Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent walks out for taped interview with FOX 5
Fairfax County Schools Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid abruptly ended a taped interview with FOX 5 on Monday.
Reid declined to address questions on ICE policy, a 2021 abortion investigation, and taxpayer-funded security.
FOX 5 informed Reid of the topics in advance during a pre-interview discussion at John R. Lewis High School.
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. - Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid cut her interview with FOX 5 short Monday, appearing unwilling to discuss certain topics as students headed back to class.
Interview cut short
What we know
Topics FOX 5 sought to discuss included: FCPS policy on ICE agents appearing at schools, the Virginia State Police investigation into an alleged 2021 abortion matter at Centerville High School and parent frustrations that taxpayer dollars would be paying for private security for the Superintendent.
This was not a secret to Dr. Michelle Reid.
Dr. Reid spoke with FOX 5 Reporter Stephanie Ramirez prior to their interview, who informed the Superintendent about what our station was wanting to discuss.
Ramirez had been covering Fairfax County Public Schools' first day back to school since 5:15 a.m. Monday, interviewing different guests throughout the morning shows. The station had an interview with Dr. Reid booked at a county high school for 9 a.m.
The Superintendent and her team arrived about an hour early at our team's location at John R. Lewis High School in Springfield, Virginia.
READ MORE: Fairfax County to add metal detectors at middle and high schools
Topics flagged early
It was there, about 30-40 minutes ahead of the slated interview, that a discussion was had with the Superintendent and a member of the FCPS communications team. They were informed of the topics wanted to be discussed live — and the topics wanting to be discussed in a taped interview to air at a later time.
Since the Superintendent had arrived so early, an offer was made to do the taped portion before the 9 a.m. live hit.
Dr. Reid responded that she thought it would be better to conduct the taped portion after her 9 a.m. live hit.
Ramirez and Dr. Reid did discuss new updates for the school year, including the expanded cell phone policy and newly installed metal and weapons detectors at school entrances.
Title IX dispute
She also addressed the Department of Education's Title IX dispute with FCPS and other northern Virginia school districts.
"I want to be clear that we believe we're following Virginia and federal law in this case," said Dr. Reid during the live interview, "And I also want to be really clear for our students, our staff and our families that we're going to provide a safe and supportive and inclusive school environment for each and every one of our students, including our transgender and gender expansive students."
Asked about the FCPS response to the Department of Education and whether FCPS could lose funding, she replied, "So we did respond to the Department of Education last week, on Friday. And I also sent a note out to our community and our families in the community on Friday. So, we expect to have continuing conversations with the Department of Education, but we also believe that the federal funds, which have been approved by Congress, will continue to flow."
When that time arrived for the taped interview, Dr. Reid abruptly announced she had to leave. She would not take any more questions and continued to claim she had a meeting to get to.
The FCPS Spokesperson with Dr. Reid said there was a "communication error" and offered to work with FOX 5 on possibly booking an interview with the Superintendent at a later time.
Monday, August 18, marks the first day of school for Prince William County, Alexandria City, Falls Church, and Fairfax County Public Schools—Virginia's largest school system, with over 181,000 students. In addition to the updates Dr. Reid discussed, FCPS is rolling out new bus technology that provides GPS routes to drivers, tracks bus locations in real time, and monitors which students board each bus, among other changes.
The Source
Information in this article comes from Fairfax County Public Schools.
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