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Committee updates child abuse reporting policy: adds 'abandonment', removes procedural subsection and renumbers
Summary
FCPS governance committee amended and approved the child abuse reporting policy, adding the term "abandonment," removing procedural text duplicated in regulation, and directing staff to renumber sections for consistency.
The Fairfax County Public Schools governance committee approved revisions to the district—s child abuse reporting procedures policy at the March 18, 2025 governance meeting, adding the word "abandonment" to the policy—s description, removing a procedural subsection duplicated in regulation, and directing staff to renumber and format sections consistently.
The committee debated where procedural detail should live: several board members, including Doctor Anderson, said the steps that identify "where and whom to report" are duplicative of existing FCPS regulation and should be moved into regulation rather than policy. Doctor Anderson moved to remove that specific subsection (C, "where and whom to report"); staff supported that change and the committee voted to remove it. The chair then proposed and the committee approved renumbering the remaining sections using Roman numerals for consistency across the policy manual.
A separate, contested amendment added the word "abandonment" alongside "child abuse" and "neglect" in the policy description; that insertion was debated and the committee voted 3—to—2 in favor of adding "abandonment." The meeting transcript shows the recorded affirmative votes on that amendment and later a broader adoption vote on the policy text, including the friendly amendments and the renumbering. Committee members asked staff to clarify and ensure the policy mirrors applicable Virginia code language in the final version.
Doctor Reed and Mr. Foster (legal counsel) answered legal clarifications during the discussion. Mr. Foster noted the specific code language cited in the redline draft was taken from the state statute text the drafters used; board members asked that the formal citation and statutory title be included in the policy footnote or legal reference when the item returns to the full board.
The motion to approve the final policy text as amended was approved by a majority of committee members present; staff will update the legal reference format and the section numbering before the item is forwarded to the full board.
