Some Fairfax County students still lack assigned full-time teachers six weeks into the school year, and a school board member wants the superintendent to fix it.

Melanie Meren, the Hunter Mill District representative on the Fairfax County School Board, plans to introduce a motion at the Tuesday, Oct. 6 board meeting. The motion would direct Superintendent Michelle Reid to end restrictions that limit teacher hiring to current FCPS employees. Meren said the policy has left qualified outside candidates waiting while classrooms go without permanent staff, as first reported by 7News (WJLA).

The Hunter Mill District includes Vienna and the Oakton area.

Reid imposed the internal-only hiring approach months ago to manage limited funding and retain existing employees as enrollment shifted among schools, according to Meren's account in a Wednesday, Sept. 30 interview with 7News anchor Megan Clarke. Meren said the strategy made sense at first but has continued too long.

She cited one class staffed by a qualified substitute teacher who is paid hourly and cannot be hired full-time under the current rules. She also raised concerns about instructional continuity when substitutes rotate through classrooms, saying she had heard of students needing to retake courses after prolonged staffing gaps, including cases from before this school year.

Meren did not provide a count of affected students, vacant positions or interested applicants. She said the superintendent had not been transparent about the scope of the problem.

"Get the teachers in classrooms," Meren told 7News.

She also criticized an $800,000 computer purchase approved by a board majority the previous week. She opposed it, saying the division should prioritize staffing.

The push comes as FCPS faces a tight budget outlook. Chief Financial Officer Leigh Burden told the school board's budget committee on Sept. 8 that the district averaged roughly $135 million in reduced or avoided costs over FY 2026 and FY 2027. Burden warned that cuts needed for FY 2028 could approach the $153.9 million slashed in FY 2026, FFXnow reported.

Reid said at that same Sept. 8 meeting that the current 51.1% county transfer rate puts the district's ability to meet its collective bargaining agreement "in a bit of jeopardy."

No public response from Reid or FCPS addressing Meren's challenge appeared in available records as of publication.

Meren plans to bring the motion to a vote at the Oct. 6 meeting.