4PE offers a heartfelt Summer Message to all Trans Students: You Belong. Hoping that transgender students find support and connection for during the summer break.

Explore the impact of politically-motivated lawsuits on Northern Virginia schools. Are Virginia taxpayers footing the bill for frivolous, politically-motivated lawsuits?

Why did GOP candidates for Virginia Governor and Lt. Governor align with Moms for Liberty, a known extremist group? Explore the impact of this gubernatorial campaign event on local and Commonwealth politics.

Witness the Arlington Public School Board stand up for the civil rights of students, as it did decades ago in the face of threats and segregation.

The Situation August 19, 2025 the US Department of Education announced they would withhold $50 million in Title IX funding from five of the largest school districts in Virginia if the districts did not change their Title IX regulations to conform to recent presidential executive orders. The Department of Education labeled the five districts as “high risk”, and is demanding that the localities pre-pay for all Title IX expenses and apply for reimbursement item by item. The pen

An extremist US Dept of Education has threatened Northern Virginia school districts in order to violate the civil rights of students.

The first 100 days of this administration has been a chaotic carnival of harm, overreach, and irresponsible actions. Will our public schools recover?

Join Fairfax County and City in their celebrations of the Trans Day of Visibility!

In a surprising reversal, the Virginia High School League (VHSL), announced on Monday, February 8th that it was capitulating to Trump’s...

Executive Orders Harming Public Education If you’ve been hiding under a rock (or your bed), you may have missed the news of the myriad of Executive Orders (EOs) coming out of the White House in President Trump’s first couple of weeks in office. Trump has signed more EOs in his first 10 days than any President in their first 100 days. These EOs are Project 2025 incarnate, each worse than the one before it: pardoning violent criminals, removing critical environmental protectio

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

My daughter was physically ill on Tuesday after she witnessed Nazi salutes on the inaugural stage, and executive orders signed to create...

Yes, as are LGBTQIA Students and Fairfax Volunteers! Content Warning: The blog below includes some hateful terms, phrases, and imagery....

A Tough Week for Transgender Students and Families After years of attacks on rights of transgender students, this past week has seen an onslaught of anti-transgender media, court cases, and federal and state activity. For parents of transgender students, transgender students, and the transgender community, it is just too much. They are exhausted, so all allies need to continue to step up to fight alongside them against such attacks. “Children's well-being now, ability to live

Theocratic Veto versus School Policy This is part 2 of coverage on Jane Doe v. Fairfax County School Board (FCSB) (CL-2024-0003171), a...

The Financial and Emotional Costs of anti-LGBTQ+ Rhetoric In the first two weeks of Pride month, I have been struck by increased hate, fear, and anger against the LGBTQ+ community, specifically against our schools. As a mom and active school volunteer, I find this concerning because I know how harmful it is to students, educators, and families. Not only are these wild accusations and misinformation scary, but they also make parents and guardians feel threatened for the safety

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.

Give the Boot(s) to critics and let the show go on! Thousands of Fairfax residents are looking forward to seeing an amazing student musical at West Potomac High School (buy tickets here) about allyship and finding common ground with people who have different ideas and come from wildly different backgrounds. Meanwhile, a teeny-tiny group of parents are freaking out that Kinky Boots is somehow deviant or “sexual.” I don’t want to give their complaints air because they are so no

After a recent school board meeting, I was distracted by a Fairfax GOP-endorsed school board candidate yelling at me, when her friend joined in by yelling, “You don’t know what banned means!” as she vigorously pointed to the word “banned” on my brand new yellow t-shirt. Fortunately, her companion pulled her away while I stood there confused: what the heck was she talking about? I’ve since learned that there is an extensive public relations campaign by far right groups and me

As you may know, book bans have been on the rise with requests to ban books at record high in 2022. Like you, 4 Public Education is concerned about the attacks on the 1st Amendment through censorship, thus, we are covering Banned Books week, October 1-7th, over multiple blogs. To kick off Banned Book Week, Maryland and Virginia congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Church held a festival of banned books entitled Unstoppable Stories that covered the joy of reading challe