Fairfax County Public Schools will be offering summer school to students who would like to attend. This entails five-days a week of in-person learning over the summer. This will be an opportunity for anyone who is interested, even students who plan to attend school virtually.

FCPS will be offering various programs including “Bridge to Kindergarten,” and “Bridge to First,” which are programs for younger students who may have had a difficult time learning virtually this school year. However, there are no further details regarding when summer school will begin or how to register.

Students will also have the opportunity to retake classes that they have failed during the school year.

“In-person summer school should be perfectly safe for teachers, as, barring any contra-indicated medical conditions, all responsible adults should be vaccinated by this summer. Currently, Virginia vaccine sign-ups are open to everyone 16 years of age and up, so hopefully, by summer school, all students in that age range would be vaccinated and maximally protected as well,” said math teacher Ducci Quan.

“The safety concerns would apply to those who are not eligible for the vaccine, and that is a significant, legitimate concern.”

A useful way to eliminate this concern is by wearing a mask properly when in public.

“Distance learning is hard. We – students and teachers – made the best of it this year, but for the vast majority of folks, in-person learning will allow for better learning and better teaching. So I do think that in-person summer school will be beneficial for virtually all students who have struggled during this school year,” Quan said.

“I think it would be most valuable to understand first why students are struggling and then to find the best solution from there. For some, it might be summer school. For others, having a summer break might be the most helpful thing,” Spanish teacher Lauren Husman said.

“I believe that above all, flexibility and kindness need to drive how we support one another, perhaps now more than ever.”

During each session students will have to attend class face-to-face at their base school. Session one will be during June 28-July 16 and session two will take place during July 21- August 6.

Additionally, students are able to take credit recovery courses if they receive a “NM” at the end of the school year.

“Teachers were trained to teach via distance learning this year, and we, as a group, became better at it over time. However, that training is dwarfed by the experience and training that we have had over our careers in how to teach in-person. The teaching will be better; the learning will be better; so yes, in-person summer school will be beneficial,” Quan said.

You can find more information regarding summer school at: https://www.fcps.edu/academics/summer-learning/summer-learning-credit-recovery-academy