Posts Tagged ‘Fairfax County School Board’
School Board Reaffirms Intent to Ram Through a New “Equity Policy” without Public Engagement
The Fairfax County Public School System (FCPS) revealed a proposed “Equity Policy” on June 14. No prior draft had been released. Nevertheless, FCPS scheduled it for discussion at a work session on June 21 and for a final vote on June 26. See “New Equity Policy — FCPS Schedules Key Vote with No Time…
Read MoreNew “Equity” Policy — FCPS Schedules Key Vote with No Time for Public Engagement!
Two days ago, on June 14, the Fairfax County School System quietly posted its proposed “Equity Policy” on its website. The School Board is scheduled to consider it just four days from now, on June 20, and to approve it the following week, on June 20. The notice on the FCPS website says the policy…
Read MoreNational 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 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 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…
Read MoreFairfax Schools Hide Academic Awards from Families — Another Update
In December 2022 it was revealed that the elite Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (“TJ”) in Fairfax County, Virginia, had withheld National Merit “commended student” awards from students and their parents. TJ’s leaders explained at the time that they did this so the feelings of other students wouldn’t be hurt; they added:…
Read MoreFairfax Library Outbids Fairfax Schools for Critical Race Theory Speaker Kendi
In September 2020 Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) paid a controversial author $20,000 for a one-hour Zoom call. Ibram X. Kendi sat in his home, at times with his daughter on his lap, responding to softball questions from an FCPS administrator. FCPS was rightly criticized, on this site and elsewhere, for shelling out such a…
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