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Tag: fcps

  • ‘My brother is my superhero’: Fairfax Co. student starts baseball clinic for athletes with disabilities – WTOP News

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    Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia hosts an adaptive baseball clinic for young athletes with disabilities.

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    Fairfax Co. high school student starts baseball clinic for athletes with disabilities

    The gym at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County, Virginia, was packed Saturday as 25 young athletes with disabilities took part in the school’s first adaptive baseball clinic.

    The event was hosted by the school’s varsity baseball team and led by Andrew Haydon, a 17-year-old junior who created it. He said the idea grew from his experience with his 13-year-old brother, who has autism and other learning disabilities.

    “This whole camp is deeply personal to me,” Haydon said. “My younger brother has autism and an array of learning disabilities.”

    He called his brother his “superhero” and credited his mother for encouraging him to turn the idea into reality.

    Haydon said he wanted to give kids like his brother a chance to discover adaptive baseball. “I feel like this is a great opportunity to give kids like my little brother, who weren’t aware of adaptive leagues, a chance to get experience with adaptive baseball and maybe fall in love with baseball and continue playing,’ he said.

    Twenty members of the school’s varsity baseball team volunteered as coaches, guiding the athletes through drills. Haydon’s brother Nick helped out in the sensory room.

    “It’s a room where there’s fidgets. They’re supposed to help with kids if they get overwhelmed,” Nick said.

    The gym at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology was packed with 25 boys and girls who were there to take part in the school’s first-ever adaptive clinic for young athletes with special needs on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026.
    (WTOP/Jimmy Alexander)

    WTOP/Jimmy Alexander

    Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology baseball clinic for special needs kids
    The gym at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County, Virginia, was packed Saturday as 25 young athletes with disabilities took part in the school’s first adaptive baseball clinic.
    (WTOP/Jimmy Alexander)

    WTOP/Jimmy Alexander

    Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology baseball clinic for special needs kids
    Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology baseball clinic for special needs kids

    The clinic was overseen by varsity baseball coach Jennifer Hammond, who said the team is focused on more than teaching skills. “We are realizing we’re not just helping shape baseball players, but we’re trying to shape good humans on and off the field,” she said.

    Parents filled the gym’s sidelines and watched as the young athletes worked on batting, running and throwing skills. Shannon LaBarbara brought her son Edison and said the clinic left her feeling encouraged.

    “I feel very inspired,” she said. “This group of young men feels inclined and encouraged to do this and to bring inclusion to everything that they’re doing.”

    One athlete, Kai, seemed to know everyone there. His mother, Candita Sabavala, said the 13-year-old has always loved sports. “We drag him to his older brother’s games all the time, so it’s nice for him to be able to have something of his own,” she said.

    Between running, batting and throwing balls, WTOP asked Kai what he liked most about the baseball clinic.

    With a laugh, Kai said “Everything.”

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    © 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Jimmy Alexander

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  • ‘No repeat of Hayfield’: Fairfax Co. makes changes after probe finds 2 football programs violated state rules – WTOP News

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    Fairfax County Public Schools is making a series of changes in response to an external probe that found two high school football programs in the Northern Virginia suburb violated state rules.

    Fairfax County Public Schools is making a series of changes in response to an external probe that found two high school football programs in the Northern Virginia suburb violated state rules.

    In a letter to families this week, Superintendent Michelle Reid and School Board Chair Sandy Anderson said the Chicago-based law firm Baker McKenzie finished its investigation into allegations regarding student-athlete transfer and eligibility practices across the division. Hayfield Secondary School and Fairfax High School were found to have violated Virginia High School League rules.

    Now, transfer eligibility will be handled at the central office level instead of high school level. The school district is also coming up with a set of standards that will scrutinize new student registrations the same way transfers within the division are reviewed.

    The steps come after 2024 allegations accusing then-Coach Darryl Overton of recruiting violations for allegedly encouraging his former players at Freedom High School in Woodbridge to transfer to Hayfield. Overton was in his first season leading the Fairfax County school, and also worked there as a security specialist.

    Hayfield ultimately withdrew from the postseason after playing just one game.

    And at Fairfax High, Fox 5 DC reported coaches had been accused of paying thousands to recruit a football player.

    Reid, meanwhile, had publicly apologized for the county’s handling of the Hayfield scandal.

    “When a student wants to play on a team or play a sport, whether it’s a team sport or an individual sport, they want to know that it’s a level playing field,” Board member Mateo Dunne told WTOP on Friday. “They want to know that there are rules. They want to know that the refs will judge in a neutral manner. And unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case in recent decades, but going forward, it certainly will be.”

    Dunne said having an external law firm that hasn’t done work for the county in the last 10 years lead the investigation was critical, because it “quickly became apparent that the internal investigation was not credible.”

    In response to the Hayfield situation, the division started using a platform that allows for centralized collection, review and processing of transfers, the district said. It also gave the Office of Student Activities and Athletics authority to investigate questions or concerns about a student’s eligibility.

    Fairfax County is expanding its mandatory training requirements to include all levels of coaches, including unpaid volunteers, in response to training gaps highlighted during the investigation.

    The changes, Reid and Anderson wrote, “do not include personnel actions which are confidential by law and which the Superintendent has taken and will take as appropriate.”

    When Hayfield’s 2024 football season ended, Overton took a job with the St. James Performance Academy as its director of football, the academy announced.

    “Since Hayfield, we have seen consistent, proactive enforcement of athletic rules and regulations,” Dunne said.

    “We’ve seen vigorous oversight across a variety of schools, and that, to me, is heartening, because ultimately, what we want to make sure is that there is no repeat of Hayfield. And we also want to be able to say that we have upheld the integrity of the FCPS athletics program and that we have provided accountability and transparency,” he added.

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    © 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Scott Gelman

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  • Fairfax Co. approves school boundary changes, set to take effect this fall – WTOP News

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    Hundreds of Fairfax County students will be zoned for new schools this fall, as part of boundary changes the school board in the Northern Virginia suburb approved Thursday night.

    Hundreds of Fairfax County students will be zoned for new schools this fall, as part of boundary changes the school board in the Northern Virginia suburb approved Thursday night.

    The step comes after over a year of public engagement and adjustments to the proposal, which was shaped with help from the K-12 firm Thru Consulting.

    The board approved the plan with an 8-3 vote. The opposing board members were Mateo Dunne, Ryan McElveen and Ilryong Moon.

    “I know that there’s no process that’s perfect, particularly first time out,” Superintendent Michelle Reid told the board. “We can’t let perfect become the enemy of progress. I believe this is a great start.”

    The district embarked on its first comprehensive boundary review in about 40 years. Previously, neighborhoods saw minor adjustments after conversations with school board members or the superintendent, but not at a divisionwide level.

    Now, after an update to a school board policy, school boundaries have to be reviewed every five years moving forward.

    “These adjustments represent a step forward in the overall process to slowly and methodically align boundaries across the division, to equalize enrollment, to deliver equitable access to programming, and to efficiently operate the eighth largest school system in the country,” Board member Kyle McDaniel said.

    The board held one final public hearing Thursday night before its vote, and some community members sat silently with signs before the new boundaries were approved.

    Details of the plan

    In total, the changes will impact 1,697 students, most of them elementary schoolers. Reid’s initial proposal would have changed boundaries for 2,210 kids.

    The changes, which took access to programming, enrollment, capacity, proximity and transportation into consideration, address what the district characterizes as split feeders and attendance islands.

    Split feeders are schools that feed into different middle and high schools, whereas attendance islands are sections of neighborhoods zoned for a school different from most of the same neighborhood.

    The approved plan will eliminate or reduce seven elementary to middle school split feeders, eight elementary to high school split feeders and five school attendance islands.

    “This board took this on when a lot of people advised against it, because we knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Board member Marcia St. John-Cunning said.

    “We knew it was going to be a heavy lift, and we knew we would not be pleasing everyone, but we recognize the importance of the work collectively and for everyone.”

    What are the impacts?

    The plan has different impacts to various campuses. For one, it addresses overcrowding at Coates Elementary by reassigning kids to other elementary schools.

    A change impacting 201 students at McLean High School eliminates a split feeder and attendance island and decreases the capacity there from 109% to 100%.

    Some students will have the option to remain at their current schools, even if the boundary changes. However, they may not receive transportation if that’s what they choose, a possibility several board members said they’re concerned about.

    Through months of community meetings and public hearings, some parents worried about the impact of the changes, while others felt they didn’t go far enough.

    McElveen said the process hasn’t yielded results commensurate with its cost.

    “What we are doing tonight will have life-changing consequences for children and ripple through their lives in ways we cannot fully anticipate,” McElveen said.

    “We are reshaping communities, determining friendships that may last a lifetime, connections that will sustain them through joy and hardships alike.”

    Reid said several neighborhoods are on a list to be reviewed sooner than the next five years, with recommendations for changes expected by January 2027. A handful of other sites have been highlighted for future review.

    Approved changes

    Elementary school changes:

    • Reassigns 48 students from Rolling Valley Elementary to Saratoga Elementary. The change decreases Rolling Valley’s capacity to 90%.
    • Reassigns 53 kids from Olde Creek to Laurel Ridge, decreasing Olde Creek’s capacity from 92% to 79%. The shift eliminates split feeders and an attendance island.
    • Reassigns fewer than 10 students from Westbriar Elementary to Colvin Run. The move eliminates a split feeder at the middle school level.
    • Reassigns 19 elementary students from Fort Belvoir Primary Elementary and Fort Belvoir Upper Elementary to Washington Mill.
    • Reassigns 35 kids from Riverside to Stratford Landing and 76 from Riverside to Woodlawn. Riverside’s capacity decreases from 93% to 79%.
    • Reassigns 108 kids from Coates to McNair and McNair Upper; 190 from Coates to Herndon; 65 from Coates to Floris. The move eliminates a split feeder.
    • Reassigns 78 kids from Parklawn to Belvedere and 20 from Parklawn to Columbia.
    • Reassigns 107 kids from Fort Hunt to Mount Vernon Woods, eliminating an attendance island.
    • Reassigns 58 kids from Groveton Elementary to Hybla Valley Elementary, eliminating an attendance island.
    • A change that doesn’t impact any current elementary students reassigns a boundary from Hollin Meadows to Stratford Landing.

    Middle school changes:

    • Reassigns 23 students from Katherine Johnson Middle to Rocky Run Middle, decreasing Katherine Johnson’s capacity to 101%.
    • Reassigns 172 middle schoolers from Kilmer to Thoreau, eliminating a split feeder and decreasing Kilmer’s capacity from 118% to 101%.
    • Reassigns 107 kids from Longfellow to Cooper. Eliminates a split feeder and attendance island.
    • Reassigns 27 kids from Glasgow to Poe, decreasing Glasgow’s capacity from 102% to 94%.
    • Reassigns 32 middle schoolers from Sandburg to Whitman.
    • Reassigns fewer than 10 middle schoolers from Franklin to Rocky Run.

    High school changes:

    • Reassigns 45 students from Fairfax High to Chantilly High, decreasing Fairfax High’s capacity to 97%.
    • Reassigns 128 high schoolers from Marshall to Madison, eliminating split feeders and decreasing Marshall’s capacity from 97% to 91%.
    • Reassigns 201 high schoolers from McLean to Langley, eliminating a split feeder and attendance island. Decreases McLean capacity from 109% to 100%.
    • Reassigns 46 kids from Justice to Falls Church, eliminating a split feeder.
    • Reassigns 54 kids from West Potomac to Mount Vernon.

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    © 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Scott Gelman

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  • Fairfax Co. high schoolers launch club for students who want jobs in medical fields – WTOP News

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    The Medicine and Disease Club has 30 regular members who attend weekly meetings to hear from guest speakers and prepare for competitions.

    A photo of Medicine and Disease club members at Langley High School. (Courtesy Lillian Su/Langley High School)

    Not long after Milan Le and Eesha Kaushik launched the Medicine and Disease Club at Langley High School, they spent hours outside of a Northern Virginia grocery store with a trifold and flyers, asking people to consider donating to their efforts.

    Intrigued by the setup, one community member stopped to learn more about why they were there. He asked about their career goals and what motivated them, and congratulated them on their hard work. And then, before walking away after a nearly half-hour exchange, he donated $100.

    The moment was validating for the two Fairfax County students, who launched the club as sophomores in 2023 and are now seniors. It was their first fundraiser, and they didn’t know how many shoppers would even listen just for a few minutes.

    Years later, the club has 30 regular members who attend weekly meetings to hear from guest speakers and prepare for competitions. Their fundraising totals recently reached $5,000.

    “We had talked about the fact that there wasn’t very many clubs at our school that were for pre-medical students, just because there are a lot of students who are still exploring what they want to do in high school, and they might not have those distinctions,” Kaushik said.

    Le and Kaushik, who’ve been friends since elementary school, initially envisioned the club as a place for students to study and earn community service hours. But now, there’s a core group in place, and younger students view older ones as mentors.

    Using the U.S. Medicine and Disease Olympiad as the framework, the group regularly prepares for competitions. They present lessons on diseases and other medical conditions, and sometimes plan for interactive activities.

    In one instance, leaders brought in pillows and stuffed animals for a lesson on CPR. Guest speakers, including psychiatrists and an internal medicine doctor, have shared details about their jobs too.

    “I was teaching them how to read blood pressure, and a lot of them, this was the first time they were ever using a stethoscope, which is really cool,” Le said. “It’s a tangible first step into the field and you can really see and feel, understand. You can feel like you’re in the field.”

    The pair, Kaushik said, is filling a void.

    “What we found is the vast majority of the clubs offered that were academic were primarily individual,” Kaushik said. “They were, ‘We can help you study for something, but for the most part, you’re going to work on it on your own.’ And then the ones geared toward service were meeting infrequently and were more about, ‘You come here, get some service hours and that’s about all that happens.’”

    Now, the club’s sense of community has grown so large, its members are disappointed when a meeting has to be canceled. One student made handmade bookmarks and stickers with the club logo to hand out during fundraisers.

    Many of them “have shown so much interest and passion in it,” Kaushik said.

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    Scott Gelman

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  • Fairfax County’s newest high school will be a traditional one – WTOP News

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    For the first time in decades, Fairfax County is opening a new high school, taking steps to alleviate overcrowding on several campuses in the Northern Virginia suburb.

    The former King Abdullah Academy in Herndon, Virginia, is the newest Fairfax County high school in decades.(WTOP/Scott Gelman)

    For the first time in decades, Fairfax County is opening a new high school, one of its steps to alleviate overcrowding on several campuses in the Northern Virginia suburb.

    The district finalized the sale of the former King Abdullah Academy in Herndon, spending $150 million on the private school campus and all of its furniture and technology. County leaders said they saved hundreds of millions of dollars by not having to build a new campus from scratch.

    At a school board meeting earlier this month, board members approved a plan that will allow students zoned to attend Centreville, South Lakes, Oakton, Westfield and Chantilly high schools to choose to attend the new high school. The campus does not yet have a name.

    “I’m excited to see that they’re going to start giving some outlet to relieve that overcrowding, but doing it in a way that seems to be taking it step by step and not making any quick moves,” parent Steve Pierce said.

    The board vote came weeks after nearly 300 parents signed a petition urging Superintendent Michelle Reid to convert the King Abdullah Academy to a traditional high school instead of a magnet program. A plan for some type of special programming at the new site is expected to be developed in the future.

    “My biggest concern, obviously, was to make sure it was a traditional school serving the local population, which has now been decided,” parent Kerin Hamel said. “So that’s great.”

    The campus will eventually offer classes for all high school grade levels but will open by welcoming ninth and 10th graders in the fall.

    The school system is expected to consider boundaries for the new campus next year, as part of the districtwide boundary review process. Reid said students choosing to attend the school but who live outside the official boundary, will have to arrange transportation to and from the school.

    Once that process begins, Pierce said, it’s important “this traditional community school actually serves the community in which it sits.”

    “In this community, in particular where that school sits and where I live and where my neighbors live, has been split between different high schools for decades,” Pierce said. “Now, we’re going to have these neighborhood boundaries. What exactly are the boundaries?”

    Hamel, meanwhile, said there are unanswered questions about the type of extracurricular and social activities that will be offered.

    “What do the sports teams look like?” Hamel said. “Are there not going to be varsity teams in the beginning? What is the social atmosphere there? Would we potentially partner up with another school in the short term to make sure that the kids have the same social opportunities? Prom and homecoming, and different things like that?”

    The new school will be able to hold over 2,000 students, according to the division’s website. The campus has 32.7 acres of land, with about 7 acres of existing athletic fields.

    In its first year, it won’t be a Virginia High School League member, allowing students to play sports at their base schools to avoid losing eligibility.

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    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Scott Gelman

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  • Fairfax Co. students say mental health is getting better, though concerns remain – WTOP News

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    Fewer Fairfax County students have reported mental health concerns since the peak of the pandemic, but there are still lingering worries about student wellness and bullying.

    Fewer Fairfax County students in Virginia have reported mental health concerns since the peak of the pandemic — but there are still lingering worries about student wellness and bullying.

    At last week’s school board meeting, Superintendent Michelle Reid detailed the findings of the 2024 Fairfax County Youth Survey.

    For one, mental health indicators, such as levels of stress, prolonged feelings of sadness or hopelessness and suicidal ideation and attempts improved among eighth, 10th and 12th graders last year. Those factors have continued to improve since 2021, Reid said, and reached their lowest levels in the last decade.

    Seventeen percent of eighth, 10th and 12th graders reported constant stress, according to survey data, and 22% reported feeling sad or hopeless for two or more weeks in a row, which is down from 25% in 2023, 29% in 2022 and 38% in 2021.

    “This is full of very, very good news,” Board member Robyn Lady said. “It’s post-COVID. Our kids are, I’m hoping, learning to live in discomfort a little better and understand that … we don’t get up every morning and we’re jazzed about everything that’s going to happen in that day.”

    However, Reid said, female students, nonbinary students, LGBTQ students and those who are from food-insecure homes reported higher rates of depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation and suicide attempts compared to other students.

    “We still have work to do in providing that safe space for many of our students,” Reid said.

    Counseling staff and school leaders are working on making sure school environments are safe, supportive and welcoming, Reid said, but “there’s a great deal of external rhetoric right now around topics that create feelings of a lack of safety, particularly for our transgender and nonbinary students.”

    Because mental health concerns are often reported in middle school, Reid said the district has tried to be proactive, by offering things like new middle school sports teams. Staff members also get trained in recognizing the signs of suicidal ideation and risky behavior.

    Reported rates of students using alcohol and substances was the lowest since 2018, Reid said, including for use of alcohol, marijuana, tobacco and vaping.

    One out of 10 eighth, 10th and 12th graders reported getting bullied on a school campus in the last year, similar to the rate reported in 2023, Reid said. Younger students were more likely to report being bullied than older kids.

    “We have work to do in this area,” Reid said.

    The youth survey is voluntary and given to eighth, 10th and 12th graders. Last year, almost 30,000 students took it. A different version that’s also optional is given to sixth grade students.

    “This is always a bittersweet report to read, because there’s positive movement in many directions,” Board member Kyle McDaniel said. “But until we get to zero, it’s not enough.”

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    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Scott Gelman

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  • Why hundreds of Fairfax Co. elementary schoolers are taking high school math this year – WTOP News

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    Hundreds of sixth graders are enrolled in an Algebra I class, a high school course Fairfax County Public Schools is expanding access to through a pilot program this year.

    After students eagerly entered Amanda Blevins’ classroom at Mosaic Elementary on Thursday afternoon, she returned a graded assignment and then shifted their attention to a series of warmup problems projected in the front of the room.

    The sequence tested students’ knowledge of exponents and order of operations. Blevins called on several students to walk her through how to approach each step and determine a final result.

    Then, Blevins tasked students with roaming the room, solving problems on neon sheets of printer paper attached to the classroom walls. At the same time, she worked with small groups using white boards and erasable markers.

    Blevins has 23 sixth graders enrolled in her Algebra I class, a high school course Fairfax County Public Schools is expanding access to through a pilot program this year. Across the county, there are over 700 sixth graders enrolled.

    “They’re taking several years ahead, which is great, because a lot of them have expressed interest in STEM careers later down the line,” Blevins said. “Getting a head start on some of these higher level math concepts sets them on a path to advanced math as they get into middle school and high school.”

    The pilot program is available for students who took the sixth grade Virginia Standards of Learning math test while in fifth grade and earned a “Pass Advanced” score, while also earning certain scores on other math tests.

    In other school years, about 30 students across all 142 elementary campuses took Algebra I in the sixth grade. It was rare, largely because county middle school campuses largely include only seventh and eighth graders.

    Now, over one-third of the district’s elementary schools are a part of the pilot program.

    “I was really excited and I was kind of worried,” student Mason Lee said. “Because it’s like a high school program, but I’m only in elementary school. I was worried that maybe I wouldn’t do so well as I’d done before, but I’ve been able to keep up pretty well so far.”

    The class, Lee said, “could help me get into maybe a good college.”

    Blevins said the biggest obstacle is helping students fill in gaps that could be caused by skipping two levels of math.

    “We’ve been front-loading a lot of the seventh and eighth grade concepts, and we’re trying to sprinkle that in as we get into the Algebra units too,” Blevins said.

    Yesaswini Perneti Mohan, meanwhile, expressed interest in the class because she found previous math courses to be “really easy.” She said she wants to become a neurosurgeon, and described the class as “what I expected. It’s not that easy or hard. It’s in the middle range.”

    Gavin Wang is an aspiring mathematician, and said whenever he can, “I try to do something that involves harder math.”

    Offering the course was a “heavy lift,” Principal Mahri Aste said, and some parents were nervous about their kids taking a high school course in sixth grade.

    But, Aste said, “it’s been very, very positive. The kids are excited about math. They love it.”

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    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Scott Gelman

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  • Education Dept. withholds funds from Fairfax County schools amid pressure over bathroom policy – WTOP News

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    The Department of Education has started to withhold federal funding from Fairfax County Public Schools, a significant escalation in the battle over the Northern Virginia school district’s bathroom policies.

    The Education Department withheld federal funding from Fairfax County Public Schools, as pressure continues to build for the school district and several Northern Virginia school systems to amend their gender policy over the use of restrooms and locker rooms or risk losing federal funding.

    The school division had submitted a reimbursement request for a small amount, and that request has been denied, a person familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly told WTOP. It’s unclear how much has been withheld and which programs will be affected.

    The action is the latest in the back-and-forth between the school division and the federal agency over the county’s policy for intimate facilities, such as bathrooms.

    Fairfax County and four other Virginia school systems said their bathroom policies are in compliance with federal law. However, the Education Department said policies that allow students to use the bathroom based on gender identity, rather than biological sex, violate Title IX.

    Education Department spokesperson Julie Hartman told The Associated Press, “The Department will not rubber-stamp civil rights compliance for New York, Chicago, and Fairfax while they blatantly discriminate against students based on race and sex.”

    Fairfax County schools will lose $3.4 million in Magnet School Assistance Program funding next fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.

    An Education Department spokesperson said no funds have been withheld from the MSAP, but “the Office for Civil Rights cannot certify that Fairfax County Schools are in compliance with civil rights laws, so it cannot continue receiving the MSAP grant moving forward. The grant will expire on 9/30 and they will not be getting another MSAP grant.”

    Fairfax County filed a lawsuit to prevent funding from being frozen, but a federal judge declined to rule, citing a lack of jurisdiction. Since then, the division has filed an appeal and an emergency motion for injunction pending appeal.

    Fairfax County schools Superintendent Michelle Reid previously told WTOP the division could lose up to $167 million in federal funding, which supports students with disabilities and those who receive free school meals. School leaders in Arlington, Prince William County and the City of Alexandria have expressed similar concerns.

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    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Scott Gelman

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  • Education Department eyes prestigious Fairfax County school over bathroom gender policy – WTOP News

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    A prestigious Fairfax County high school stands to lose millions of dollars in funding as the Education Department follows through on a threat to withhold funding to the Virginia school system over its gender policy regarding the use of restrooms and locker rooms.

    A prestigious Fairfax County high school stands to lose millions of dollars in funding as the Education Department says it will follow through on a threat to withhold funding to the Virginia school system over its gender policy regarding the use of restrooms and locker rooms.

    The department confirmed to WTOP it’s denying the certification of magnet school grant applications to Fairfax County Public Schools. The denial would result in a cut of about $3.4 million to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.

    The Department of Education has given Fairfax County schools until 5 p.m. Friday to comply.

    This comes on the heels of Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s social media post saying the department “will not certify that magnet schools in New York City, Chicago & Fairfax Public Schools are following the law when they are clearly not.”

    This latest move comes after the Department of Education claimed earlier this year that Fairfax County, Loudoun County, Prince William County, Arlington and Alexandria City public schools are violating Title IX with their policies that let students use bathrooms based on their gender identity rather than their biological sex.

    The school systems have maintained that they are in compliance with state and federal laws, and that the Education Department is misinterpreting Title IX. Fairfax County said it stands to lose $167 million in federal funding over the dispute.

    “The notification from the Department of Education regarding the withholding of grant funding is the latest in a series of efforts to defund and diminish the tradition of excellence of public education in Fairfax County Public Schools and in other school divisions around the country,” the school system said in a statement to WTOP.

    FCPS also revealed in its response that it and many other school districts have lost federal funding for what it calls “a critical five year youth school board based mental health program” called SBMH.

    “FCPS maintains that the DOE’s decision to label the division as ‘high-risk’ and threaten funding is not supported by any identifiable factors or evidence.”

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    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Kyle Cooper

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  • ‘It’s just a really special place’: Fairfax Co. principal returns to lead elementary school she attended as a child – WTOP News

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    Amy Briggs attended Spring Hill Elementary School in McLean, Virginia, from kindergarten through sixth grade. Now she’s back as the school’s principal.

    Spring Hill Elementary School in McLean, Virginia.
    (WTOP/Scott Gelman)

    WTOP/Scott Gelman

    Amy Briggs
    Amy Briggs inside her office at Spring Hill Elementary School in McLean, Virginia.
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    Amy Briggs in the hallway of Spring Hill Elementary School
    Amy Briggs didn’t have to learn how to navigate the hallways when she became the principal at Spring Hill Elementary School in McLean, Virginia.
    (WTOP/Scott Gelman)

    WTOP/Scott Gelman

    Spring Hill Elementary School
    A wall saying “Be The ‘i’ In Kind” in a hallway inside Spring Hill Elementary School in McLean, Virginia.
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    WTOP/Scott Gelman

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    Va. elementary school principal returns to lead school she attended as a child

    Before the summer started, staff members at Spring Hill Elementary School in McLean, Virginia, approached Principal Amy Briggs with an idea.

    They wanted to paint a mural on part of the wall to illustrate the Portrait of a Graduate, a Virginia mantra that characterizes the skills students need to thrive after graduation. She was intrigued, but asked them to explain what exactly that would look like.

    One staff member took her at her word, volunteering her own time over the summer and painting a mural on a school wall. It inspired other educators to do the same, and now, there are four murals where “staff members came in, dedicated their time to making this space look better and something to be proud of, and more colorful.”

    Teachers noticed them when they returned from summer break, Briggs said, explaining the positivity they created was contagious.

    It’s the impact she has hoped to have as principal of the school she once attended. She wants kids, and colleagues, to have the same experience she did.

    “I wanted to be here every day,” Briggs said. “I was excited to come here every day. And I want that for everyone who walks through these doors. I want them to feel that same feeling. It’s just a really special place.”

    Briggs attended Spring Hill from kindergarten through sixth grade, and her two kids were students there, too. She became a substitute teacher for one of her former teachers, then became a student teacher, fifth grade teacher and technology specialist.

    For five years, she was an assistant principal. Now, she’s in her third year as principal.

    “I loved my teachers,” Briggs said. “I absolutely love them. I love them so much I wanted to be one of them, because I felt that I wanted to do the same thing for others that they did for me.”

    As a student, Briggs was one of about 600 kids. Now, the campus has over 1,000 students, and is represented by 48 different languages and 52 countries.

    Despite its growth, “it’s a small feel. And everyone knows each other, and everyone works together. And I think that’s why it’s so special,” Briggs said.

    There have been several renovations since Briggs attended Spring Hill, but the flooring in the PE hallway has been the same since the ’70s. When she walks through, she reflects on how she was treated as a student and how to create that same feeling for current kids.

    “The job is not easy,” Briggs said. “It is tiring. It is exhausting. But then anytime I start to feel, ‘Wow, it’s getting a little bit challenging,’ I go into a kindergarten room, or I’ll go into a classroom and they’ll ground me right back to where, ‘This is why we’re doing the work we’re doing.”

    To keep everyone excited throughout the long school year, Briggs started planning pep rallies. Teachers have a walk-up song and get introduced, and they dance to the music. The students enjoy it, and it gives the educators a break, too.

    “It’s a privilege and honor to be in this position and there’s a lot of joy in it, so we have to stay in that, because there’s a lot of it,” Briggs said.

    Briggs and the school staff felt similar positivity when students returned for open house and parents attended back-to-school night. It’s exactly as she remembers it.

    “I’m just thrilled that now we have a whole lot of staff members who are so invested in the school, that they’re giving back in this way, and it’s just spreading and it’s showing, and it’s been wonderful,” Briggs said.

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  • Fairfax Co. superintendent describes possible consequences if federal funding gets frozen – WTOP News

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    Days after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit that Fairfax and Arlington Public Schools hoped would prevent federal money from being frozen, both Northern Virginia school districts have filed an appeal.

    Days after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit that Fairfax and Arlington Public Schools hoped would prevent federal money from being frozen, both Northern Virginia school districts have filed an appeal.

    And Fairfax County Schools’ Superintendent Michelle Reid is warning about what’s at stake if the divisions don’t receive the funds.

    “It harms our most vulnerable children,” Reid told WTOP on Wednesday. “And in this case, tens of thousands of our most vulnerable children.”

    On Friday, Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia declined to rule in the case, writing that the court lacks jurisdiction. The appeal has been filed with the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit of Virginia.

    WTOP has contacted the Department of Education for comment on the appeal.

    The step is the latest in the back and forth between several Virginia school divisions and the Department of Education. The federal agency designated five districts — Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, Arlington and the City of Alexandria — as “high risk” and threatened to withhold federal dollars, because they didn’t change their policies for intimate facilities, including bathrooms and locker rooms.

    The agency found the policies to be in violation of Title IX, because they allow students to use spaces such as bathrooms based on their gender identity instead of their biological sex. The school districts maintain they’re following the law.

    In Fairfax, Virginia’s largest school system, Reid said there’s $167 million in federal money that could be in jeopardy. It helps pay for Title I programs, IDEA programs to support students with special services and food and nutrition programs, “which for over 70,000 of our children may be the only meal of the day they actually receive.”

    In the coming weeks, Reid said the district will start submitting for reimbursement for Title I and food and nutrition programs, as it typically does.

    “That’s when we’re going to experience the potential for greater scrutiny and freezing of our funds, which has been what the Department of Education has indicated will happen,” she said.

    The school district has contacted the Education Department by phone and left messages, and sent a letter too, but Reid said they haven’t received a response.

    In Arlington, meanwhile, Superintendent Francisco Duran has said the high risk designation meant “effectively freezing $23 million” that is used to offer free meals and help support students with disabilities.

    In a statement, a spokesman for Arlington schools said Wednesday that while Judge Alston dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds, “his decision explicitly upheld the legality of our transgender student policy and its adherence to Title IX.”

    The appeal decision, the statement said, is to protect money for essential services, such as free meals and academic support, “for the students who rely on them most.”

    Reid said in Fairfax, she’s been communicating what’s at risk but is expecting the funding to be reinstated and not frozen.

    “The five jurisdictions here in Northern Virginia, as well as the divisions across the Commonwealth and across the country, remain committed to the power and promise of public education,” Reid said. “These attempts to defund public education simply won’t be tolerated.”

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  • ‘Confused and a bit perplexed’: Fairfax Co. superintendent reacts to ‘high-risk status’ from Education Department – WTOP News

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    In an interview with WTOP, Superintendent Michelle Reid said the division is “a bit confused and a bit perplexed as to how best to address this, because there really is not a relevant exemplar in recent years that anyone can recall that called out anything of this nature.”

    Days after the Department of Education placed five Northern Virginia school systems that didn’t change their bathroom policies on high-risk status, Fairfax County’s superintendent said the state’s largest school district is reviewing the agency’s message and considering next steps.

    In an interview with WTOP, Superintendent Michelle Reid said the division is “a bit confused and a bit perplexed as to how best to address this, because there really is not a relevant exemplar in recent years that anyone can recall that called out anything of this nature.”

    In a four-page letter sent to Prince William County Superintendent LaTanya McDade on Monday, and obtained by WTOP, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said the division has to submit a corrective action plan within 30 days. It also told the district to submit plans for compliance with all federal laws.

    The step marks a significant escalation in the back-and-forth between the federal agency and the five Northern Virginia districts.

    Arlington, Alexandria, Loudoun, Prince William and Fairfax counties’ schools all rejected a request to change their bathroom policies, which currently allow students to use intimate facilities based on their gender identity. While the school districts said their practices align with current law, the education department said they violate Title IX.

    “We were really disappointed that the Department of Education wouldn’t engage in any kind of thoughtful collaboration, and rather, sent this letter in response,” Reid said. “We were very disappointed with this.”

    In the letter to Prince William County schools, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, McMahon said despite an extension to the deadline to change bathroom policies, the district “stated it does not intend to make the necessary policy changes to come into compliance with Title IX.” The division is on high-risk status so the agency can “ensure taxpayer dollars are not being spent on illegal activity.”

    There hasn’t been funding withheld to date, and school districts routinely apply for reimbursement when the funding is tied to federal grants.

    In Fairfax, Reid said it’s unclear what the high-risk status means, “because we recently received a very clean federal audit on our Title II grant. And in fact, as we read the regulation around this high-risk language, we’re in compliance with all elements of operation in terms of these federal grants.”

    Despite the uncertainty, Reid said the district is confident that “appropriated Congressional funds will continue to be appropriated.” The school districts have 10 business days to ask for a reconsideration of the high-risk designation.

    In the case of Fairfax County, Reid said practices “are aligned with Virginia law and the rulings of the federal Court of Appeals in the Fourth Circuit.”

    The district is planning to reach out the federal agency for clarification, she said.

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  • Investigation into Hayfield Secondary football program clears coaches of wrongdoing – WTOP News

    Investigation into Hayfield Secondary football program clears coaches of wrongdoing – WTOP News

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    A monthslong investigation into allegations that Hayfield Secondary School’s football coaches improperly recruited players didn’t verify any of the accusations.

    Fairfax County Superintendent Michelle Reid speaks during a town hall meeting in the auditorium of Hayfield Secondary School.(WTOP/Scott Gelman)

    A monthslong investigation into allegations that Hayfield Secondary School’s football coaches improperly recruited players didn’t verify any of the accusations, Fairfax County Superintendent Michelle Reid said Tuesday night.

    During a contentious town hall meeting in the school’s auditorium, Reid told parents and community members the review took over 400 hours and involved the Northern Virginia school district’s human resources department and auditor.

    The meeting came months after first-year football coach Darryl Overton was accused of improperly recruiting at least a dozen players from his former school, Freedom High School in Prince William County. It was alleged those students who transferred lied about living in the Hayfield High School pyramid region, and that there was a school employee who was involuntarily transferred to a different county school because they expressed opposition to the transfer and recruiting practices.

    Overton and his staff faced accusations of bullying students, using school system property for personal gain, misusing funds and exceeding the number of training days and restrictions for offseason workouts.

    But the investigation, Reid said, didn’t substantiate any of those claims.

    “It’s clear that we build community around schools and school activities,” Reid told WTOP. “The allegations that have been made over the last several months have been investigated. They’ve been thoroughly looked at, and they’ve been found to be unsubstantiated.”

    As part of the school system’s investigation, 19 people — including principals, parents, directors of student servicers and directors of student activities — were interviewed. Last weekend, Reid said the school system made seven home visits to verify students lived where they said they do. The district stopped by with about 15 minutes of notice, Reid said, and confirmed the students actually lived at those addresses.

    The school division hired attorney Cynthia Hudson to go over evidence and do her own legal review, which concluded the allegations were based on rumors, Reid said.

    “As a former deputy attorney general for the Commonwealth, she has that skill set to be able to review data and information and make sure that there isn’t something we’ve missed, and also to just really make sure that we’re talking about personnel issues and student-athlete privacy concern issues as well,” Reid said. “It’s important that we make personnel and program decisions not on suspicions and speculation, but on facts as a result of a comprehensive investigation.”

    During Tuesday’s meeting, Reid said there are both residency concerns and eligibility concerns in athletics. Virginia’s High School League handles the eligibility process, and Reid said a student’s eligibility status can fluctuate.

    In a statement, a spokesman for the Virginia High School League said the agency doesn’t have investigative powers, and that, “Fairfax County Public Schools have declared these students eligible in the Hayfield situation. A school must self-report any violations. If we receive information regarding residency, we notify the school, just as we did with Hayfield.”

    Dawn Love, whose son transferred to Hayfield from Freedom High School and is now on the team, said disgruntled players and parents are at the core of the allegations.

    “They, (in) my opinion, did not want to compete,” Love said. “You have to compete to play. This isn’t ‘you’re automatically given a trophy.’ You’ve got to compete to play.”

    Another Hayfield parent who attended the meeting but asked not to be named told WTOP there’s “an influx of students coming here. I’m not sure if it’s just for the sports or what, but there are a lot of students here, more students than last year.”

    Meanwhile, Fairfax County School Board member Mateo Dunne is calling for an independent investigation into the allegations, suggesting there were “more allegations than you can shake a stick at.”

    “FCPS does not have the capacity, the experience, the expertise to conduct a complex, multifaceted investigation of this type,” Dunne said. “We really need to ask an outside law firm or organization to come in (and) conduct an independent, comprehensive investigation.”

    When asked about the demand for a private probe, Reid said it’s the reason the school district involved Hudson in its review.

    “If there are new allegations or new information about the former allegations that are brought forward, of course, we’re going to investigate those and ask for an independent review again to look at those,” Reid said. “But at this moment, the allegations are unsubstantiated, and the program has my full confidence, barring any new information to the contrary.”

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  • Some Fairfax Co. community members call for overhaul to sex education lessons – WTOP News

    Some Fairfax Co. community members call for overhaul to sex education lessons – WTOP News

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    Some parents and community members are calling for an overhaul of Fairfax County Public Schools’ sex education curriculum, about a month after the committee that works on it presented its latest recommendations to the school board.

    Some parents and community members are calling for an overhaul of Fairfax County Public Schools’ sex education curriculum, about a month after the committee that works on it presented its latest recommendations to the school board.

    During the public comment portion of Thursday’s school board meeting, several speakers called for the Family Life Education lessons to be more inclusive, and, in some cases, urged school leaders to consider making them coed.

    The comments come weeks after the FLE Curriculum Advisory Committee presented its latest recommendations to school staff. While they don’t mention coed instruction in the latest iteration, it was included in the committee’s recommendations in previous years.

    “The Family Life Education Curriculum in Fairfax County Public Schools is not yet comprehensive sexuality education,” community member Robert Rigby said. “We need to begin at first principles and develop a program that meets the needs of children. That is, we need to start over.”

    Christina McCormick, who said she’s a Fairfax County parent, told the board that sex education concepts should be inclusive of all gender and sexual identities.

    “Our LGBTQ youth are already experiencing bullying and stigma,” McCormick said. “Separating them by gender for sex-ed furthers this and completely ignores the existence of students who identify outside of the binary, and further perpetuates heteronormativity.”

    In its latest series of recommendations, the committee, which is made up of teachers, students, health department members and school board appointees, recommended a series of objectives and descriptive statements tied to setting personal boundaries for high schoolers, and revised objectives tied to puberty and reproductive systems in fourth through seventh grades.

    Curriculum development is ongoing through the next school year, according to school board documents, and full implementation of the changes could come in the 2025-26 school year. The community review period ended June 10, and the topic is listed as a school board action item at the upcoming June 27 meeting.

    For elementary schoolers, the committee is recommending exploring teaching gender identity and a more inclusive overall curriculum. At Thursday’s meeting, Vanessa Hall, with the group FCPS Pride, said the district’s family life education curriculum is “about three decades old.”

    “Interim changes have been beneficial but cannot address deficiencies at the core of the curriculum developed in a previous century when gay marriage was illegal, and meant nearly all our students and staff were in the closet,” Hall said.

    After the committee initially unveiled recommendations for certain coed sex education lessons, the school system launched a survey to gather public opinion. About 85% of people who responded to the survey opposed the proposal to put girls and boys in the same classroom for certain sex education lessons. Over 2,600 responses were collected.

    Critics of coed lessons argue they’d make kids uncomfortable, and, as a result, they wouldn’t ask important questions. Advocates say they can create an inclusive environment and normalize conversations about reproduction and puberty.

    At the meeting, one speaker said the proposal was “overwhelmingly opposed by parents, students and employees.”

    Parents can opt their student out of certain family life education lessons.

    More information about the school district’s Family Life Education curriculum is available online.

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