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Health Curriculum To More Closely Align with State
School Board approves recommendations from advisers, with amendments.
Though it was the second packed house in as many months, it may be early yet to call crowded Fairfax County School Board meetings a trend.

Fairfax County: Questioning Family Life Curriculum
The Fairfax County School Board’s May 7 meeting drew a passionate and boisterous crowd that filled the Luther Jackson Middle School auditorium and spilled out into the main lobby. That night the board voted in favor of adding “gender identity” to its nondiscrimination policy for students, employees and applicants for employment.

Fairfax County School Board Adds "Gender Identity" to Nondiscrimination Policy
Discrimination is bad, and everyone should have a safe environment in which to learn. These sentiments were common to the Fairfax County School Board members and the hundreds of parents who packed the auditorium and front lobby of Luther Jackson Middle School for the board’s May 7 meeting.
Fairfax County School Board to Consider Nondiscrimination Policy Change
When the members of the School Board reconvene on May 7, they’re scheduled to act on whether or not to add “gender identity” to the list of nondiscrimination categories for all Fairfax County Public Schools students, employees or applicants for employment.

Thomas Jefferson Class of 2019: 70% Asian, 1.6% Black
Some say unbalanced admissions demographics at Northern Virginia’s top high school speaks to system-wide equity problems.
Consider: 70.2 percent Asian, 20.7 percent White, 5.1 percent Multiracial/Other, 2.4 percent Hispanic, 1.6 percent Black: This is the ethnic breakdown of the 493 students admitted to the 2019 class of the Fairfax County Public Schools magnet institution Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.

West Springfield High School Hosts Job and Opportunity Fair
Robinson graduate Jackson Muse was looking for some professional direction. Currently a junior political science major at Shepherd University in West Virginia, he’s worked at Barnes & Noble but is potentially interested in counseling for the Fairfax County Park Authority, or helping open the new Wegmans at Hilltop Village Center.

1965 Luther Jackson graduates from Springfield and Alexandria remember the county’s only African American high school.
Florence King was pretty impressed with her school bus driver. The Alexandria resident grew up on Old Telegraph Road and rode the bus to both Drew Smith Elementary School in Gum Springs and Luther Jackson High School, prior to desegregation. King graduated from Luther Jackson in 1965.
Fairfax County School Board Discusses New AAP Center at Poplar Tree
Board seeks more community feedback before taking action.
Greenbriar West Elementary School is far from the only Fairfax County Public School with an overcrowding problem.

Sixth Friends of Sadie Blood Drive in Burke Draws More Than 200 Donors
For the sixth year in a row, Burke resident Amy Dozier celebrated Valentine’s Day by helping manage a blood drive. Her daughter Madeline, barely a tween for the first Friends of Sadie drive in 2010, is now a 16-year-old sophomore at Robinson Secondary School. She’s old enough to drive and old enough to donate blood for the first time.

Teen Sex Trafficking Information Forum Held at West Springfield High School
Amy DiGiulian of Springfield came to the meeting for general information on human trafficking. “I had an overall concern,” said the mother of students at Robert E. Lee High School, Key Middle School and Garfield Elementary School.

Friends of Sadie Blood Drive Enters Sixth Year in Burke
Sadie Lauer’s Neuroblastoma is in remission. She still has a tumor, buried near the top of her lungs, however it has no active cancer cells. Aside from “late effects” of her chemotherapy treatment, Sadie is a happy, healthy five-and-a-half-year-old girl.

South County High School Students Perform with United States Navy Band
A dozen members of the South County High School band program got a taste of what it’s like to perform with one of the country’s premier service ensembles.

Mount Vernon School Board Member Dan Storck Addresses Concerns Over CIP
It was standing room only at one point in the Sherwood Regional Library. Parents concerned over the significant boundary changes outlined in Fairfax County Public Schools proposed Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for FY 2016-2020 had gathered on Jan. 10 to hear from School Board Mount Vernon representative Dan Storck.

Writing Their Verse
Fairfax Station couple’s ministry supports vulnerable children in South Africa.
When Alec Zacaroli and his wife Amy hosted a boyhood friend from South Africa, they didn’t expect their lives would change in one evening.

Clifton Wine Shop Expands
“America Reworked” store and showcase moves in as wine moves upstairs.
If the only thing better than one bottle of wine is two bottles, Clifton resident and owner of Clifton Wine Shop & Tasting Room Lucinda Lawson has not only taken the message to heart, she’s expanded on it. On Friday, Oct. 4, she and a multitude of customers and friends celebrated the grand opening of the shop’s new location that boasts more than twice the interior space of the previous shop.

‘Christ Alone’ in Fairfax
Jubilee Christian Center puts on an original drama with adapted music.
“Musically, the people in this church are really talented. I’ve been blown away by that.” —Producer-director Tim Buck of Burke
‘Re-enactress Tea’ at Historic Clifton Home
Fairfax County History Commissioner Lynne Garvey-Hodge hosted former first ladies, Civil War wives and a Native American princess.
Amid a historically accurate buffet of fried cod balls, “Election Day” cake and biscuits and ham with zucchini relish, there stood a true culinary symbol of the afternoon: purple and pale gold-layered gelatin desserts served in stately glassware with a blackberry garnish.

Rescued Cats and Dogs Bring Loyalty to Families
Families grow with adopted pets.
The ASPCA estimates that nationwide, somewhere between five and seven million “companion animals” wind up in shelters each year. Of that number, 60 percent of dogs and 70 percent of cats are euthanized ... each year. The prominent humane organization also figures only about 20 to 30 percent of cat and dog pets were acquired from rescues and shelters.
A Guide to Fun
Three area mothers publish guide to kid-friendly activities in Northern Virginia.
Rather than brood about the lack of cultural resources for new mothers living in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, three local writers took it upon themselves to fill the information void. Bloggers Claudine Kurp, Amy Suski and Micaela Williamson have recently self-published “Kid Trips Northern Virginia Edition,” a 220-page toddler-to-teen tome providing hundreds of honest reviews, insider tips and top picks from all manner of child-friendly culture in the area.

Burke Florist Unfazed by Valentine’s Day Rush
Flowers ‘n’ Ferns is well prepared for its 33rd rose rodeo.
Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, but when it comes to Valentine’s Day, fresh flowers are a must-have. For area florists like Karen Fountain, the second-generation manager of Flowers ‘n’ Ferns in Burke, the romantic holiday is often the highest grossing single day of the year.
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