137-609: The Fairfax County Public Schools system ( FCPS ) is a school division in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia . It is a branch of the Fairfax County government, which administers public schools in Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax . FCPS's headquarters is located near Falls Church . With 188,887 students enrolled as of 2019, FCPS is the largest public school system in Virginia and
274-442: A clear and present danger to the operation of an "efficient" public school system (as required by the Virginia constitution). He also asserted that in order to protect the health and welfare of the people, integration must be opposed. He made it clear that he intended to stop all integration. He said he believed that if even one school integrated, integration would sweep over all of Virginia. The Stanley plan had two main aspects,
411-549: A domino effect that would lead to integration across the entire South. Preventing this from happening became the preeminent concern of Stanley, Byrd, and the others. Stanley called the Gray Commission back into session in late May 1956, but the group was unable to immediately come up with any new recommendations. Attorney General Almond publicly urged Stanley to call a special session of the legislature on May 31, but House Speaker Moore demanded to know what proposals Almond felt
548-541: A referendum for January 9, 1956, to call a state constitutional convention. A number of individuals and organizations came out against the Gray Commission's proposals as too moderate, however. Among these were Representative (and former Governor) William M. Tuck , Virginia House Speaker E. Blackburn Moore (a close friend of Byrd's), the Defenders, Kilpatrick, and even Gray himself. For nearly three weeks in late November and early December, Kilpatrick wrote almost daily in
685-429: A $ 2.75 million portion of his proposed $ 395 million 1982 school budget by instituting textbook rental fees for students. Although permitted by Virginia law, the plan, which included charging textbook fees from $ 22 for elementary school students up to $ 30 per year for high school students, was scrapped in the face of strong criticism. Controversy over Deck's handling of an investigation of recruiting violations by
822-613: A $ 5,000 per year pay cut. After Davis resigned, the Fairfax County School Board appointed Associate School Superintendent William J. Burkholder interim superintendent. In November 1979, the school board named Orange County, Florida superintendent Lucius Linton Deck, Junior as superintendent following a four-month search. Deck had been a divisive figure during his 6 + 1 ⁄ 2 years in Orange County, with some residents glad to see him go, while others praised him as
959-488: A B, 86–80% a C, and 70–79% a D, with any score below 70% an F. The county school board adopted a $ 279 million budget in February 1979, which included a 5.15% cost of living raise for the system's teachers and other employees. However, this increase was only slightly more than half of the inflation rate, which was at an annual rate of 9.9% that month, and far short of the 9.4% increase FCPS employees had sought. In April 1979,
1096-600: A bill to require a statewide referendum in November 1956 on whether school segregation should be state policy. The Assembly recessed on August 28 for the Labor Day holiday, and did not come back into session until September 4. The same day, Governor Stanley conferred with Rep. Smith, Delegate Gray, and House Speaker Moore. Their discussion focused on the Stanley plan's lack of an appeals process for pupil assignments. Stanley agreed to
1233-539: A bloc of 17 state senators had formed to oppose any segregationist plan which did not contain an option for local school districts to integrate. Faced with defeat in the Senate, Governor Stanley introduced a new version of his plan on September 12 that would: The new plan drew extensive criticism. Southside legislators feared that only all-white schools would close. Stanley asserted that his plan would permit him to close black schools as well as white ones if an all-white school
1370-540: A change in his status within the Byrd Organization. Initially, Senator Byrd had kept Stanley out of his inner circle's legislative discussions. But by late spring Byrd began including Stanley in these talks. Byrd and his close political allies were pressing for extreme measures (such as closing schools) in response to integration, and Stanley realized that action had to be taken soon or integration would occur before these measures could be enacted. In this regard, Stanley
1507-415: A clear and present danger to the public safety of citizens in those districts which integrated. In an effort to strengthen the Stanley plan's interposition elements, the bill also authorized circuit courts to file injunctions against any school district which violated the assignment decrees—which invited the prospect of pitting state courts against federal ones. Delegate Thomson introduced a bill to establish
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#17330852462241644-540: A compromise that would allow an administrative appeal (through an as-yet-to-be-worked-out process), followed by a required appeal to state courts and lower federal courts before any appeal could be taken to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Stanley plan seemed to suffer a serious blow the following day, however, when the Virginia State Board of Education voted not to endorse the plan. Four members strongly opposed withholding state funds from integrated schools, which led to
1781-454: A five-point legislative program: 1) No public school integration would be tolerated in Virginia; 2) School districts which integrated would lose state funding; 3) The state law permitting school districts to be sued would be repealed; 4) The power to assign students to schools would be taken away from local school boards and transferred to the governor; and 5) The governor would have the power to close any school district which integrated. Despite
1918-582: A fleet of over 1520 school buses, which transport 110,000 students daily. They operate on an operating budget of $ 2.5 billion through numerous funding sources. FCPS is currently the largest school system in Virginia and the tenth-largest in the United States. It also boasts an average on-time graduation rate of 91.5% and an average SAT score of 1213. The school district uses an electronic visitor management system to control visitors' access at its schools. Prior to May 2009, Fairfax County Public Schools used
2055-552: A high of 145,385 in the 1974–75 school year to an eventual low of 122,646 in 1982–83. Additionally, families migrated from established eastern and central parts of the county to newer developments in the west and south, leading to the unenviable task of Davis having to request the closings of some schools while needing to build entirely new ones elsewhere. In a 6–5 vote, the school board voted in May 1976 to re-institute textbook rental fees, hoping to raise an additional $ 1.3 million to close
2192-421: A meeting of the Gray Commission to consider the governor's proposal. Stanley said he would not oppose the Gray Commission's proposal to assign students on the basis of factors other than race (which might lead to some integration). Stanley's concession, The Washington Post reported, was made because it was widely assumed that the Gray Commission was assumed to be strongly in favor of the pupil assignment plan and
2329-406: A mental age above 7) children at Groveton, Lincolnia, Oakton, and Luther Jackson schools, and a class for "trainable" (those with a mental age of less than 6 + 1 ⁄ 2 ) children at Groveton. In recent years lawsuits have been brought by parents of students with IEPs and 504 plan against FCPS over reports that FCPS repeatedly violated and failed to provide the necessary resources provided by
2466-529: A month-to-month basis so they could close schools on short notice if ordered to desegregate. But wealthy districts such as Arlington and Norfolk let it be known that they would defy state control and integrate. Outside of the Southside, there seemed little support for Stanley's plan. This lack of support led to a shift in Stanley's legislative proposals. Originally, the governor had sought discretionary authority to withhold funds from integrated school districts; now
2603-510: A more moderate response. But the moderate segregationists, too, had some early successes. A resolution declaring the Brown decision null and void was defeated by the state house on January 18. As moderates battled extremists in the General Assembly and time wore on, many state legislators began to feel (with school budgets due in just 60 days on May 30) that there was not enough time to pass
2740-622: A neighboring school division for school functions. One example of such an arrangement is in Northern Virginia, where the City of Fairfax has contracted with surrounding Fairfax County to run the schools owned by the city (see Fairfax County Public Schools ). Stanley Plan The Stanley Plan was a package of 13 statutes adopted in September 1956 by the U.S. state of Virginia . The statutes were designed to ensure racial segregation would continue in that state's public schools despite
2877-403: A new version of the grading scale by March 2009. The board also approved changing the weighting for Honors to 0.5 effective with the 2009–2010 school year and for AP and IB courses to 1.0 retroactively. After investigation, the Fairfax County School Board approved a modified ten-point scale with pluses and minuses. The new scale went into effect at the beginning of the 2009–10 school year. 93–100%
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#17330852462243014-501: A number of legislators. The bills were merged so that only five were reported from the committee and passed by the Assembly. A final bill passed on the last day of the special session created a racial issues investigative committee. This legislation established a 10-member Assembly committee composed of six delegates and four senators. The committee was charged with investigating the effect of integration on public schools, racial matters in
3151-413: A program to provide tuition grants to students in shuttered school districts so they could attend a nonsectarian school of their choice. (The original Gray Commission plan awarded tuition grants only to parents in an integrated school system who did not want their child attending an integrated school, or to parents in localities which voluntarily closed their school system to avoid integration.) Thirteen of
3288-457: A projected budget shortfall. The plan was scrapped two months later, in July, when the board was able to find a $ 1.4 million surplus. In 1978, Fairfax County began countywide enforcement of its 15-year-old standardized six-point letter grading scale, with a ten-point spread at the bottom of the grading range. The grading scale, initially set in 1963, provided that a score of 100–94% was an A, 93–87%
3425-425: A pupil assignment plan, whether to require local approval of integration or local approval of taxes to support integration, and repeal of state laws permitting school districts to be sued). Although the full Gray Commission met publicly the following day, they were secretly joined in executive session by Governor Stanley. Stanley announced that he was going to support a special session of the legislature, and that if
3562-670: A response. Accommodating this extremist sentiment, the pupil assignment plan approved at the July 2 meeting was fairly weak. After the meeting, Gray independently asked Mays to draft a stronger pupil assignment proposal. Events soon polarized the state of Virginia on the school segregation issue. On July 12, Judge John Paul Jr. , of the Western District Court of Virginia ordered the racial integration of public schools in Charlottesville, Virginia . On July 31, Eastern District Court of Virginia Judge Albert V. Bryan Sr. , ordered
3699-436: A school board could petition to have the schools reopened, although this would require that the Assembly take over the district, the governor to act as the Assembly's agent, and the governor to implement a segregationist pupil assignment plan. The governor's opponents, however, countered with their own plan in which each school board would retain the right to make pupil assignments (although pupil assignments could now be appealed
3836-412: A secret meeting of the Gray Commission's executive committee had taken place on May 27 which Representative Howard W. Smith , Representative Watkins Moorman Abbitt , Representative Burr Harrison , Tuck, and other outsiders had attended. The group approved of Stanley's March 9 proposal to cut off all state funds for any school district which integrated, and discussed a number of other proposals (including
3973-429: A seven-member Assembly committee to investigate any group seeking to influence public opinion in the state, teacher quality, uniformity of courses and curriculum in the public schools, and the effects of integration on public education. From September 4 to 7, the Assembly heard numerous witnesses testify for and against the various plans. State Senator Harry F. Byrd Jr. (son of U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd Sr.) endorsed
4110-550: A significant setback in the House Appropriations Committee on September 14, when supporters of a local option won a narrow vote to amend the Stanley plan to permit local districts to integrate. The amended plan was reported to the House floor. Stanley immediately proposed yet another new plan which automatically cut off funds to any or all portions of a school district which integrated. Under the new Stanley plan, however,
4247-643: A single local jurisdiction integrated. Also speaking before the group, Attorney General Almond said the McCue plan would not stop integration lawsuits and probably would violate the state constitution. At the end of its meeting, the Gray Commission voted 19-to-12 to abandon its original proposals and support the Stanley plan. The meeting and vote were contentious. According to local news media, "the Commission capitulated to tremendous pressure from state leaders to junk its own pupil assignment plan". The Commission also approved
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4384-481: A six-point grading scale where 94–100% was an A, 90–93% was a B+, 84–89% was a B, and so on. In 2008, however, a parent group raised concerns about whether the FCPS method of computing grades and applying weights for advanced courses adversely affected FCPS applicants for college admissions, honors program placements, and merit-based scholarship awards. On January 2, 2009, Superintendent Jack D. Dale announced his decision on
4521-427: A special session of the General Assembly to reconsider the Gray Commission proposals. In May, at least one state delegate urged the General Assembly to call itself into special session. During the spring and into the summer, Stanley began meeting with Senator Byrd, State Senator Gray, and others to strategize about a course of action. Byrd was concerned that one or more local school districts might integrate, creating
4658-478: A strong and professional leader. Deck inherited the problem of needing to close underused schools that had first plagued Superintendent Davis. 29 elementary schools, mostly in the eastern part of the county, were studied for possible closure, but Deck's recommendation in April 1980 was for eight schools to be closed, five more than the review panel had suggested. The following month, the school board voted to close seven of
4795-505: A stronger version which permitted a funding cut-off whether a district integrated voluntarily or not. Kenneth Patty , Assistant Attorney General, ended up drafting the revised bill for the governor. After four days of work, Patty finished his draft of the funding cut-off legislation on August 13. On August 14, Governor Stanley announced publicly that the main thrust of his legislative proposal would be to withhold funds from any local school district which integrated. In response, Gray called
4932-437: A substitute school closing bill on July 25 that limited the conditions under which the governor could close schools but which Almond thought was more likely to pass constitutional muster. On July 26, Southside politicians attempted to force a vote through the Gray Commission which endorsed the Stanley plan (as redrafted by Almond), but the vote failed. The commission did vote, however, to have Mays draft legislation to implement
5069-413: A three-member "pupil assignment board"). Any parents with children in a school could challenge the assignment of a child to that school. Appeals would be required to go through the state court system after leaving the pupil assignment board; in the meantime, the child would remain at their original school (a process intended to delay the assignment of a black student to an all-white school). To ensure that
5206-487: A tuition voucher to attend a private school) or opt to not take state funding. Governor Stanley called the General Assembly into special session on November 30, 1955, to consider adopting the Gray Commission's report (although not its actual recommendations). During what one newspaper called a "hasty, almost hysterical four-day session", the General Assembly "adopted" the Gray Commission's recommendations—although it did not enact them into law. The legislature did approve
5343-596: A way of circumventing desegregation, and the Almond decision struck directly at this proposal. The Gray Commission issued its report just five days after the Virginia Supreme Court's decision in Almond . The report, which wholeheartedly supported racial segregation in schools and denounced the Supreme Court's 1954 Brown decision, made a number of recommendations. Two stood out. First, the Commission proposed that
5480-522: Is a geographic division over which a school board has jurisdiction. In Canada the term is used for the area controlled by a school board and is used interchangeably with school district , including in the formal name of the board. For example, see List of Alberta school boards . In the U.S. state of Virginia , the State Board of Education is charged under § 22.1-25 of the Code of Virginia with dividing
5617-642: Is an A, 90–92% is an A−, 87–89% is a B+, and so on. In 2009, Fairfax County Public Schools' disciplinary policies for drug offenses came under community scrutiny after two students committed suicide after being subject to school disciplinary proceedings. Both 17-year-old Josh Anderson of South Lakes High School , who died in 2009, and 15-year-old Nick Stuban of Woodson High School , who died in 2011, had been suspended from their schools for marijuana-related offenses. The school district also suspended at least one student for possession of her prescription medication. School division#United States A school division
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5754-408: Is the subject of an integrationist lawsuit, until such time as the Assembly desires to reestablish the local school system; 6) Vest all power to admit and/or assign students to schools in the hands of the Assembly; and 7) Require the Assembly to assign pupils to the schools they currently attend, and require that the assignment of any new pupils or changes to assignments be approved by the Assembly. (At
5891-584: The 11th-largest school district in the nation. The school division has been led by Division Superintendent Michelle Reid since July 2022. The public school system in Fairfax County, Virginia , was created following the end of the Civil War with the adoption by Virginia of the Reconstruction -era state constitution in 1870, which provided for the first time that free public education was a constitutional right. The first superintendent of schools for Fairfax County
6028-505: The Brown decision was restrained. From the 1920s to the late 1960s, Virginia politics had been dominated by the Byrd Organization , a political machine led by Senator Harry F. Byrd Sr. , another segregationist Democrat (who was also a former governor of Virginia). Top leaders in the Byrd Organization, such as Governor Thomas B. Stanley and then– Attorney General J. Lindsay Almond , were also at first reserved in their reaction to
6165-563: The Brown ruling. However, this changed when James J. Kilpatrick , editor of The Richmond News Leader in Richmond, Virginia , quickly adopted a defiant and unyielding opposition to racial integration of public schools. Kilpatrick adopted the pre– American Civil War constitutional theory of interposition , and began publicly pushing for the state of Virginia to actively oppose the Supreme Court. Kilpatrick's hardening position, historian Joseph J. Thorndike has written, "likely...helped stiffen
6302-747: The Mount Vernon High School athletic department, his censure by the Fairfax Education Association for a mishandled school closing, unhappiness with his leadership style, which was characterized as "aggressive" and "abrasive", and pressure from the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors angry at Deck's proposed budget led to the school board forcing Deck to resign on June 24, 1982, only 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 years into his four-year contract. The board appointed William J. Burkholder as acting superintendent. At its April 25, 1991 meeting,
6439-696: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Virginia. Five of the bills expanded the state's definitions of barratry , champerty , and maintenance . The eleven other bills collectively required the following groups to file a financial report and membership list annually with state: any group which promotes or opposes state legislation aimed at any race; any organization attempting to influence public opinion on behalf of any race; or any group raising funds to employ legal counsel in connection with racial litigation. By September 13,
6576-476: The "Committee on Segregation" after a petition and threat of litigation from a civic group called "Virginia Citizens' Committee for Better Schools". After the Brown v. Board of Education decision, Daniel Duke, author of Education Empire , wrote: "Whether local school systems such as Fairfax County, left to their own, would have moved forward to implement desegregation in the late fifties will never be known. Richmond removed any possibility of local option..." It
6713-501: The 15 Southside legislators on the Gray Commission voted for the Stanley plan. Of the 12 commissioners who voted against the Stanley plan, two were from Arlington County, two were from Richmond, and one was from Norfolk. At the end of the session, Arlington's State Senator Charles R. Fenwick and delegate C. Harrison Mann proposed a series of bills designed to harass the Virginia NAACP, which Fenwick and others believed had instigated
6850-646: The Boothe-Dalton plan provided for an administrative appeal process, which the Gray Commission plan did not. It also identified a very specific, time-consuming process for assignment appeals (to the local school board, the state board of education, state circuit courts, state supreme court, and eventually the U.S. Supreme Court). Finally, it contained a "local option" that would allow racial integration in public schools "where localities are ready" (according to Boothe). The Mann-Fenwick plan, sponsored by Arlington Delegate C. Harrison Mann and Senator Charles R. Fenwick ,
6987-412: The Boothe-Dalton plan was in how it differed from the Gray Commission student assignment plan. The Gray Commission plan assigned students on the basis of student welfare, availability of facilities and transportation, health, and aptitude, whereas the Boothe-Dalton plan expanded the list of factors to include school attendance areas, academic background, student personality, and student needs. Additionally,
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#17330852462247124-480: The Commonwealth of Virginia immediately enacted legislation to stop the desegregation process, took control of all the schools in Virginia, and resorted to closing school systems attempting to desegregate. When Arlington County announced an early attempt at a desegregation plan, its school board was fired by the State Board of Education. In 1955, the Fairfax County School Board renamed a "Committee on Desegregation" as
7261-680: The Fairfax Education Association, the professional association representing teachers in the county, adopted a work-to-the-rule action, which meant that teachers would not do any work outside of the 7.5 hours per day they were contracted for. Additionally, the FEA gave a vote of no confidence to Superintendent Davis. The vote of no confidence was considered the main factor in Davis' decision to resign from Fairfax County Public Schools on May 18, 1979, and accept an appointment as Virginia Superintendent of Public Education from Governor John N. Dalton , despite having to take
7398-528: The Fairfax grade-a-year plan was discriminatory and dilatory. Fifteen black children had been refused admission to white schools because they did not fall within the prescribed grades of the School Board's assignment plan. The plaintiffs contended successfully that the speed of desegregation was too slow under the school board's plan. District Judge Albert V. Bryan did not categorically rule out such plans in accepting
7535-496: The Gray Commission could not come up with any new proposals then he himself would craft bills for the General Assembly to consider. Although no plan was formally agreed upon, the Gray Commission asked its counsel David J. Mays to craft proposals along six lines: 1) Cutting off state funds to any school district which integrated; 2) Allowing local referendums to veto the appropriation of local funds for integration; 3) Repeal of state laws allowing school districts to be sued; 4) Allowing
7672-663: The Gray Commission plan filed 14 bills to implement the Commission's proposals, but the Gray plan's supporters said they would abandon their pupil assignment plan in favor of the Mann-Fenwick pupil assignment plan. Delegate C.W. Cleaton introduced a bill to prohibit school districts from raising private money to operate integrated schools, Senator Eugene Snydor introduced a bill to allow residents to vote on whether integrated schools should be closed and whether closed schools should be reopened as segregated, and Delegate Griffith Purcell introduced
7809-418: The Gray Commission plan) opposed the more extreme segregationists (who believed that public opinion was becoming more and more inflamed against Brown ). Byrd cautioned Virginia state legislators to "go slow" (a now-famous political phrase). Byrd and the other extreme segregationists hoped that public opinion would continue to harden against Brown , allowing political leaders to adopt interposition rather than
7946-422: The Gray Commission plan. The two sides began to fight over whether to delay a year before passing any new school legislation. Moderate segregationists began to worry that public education would be destroyed by tuition vouchers, and were not willing to implement such a plan even if it meant saving segregation. House Speaker Moore introduced a resolution which would require school districts to remain segregated for
8083-533: The School Boards. Boatwright said his bill affected all Virginia communities but admitted Northern Virginia was most affected. The reason for the bill was that they felt that Federal Employees were in support of the Federal government's position on integration. The seven-member Fairfax County School Board included four Federal employees. In Blackwell v. Fairfax County School Board in 1960, black plaintiffs charged that
8220-599: The Southside and numbering no more than 15,000 members, the Defenders proved highly influential in state politics. The crisis over school desegregation worsened throughout 1955. On May 31, 1955, the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (known as Brown II ) ordered that school desegregation occur with "all deliberate speed". Two weeks later, Governor Stanley and the Virginia State Board of Education announced that state policy would be to continue to operate
8357-429: The Southside, was deeply influenced by the strong segregationist sentiments expressed at this meeting. Six days later, Governor Stanley announced he would "use every legal means at my command to continue segregated schools in Virginia." On August 30, 1954, Governor Stanley announced the appointment of a commission, chaired by State Senator Garland Gray, to recommend a legislative response to Brown . Officially titled
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#17330852462248494-651: The Stanley plan as unconstitutional in January 1957. By 1960, nearly all of the major elements of the plan (including the litigation curbs aimed at the NAACP) had been struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal and state courts. The constitutional invalidity of the Stanley plan led new governor of Virginia, J. Lindsay Almond , also a Democrat, to propose "passive resistance" to school integration in 1959. The Supreme Court declared portions of "passive resistance" unconstitutional in 1964 and again in 1968. On May 17, 1954,
8631-584: The Stanley plan. He also said that if it were struck down, the Byrd Organization intended to keep enacting plans to thwart desegregation forever. Testifying against the various segregationist plans were members of the NAACP and several Northern Virginia legislators. As the hearings ended, Delegates Lucas Phillipps and Frank Moncure introduced a bill to bar the Virginia State Board of Education from denying accreditation to any private school because its building did not meet state standards. (Many legislators believed that if
8768-483: The U.S. Supreme Court handed down its ruling in Brown v. Board of Education , in which the unanimous court held that separate public schools for black and white students were unconstitutional. Although agitation for an end to racial segregation in schools (and society at large) had been building in the United States since the end of World War II, Brown sparked the modern American civil rights movement . The initial reaction of most Virginia politicians and newspapers to
8905-619: The Virginia Public Education Commission, it was more popularly known as the Gray Commission. In October 1954, a pro-segregation group called the Defenders of State Sovereignty and Individual Liberties (widely known as "the Defenders") formed. The Defenders not only demanded that state legislators pledge not to support racial integration, but in June 1955 called for legislation to be enacted which barred state funds from being spent on school desegregation. Although limited primarily to
9042-496: The Virginia constitutional convention voted 39-to-1 to approve the constitutional amendment to permit educational vouchers. Five days later, 96 members of the United States Congress sponsored a resolution (introduced by Senator Byrd) called the " Southern Manifesto ", which denounced the Brown decision and encouraged states to "resist forced integration by any means." But moderate segregationist forces (which supported
9179-459: The Virginia state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which many Virginia segregationists believed was responsible for "stirring up" litigation to integrate the public schools. The plan was enacted by the Virginia Assembly on September 22, 1956, and signed into law by Governor Stanley on September 29. A federal court struck down a portion of
9316-415: The assignment of a new pupil to their school (a process designed to give white parents the legal right to protest the assignment of a black student to an all-white school). Governor Stanley opened the Assembly's special session on August 27 by declaring that Virginia faced "the gravest problem since 1865". Stanley said his goal was to have the legislature declare that mixing of races in public schools posed
9453-567: The bill to include a local pupil assignment option but failed. The conference bill passed the Virginia House 62-to-37. After three hours of debate late in the evening of September 21, the Virginia Senate defeated the local option amendment 21-to-17. The conference bill passed the Senate by a vote of 22-to-16. (Although the Virginia Senate has 40 seats, there were only 38 senators present at the time. One senator had recently died. One senator
9590-575: The coming 1956–1957 school year while the legislature worked on a legislative end-run of Brown . But state Attorney General J. Lindsay Almond argued the bill left the state legally exposed, and advocated instead a special session of the legislature in the summer in order to meet the " good faith " requirement of the Brown II decision. The Moore resolution was defeated, as was the Gray Commission's proposal to allow local school boards to assign students to schools on factors other than race. Three days before
9727-498: The control of the Virginia Assembly; 2) Authorize the Virginia State Board of Education to operate the schools in the name of the Assembly; 3) Make all local and county school personnel employees of the Assembly; 4) Bar lawsuits against local school districts unless initiated by the state Attorney General; 5) Require that a school district be immediately taken over by the Assembly if any current school district or school board member
9864-587: The county school system was headquartered at 10700 Page Avenue in an unincorporated area of the county surrounded by the City of Fairfax . In 2006, FCPS moved all of its operations from the Burkholder Center and several other school-owned and leased offices to the office building on Gatehouse Road. The school system has expanded to include over 196 schools and centers, including 22 high schools, three secondary schools, 23 middle schools, and 141 elementary schools. Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) also operates
10001-615: The creation of what were then called intermediate schools for students in grades 7 and 8. By the time the first eight intermediate schools opened in the Fall of 1960, they were already over their 1000 student capacities. In the fall of 1960, the first black students were admitted to newly desegregated public schools. Jerald R. Betz and Raynard Wheeler were enrolled at the Belvedere Elementary School in Falls Church, and Gwendolyn Brooks
10138-406: The desegregation lawsuits. After the meeting, Governor Stanley told the press that his plan would make Virginia school systems immune to any integrationist litigation. The onus of school closures, he said, would be on African Americans who "force themselves into a school of another race". In the days before the start of the special session, it became clear that a major battle was brewing between
10275-434: The eight schools at its May 22, 1980 meeting, a move which was met with angry hisses and boos from parents in attendance. Fairfax County teachers' work to the rule action, which had begun in April 1979, was finally ended in May 1980. Superintendent Linton Deck accepted a new four-year contract as Superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools in January 1981. Shortly before accepting his new contract, Deck proposed making up
10412-420: The entire legislature). No action was taken on these proposals at the Gray Commission's meeting on June 4. With discussions on a legislative program at a standstill, on June 11 Gray called together the seven members of the Gray Commission most in favor of "massive resistance." They agreed to support a legislative program in favor of "massive resistance" and met with Governor Stanley that night. Stanley said he
10549-503: The first black high school principal since FCPS had desegregated, placing him in charge of James Madison High School in Vienna . Watts' appointment of Williams would be one of his final official acts. After less than a year as superintendent, Watts died, aged 44, of a heart attack at his home in Oakton in June 1970. Assistant Superintendent S. Barry Morris was named interim superintendent while
10686-514: The first in the State to reach compliance with the mandate in the School Segregation Cases." Ultimately, Fairfax County was one of the first school systems in the country to be awarded funds to aid with desegregation because of their efforts to implement a desegregated system. The Fairfax County School Board voted to switch from a 7–5 to a 6–2–4 grade level configuration in 1958, necessitating
10823-420: The following key respect. Unlike school districts in most states, a Virginia school division is not a separate local government , but instead depends on appropriations and budget approvals from its associated general-purpose local government or governments (county, city, town). Legally, it is a political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Virginia statute authorizes a school division to contract with
10960-602: The following year, Funderburk resigned, telling the school board he did not want a third term as superintendent. The school board selected Lawrence M. Watts from the Greece School District in Greece, New York to take the reins of the Fairfax County Public Schools system, which had grown during Funderburk's tenure from 65,000 to 122,000 students, in May 1969. In May 1970, Watts appointed Taylor M. Williams as
11097-533: The former governor of Virginia who was now president of the University of Virginia , announced he opposed the Stanley plan and supported the Gray Commission's original proposals. By the time the special session resumed on September 4, the number of bills filed for consideration by the Assembly had risen to more than 70. Stanley's supporters led off the debate in both chambers of the Assembly, but Stanley's political position had weakened and media observers felt that he
11234-455: The goal became automatic cut-off. The revised Stanley plan was presented to the Gray Commission on August 22. The Commission reconsidered its own proposals as well as the Stanley plan and those of other legislators (such as the Boothe-Dalton and McCue plans; see below for descriptions). Before the vote, Governor Stanley said he would not insist on the provision in the funding cut-off bill which would deny funds to all public schools statewide if
11371-512: The governor stated. The first was the funds withholding provision. But he pointed out that his plan (which had now been modified even further since late August) would cut off funds only to portions of school districts. (For example, if an elementary school in a district integrated, the legislation would require funds to be cut off to all elementary schools in that district—but not to secondary schools.) He also noted that this portion of his legislative program would expire on June 30, 1958. Stanley said
11508-521: The governor. A conference committee to reconcile the two different bills collapsed. A second conference committee won House members' approval of the three-member statewide pupil assignment committee, while Senate members agreed to allow appeals to go directly to the governor before heading to state courts. When the conference bill came onto the House and Senate floors, legislators from districts under court order to integrate and legislators from districts with small African American populations tried to amend
11645-457: The group's many public statements supporting local control of schools, Tuck later remarked that the purpose of the plan was to prevent integration anywhere in Virginia: "If they [other Virginia areas] won't stand with us then I say make 'em. We cannot compromise. ... If you ever let them integrate anywhere the whole state will be integrated in a short time." Byrd in particular was a vocal supporter of
11782-490: The issue, recommending changing the weights of advanced courses but maintaining the six-point grading scale. Dale stated there was no conclusive evidence the six-point grading scale is disadvantageous for the students of FCPS. Fairfax County Public Schools worked with the parent group to conduct a joint investigation into the issue. On January 22, 2009, the FCPS School Board directed Superintendent Dale to report to it with
11919-448: The lack of support focused on whether the plan would actually pass court muster as well as halt desegregation. Delegate James McIlhany Thomson , an ardent segregationist, said he believed the Stanley plan would not pass without a pupil assignment program. But on August 24, Garland Gray (whose own position had moved rightward) abandoned support for the pupil assignment plan because it permitted limited integration. Governor Stanley, however,
12056-461: The legislature adjourned, Governor Stanley proposed a plan to deny state funds to any school district which integrated. But this plan was also defeated. The legislative session ended on March 12, 1956. Although calls for a special session of the legislature had been made in February and March, Governor Stanley was not initially receptive to the idea at the beginning of April. In mid-April, Virginia Lieutenant Governor Gi Stevens urged Stanley to call
12193-464: The legislature demanded that the Assembly support interposition, and a resolution to adopt the legal theory as state policy passed on February 1, 1956. On February 25, Byrd called for " massive resistance " by Southern states against the Brown ruling. But a fracture in the pro-segregation movement prevented much legislation from moving forward during the remainder of the regular legislative session. Hopes were initially high when, on March 6, 1956,
12330-440: The legislature should pass before any special session was called. On June 4, the Gray Commission again reported to the governor that it had not been able to improve on its November proposals, but it, too, advised the governor to call a special session of the legislature. The following day, Governor Stanley announced he would call the legislature into special session in late August. Governor Stanley's reversal of position regarding
12467-684: The moderate segregationists and the extreme segregationists. Delegates from Northern Virginia openly opposed the Stanley plan as well as calls for even more radical legislation. Although most moderate segregationists had joined with the extremists in initially supporting the Gray Commission plan and the call for a constitutional convention, the moderates largely did not support interposition. The moderate segregationists also joined with many (such as leading educators, urban leaders from Northern Virginia, former state superintendent of public schools Dabney Lancaster, several General Assembly delegates, and Gray Commission vice chairman Harry B. Davis) who felt that
12604-435: The negative vote. The board also voted to publicly support the original Gray Commission plan. Meeting with the board after the vote, Governor Stanley discussed the possibility of merging his plan with some sort of pupil assignment plan, so that pupil assignment would be permitted but funds would still be withheld if assignment failed to segregate the schools. Another blow to the Stanley plan came when Colgate W. Darden Jr. ,
12741-575: The pages of the Richmond News Leader in favor of interposition. In near-record numbers, Virginia voters turned out on January 9 to approve the call for a constitutional convention by a 2-to-1 margin. After the referendum, Kilpatrick and now Byrd, too, began pressing for an even stronger legislative response, based on the constitutional justification of interposition. The Virginia General Assembly opened its 60-day legislative session on January 11, 1956. Almost immediately, Byrd's supporters in
12878-434: The past eight months that there should be no mixing of the races anywhere in the state. Fifty-eight bills about school desegregation were filed for consideration by the Virginia Assembly. The administration immediately entered into negotiations to amend the Stanley plan to allow parents to sue a school district to force it to accept state funds (and resegregate). The Boothe-Dalton and McCue plans were also filed. Backers of
13015-436: The plaintiff's argument. Instead, he emphasized that they must be judged according to the community's character. Since the black school population of Fairfax County was less than four percent, Bryan considered the fear of racial friction an unacceptable justification for such a cautious desegregation plan. The Civil Rights Commission report of 1962 found that "Every sign indicates that the communities in northern Virginia will be
13152-466: The plan was a "local option," both the school board and the local pupil assignment board would need to adopt a pupil assignment plan, or state funds would be cut off. A cut-off could be avoided if 10% of the school district's voters signed a petition calling for a referendum, and voters approved implementation of a pupil assignment plan (a process intended to allow voters to bypass an integrationist school board). Local communities were also permitted to drop
13289-426: The press that Judge Bryan's decision left open the possibility of implementing a pupil assignment plan that would be neutral on its face but which could keep schools segregated. Mays, Lapsley, Almond, Wickham, and Boatwright spent August 6 engaged in additional legislative drafting. That same day, Governor Stanley withdrew his school funding bill from consideration by the drafting committee and asked that Almond draft
13426-544: The proposals contained in the Gray Commission report as well as the governor's recommendations. Mays spent most of July 31 drafting this legislation with four others: Almond; Mays' associate Henry T. Wickham; Commission staffer John B. Boatwright Jr.; and George McIver "Mack" Lapsley (Director of the Division of Statutory Research and Drafting for the General Assembly). They considered a number of different ways to implement
13563-432: The proposals recommended by the Gray Commission, with the exception of the pupil assignment provision. The governor also sought an amendment to state law authorizing and directing the governor to withhold state funding from any public school district when the "public interest, or safety, or welfare" required it. The plan would also permit a local school district to close its public schools (in which case every child would get
13700-534: The public schools closed, "white academies" would spring up to offer segregated private education. These schools, however, would be forced to occupy buildings which did not meet state educational codes, and the Phillipps-Moncure bill was intended to solve this problem.) By September 9, however, it was clear that the Stanley plan was only holding onto a minority of legislative voters. On September 10, Delegate C. Harrison Mann introduced 16 bills aimed at curbing
13837-438: The pupil assignment plan if 25% of school district voters signed a petition calling for a referendum on the issue and voters approved the referendum. Debate over the competing proposals in the House began on September 17, and was highly contentious. The House subsequently passed the governor's latest proposal. In the Senate, however, the governor's proposal was amended to establish a statewide pupil assignment board appointed by
13974-452: The pupil assignment plan, and decided to bring the various alternatives before the Gray Commission. Wickham was given the task of putting into legislative language the decisions the group made. That same day, Judge Bryan ordered Arlington County public schools desegregated. Mays told the drafting group that Bryan's decision invited a pupil assignment program and suggested it might pass constitutional muster. Almond agreed, and on August 1 told
14111-624: The racial integration of public schools in Arlington County, Virginia . The rulings sparked additional lawsuits against segregated school districts across Virginia. The rulings also widened the split in the pro-segregation forces, with the more extremist supporters now arguing that the Gray Commission proposals were no longer an option and that only "massive resistance" and a plan implementing interposition were supportable. Governor Stanley released his legislative proposal to implement "massive resistance" on July 23, 1956, and set August 27, 1956, as
14248-637: The request of residents for a black high school, began construction of the Luther Jackson School. The opening coincided with the Brown decision passed in 1954. In 1954, FCPS had 42 elementary schools and 6 high schools. That year, the Luther Jackson High School , the first high school for black students, opened in Falls Church. In 1954, the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education ordered an end to racial segregation . In response,
14385-580: The resolve of several key figures, especially Byrd." On June 18, 1954, political leaders in Virginia's Southside (a collection of counties in the south-central region of the state) met and agreed to ask for vigorous state opposition to Brown . They began calling themselves the Defenders of State Sovereignty and Civil Liberties, and members included U.S. Congressmen William Munford Tuck and Watkins Abbitt as well as state senators Charles T. Moses and Garland Gray . They selected Farmville businessman Robert B. Crawford as their president. Stanley, himself from
14522-407: The school board approved a plan where several intermediate schools in areas of the county with declining enrollments that had for the previous 31 years only served seventh and eighth grades would add sixth graders and become middle schools. Three intermediate schools, Glasgow, Holmes, and Poe, added sixth-grade classes. In 1993, the four-year-old teacher merit pay was suspended due to budget cuts, and
14659-438: The school board had endorsed Funderburk's plan, they also hired the consulting firm of Cresap, McCormick & Paget to conduct an audit of the system's management organization and operations. In 1968, based on their consultant's recommendations, the school board put a significantly modified version of the decentralization plan into effect, dividing FCPS into four areas which were, in effect, miniature school systems. In January of
14796-451: The school board sought a replacement to lead the 130,000 student school system. The board did not have to look far for its new superintendent. In September 1970, Area Superintendent S. John Davis was chosen following a nationwide search to serve the remaining 33 months of Watts' four-year term. During the mid-1970s, Davis had difficulties dealing with the start of a demographic crash and a population shift. The student population dropped from
14933-509: The school board voted to phase the program out completely over the next four years at its March 11 meeting. FCPS took over the education of students with mental disabilities from a parent-organized cooperative in 1953. The parents had begun the program in 1950, using whatever space could be found to educate their children, but eventually asked FCPS to take control of the program. Special education classes for mentally disabled students were expanded in 1955 to four classes for "educable" (those with
15070-487: The school closing proposal, and helped draft the other proposals in the plan. The Stanley plan had the support of the more extreme segregationists in Virginia as well. The first week of July, the Defenders promoted a plan that would withdraw the legal basis for lawsuits against school districts, permit state takeovers of school districts which integrated, and deny state funds to school districts which integrated. The Defenders opposed any pupil assignment plan as too moderate
15207-414: The schools in the City of Fairfax . As early as 1965, Superintendent Funderburk was discussing plans to decentralize FCPS. By 1967, Funderburk had put together a plan for five area offices, each serving a portion of the county and had appointed Woodson High School Principal Robert E. Phipps and West Springfield High School Principal S. John Davis as his first two administrators that December. Although
15344-443: The second major provision of his program was the tuition grant plan, offered to parents in districts where schools closed. (Unpublicized by the governor was a provision in his tuition grant plan that would require school districts which lost state funds to provide tuition grants.) All legislators should get behind this legislative program for massive resistance, Stanley concluded, because all Virginians of all races had concluded over
15481-446: The special session seemed inexplicable, especially in light of the lack of new legislative proposals, but events had transpired which had changed his mind. In part, Stanley himself had come around to the "massive resistance" viewpoint. Various court decisions of the previous spring had convinced him that the federal courts (and the federal government) would not compromise on the issue of segregation. Additionally, Stanley felt emboldened by
15618-466: The start of the General Assembly's special session. He made it clear that he would not permit desegregation. "There shall be no mixing of the races in the public schools, anywhere in Virginia," he said on July 23. The Stanley plan split the Executive Committee of the Gray Commission. Attorney General Almond (not a Byrd Organization insider and privately already seeking the governorship) drafted
15755-547: The state Board until the 1961–62 school year, at which time placement responsibilities were reinvested in the local School Board." Fairfax County began their desegregation efforts shortly thereafter. As early as 1955, it was noted that in the Virginia General Assembly: Delegates from Northern Virginia openly opposed the Stanley Plans and called for even more radical legislation. Virginia's 10th district
15892-517: The state constitution be amended to permit education vouchers to be given to those parents who did not want their children attending integrated schools, or to those children who lived in counties where public schools had been abolished. Second, the Commission advised amending state education law to permit local school boards to assign students to schools on the basis of factors (such as aptitude, availability of facilities, health, and transportation needs) other than race. Stanley proposed enacting all
16029-410: The state in general, and the effectiveness of racial legislation. The committee was to issue a report and make recommendations (if any) to the Assembly by November 1, 1957. Due to the number of last-minute changes and the lateness of the hour during the final votes, the Assembly held a "cleaning up" day on Saturday, September 22, to make technical clarifications to the final bills. After this session,
16166-436: The state into school divisions. A school division is typically coextensive with a county or independent city , although it is also possible for a school division to comprise a city and a neighboring county (e.g., Williamsburg and James City County ) or a single town (e.g., West Point ). Although the term "school district" is popularly used, a school division in Virginia differs from a school district in most states in
16303-418: The state to invoke its police power to prevent integration (under the assumption that integration would lead to public unrest and disorder); 5) Enacting a pupil assignment plan to be implemented solely by the governor (under the assumption that no court would jail the governor); and 6) Enacting a pupil assignment plan to be implemented solely by the General Assembly (under the assumption that no court would jail
16440-697: The state's public schools on a segregated basis. Then, in a seemingly unrelated case, the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled on November 7, 1955, in Almond v. Day that providing state funds to private schools violated Article 141 of the state constitution . (In 1954, the Virginia General Assembly had enacted legislation providing educational vouchers to underage dependents of veterans who were wounded or had died in World War II). Kilpatrick and several Virginia political leaders had supported vouchers as
16577-404: The student's special education plan provided to students under federal anti discrimination laws ADA and IDEA act. The number of lawsuits and complaints filed FCPS leading to multiple investigations by The United States Department of Education, the resulting reports from the investigations detailing how many times and how much FCPS has failed students who had IEPs and 504 plans. From 1965 to 2006,
16714-546: The time, it was estimated that 125,000 pupil assignments were made each year in the state.) Another legislative package was introduced by State Senators Armistead Boothe and Ted Dalton . The Boothe-Dalton plan was less ambitious in scope. It proposed a plan in which: 1) Student school assignments would be made on factors other than race; 2) Parents unhappy with their child's school assignment would have access to an administrative appeals system; and 3) Teachers could transfer schools only as conditions warranted. The key element of
16851-555: The tuition grant proposal. There was intense pressure on Stanley to make good on his concession of August 14. In a closed-door meeting with Assembly delegates attending the 1956 Democratic National Convention , Stanley again insisted on the authority to withhold state funds from any school district which integrated. But Delegate Delamater Davis of Norfolk (the state's largest city) said his city would likely operate its schools without state funds if ordered to integrate. By mid-August, 18 local school districts had placed their budgets on
16988-495: The tuition voucher proposal would undermine public education. Many state legislators also seemed unsure about whether to support the Stanley plan. A press poll of the state House Appropriations Committee showed an 8-to-7 split against the plan, with two members undecided. Support for Stanley's plan came almost exclusively from the Southside and counties around it, the Tidewater counties , and portions of Southwest Virginia . Much of
17125-486: The unanimous ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that school segregation was unconstitutional. The legislative program was named for Governor Thomas B. Stanley , a Democrat, who proposed the program and successfully pushed for its enactment. The Stanley plan was a critical element in the policy of " massive resistance " to the Brown ruling advocated by U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd Sr. The plan also included measures designed to curb
17262-503: Was Thomas M. Moore, who was sworn in on September 26, 1870. At the time of its creation, the Fairfax County Public Schools system consisted of 41 schools, 28 white, and 13 colored schools. In 1886, Milton D. Hall was appointed superintendent, and he served for 44 years until his retirement in 1929. Fairfax County Schools, like most school systems in the south, schools practiced de jure segregation . There were local elementary schools for black students but no high schools. Although Fairfax
17399-612: Was a densely populated area, there were proportionately few black high school students. Fairfax, Prince William , Loudoun , Arlington and Fauquier Counties shared the high school for black students. The school was centrally located between the counties in Manassas. Others attended high schools in Washington, D.C., where many had relatives. Those schools were Armstrong High School, Cardozo High School, Dunbar High School, and Phelps Vocational Center in Washington, D.C. In 1951, Fairfax County, at
17536-457: Was a third major proposal. Their plan established a three-member "School Assignment Board" in each school district whose members would be appointed by the governor. The plan adopted the assignment factors listed by the Gray Commission, but also borrowed language from Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (which some legislators felt would help the statute pass court scrutiny). The Mann-Fenwick plan also permitted any parent to protest
17673-456: Was adamant that the Assembly enact his legislative program implementing "massive resistance." "If we accept admission of one Negro child into a white school, it's all over," he said on August 24. The Stanley plan was not the only segregationist legislative package introduced at the special session of the Assembly. On July 31, Charlottesville State Senator E.O. McCue offered his own proposal. The McCue plan would: 1) Place all public schools under
17810-417: Was close to compromising even further on his program. On September 6, Stanley's backers introduced a new bill in the Assembly which would give the governor the power to make pupil assignments. The new bill expanded on the limited criteria previously proposed by the governor by declaring that pupil assignment would be made in order to ensure "efficient" (e.g., segegrated) operation of the schools and to reduce
17947-496: Was enrolled at Cedar Lane Elementary School in Vienna. The changeover to the 6–2–4 plan was the last major initiative of Superintendent W. T. Woodson, who retired in 1961, having served 32 years, the second-longest tenure as head of the Fairfax County Public Schools system. In April 1961, Wilmington, North Carolina Superintendent Earl C. Funderburk was appointed superintendent to replace Woodson. In 1961, FCPS also began administering
18084-488: Was forced to integrate (although no one seemed able to find this provision in his newly introduced bills). Attorney General Almond voiced his opinion that the new plan would not stop integrationist lawsuits, and that making the governor an agent of the legislature was clearly unconstitutional. When Speaker Moore later in the day proposed a pupil assignment plan that did not permit local integration, Stanley abandoned his new plan and supported Moore's proposal. Stanley suffered
18221-413: Was going against the Byrd Organization, which believed that public opinion would become even more extreme during the summer and give the organization greater political capital and freedom of movement. There had also been changes agreed in the legislative approach which had occurred behind closed doors. The Gray Commission's public claim on May 28 that it had nothing new to report was not truthful. In fact,
18358-416: Was ill but ready to leave the hospital and cast a deciding vote against the Stanley plan if needed.) The final vote was not taken until 2:00 AM on September 22, and the Virginia Assembly adjourned at 2:30 AM. Among the bills passed in the final hours of the session were six "legal business" bills designed to curb the NAACP. They were significantly amended in committee to meet the constitutional concerns of
18495-462: Was recognized in court cases that it was the state who was running the show, not the county. The ruling in a 1964 decision stated, "Prior to the Brown decision Fairfax County maintained a dual school system: one for Negro students; one for all other races. Shortly thereafter the placement of all children in the Fairfax County schools was taken from the local School Board and vested in the state Pupil Placement Board. The assignment of students remained with
18632-476: Was the only congressional district to vote against the Gray Plan. Delegate Boatwright also introduced another bill aimed at correcting the unorthodox views of the northern Virginians. Boatwright's legislation would have prohibited certain federal employees from serving on school boards or holding other local offices. The point of this bill, called the "Boatwright Bill", was without a doubt aimed at Northern Virginia and
18769-591: Was willing "to go to any extreme that may be necessary to prevent integration anywhere in Virginia." The basic legislative proposals of the "Stanley plan," The Washington Post reported, were worked out at a secret meeting on July 2 in the United States House Committee on Rules hearing room in the United States Capitol . At the meeting were Abbitt, Byrd, Gray, Smith, Tuck, Stanley, and seven Southside state legislators. The group agreed to
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