<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=30M4j7_1H6C2Pzs00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=30M4j7_1H6C2Pzs00" width="2001" height="1334" ></figure>Two grievances were brought up in the school board meeting at Luther Jackson Middle School on Nov. 12 in protest of the Instructional and Professional Responsibilities (IPR) given to teachers for weapons detection. Fairfax County Federation of Teachers (FCFT) publicly demonstrated their support for the teachers appeal during the school board work session.“I refused to do the [weapons detection] duty. I refused it twice and then I was called into a meeting, I refused it again, and I was given a letter of reprimand,” said Bill McCabe, an English teacher at Lake Braddock High School, whose situation was listed as one of the grievances. “[Admininstration] called me unprofessional and insubordinate, and [my punishment] was filled with human resources. That is what I’m grieving about.”Lake Braddock was part of the weapon’s detection pilot system. In 2024, McCabe and other teachers argued against teachers being in charge of these systems—especially since Lake Braddock has eight designated security personnel. McCabe, alongside the FCFT, is currently resisting the punishment given to him.“My administrator could not answer the question at the hearing that asked, “What are you doing to keep teachers safe?,” said Sonja Curry-Johnson, an English teacher at Lake Braddock High School and steward for the FCFT, whose situation was also another grievance brought up that night. “After we had our meeting, one of my fellow stewards came to me and said, ‘I’m really sorry that this has happened to you’ I’m not. I’m not sorry that this happened.”When OpenGate’s metal detectors became county-wide in the 2025-26 school year, FCPS was facing an unprecedented $28.9 million shortfall in county transfers. Middle and high school teachers are now assigned by the school’s administration to complete tasks including running OpenGate during mornings, patrolling lunches and filling the roles of absent security guard positions—after FCPS cut 270 staffing positions last school year.“These weapons systems are about perception,” FCPS parent Vanessa Hall said. “When they were first considered, I wasn’t with the standard [of having detection systems], and I publicly questioned whether they were necessary, because studies show that they don’t solve the issue of school violence.”Teacher contract hours have since been shifted, from originally being contracted to work from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., to now working from 7:40 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. for staff to be available at security stations.“— English Teacher Georgia KokkinisAt McLean High School, teachers have voiced their concerns about afterschool activities since teachers are no longer paid to stay afterschool.“As a teacher, I try to guard my time pretty closely,” English teacher Georgia Kokkinis said. “So now every time a club meets after school or I’m doing a remediation that takes longer than thirty minutes, I’m not getting paid for it.”In 2020, the school board included agreements in their teacher contracts that added Instructional and Professional (IPR) duties and offered compensation for a larger workload for teachers. These contradicts did not lay out specific duties that can be imposed upon teachers. “These duties assigned have just gotten way out of hand, and the money is just unfortunately not enough to justify putting teachers on the front line of weapons detection duty,” Kokkinis said. “What kind of [disappointing] foresight [our contract] was in 2020; so nobody foresaw that other duties as assigned were going to go this far.” Some teachers believe that weapons detection systems aren’t the issue, but instead the administration’s management of these tools have limited their ability to teach. “I taught at Harrisonburg, [outside of FCPS], and that school had a very closed campus,” Kokkinis said. “They had security personnel at the doors and it felt very [secure] and the metal detectors felt very purposeful. At [McLean], they do not feel purposeful. I know that if somebody wanted to come in and hurt people, they absolutely could.”Concerns have been brought up with the salary of central office employees — where 71 of them earn over $200,000 each year. “I wish that the [school board] would cut the administrative salaries and put that money into safety,” Kokkinis said. “Our school building is gross. We don’t have enough security personnel. Why are we lining the pockets of these higher up personnel, and not protecting the safety of our students?” Other decisions made by the school board have been scrutinized by teachers as the community believes that the school board is too disconnected from classrooms.“There is only one person on the school board who was a classroom teacher and they were not a classroom teacher in FCPS,” said Molly Sullivan, Union Mill Elementary School third grade teacher. “If you are not supporting the workforce, then you should not be representing them, because school board members don’t only represent the people and the kids in their schools, but they also represent everybody who lives in them.”As teachers continue to protest against weapons detectors, they’ve made their stance clear that the security system set up by FCPS is not sufficient enough.“There’s nothing instructional nor professional about standing next to a weapon detector at the front of the school while people we don’t know come through the door, which puts us at great risk,” McCabe said. “Any of us here, teachers, would take a bullet for our students, but the issue is we shouldn’t be asked to. We deserve a safe workplace as well.”</div></body>

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Two grievances were brought up in the school board meeting at Luther Jackson Middle School on Nov. 12 in protest of the Instructional and Professional Responsibilities (IPR) given to teachers for weapons detection. Fairfax County Federation of Teachers (FCFT) publicly demonstrated their support for the teachers appeal during the school board work session.

Teachers protest against weapons detection duty

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Two grievances were brought up in the school board meeting at Luther Jackson Middle School on Nov. 12 in protest of the Instructional and Professional Resp

Teachers protest against weapons detection duty

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