Fairfax County Public Schools

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Coordinates: 38°52′7.08″N 77°13′30.48″W / 38.8686333°N 77.2251333°W / 38.8686333; -77.2251333

Fairfax County Public Schools
Address
8115 Gatehouse Road Falls Church, Virginia 22042
Information
School type	Public school division
Founded	1870
School board	Daniel G. Storck, chairman Kathy L. Smith, vice chairman Catherine A. Belter Brad Center Stuart D. Gibson Stephen M. Hunt Kaye Kory Ilryong Moon Phillip A. Niedzielski-Eicher Janet S. Oleszek Jane K. Strauss Judith (Tessie) Wilson
Superintendent	Jack D. Dale
Staff	22,309 [1]
Grades	Pre-K–12
Enrollment	168,742 [1] (2009)
Campus	Suburban
Area	Fairfax County, Virginia
Website	http://www.fcps.edu/

The Fairfax County Public Schools system (abbreviated FCPS) is a branch of the Fairfax County government which administers public schools in Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax. FCPS' headquarters is located at 8115 Gatehouse Road in an unincorporated section of the county near the city of Falls Church; the headquarters has a Falls Church address but is not within the city limits.^[2]

With over 168,000 students enrolled, FCPS is the largest public school system in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area and in Virginia. The superintendent of schools is Jack D. Dale. The school division is the 13th largest school system in the nation ^[1] and maintains the largest school bus fleet of any school system in the United States.

The most notable commitment the county makes to its school system is the allocation of 52.2% of its fiscal budget to the school system.^[3] Including state and federal government contributions, along with citizen and corporate contributions, this brings the 2009 fiscal budget for the school system to $2.2 billion.^[1] The school system has estimated that, based on the 2006 fiscal budget, the county invested $13,340 in each student in 2009. ^[1]

[edit] History

The public school system in Fairfax County was created after the Civil War with the adoption by Virginia of a Reconstruction-era state constitution in 1870, which for the first time in Virginia guaranteed free public education.

Fairfax County refused to let black students attend and bused them out of the county to Manassas.^[4] Despite the 1954 Supreme court ruling to end racial segregation Fairfax County Schools did not allow any black students into designated white schools until 1960.^[5]

In previous points in time the county school system was headquartered at 10700 Page Avenue in an unincorporated area of the county completely surrounded by the City of Fairfax.^[6][7]

[edit] Demographics

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Since the early 1990s, FCPS' fastest growing segment is its Asian-American student population, which is second only to whites. Most of the Asian student growth comes from Korean Americans, as Fairfax County is home to strong Korean American communities in business districts such as Annandale and Centreville. As a result, most FCPS schools have access to Korean interpreters and staff members to help parents who do not speak English well. There are also many Chinese American and Indian American students moving to Fairfax County. The enrollment of these demographics among Asians is second to Korean Americans. A large number of Filipino American and Vietnamese American students live toward the eastern region of the county, bordering Arlington and Falls Church.^{[citation needed]}

Hispanic growth continues significantly as well throughout the county, in particular in the southeast portion of the county and the Herndon area. Hispanic enrollment surpasses that of African Americans but is not growing at the rate of Asian Americans. African American enrollment has been stagnant in the last few years, while White enrollment has steadily dropped since the 1990s due to lower birth rates and many families moving to suburbs whose school districts are farther away from Washington, D.C. Loudoun County Public Schools, directly west of Fairfax County, is a common destination.

In the 2008-2009 school year, FCPS was 47.7% White; 18.3% Asian American; 17.1% Hispanic; 10.6% African American; 0.3% American Indian; and 5.7% Multiracial. ^[1]

[edit] No contact rule controversy

Kilmer Middle School, a school in the FCPS system, has a strict rule/policy of "no physical contact", meaning that contact such as high fives or hugs between friends are not allowed. The FCPS Board and school system's superintendent stand behind the rule and have refused to rescind the rule. The issue was brought to light after the father of student Hal Beaulieu contacted the Washington Post, sparking coverage in multiple major media outlets including Time, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and The Washington Post. ^[8]

[edit] Snow day call controversy

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In January 2008, Devraj "Dave" Kori of Lake Braddock Secondary School called the publicly listed home phone of Dean Tistadt, the school system's chief operating officer, to ask why school had not been canceled that day. ^[9] The wife of Tistadt called Kori back and left an angry message on his cell phone. Kori posted this on a Facebook page he made and a friend posted it to YouTube. The call was aired on the evening news and was soon heard across the country and internationally. The Tistadts received many prank calls and several threatening messages. The school gave Kori a Saturday detention for using his cell phone during school, which is not allowed. The school system's spokesperson stated that "any call to the home of a public servant is harassment"^[9]

[edit] Debate over grading policy

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Fairfax County Public Schools is known for their use of a 6-point grading scale, under which a score of 94-100 receives an A, 90-93 is a B+, 84-89 is a B, and so on. This policy has raised protests by some parents and students who support a switch to a traditional 10-point grading scale (under which 90-100 would be considered an A). FAIRGRADE, an organization started which aims to work with the FCPS research team to focus on issues that may occur because of FCPS's current grading scale, believes some areas in which students may be effected disadvantageously include:^{[citation needed]}

• College admissions
• Receipt of valuable merit-based academic scholarships
• Admissions to college honors programs
• NCAA athletic eligibility
• Car insurance "good student" discounts

An example used in one report to illustrate a disadvantage of the 6 point scale noted that students in other counties can maintain higher GPA's than Fairfax County students even if they are not doing as well numerically. For example, if a student in an honors course in another county maintained a 92% average in a course for the year, he or she would receive an A and have a 5.0 to be averaged into his or her GPA, however, a Fairfax County student who maintained a 92% would get a B+ and would have a 3.5 averaged into their GPA. The significantly lower grade point value averaged into the Fairfax County student's GPA could make the student a less competitive candidate for colleges. Additionally, FCPS's grading policy also hurts students who want to go to colleges where 'plus grades' are viewed as basic letter grades (e.g.: B+ would be viewed as a B, C+ would be viewed as a C, etc.) Some college officials around the United States who have weighed in on the debate said that it would not hurt FCPS's reputation as an excellent public school system if they changed their grading policy. UCLA is among these colleges.^[10]

On January 2, 2009, Superintendent Jack D. Dale announced his decision on the issue,^[11] recommending the changing the weights of advanced courses but maintaining the six-point grading scale. Dale stated there was no conclusive evidence the six-point grading scale is disadvantageous for the students of FCPS. FAIRGRADE responded that "there is still opportunity with the School Board".^{[citation needed]}

On January 22, 2009, the FCPS School Board directed Superintendent Dale to report back to it with a new version of the grading scale by March 2009.^[12] The Board also approved changing the weighting for Honors to 0.5 effective with the 2009-2010 school year and for AP and IB courses to 1.0 retroactively.^[12]

[edit] Schools

[edit] High schools

[edit] Secondary schools

[edit] Alternative high schools

[edit] Middle schools

[edit] Elementary schools

[edit] Special education centers

[edit] Interagency Alternative Schools

[edit] Transportation

FCPS operates a fleet of close to 1,600 school buses ^[1]. The fleet make-up consists of buses that are from 1988 to 2008. FCPS operates the following bus models:

The transportation department is divided into 4 sections. Regular education is divided into Area 1, Area 2, and Area 3. The 4th section is Special Education. Area 1 serves the Southern part of the county, Area 2 the middle section, and Area 3 the Northern part. Special Education services the entire county.

There are three main garages that serve FCPS school buses. For service and repair, each bus is assigned to one of three garages; West Ox, Alban, or Newington.

[edit] See also

• List of Fairfax County Public Schools middle schools
• List of school divisions in Virginia

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Fairfax County Public Schools
• Archives of fcps.k12.va.us