Loudoun County schools scales back to online learning; Fairfax County schools looks to return to the classroom

Northern Virginia schools adjusting to rising COVID-19 cases

There are new developments tonight coming out of two Northern Virginia school districts – Fairfax County is moving forward with heading back to school while Loudoun County is scaling back.

The Fairfax County Public School Board is holding a meeting Thursday night to discuss what bringing children and teachers back to the classroom could look like well as how to handle failing grades.

The school district plans to have pre-k and kindergarten students start hybrid learning on January 12. Following would be first and second graders on January 19.

On the other hand, Loudoun County Public Schools is scaling back on in-person learning. The school district had expanded its hybrid learning to fifth-graders last week. Today, Loudoun schools announced that because of rising COVID cases, they will go back to all virtual learning next week on December 15th.

FOX 5 spoke to a Loudoun County mother, Christina Fedak, who said she expected this to happen. Although, she feels bad for her son who was excited to be with his teachers and friends, even in a mask.

“It wasn’t a surprise, but of course – when you have kids, you really want the consistency as much as possible so my heart breaks for him and other students. Especially, those who may have not have done so well distance learning,” said Fedak.

Fairfax County Public Schools recently went public with news that failing grades were on the rise in virtual learning. As a result, the school board will be reviewing its grading policies. They have a few modifications in mind including:

• Establishing 50 as the lowest grade on a 100-point scale.

• Allowing late work.

• Reducing the minimum number of assignments per quarter from 9 to 6.

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