Schools

Rose Hill Elementary Teacher at Center of Dismissal Case

A panel found that Violet Nichols should be allowed to teach at another school.

A 6th-grade teacher who has worked at Rose Hill Elementary for 21 years is at the center of a dismissal controversy in the Fairfax County Public Schools, the Washington Post reports. 

Violet Nichols was suspended from FCPS at the end of the school year in 2010 on grounds of incompetence, but she has been fighting the school system's attempt to dismiss her since then. Following hearings about Nichols' teaching, a fact-finding panel decided that Nichols should be allowed to teach at another FCPS school.

The final decision will be made by Fairfax County's school board.

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Rose Hill Elementary officials who testified at a hearing about Nichols said that she failed to use new teaching methods, instead using older tools like worksheets. 

Nichols and others argued that she did use new technologies and methods, including having laptops in her classroom. A parent of one of Nichols' students stuck up for the teacher, saying her daughter came home excited about learning.  

Find out what's happening in Kingstowne-Rose Hillwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Dismissing Nichols has cost FCPS more than $70,000, according to the Post. 


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