Posts Tagged ‘Fairfax County Public Schools’
National Merit Awards Controversy — Update
As previously reported, a controversy erupted in December of last year regarding delays by administrators in the Fairfax County Public School system (FCPS) in notifying students and families about prestigious National Merit “commended student” awards. In response, the FCPS Superintendent announced that a law firm was being hired to conduct an independent investigation into the…
Read MoreCoalition for TJ v. School Board — Further Analysis
The two-judge majority in Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board concluded that the School Board’s revised admissions policy did not have a disparate, adverse impact on Asian American applicants to the high school; indeed, according to the court, this group was helped, not hurt, by the new admissions criteria. Having parsed through the…
Read MoreFCPS Consideration of “Equity Policy” Coming Soon
A proposed “Equity Policy” for the Fairfax County Public School system (FCPS) will be considered by the county School Board at a work session on June 20 and will come up for final approval at the Board’s June 26 meeting, just five weeks from now. This is despite the fact that a draft of the…
Read MoreFairfax School Board Is Sued Over National Merit Secrecy
Fairfax Schools Monitor has sued the Fairfax County School Board to compel the release of its factual findings concerning the National Merit “commended student” controversy. The suit was filed on April 27 in the Fairfax County General District Court under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. (“FOIA”). Background In December 2022 an article in the…
Read MoreFairfax School Board Acts to Streamline Its Meetings
The Fairfax County School Board took a positive step at its April 13, 2023 meeting by adopting procedures to reduce virtue-signaling speeches by Board members. There are some ambiguities about the new guidelines, but the overall effect should be to reduce the time devoted at Board meetings to formalities so that more time can be…
Read MoreDid Fairfax Schools Hide Academic Awards from Families — Update
On March 29, 2023, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) published the “Key Findings” of a hired law firm’s investigation into allegations that school officials had failed to inform students and parents of National Merit “commended student” awards. The document is HERE. “Key Findings” concedes that students in several FCPS high schools didn’t receive timely notices…
Read MoreStrategic Plan and “Equity Policy,” Part 4 — The Superintendent Weighs In
The FCPS Superintendent, Michelle Reid, recently outlined her views about the relationship between a new “equity-based” Strategic Plan for the schools, and a new, overlapping Equity Policy. The occasion was a meeting with a group of citizens who have questions about the role of “equity” in the two FCPS initiatives. Background The three prior articles…
Read MoreStrategic Plan and “Equity Policy,” Part 3
The last post reported on the drafting of a new Strategic Plan for Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS); this one summarizes the status of a separate, but related, “Equity Policy.” Background The “equity policy” process dates back to September 2020, when the FCPS equity team made a presentation to the School Board, proposing an “anti-racism,…
Read MoreStrategic Plan and “Equity Policy,” Part 2
This article reports on the development of a new Strategic Plan for Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), and the role of “equity” in it. A subsequent article will discuss FCPS’s simultaneous development of a separate but related initiative, the “Equity Policy.” Development of the Strategic Plan The Superintendent of FCPS initiated a planning process in…
Read MoreNew Strategic Plan and “Equity Policy” for Fairfax County Public Schools
This article, and several others that will follow, will report on the development and content of two important initiatives for Fairfax County Public Schools (“FCPS”): a new, multi-year Strategic Plan, and a formal Equity Policy. The two are closely related and will operate hand-in-hand in practice. The term “equity” will be defined in the Equity…
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