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Faith Mekonen has begun a one-year term representing students on the Fairfax County School Board, with plans to focus on discipline disparities, student participation in policy decisions, and revised grading and cellphone rules.
The rising South County High School senior will attend board meetings as a nonvoting member. Elected countywide by the Student Advisory Council, Mekonen is the board’s 55th student representative and succeeds Megan Sawant, a Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology graduate.
Mekonen said the debate over Fairfax County Public Schools’ grading policy will be a major concern during her term. Disagreements have centered on retakes and whether grading practices are consistent among classrooms.
Although the policy was intended to advance equity and learning based on subject mastery, Mekonen said some teachers believe it restricts effective grading. Students, meanwhile, have described it as either too permissive or too limiting.
Mekonen has already worked on those concerns through the Grading Standardization Advisory Committee. She plans to continue collaborating with students, educators and administrators to help ensure the policy is fair and supports learning.
She also intends to collect student feedback through social media, surveys, the Student Representative newsletter and the Student Advisory Council. After serving on the council for two years, Mekonen said she will use that experience to bring student perspectives into decisions affecting their education and well-being.
Her previous leadership and policy roles include vice president of her school’s Ethiopian & Eritrean Association, Model UN secretary and youth adviser to the U.S. Department of Education. She has also participated in the FCPS School Board Student Leadership Development Program and served as a Virginia legislative director for Voters of Tomorrow.
Mekonen’s other experience includes work with Harvard STRIPED, The Perrin Institution and the Los Angeles Times High School Insider program. She has been a Civics Unplugged fellow and a state finalist in the Technology Student Association’s forensics competition.