oCrossing guards will return to Oakton High School and nine other Fairfax County high schools after the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday, Sept. 15, to restore $707,908 in funding.

The money, cut during the FY 2027 budget adopted in May, pays for 11 full-time police positions to staff crossings at 10 schools. Oakton is also slated for a new marked crosswalk as part of broader safety improvements, FFXnow reported.

Board Chairman Jeff McKay introduced a separate measure to create a joint county-school task force on pedestrian and traffic safety around schools. McKay said the task force should produce recommendations in time for the next budget cycle.

"There are a lot of people working on public safety issues in Fairfax County," McKay said. "But unfortunately, there is not as much conversation as I think many of us would like to see, and certainly not as much collaboration as many of us would like to see."

McKay nominated Vice Chair Kathy Smith (D-Sully) and Dranesville District Supervisor Jimmy Bierman to represent the board. He asked the School Board chair to pick two members. The task force would also include the Virginia Department of Transportation and members of the county's General Assembly delegation.

Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik asked that Fairfax City officials join the effort because students cross jurisdictional boundaries.

The FY 2027 budget had eliminated 13 crossing guard positions at high schools to save roughly $1.89 million. County staff determined 11 positions could cover the same 11 crossings because surveys found no locations requiring traffic direction, only safe pedestrian passage.

Guards were temporarily reinstated after a 16-year-old South Lakes High School student was struck by a car on Aug. 31 in Reston. The student suffered minor injuries. Police charged the driver with failure to stop before entering a highway.

Concerns deepened after a 13-year-old Frost Middle School student riding a bicycle was killed Wednesday, Sept. 9, when a truck struck the child in the 3900 block of Pickett Road in Fairfax City, according to Patch.

Bierman, who will serve on the new task force, told attendees the crossing guards were coming back. He said the county needs data-driven criteria for placing guards and infrastructure rather than treating every school the same.

Hunter Mill District School Board Representative Melanie Meren, who organized a Rally for Safe Roads outside the Government Center before the vote, was more skeptical. Meren said the county already has loads of data and that unless the task force brings in people who understand Vision Zero principles, nothing will change.

Deputy County Executive Tom Arnold, whose memo recommended the funding, wrote that the crossing guard program shows how budget cuts can create unintended service impacts requiring future reinvestment. Police will maintain temporary coverage while the county works to rehire former guards or recruit new ones, according to the memo.

The 10 schools receiving restored guards are Annandale, Centreville, Chantilly, Edison, McLean, Oakton, South County, South Lakes, West Springfield and West Potomac. South Lakes will have two covered crossings.

Other planned safety upgrades include rectangular rapid flashing beacons at all high school crossings, a HAWK pedestrian beacon or traffic signal at West Springfield High School, and additional crosswalks at McLean and South Lakes.

The board has not announced a date for the task force's first meeting.