Discover ten things adults can do to support Virginia teens in this uncertain world. Learn practical steps to help teens manage their fears effectively.

Republican operatives published about a supposed abortion scandal at a local high school as an “October Surprise.” A legal investigation finds major discrepancies between their stories and the truth.

Back to school means something different to everyone. Don't forget that public education is still under threat by the US Dept of Education, defunding, and lawsuits.

Make sure you take time to check out the Fairfax County school boundary scenarios out for public review. Learn about the process and what is still to come.

Sign up to speak about the Fairfax County budget. Learn the key issues and join public hearings to impact Fairfax County budget decisions today!

Learn the true cost of private school vouchers on students, families, and their communities. Just say NO to vouchers.

Project 2025 tries to cancel West Springfield High School, students, and Women's History Month in a coordinated attack.

Explore how VDOE's skews assessment scores by manipulating test cutoffs.

Uncover how Virginia's math performance is misrepresented by VDOE's Secretary Aimee Guidera.

Learn how to protect our free after school programs for middle schoolers!

Contact your Fairfax County Supervisor and the Chairman now! Did you know that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors (BoS) has proposed to eliminate funding for the Middle School After-School Program (ASP) and summer programs next year? This program costs barely $4 million from the BoS but serves 23,000 students (and their families) across the 26 middle schools in Fairfax County. If you live or work in Fairfax County, contact them now  to urge against this.  If this plan go

Join the FLE Committee on February 12th from 7-9pm at Gatehouse It is a year with a number in it, so you can be sure that Fairfax Public School (FCPS) volunteers on committees are hard at work. Few committees are as attacked as the Family Life Education (FLE) committee which provides suggestions to modify the sex education curriculum in FCPS to ensure that it is scientifically accurate, age-appropriate, accessible, and relevant for kids in the 21st Century. This year, the FLE

Contact Congress about Two Anti-Public School Executive Orders Two recent federal Executive Orders (EOs) on public education have been taken directly from Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership  and are attempts by the Trump administration to usurp Congress’s authority and the state and local authority. It is time for public school advocates to tell their members of Congress to insist these orders be rescinded.  1. Public Education Funds SHOULD NOT be used for Scholarships for

My most recent blog, Essential Boundary Policy for a New Century , identified some “interesting” school boundaries in our area. Any rational person would look at those boundaries and wonder how they came to be. Of course, those non-contiguous, gerrymandered boundaries are a developer’s dime a dozen in Fairfax County. Nevertheless, I did a little research (shared below), but first I want to discuss the recent history of Policy 8130. I was surprised by recent history and previo

It Is Time For Some Real Change After months of debate, the Fairfax County School Board is finalizing a comprehensive overhaul of the county’s current boundary policy  which was originally adopted in 1986 and last revised in May of 2013, despite 5-year review requirements. This all followed a February school board meeting  on Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) amendments, when most of the school board members expressed strong concerns that one-off boundary adjustments at individu

Best Schools Update 2024 “Above all, I believe every child, no matter their ZIP code or their parents' jobs, deserves access to a quality education.” - Betsy DeVos 2016  “A child's course in life should be determined not by the zip code she's born in” - Barack Obama “Literally nothing is evenly distributed by zip code, except having a zip code.”  - Elon Musk Part I: Rankings v. Zip Codes “All children should have a great education regardless of zip code,” is perhaps one of th

A Strong Student Production of Kinky Boots While several hate groups descended on the FCPS high school last weekend, the students, teachers, and families of West Potomac High School chose to work together, put on an excellent show, and have a great time. Like their shirts said, “You can change the world when you change your mind.”  The administrators, parents, students, and educators who put their hearts, souls, and bodies on the line for this production should be commended.

Today is May 1st. In an alternate reality where the U.S. Department of Education hadn’t completely botched the FAFSA form update, roll-out, and processing, hundreds of thousands of high school seniors would have signed on the dotted line and committed to a college. Today should be “College Day,”  but instead, many students are in limbo and hundreds of colleges have now moved deadlines twice: first to May 15th and then to June 1st.  If you don’t know the lingo: the FAFSA (Free

A Call to Advocacy for SB21 and HB509 I am a parent of a dyslexic student. When it became clear in first grade that our daughter could not read, we had to pay for private testing to ensure that our daughter accessed dyslexia services in FCPS before she fell so far behind that she could never catch up or was so filled with self-doubt that she was convinced that she would never succeed. Due to the support of amazing FCPS teachers and staff, our daughter is reading close to grad

Like many parents of high school seniors, my family has been knee deep in college applications since October. My son managed to meet all of the deadlines to request transcripts, request recommendations, and apply to colleges, but now we are in the next step: submitting financial aid forms. In fact, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid ( FAFSA ) was the first thing on my list for 2024…and then my pen stopped working, which I’m hoping isn’t an omen. Applying for merit-