School Safety and Security
Fairfax County Public Schools' main goal is to keep students and staff safe at school.
Our administrative teams meet with FCPS Safety and Security (OSS) and our School Resource Officers (SRO) regularly to review our procedures and to ensure that we are doing everything in our power to keep our students and staff safe while they are in our schools. Our security operations are staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Our crisis and emergency response plans have been cited as a national model. We continually work with county, state, and federal health, safety, and emergency personnel leaders to ensure coordinated responses to potential threats. We also drill for emergency situations and then review and revise plans as needed.
FCPS is also the only school district in the nation to have a specialized technology section that supports using state-of-the-art equipment to enhance school safety.
OSS has a safety tip line for community members, parents and students to share their concerns. We were among the first in the nation to offer this as a “text to tip” option as well as online and by phone.
We are partners in keeping our students safe in school and we ask you to speak with your child and remind them that when they see or hear something concerning, to reach out to a trusted adult who can contact the authorities, or use our safety tip line.
We also encourage you to be aware of your child’s online actions and to have an open conversation about making safe and smart choices online.
If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to reach out to me.
Lightspeed Parent Report on Child’s Device Activity
FCPS parents have a new tool to help them learn more about their child’s activity on any FCPS device. Share the following information with families and staff.
Family Message
FCPS has new tools to help parents and guardians know more about their child’s activity on any FCPS device. These tools are provided by Lightspeed, our internet content filtering service, at no cost to families. You may sign up for a weekly Parent Report, which will provide a list of the top sites your child visited. If you want more detailed information, sign up for the Internet Use Parent portal and log-in anytime to see more detail about your child’s browsing and “pause” access to the internet during non-school hours. Find out more and sign up for these services on our website.
Student Quarantine Options Now Include a 7-Day Timeline
CDC guidance allows for a reduction of the student quarantine period to seven days “when diagnostic testing resources are sufficient and available.” With FCPS now offering drive-through diagnostic testing at six sites across the county, in addition to the many alternative ways to access COVID-19 testing, FCPS is now providing the option for students who have been exposed to COVID-19 to return to school and in-person activities after seven days, in addition to the established 14-day and 10-day timelines.
Refer to the Quarantine Talking Points to help answer constituent questions about quarantine timelines.
The following message appeared in FCPS This Week and is posted on the FCPS Website. Consistency in messaging is important for a complex topic such as this. Please use the bulleted sections with no edits when communicating with families:
CDC guidance allows for a reduction of the student quarantine period to seven days “when diagnostic testing resources are sufficient and available.” With FCPS now offering drive-through diagnostic testing at six sites across the county, in addition to the many alternative ways to access COVID-19 testing, FCPS is now providing the option for students who have been exposed to COVID-19 to return to school and in-person activities after seven days.
If your child is quarantined due to exposure at school, please keep them at home until one of the following quarantine periods is met:
- Seven days of quarantine, your child remains symptom-free AND you provide both: a negative COVID-19 test (Rapid Antigen or PCR) taken on day five of quarantine or later, as well as a copy of the FCPS pause letter indicating the return to school dates; or
- 10 days of quarantine, your child remains symptom-free AND you provide a copy of the FCPS pause letter indicating the return to school dates; or
- 14 days of quarantine and you provide a copy of the clearance letter (SARA-Alert) from the health department.
If your child is quarantined due to exposure outside of the school, please contact the school as soon as possible and you will receive a Return Letter for Exposures Outside of FCPS. The timeline for quarantine return begins when you alert the school. Keep your child at home until one of the following quarantine periods is met.
- Seven days of quarantine, your child remains symptom-free AND you provide both: a negative COVID-19 test (Rapid Antigen or PCR) taken on day five of quarantine or later, as well as a copy of the Return Letter for Exposures Outside of FCPS indicating the return to school dates; or
- 10 days of quarantine, your child remains symptom-free AND you provide a copy of the Return Letter for Exposures Outside of FCPS indicating the return to school dates (you must contact your school to request the letter at the beginning of the quarantine period); or
- 14 days of quarantine and you provide a copy of the clearance letter (SARA-Alert) from the health department.
The above options only apply to a student returning to in-person learning and school-sponsored activities. Other organizations, such as SACC, may have different requirements for return.
We continue to balance the need for students to have a high-quality in-person learning experience with student and staff safety. By adhering to our layered prevention strategies and increasing vaccination rates, we are all doing our part to keep schools safe.
COVID-19 Testing
The following messages may be shared with families to encourage them to take advantage of COVID-19 testing. Be sure to share that FCPS COVID-19 testing sites will not be available during winter break.
FCPS’ COVID-19 testing program helps keep our schools safe places to learn and work. We offer:
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Diagnostic Testing for students at six drive-through locations. You may take advantage of these services if you are a close contact or are experiencing symptoms. Appointments are not needed for diagnostic testing but families do need to register in the secure online portal. Information about student diagnostic testing, including site locations and schedules, is available on the FCPS website
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Optional Screening Testing for unvaccinated students. Parents and guardians can use the secure online portal to register their unvaccinated child(ren) for optional COVID-19 screening. If you do not want your child to participate, no action is required. You will have the option to update your child’s vaccination status and/or withdraw consent for testing anytime. Student-athletes do not need to pre-register with the online portal for screening testing, they will use a separate portal provided by their school’s student activities director.
FCPS COVID-19 Testing Sites During Winter Break
FCPS COVID-19 testing sites will not be available from December 18-January 1. Testing will resume on January 3, 2022. If needed, other local providers are available for testing and vaccinations during that time.
Inclement Weather
In the event of inclement weather, COVID-19 testing sites will follow school schedules. If schools are closed, testing sites are closed. If schools are delayed, all testing sites will open at 10:00 a.m.
Winter Break Homework Expectations
Winter break is coming soon and we are looking forward to enjoying time to relax and enjoy being with family and friends. To ensure students take a well-deserved break, no homework will be assigned over winter break. Teachers may assign long-range assignments in the weeks ahead of the break, allowing students to practice time management skills. But, no assignments should be due immediately following the break. We look forward to welcoming students back in the new year.
2022 Virginia School Survey of Climate & Working Conditions Information
This spring our school, in cooperation with the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services and the Virginia Department of Education, is conducting the Virginia School Survey of Climate and Working Conditions of students, classroom instructors, and staff. The purpose of this survey is to measure student support, student engagement, school discipline, and safety conditions in each school. This information will be used to guide educational practices that produce a safe and supportive school environment.
The survey will be completed online between January 10th and February 4th. The survey does not ask for your child’s name and all answers are anonymous (no one will know how your child answered the survey). Parents and guardians will not have access to their child’s survey answers. You may review the student survey at this website: https://tinyurl.com/VaSchoolSurvey.
The survey will ask questions such as how students feel about their school, how students get along with one another and their teachers, how students feel about school rules, and their perceptions of their teachers’ willingness to help them. Students will also be asked what kinds of bullying they may have observed during school and whether they have been bullied themselves.
All students in your child’s grade level will be eligible to participate in the survey. Students participating in remote instruction and in-person instruction are both eligible to participate. The survey is voluntary and your child can decide not to participate. No action will be taken against you, your child, or the school if your child does not participate. If you do not wish for your child to participate, please notify the school office by telephone (571-423-4360) or letter by Friday, January 7th at noon.
Interagency Alternative Schools
8270 Willow Oaks Corporate Drive
Fairfax, VA 22031
(571) 423-4360
Your child will not receive any immediate benefit from participating in the survey, but the survey will help us to maintain a safe, inviting, and supportive learning environment for your child.
Thank you for your cooperation in this important study of Virginia’s schools.
Substance Abuse Prevention Specialist Twitter
We now have a Substance Abuse Prevention Specialist Twitter account you can follow us on. The account can be found here: FCPS SAPS (@FcpsSaps) / Twitter. Here is a YouTube video link on the Marijuana legislation and how it impacts you and Fairfax County Public Schools:
English: https://youtu.be/CpmUJ_s2ddw
Spanish: https://youtu.be/140V-Tu6oRQ
Useful Links & Information:
Listen and Subscribe to FCPS Multilingual Podcasts:
Required Forms:
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