Here’s what you need to know: Students have often criticized class grading policy, but it seems some administrators are listening. In 2022, the local High School Principals Association, led by Principal Jeffrey Litz, oversaw the most recent changes to Fairfax County’s grade policy to focus more on content mastery thanContinue Reading
Theory of Knowledge is the second semester of junior year and first semester of senior year. Here’s a pre- and post-TOK review from junior Krish Bhalla and senior Kian Nolan. Describe your TOK experience. Krish: It’s so rule-oriented: you need to follow the rules exactly to get a goodContinue Reading
Four juniors discuss their IB “Creativity, Activity and Service” projects, which span from junior to senior year Poetry in Partnership Manahil Jawaid’s CAS project allows her to dive deeper into her passion for writing. Jawaid merged her love for writing and poetry to create a writing workshop that will runContinue Reading
From gender neutral bathrooms to respecting pronouns and everything in between, the GSA is fighting for equal rights. The Gender Sexuality Alliance held two meetings over the last two months with Principal Litz to resolve certain issues, including changing the locks of gender-neutral bathrooms for students. There are two suchContinue Reading
Students share favorite and least favorite classes Freshman Rylie Morris – Best: Ceramics because I’m with my friends, and I get to make cool things. Worst: Spanish because it’s really hard. _________________________________________________________________________________ Sophomore Arjun Bhide Best: Criminal Justice because I learn about police work and crime scene investigation. Worst: GovernmentContinue Reading
In April 2022, the Virginia Senate adopted Senate Bill 656, which addresses sexual content in school instructional materials. At the crux of the legislation, parent involvement in what materials their child sees is increased. The bill states schools must construct policies to identify sexually explicit content in instructional materials, notifyContinue Reading
In Nov. 2022, after two rejected drafts, VDOE was asked by the Virginia Board of Education to create a third draft of the K-12 Social Studies Standards. Released in Jan. 2023, these standards aimed to include elements of the prior two drafted standards. The head of the History Department andContinue Reading
Sophomore Ella Greher is using her craft prowess to support Iran in the wake of violence and protests. American media focused mainly on the issue after Iran’s morality police killed women’s rights activist Mahsa Amini in September, but conflict in the nation has continued to rise since. Greher said itContinue Reading
To some, software like ChatGPT is a new way to get work done; for others, it represents a growing fear that teaching is becoming obsolete. ChatGPT is a software that generates writing from prompts submitted by users to assist with tasks like writing emails, recipes and essays. English teacher MatthewContinue Reading
In the past month, over 2700 student and teacher absences have been reported, according to administrative assistant Maribel Sanchez. “It takes more time for students to learn,” Sanchez said. “Students get behind, and it’s so hard to keep up with homework.” Sophomore Katherine Shatokhin agreed. “There was a lot ofContinue Reading