By Melanie Meren: For the kids, families, and our furry friends we bring to outdoor spaces, it’s critical to remember that it’s the hard work of county officials that preserves our environment and connects us with nature. I want to take that success into all Fairfax County classrooms. Connecting students with their natural surroundings can inspire them to be the…
By Susan Laume: Two candidates vying for Democratic Party endorsement for Springfield District school board member faced off on Thurs. Feb. 28 for an hour-long debate before an audience of about 70. Laura Jane Cohen and Robert Walter, both education professionals with children in Fairfax County public schools, largely agreed on most topics, but differed on their choice of the…
Virginia refers more of its public school students, in percentage terms, to police than any other state. Now Northern Virginia state legislators want to address this troubling problem in the upcoming General Assembly session starting Jan. 9th in Richmond. Seven local legislators, all Democrats, held a forum recently in the Richard Byrd Library in Springfield, Va., to discuss the dysfunction…
By Brad Swanson: George Mason University (GMU) students delivered a 2,000-signature petition to the office of university President Angel Cabrera on Thursday demanding an end to influence by donors such as radical libertarian Charles Koch over academic appointments and course material. The protest was part of a National Day of Action sponsored by UnKoch My Campus, an organization dedicated to…
By Karen Kirk: The fight for women’s rights is urgent. Who better to discuss it with than 203-year-old Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the famous suffragist leader? While Elizabeth is long gone, the next best thing is right here in Vienna, Va., where Leigh Kitcher brings her to life frequently at afternoon teas, a women’s rights editorial cartoon exhibit and other events…
By Brad Swanson: Prominent historian Nancy MacLean warned Wednesday night that America faces an “existential threat to democracy” from a secretive plan by right wing plutocrats led by Charles Koch to subvert our political institutions and undo a century of social progress. MacLean, author of the prize-winning book Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan…
By Karen Keys-Gamarra: No parent should ever have to fear that sending a child to school is risking immigration enforcement. In fact, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency better known as ICE, has no place in Fairfax County public schools. This view is reflected in the revised agreement between the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) and the Fairfax County…
By Brad Swanson: The Fairfax County School Board endorsed a new policy Thursday that limits the role of police officers in schools and that restricts, but does not completely bar, cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The board heard moving pleas from Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) students and former students to prohibit immigration agents from entering school grounds or obtaining…
By Diane Burkley Alejandro: Fairfax County is poised to improve its policy governing law enforcement in schools significantly, but the current draft fails to protect immigrant students, and must be changed. The matter is urgent because the policy on deployment of armed police School Resource Officers (SROs) to all public middle and high schools in the county is being considered…
By Matthew Dunne: The policy governing roles and responsibilities of armed police officers who patrol the hallways of every public middle and high school in Fairfax County is about to be improved, after a community panel submitted more than 50 pages of comments in a wide-ranging review. Although universal agreement was not reached, the policy review, the first in several…
By Brad Swanson: What should be the role of cops in schools? Should armed police officers even be allowed in schools? These were among the issues that rose to the surface in a tense meeting Monday night of a community group charged with reviewing the terms under which police officers are assigned to high schools and middle schools throughout the…
By Sheldon Friedman, reviewing Democracy in Chains: Nancy MacLean’s powerful book, Democracy in Chains, focuses on the decades-long alliance between billionaire industrialist Charles Koch and radical right-wing economist James Buchanan—set largely against the backdrop of George Mason University. Fueled by the limitless donations of the Koch family and the star power of Nobel Prize-winning Buchanan, GMU by the early 1980s…
By Kofi Annan: We have the opportunity in Fairfax County to change the role of police officers in public schools – to reduce the possibility of racial profiling and make policies more transparent and accountable to parents. The need for this is apparent. Children are being arrested in our schools for minor offenses that can be dealt with better by…
By Karen Kirk: The Fairfax County School Board Thursday night approved changes to the Family Life Education (FLE) curriculum that are more inclusive of LGBTQ students, thwarting opposition from a national right-wing media campaign. The proposed changes include using the term “sex assigned at birth” rather than “biological sex” and informing high school students about “pre-exposure prophylaxis” or “PrEP,” a…