Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) Superintendent Michelle Reid reflected on the first weeks of the 2025-26 academic year, sharing updates and observations from visits to several schools and community events.
Reid thanked staff for their contributions during Labor Day weekend. She reported that the Department of Information Technology handled a significant volume of support requests during the first week of school, resolving 104 out of 344 Help Desk calls within 15 minutes and addressing over a thousand online support tickets. The district’s internet bandwidth usage reached nearly 24 Gbps at peak, representing just under 17% of total capacity. Minor technical issues with Schoology rosters and student password synchronization were resolved quickly.
The Health and Physical Education team began the fall in-service with a video highlighting perspectives from students and teachers about the importance of health and physical education classes. Reid stated, “Our health and physical education teachers are instilling essential life skills by building strong relationships, fostering a sense of community for all learners, and helping students understand the interconnectedness of the different aspects of health and wellness. This work matters!!”
Reid attended several Back to School Night events across multiple schools, including Cedar Lane School, Rachel Carson Middle School, Forestville Elementary School, Spring Hill Elementary School, Cunningham Park Elementary School, and Stenwood Elementary School. She noted positive feedback from families at these events.
At Spring Hill Elementary School, Principal Amy Briggs emphasized leadership through positivity by showcasing murals created by students and staff. Reid remarked on the sense of excitement and pride in these school communities.
A morning ride-along with FCPS bus driver Lucas Champion highlighted transportation achievements. By the third day of school, buses achieved a 97% on-time arrival rate. The district has introduced a new tablet navigation system to improve safety and efficiency while maintaining legacy systems during the transition period.
Reid visited Holmes Middle School where she observed growth in math proficiency—an increase of seven percentage points over three years—and hands-on learning experiences such as outdoor gardening projects integrated into art and science classes. Algebra classrooms led by Eric Abbott and Janet Whitney engaged students in problem-solving activities.
She also introduced Robert Hawkins—art teacher and web curator at Holmes—to the new FCPS mobile app designed to streamline communication between families and schools by providing news updates, calendars, lunch menus, direct links to attendance lines, ParentVUE, Schoology, MySchoolBucks access, among other features.
During her visit to Glasgow Middle School with Principal Lisa Barrow’s team, Reid saw sixth-grade Algebra I students discussing bias in questions as part of flexible instructional blocks introducing key math standards. Seventh graders reviewed Student Rights & Responsibilities (SR&R). Eighth grade ambassadors shared their involvement in school culture-building projects such as creating “Panther Pride” signs.
Music education was discussed with one ambassador who plays viola; Reid highlighted music’s role in developing discipline, collaboration skills, confidence, resilience, and focus for students beyond academic settings.
Reid also attended a Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce board meeting to discuss how public schools underpin local economies. She provided updates on progress toward FCPS’s Strategic Plan for 2023-30—including data showing that 74.5% of rising eighth graders are enrolled in Algebra I or higher this year—exceeding the division’s target by more than four percentage points.
In last Thursday’s Academic Matters segment at the School Board meeting she spoke about expanding access to Algebra I for sixth graders starting in 2025-26: “One positive indicator that we are on our way to meeting our goal is that 74.5% of rising eighth graders are enrolled in Algebra 1 or higher which is 4.5 percentage points higher than this year’s target of 70%! FCPS outperforms the state overall on the percent of eighth graders who pass a high school mathematics SOL.”
All FCPS high schools will pilot girls’ flag football this fall in partnership with the Washington Commanders as interest grows nationally ahead of its Olympic debut in 2028. The division also hosted its first Military Family Welcome Barbecue at Mount Vernon High School with participation from Educate Fairfax and local ROTC leaders.
Recent results released by the Virginia Department of Education showed continued improvement across Math, Science, and Reading Standards of Learning (SOLs), even after tests were made more rigorous between 2024-25. According to Reid: “I am so proud to say that once again FCPS has shown year-over-year improvements for students and significantly outperformed the state average.”
Reid closed her message encouraging gratitude amid change: “‘If you must look back do so forgivingly… However,the wisest thing you can do is be present in the present …Gratefully.’ — Maya Angelou.”
