More than 175,000 Fairfax County students made their way back to school Monday morning following two school years disrupted by COVID-19 chaos, fights over critical race theory, and pushback on transgender rights.
The northern Virginia city, which has been name-checked in the news for months over controversial policies, is among the first in the state to return to school.
Fairfax County returned to a five-day-a-week in-person schedule amid a recent surge in coronavirus cases. Masks are required for everyone, regardless of vaccination status, inside all FCPS buildings and buses. About 400 students with documented health issues will be taught via the county’s limited virtual program.
Masks are not required outdoors or for outdoor athletic events.
FAIRFAX COUNTY CONFRONTS CRITICAL RACE THEORY
The school system will also require all employees to be vaccinated or submit routine negative tests following a Friday demand from the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers.
School officials said if a coronavirus breakout does occur, affected families will be notified and that contact-tracing and quarantine procedures will be put into place. If there are multiple widespread breakouts, plans are in place for temporary closures.
Fairfax County, one of the nation’s wealthiest districts, is facing a massive bus driver shortage, and the school system has advised parents to be patient.
Over the past year, the Fairfax school system has become ground zero for progressive developments taking root in public schools around the country. Virginia’s largest school district has become a major battleground in America’s culture wars over transgender rights as well as teaching critical race theory.
In July, the school district adopted guidelines giving children access to restrooms and locker rooms that matched their gender identities and required school staff to address transgender students by their preferred pronouns. In a unanimous vote, the FCPS board revised its “student rights and responsibilities” guidelines to require that transgender students be identified by their preferred pronouns in yearbooks, school newspapers, and the honor roll.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a high-profile case over the rights of transgender students in Virginia, handing a legal victory to proponents who believe transgender students should be able to use the bathrooms that match their gender identities.
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Fairfax has also been in the middle of the fight over critical race theory. At its core, CRT is a broad set of ideas about systemic bias and racism in American history. It argues the legacy of white supremacy remains embedded in society through laws and institutions. Though its tenets have been taught for more than four decades, critical race theory is the latest front in the culture war over how students should be taught U.S. history.
Angry parents have demanded to be heard at school board meetings and conducted protests against teaching the theory. They argue that the system is unfairly teaching white students to feel ashamed because their race means they have historically been part of an oppressive system.
In July, FCPS sent second graders a “summer learning guide” that included a YouTube video titled “Woke Kindergarten” that took aim at the police. The video, which was centered on making children feel safe, also featured groups of young students, some of whom held Black Lives Matter signs. The district also posted, and then deleted, information on its website telling students to listen to an audiobook that suggested children should not feel safe around police.
