elected to Congress.
Rachna Sizemore Heizer, who has served on the school board since 2019, announced her campaign for Braddock District supervisor today (Monday), despite no guarantee that an election for the seat is forthcoming.
As Fairfax County Public Schools continues to work through a sweeping redistricting process, the school board decided to revisit its policy on how the upcoming changes will be implemented.
Led by Mason District Representative Ricardy Anderson, the Fairfax County School Board voted unanimously this Thursday (July 17) to revise the phasing policy that guides which students are affected by boundary adjustments.
