Loudoun teachers and parents shared a stage with former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin last night at the Save Our Schools rally at Lansdowne Resort. The rally drew 1,000 people, including School Board member John Beatty (Catoctin), and was presented by Fight for Schools and 1776 Action.

As students return to school amid an ongoing surge of COVID-19 cases, testing has been touted as a key tool to reduce potential spread. Both the Virginia Department of Health and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "strongly recommend" testing in schools, describing it as an "important mitigation strategy."

SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - Students in Suffolk who want to play sports or participate in extracurricular activities this year have a choice to make: get vaccinated or get tested regularly for COVID-19.

More than 5,000 public school students and staff in the Fredericksburg area have been quarantined due to exposure to COVID-19 since the 2021-22 school year began last month. According to the COVID-19 dashboards maintained by the five public school divisions in Planning District 16-Fredericksburg and Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania and Stafford counties-the total number of students and staff who have been quarantined is 5,456.

Parents had serious questions about security at George Washington High School at a Wednesday night meeting. School officials have re-designed the school system's security, Superintendent Angela Hairston told about 20-25 parents during the meeting in GW's auditorium. But one parent, Dave Gluhareff, wanted to know how many security officers are at each school and how many there were previously.

The dysfunction that has been a recurring hallmark of the Mecklenburg County School Board spilled out once again Aug. 30 in a vote taken during a special called meeting to censure School Board chairman Gavin Honeycutt.

Since school started in August, hundreds of Chesterfield County students have tested positive for COVID-19. For those students, and for those who've been in close contact, the beginning of the semester changed from exploring new school hallways to being stuck at home in quarantine.

President Joe Biden this week released a plan that could pave the way for an emergency rule requiring K-12 educators to get COVID-19 vaccines in states like Virginia which have not made them mandatory. So far, Gov. Ralph Northam has left the decision to individual school districts, some of which have recently resisted public health guidelines such as requiring masks in schools.

At Beville Middle School in Dale City on Thursday, "inclusivity" was the word of the day. That was the crux of remarks given by Gov. Ralph Northam and Virginia Secretary of Education Atif Qarni following the release of a report by their Task Force on Culturally Inclusive School Meals and Calendars: be more inclusive in the cafeteria and on the calendar.

A Virginia Department of Education teacher training video is stirring up some controversy. Parents are upset that it instructs teachers to avoid calling the 9/11 killers, "terrorists," and to avoid promoting 'American Exceptionalism' during lessons about the attacks.

Two Virginia school systems now require their winter and spring athletes get vaccinated against COVID-19. Arlington County Public Schools Superintendent Francisco Durán said at the school board meeting Thursday night that athletes for both their winter and spring seasons will need to be fully vaccinated by Nov.

On Wednesday, the Prince William County School Board will discuss whether its unvaccinated employees should be required to get tested weekly for the coronavirus. PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. - Another northern Virginia school district is considering requiring its employees to get tested for the coronavirus weekly if they have not been vaccinated.

Loudoun County School Board member Beth Barts has been ordered to appear in Loudoun County Circuit Court on Monday at 9 a.m., according an order signed by Chief Judge Douglas L. Fleming on Sept. 3.

CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. (WDBJ) - Officials at Christiansburg High School said there were no credible threats Thursday, after online rumors. Montgomery County Public Schools said two fights happened at the school Thursday. MCPS said that number of altercations is unusual, but school officials said they responded appropriately to maintain a safe environment.

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) - Many families are wondering if their students are behind in school at this point in the pandemic. This fall, families of third to eighth graders will find out. A law passed by the Virginia General Assembly in 2021 is putting more testing in place for some of Virginia's public school students.