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Students and residents press School Board on later middle school start times, vape detectors and Justice High safety and parking
Summary
Public commenters at the Jan. 23 Fairfax County School Board meeting urged immediate action on later middle school start times, expansion of vape detectors, and solutions to parking and unsafe routes near Justice High School.
Parents, students and community members used the board’s public-comment period Jan. 23 to press the School Board for changes on several school-safety and student-health topics, including later middle school start times, vaping detection pilots and parking and safe routes around Justice High School.
The nut graf: multiple speakers urged the board to act on healthy middle school start times without waiting for boundary work, requested help expanding a vape-detector pilot and fundraising permissions, and asked the board to direct staff to work with VDOT and FCDOT on traffic and parking solutions near Justice High School.
Sixth grader Mikaela Danner of Pine Spring Elementary told the board the science is clear and urged a change in bell schedules: “We know that starting middle and high at 8:30 a.m. is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics,” she said, and asked the board to decide for fall 2025 rather than delay the decision while boundary studies continue.
A youth speaker representing a student group that formed a project called Vaping Stops Here said the group wants permission to fundraise for vape detectors so the district can expand the pilot program to more schools. The speaker, Luke Loureddy, described rising vaping incidents and asked how the board could facilitate fundraising and expedite deployment.
Several speakers from the Justice High School community, including Kathleen Ann Brown and Robert Rigby Jr., described cramped parking, missing sidewalks and inadequate crosswalks on routes used by nearly 500 students from nearby neighborhoods. They asked the board to instruct staff to coordinate with the Virginia Department of Transportation and Fairfax County Department of Transportation to develop low-cost safety solutions such as parking restrictions and high-visibility crosswalks.
Other public comments touched on school safety and online threats. Student representative Shruthi Sawant, speaking remotely, urged continued investment in the safety-screening pilot and in digital-monitoring and education to reduce the spread and impact of false threats that have disrupted attendance at several FCPS schools.
Ending: the board did not take immediate action on these public requests at this meeting but heard the speakers and will have opportunities to follow up in committee and staff work sessions.
