Fairfax County School Board wants guns banned from all school property

Fairfax Co. School Board's proposal to ban guns on all school properties

The Fairfax County School Board wants to expand its band on guns throughout the district. Currently, guns aren't allowed on school grounds -- but it's not the case for buildings not being used for education.

FALLS CHURCH, Va. - The Fairfax County School Board wants to ban guns on all properties they either own or lease amid growing safety concerns.

Currently, guns are banned from school grounds, but that's not the case for some Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) buildings not being used for educational purposes like administration buildings.

Laura Jane Cohen, who represents the Springfield district, is one of the school board members behind the proposal. Cohen told FOX 5 she hopes this happens sooner than later.

"I think it’s just extra important to make sure that we know that our staff and our elected officials when we go into a school board meeting, a work session, that we know firearms have been prohibited in the building," she said.

Cohen says when she decided to run for office years ago, she knew it wasn’t going to be an easy job but didn’t expect some of the things that have happened over the last two years in her time on the school board.

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"I didn’t imagine that it would involve having a relationship with the West Springfield Police Department," Cohen said. "I didn’t imagine we were going to wind up needing security cameras on our home. My kids, certainly I have reached out to their principal, and we’ve had conversations to just make sure they’re aware when certain threats come in."

Cohen tells FOX 5 like many school board members across the country during the pandemic, she’s even received death threats, and they come in through social media, email, letters, and phone calls.

"Some of them are just more general like, I hope you die," Cohen said. "Some of them are much more specific, and those specific ones are the ones that we elevate to the police department. Certainly, any of them that are threatening in any way we always send to our safety and security office."

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Tuesday, the Fairfax County School Board unanimously agreed to have the superintendent and staff develop a draft policy for the governance committee to consider by March 1st.

The second part of the proposal directs the superintendent and staff to review curriculum, safety protocols, and professional development related to gun violence and suicide prevention, which officials say continues the school board’s work to prevent gun violence.

Cohen says the proposal now goes to the school board’s legal team who intends to present a policy to the governance committee.

The governance committee will work on the language before presenting it to the school board in March.