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A major winter storm disrupted Fairfax County schools during the first week back in January, prompting a wide-ranging effort to clear campuses, prepare buses and distribute thousands of meals before students returned.
Facilities and grounds crews worked through the closures to clear sidewalks and parking lots, including at Luther Jackson Middle School. Transportation employees prepared 1,625 buses parked at 131 locations, using snow rakes and a newly installed scraper at the Stonecroft Depot to clear the fleet over two days.
Food and Nutrition Services distributed 2,426 meal kits during the three-day closure. Four sites provided meals on each of the first two days, with three additional locations operating on the second day.
Students and teacher earn national recognition
Matthew Barker, an adapted physical education teacher at Bren Mar Park Elementary School, was named the Southern District Adapted Physical Education Teacher of the Year by SHAPE America.
Barker is one of four district finalists advancing for the national award, which will be announced during SHAPE America’s convention in Baltimore in April. The Southern District covers 13 states.
His recognition follows the national win by Cadi Doyle, who teaches adapted physical education at Oakton and Waples Mill elementary schools. The consecutive honors mark the first time teachers from the same state and district have won the Southern District award two years in a row.
Eight students from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology were also selected as scholars in the 2025 Regeneron Science Talent Search. They were among 300 scholars chosen from nearly 2,500 entrants.
Each scholar and their school will receive $2,000. Forty finalists were scheduled to be announced Jan. 23 and invited to Washington, D.C., in March for final judging and a public exhibition. The competition’s top prize is $250,000.
Separately, 693 Fairfax County Public Schools students were named National Merit Commended Scholars, a 10% increase from 2023.
Renovation bids beat estimates, but funding gap remains
The School Board is considering its five-year Capital Improvement Program, which covers new construction, school renovations, capacity projects and possible land acquisitions.
Janice Szymanski, chief of facilities services and capital programs, said rising inflation, prevailing-wage requirements and supply-chain problems drove a large increase in projected construction costs in the previous year’s plan.
In response, active projects were budgeted using design-specific estimates, while officials adjusted the timing and packaging of solicitations to attract more bidders. Every renovation project put out for construction bids since the previous plan came in at or below budget, with the three most recent averaging 12% below estimates.
Those results allowed the school system to rebuild its construction reserve without reducing project scope during bidding.
Despite the improved estimates, officials said existing bond funding remains insufficient to absorb higher costs while maintaining the School Board’s goal of renovating schools on a 20- to 25-year cycle and pursuing the Joint Environmental Task Force’s 2040 carbon-neutrality target.
A public hearing on the capital plan was scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 14, at Jackson Middle School.
Boundary review moves online
The school system held its first virtual Community Boundary Review meeting on Friday and scheduled five more sessions:
- Thursday, Jan. 16, from 1 to 2:30 p.m.
- Saturday, Jan. 25, from 9:30 to 11 a.m.
- Monday, Jan. 27, from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
- Tuesday, Jan. 28, from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
- Monday, Feb. 10, from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
Each online meeting was set to follow the same format and present the same information as the earlier in-person sessions. Attendance was capped at 400 people per meeting, with language interpretation available.
Federal approval clears way for new accountability system
The U.S. Department of Education approved Virginia’s consolidated state plan under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, completing the final regulatory step needed to introduce the state’s School Performance and Support Framework in fall 2025.
The framework will use information from the 2024-25 school year. Federal approval clears the way for the Virginia Department of Education and Virginia Board of Education to settle the plan’s remaining details.
Fairfax school officials said they would continue pressing for a system that accurately represents students’ and schools’ strengths and needs. Northern Virginia school board chairs have appealed for changes, while bills introduced in the General Assembly sought to delay implementation for further study.
The school division said it would also continue measuring its work against the priorities in its 2023-30 Strategic Plan regardless of changes to the state system.
Girls wrestling and hiring efforts resume
Afterschool athletics and activities resumed over the weekend, including girls wrestling, a program added during the school year. Student-athletes competed Saturday in the all-girls “La Luchadora” tournament at Lewis.
Coach Dick Adams credited Jason Planakis, John James and Lewis staff members with organizing the event despite uncertainty over whether the weather would force its cancellation. He also highlighted the competition and the tournament’s distinctive championship masks.
A planned in-person job fair for instructional positions also moved online Saturday because of the weather forecast. Nearly 120 candidates attended, and dozens of employment offers were pending afterward.
More than 40 school-based administrators joined the recruitment team to interview candidates. The event targeted remaining vacancies while beginning recruitment for the 2025-26 school year.
The next instructional job fair was scheduled to be held in person at Lake Braddock Secondary School on Feb. 1, followed by twice-monthly events through June.
At Riverside Elementary School, first-grade teacher Rebekah Griffith was also featured demonstrating literacy instruction through a classroom color hunt focused on consonant blends, including “br” in brown and “bl” in blue. She then used finger counting to help students isolate and replace individual sounds during a warmup exercise.