Posts by Mark Spooner
FCPS Promises Transparency, But Hides the Ball
Several prior posts on this site have reported on a lawsuit stemming from the failure of Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) to provide timely notice to high school students of commendations they had received from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. As reported earlier, the failure created intense controversy. In response, the school Superintendent announced in…
Read MoreFCPS Violates Its Policy on Political Advertising
A Regulation of the Fairfax County School Board states that “Campaign literature supporting one or more candidates shall not be distributed within the schools or on school buses by students, teachers, or others; nor shall campaign posters be displayed at or within the schools ….” (Regulation 4426.5). School administrators are ignoring this policy at at…
Read MoreFCPS Spins the Decline in SAT Scores
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) posted a misleading article last week entitled “Fairfax County Students Continue to Outperform SAT State and Global Averages.” The school Superintendent, Michelle Reid, touted the same data at the October 12 meeting of the School Board, using a chart labeled “Fairfax seniors have consistently outperformed state and global SAT outcomes.” The…
Read MoreI Spoke Too Soon ….
Six months ago, I posted an article praising an action of the Fairfax County School Board. See “Fairfax School Board Acts to Streamline Its Meetings.” As it turns out, I was too quick to find a silver lining in the Board’s pattern of making its meetings unfriendly to the public. At its recent meeting on…
Read MoreBeware the Social Studies Curriculum — Part 2
Documents obtained under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act reveal a disturbing ideological bias in the social studies curricula of Fairfax County public high schools (FCPS). The first article on this subject, which is HERE, discloses that after the current School Board took office in 2020, the curricula were extensively revised to view history and government…
Read MoreBeware the Social Studies Curriculum! — Part I
As a new academic year begins, Fairfax County citizens should be aware of what our children will be taught in the public schools. Particular attention should be given to the social studies curriculum. It is not a straightforward education about history and government. It is agenda-driven, emphasizing a viewpoint supported by “progressives” and race-theory advocates. …
Read MoreNational Merit Suit — Brief Update
A controversy arose last December when it was reported that officials at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) had failed to notify students and parents in a timely manner of achievement awards from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. According to the news reporting, TJ administrators explained that the awards had been withheld…
Read MoreLawsuit Against FCPS May Be Coming to Enforce the Model Transgender Policy
As recently reported HERE and HERE, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) has announced that it will not comply with the Virginia Department of Education’s recently-issued model transgender policy. The refusal violates a Virginia statute that expressly requires school boards throughout the Commonwealth to adopt policies consistent with the model policy. In defying the law, FCPS…
Read MoreFairfax’s Transgender Policy Must Be Challenged
The Fairfax County Public School system (FCPS) says it won’t comply with the Virginia Department of Education’s new transgender policy because the current FCPS policy is “consistent with federal and state anti-discrimination laws as required by the new model policies.” See Letter from Superintendent Michelle Reid to the Community, Aug. 15, 2023. HERE. This is…
Read MoreFairfax School Board Defies Virginia’s Transgender Policy
After leaking its closed-door decision to transgender advocates, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) announced on August 15 that it would ignore the Virginia Board of Education’s recently issued transgender policy. The decision was revealed in a community letter from the FCPS Superintendent, which is HERE. Not a word or comma in FCPS’ existing policy will…
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