Thursday, March 21, 2013
Eyes turn to the Fairfax County School Board as it weighs how to move forward in an overhaul of its disciplinary process.
More than two years after parent advocates rallied for widespread reform to Fairfax County Public Schools' disciplinary procedures, a community committee has made more than 50 recommendations to overhaul the system's practices. Among them: creating a "second chance program" for first-time drug and alcohol offenders, requiring schools in most instances to notify parents before students are questioned and establishing a standing committee to oversee reform. Committee members told the school board Wednesday the Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook should also include a separate section for students with disabilities — who make up about 14 percent of the system's population but comprise about 40 percent of suspension and expulsion …
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Fairfax County's Ad Hoc Community Committee on Student Rights and Responsibilities hosts last listening session Saturday in month-long tour to get input on the system's disciplinary process.
A committee tasked with reviewing the system's student rights and responsibilities handbook will host its last community meeting Saturday seeking input from residents on what changes it should consider moving forward. The Fairfax County School Board appointed the Ad Hoc Community Committee on Student Rights and Responsibilities in September. The 40-member group has met regularly since October, and throughout February, it has traveled across the county seeking parent, student and community member feedback on how to improve Fairfax County Public Schools' disciplinary procedures. The group's final meeting is from 1 to 3 p.m Saturday in Falls Church High School's Little Theater. At one of the group's meetings earlier this month in McLean, …
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Parents can apply to interview semifinalist candidates for Fairfax County's next superintendent.
The Fairfax County School Board is seeking parents, staff and community members for a committee that will help interview candidates for the school system's next superintendent. Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates (HYA)—the search firm hired by the board this fall that held a number of input meetings with stakeholders — met with thousands of parents, staff, members of the business community and other stakeholders in late 2012. Those meetings were to gauge what kind of qualities people would look for in a leader to replace Superintendent Jack Dale, who retires in June after nine years at the helm of one of the country's largest school systems. But the board, in an effort to make this search process more open and inclusive than the one that …
Friday, January 4, 2013
Public invited to offer input on Fairfax County Public Schools' 2014-18 Capital Improvement Plan. Here's how to get on the list.
Fairfax County Public Schools recently released its 2014-18 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), which said South Lakes High School could be at a capacity level of 140 percent during that time if an addition or another nearby high school is not constructed. South Lakes, following a big renovation, was the subject of a contentious redistricting fight five years ago, which resulted in hundreds of students from the Floris and Fox Mill Elementary schools area filling empty spots at the school. The school is currently at 109 percent capacity. There will be a Jan. 7 public hearing on the system-wide $871 million CIP. The meeting is at 6 p.m. at Luther Jackson Middle School, 3020 Gallows Road, Falls Church. To register to speak, click here. To see …
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Fairfax County School Board member shares priorities, vision for the new year.
As 2013 approaches, Patch has asked Fairfax County School Board members to share their goals and priorities for 2013. Board member Sandy Evans (Mason) shares her top five points below. They run unedited. The upcoming year will be a particularly busy one on the school board, from our Superintendent search to another difficult budget to some far-reaching instructional issues. Here’s what I see at the Top 5 Priorities for 2013, plus a note about a Vision for the Future: Overall, the Board will have an opportunity to create a new Vision for the Future. With a new Board having come in in 2012 and a new Superintendent in 2013, this will provide a good time for us to reassess where we are as a school system and where we need to be going in the …
Monday, December 31, 2012
Hunter Mill School School Board member shares visions for the new year.
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Monday, December 31, 2012
As 2013 approaches, Patch has asked Fairfax County School Board members to share their goals and priorities for 2013. Hunter Mill Rep Pat Hynes' goals run unedited below. As I finish my first year on the school board, I’m humbled by many debts of gratitude. Thank you to all those who helped me understand, were patient with my mistakes, who had the courage to advocate and the courage to move forward with faith. Thanks, especially, to the educators, who take good care of our children’s minds and hearts every day. Finally, thanks to Patch for giving me this opportunity to look forward. My five goals for the next year on school board - in no particular order because everything is crucial and should have been done yesterday - are: Happy New …
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Fairfax County School Board member shares list of "ins" and "outs" for the new year.
As 2013 approaches, Patch has asked Fairfax County School Board members to share their goals and priorities for 2013. Member Ryan McElveen (At-large) chose to write an "Unofficial FCPS 2013 In-and-Out List." It’s that time of year when we reflect on all we’ve done over the past year and look ahead to what the New Year will bring. In a county as big as Fairfax, the to-do list is endless, but here are some of the things on which the School Board is setting its sights for 2013. Out In Quesadillas Quinoa Streamline and Focus Hocus Pocus South County Secondary South County Middle Daniel Day-Lewis…
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
At first of three meetings this week about restructuring Fairfax County Public Schools' AAP Centers, parents ignore survey format and approach officials for dialogue instead.
Parents at a Fairfax County Public Schools meeting Tuesday night demanded the system answer questions about the overcrowding and relocation of students from some Advanced Academic Program Centers, along with quality assurances for new centers that could come with a program restructuring — opting largely to ignore written survey sheets and approach officials for dialogue instead. At the meeting at Westfield High School, the first of three scheduled on the issue this week, FCPS addressed about 200 parents of Clusters 6, 7 and 8 about a proposed restructuring of the centers, which would ensure each of the six pyramids without an elementary-level center — which offers a full-time "highly challenging instructional program" — had one. It would …
Facing hundreds of millions in deficits in Fiscal Year 2014, Fairfax County leaders try to plan around federal sequestration, unpredictable revenue.
As the leaders of Fairfax County and its school system sat together Tuesday to stare down upcoming fiscal years threatened by larger-than-normal deficits and the potential impact of sequestration, both groups agreed they would have to take a new approach in future budget cycles, one that relies less on what has been done in the past and more on multi-year budgeting and reprioritizing wants and needs — a "new way of doing business." "I think we have to look at things very differently and we have to be willing to take some risk on things we haven't done before," County Executive Ed Long said during a joint meeting Tuesday between the Board of Supervisors and Fairfax County School Board. Combined with the loss of $61 million in one-time money…
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Fairfax County Public School community meetings come after school board members, parents say plan seemed a "done deal."
As Fairfax County Public Schools looks to add more Advanced Academic Program Centers and address overcrowding at some that already exist, it is reaching out to parents and community members impacted by a potential shift — an outreach put in place after parents and some school board members claimed the system was moving forward without a proper engagement process and the restructuring was a "done deal." The primary focus of the meetings is "a readiness check to see if individual schools and their parents are ready for this change for the coming school year, or want to defer the change to the 2014-15 school year," school spokesman John Torre said wrote in an email to Patch. Students in grades 3 through 8 are placed into Advanced Academic …
Connie Hartke
9:47 am on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Here is the link to this year's handbook: http://www.fcps.edu/dss/ips/ssaw/SRR/ more ›