Fairfax County again scheduled to sacrifice academics for wokeness
Stephanie Lundquist-Arora is a contributor for IW Features, The Federalist and the Washington Examiner, a mother in Fairfax County, Virginia, an author and the Fairfax chapter leader of the Independent Women’s Network. Her articles have also appeared in National Review, Fox News Digital, The Daily Signal and Townhall. Originally appeared on The Washington Times.
The love of everything trans couldn’t be more visible among Fairfax County’s Democratic leadership. The district’s school board members are set to pass another transgender proclamation at their meeting this week.
In 2024, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted to observe Trans Visibility Day when it coincided with Easter — likely to insult Christians on their holiest of days. The alphabet people demand it every day, even Easter, apparently.
The transgender cult is arguably the most narcissistic group and certainly doesn’t need more proclamations for “visibility.” Entire months are dedicated to its pride and history. There’s a week for transgender awareness and health and days dedicated to transgender remembrance and pronouns.
Adding insult to injury, men pretending to be women have taken women’s sports, beauty pageants and awards ceremonies by storm. It’s not enough to be free to make personal choices; they demand that the public honor and applaud them for it, even when it comes at the expense of others.
Indeed, on pretty much all these “holidays,” Fairfax County’s leaders spend hours delivering soapbox speeches at public meetings about their commitment to this small, very visible group of people. The hour or two preceding community participation at the board’s upcoming meeting will be just another rerun.
In 2024, 1.9% of Fairfax students who took the Fairfax County Youth Survey identified as transgender. That was a decrease from the 2.3% the year prior, when it was trendier to be transgender. In neighboring Loudoun County’s school district this year, about 51 students (0.1%) identified as “nonbinary” (which, by the way, sounds like a body piercing from the 1990s).
While a small number of students are experimenting with claiming a transgender identity, a large number of students in both districts, particularly those from low-income families, are having an actual problem: They are failing their Standards of Learning tests.
According to data from the Virginia Department of Education, 41% of students enrolled in Fairfax County Public Schools — about 74,200 students — are labeled economically disadvantaged in the 2024-2025 academic year. Of those, 42% failed their English reading Standards of Learning tests, 95% failed English writing, 41% failed math, 46% failed science and 70% failed history.
In other words, the county’s equity warriors are focusing large amounts of resources — especially considering their expensive legal fight with the Department of Education to allow boys in girls’ bathrooms — for a few transgender-identifying students, most of whom are likely affluent.
The county’s leadership is making a clear choice, and it’s not for academics. While thousands of students, particularly those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, struggle to meet basic standards in reading, writing, math and science, the school board continues to devote time and attention to symbolic proclamations that have no measurable impact on student success.
Public schools exist to educate, not serve as platforms for political signaling. When nearly half of vulnerable students are failing core subjects, every hour spent on ceremonial resolutions is an hour not spent confronting the district’s real and growing academic challenges.
Parents are right to ask why leadership appears more focused on statements than solutions.
Until Fairfax County’s leaders refocus on improving classroom outcomes — raising test scores and supporting struggling students — their proclamations will ring hollow. Students don’t need more symbolism; they need results.
