Thousands of Northern Va. students are headed back to school – WTOP News

WTOP/Nick Iannelli

Luke Lukert/WTOP

WTOP/Luke Lukert

WTOP/Luke Lukert

WTOP/Nick Iannelli

WTOP/Nick Iannelli

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Thousands of students across Northern Virginia are gearing up for their first day of school.

Multiple municipalities head back to class Monday, including Fairfax and Prince William counties, Alexandria and Manassas. Here’s what you need to know.

Fairfax County

At Robinson Secondary School, where students range in age from seventh graders to high school seniors, its band and cheerleaders led a pep rally to kick off the new school year.

Principal Tracey Phillips said the gesture is “all about making the excitement last throughout the first day and throughout the school year, and keeping students energized.”

Many students of the school’s senior class gathered in the parking lot early Monday morning to watch the sunrise as a graduating class. On their last day of school, they plan to meet up again — but for the sunset, marking the final chapter of their high school experience.

“It’s mainly just a way for all the seniors to get together and just celebrate finally being seniors and it being our last year at Robinson,” said Jeremy Coleman, a senior who joined his classmates for the sunrise.

Fairfax County is heading into its second year with Superintendent Michelle Reid.

Reid told WTOP that the excitement she saw from students this morning showed her “how much they missed being in school.”

“I’ve been out here since 5 a.m. and the students beat me here,” she said.

Reid also spoke to the county’s recently-released 7-year strategic plan: “We want every third grader to be a reader and minimally, every eighth grader in algebra moving forward because it is such a gatekeeping course.”

As classes begin, a number of safety-related policies are being considered across the district. Some of these initiatives are ahead of schedule, including efforts to replace classroom door locks, build vestibules and add security cameras.

The county is also considering installing weapons detection screeners at some of its high schools.

“Our security team is continuing to explore different vendors and options for that, as well as numerous other safety and security procedures, practices and products that we’re working with at different schools across the division,” Reid said of the technology.

The school board also recently approved a plan to provide naloxone and fentanyl test strips in all classrooms.

Lastly, school sports are coming to every middle school in Fairfax County this year. Each school will launch cross country teams in the fall, and track teams in the spring.

For Phillips, the change means that Robinson’s 7th and 8th grade students can now “engage in sports in middle school, it’s going to have that much more of an impact on our high school sports as well.”

Manassas

Students at Osbourn Park High School, the only high school in Manassas City, were up bright and early for a schoolwide pep rally at 6 a.m.

The school’s band, cheerleaders, choir and yellow jacket mascot gathered in front of the building to lead the festivities.

On the first day of her last year in high school, senior Kayley Cruz told WTOP she’s feeling “sad, emotional, broken,” but also excited for what the future holds. Her post-grad plan is to go to college.

Another senior, Angel Reyna, said he feels he has to “enjoy the moment.”

“Many people have told me, ‘You enjoy your last year because after high school, you gotta start working, going to college, like, life changes a lot,” Reyna said.

Manassas City is also preparing to open up its new Innovation Elementary School, which will be celebrated with a groundbreaking ceremony on Sept. 21.

Prince William County

Weapons detection screeners are coming to all Prince William County public schools this academic year, following the lead of Manassas City Public Schools, which voted in December to spend $435,000 on a four-year lease of four lanes of the equipment for Osbourn Park High School.

Prince William County students won’t come across the detectors for a couple of weeks. A spokesperson for the district told WTOP that the technology will be installed on a staggered basis, starting in mid-September.

In June, the school board approved changes to the district’s code of behavior. The updated policy includes new sections on “educator cultural competency” and a “multi-tiered system of supports.”

The school system has also launched a task force to review its grading policy. School Board Chair Babur Lateef said in May that, while the county implemented standards-based grading several years ago, there has never been a review to see “how it’s been implemented, the fidelity and integrity of it across the division.”

Like Fairfax County Public Schools, Prince William County is continuing to look at how to address absenteeism. Initiatives have included “re-engagement nights” and requesting medical documentation from students who miss 10 or more days of school.

City of Alexandria

Alexandria’s public schools are welcoming a new superintendent this year. Melanie Kay-Wyatt is officially the city’s first female Black superintendent, after serving as interim superintendent during the last school year.

Kay-Wyatt told WTOP that the theme for the upcoming school year is “future focus.” Targeting absenteeism remains a top priority.

“Chronic absenteeism has been a concern for many schools post pandemic,” Kay-Wyatt said. “And what I really want our community to focus on is that we are no longer in this pandemic era; we are really focused on where we are with learning.”

According to Kay-Wyatt, this effort includes a media campaign.

“There’ll be videos that will go out to the community to say what we expect from our students,” she said. “We want our students to come to school, we want them to want to come to school and stay in school, and really arrive on time.”

Monday also marks the opening of the district’s newly constructed elementary school, Douglas MacArthur Elementary.

In 2021, approximately 650 students from the original MacArthur School — which opened in 1943 — moved to the old Patrick Henry school. Starting Monday, students will return to the new and improved neighborhood school.

WTOP’s Scott Gelman, Neal Augenstein, Luke Lukert, Nick Iannelli and John Domen contributed to this report.

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