Fairfax County emphasizes that student safety is the top priority. This year, the county has recently started using the FBI’s Rap Back program, which alerts the school system if an employee is arrested or faces new criminal charges. FCPS has already enrolled and hired thousands of employees and says this will help catch the problem faster.
Although this is a good first step towards protecting students, reacting after someone gets arrested is not the same thing as preventing misconduct in the first place.
In 2025 alone, two different Fairfax County employees were arrested and accused of sexually assaulting students. One being a 40 year old instructional assistant at Edison High School who was charged with two counts of aggravated sexual assault and indecent liberties by a custodian. The school system said he had worked for Fairfax County public schools since 2023. Another case is a music teacher at Fairview Elementary School who was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated sexual battery, he had been with FCPS since 2017 and was suspended and held without bond.
Both cases involved students, both cases happened here in our community, this year. From a student perspective, these repeated cases are becoming seemingly alarming and it keeps happening and we only hear about it after the damage is done.
FCPS is giving itself credit for being the first to become the 1st Virginia school district to start using the FBI background check program and they deserve some credit where it is due. The program does close a gap by letting the county know right away if an employee is charged with something serious, instead of finding out months later or through self reporting. However, Rap Back is still reactive as it flags people after an arrest or crime has already happened. It doesn’t teach employees how to not become that person in the first place or how to notice early warning signs and step in.
What we don’t have is prevention. As such, FCPS should take the initiative to add mandatory misconduct prevention training check-ins every two years for every employee; not only when they are first hired but are conducted continuously throughout their teaching years. This would include instructional assistants, coaches, contractors, and any high access volunteers who are in the building for months. Additionally, the training needs to cover grooming warning signs, physical, and digital boundaries with students, how to report concerns, and what to do if you see something happening in your building.
Such measures need to be taken and are important for two reasons. First, mandatory training check- ins set clear expectations and outlines for the appropriate manners in which employees should follow and what they should not. Furthermore, it gives other teachers, staff, or assistants in the building the tools to intervene and step in early, before a situation becomes a criminal charge and endangers a student’s safety.
