McLean High School, Langley High School and Cooper Middle School families have a new way to manage what their kids do on school-issued laptops at home, part of a district-wide rollout of Lightspeed Parent Portal home controls just days before classes resume Monday, Aug. 24.

The district activated the portal's home-control features for the 2026-27 school year, according to the FCPS weekly newsletter. The tool gives parents two options: "Schedules," which automatically pauses or restricts internet access during set times like homework, dinner or bedtime, and "Web Rules," which lets parents block specific websites on the FCPS device at home.

The controls apply only when the device is off the school network. District filtering still governs the laptop during the instructional day.

The portal arrives after the School Board's July 16 vote restricting personal electronic devices during class time. That policy bars students from using smartphones, smartwatches, tablets and personal laptops during school hours, with narrow exceptions for IEPs, 504 plans or course-specific needs. Dranesville District School Board Chair Robyn Lady, speaking at the board's July 16 meeting about the difficulty of controlling student access on school devices, put it bluntly: "There's no firewalls. There's no way to control it," she said, as reported by FFXnow.

The Lightspeed portal is the district's answer to that gap on the home side. Parents can pause browsing for one hour, three hours or overnight, according to Lightspeed Systems, the vendor behind the tool.

How to set it up: Parents should click the "Log in or Register" button at the bottom of their weekly Lightspeed Online Student Activity Report email. Those weekly emails summarize a child's internet activity on the FCPS device. Parents who need help can visit the FCPS Lightspeed Parent Portal Guide at fcps.edu or submit a ticket at go.fcps.edu/ParentTechnologySupportRequest.

FCPS encourages families to talk with their children about internet boundaries so students understand the reasoning behind any limits.

October SEL screener coming for grades 3-12

Separately, FCPS will administer its fall Social-Emotional Learning screener to all students in grades 3 through 12 in October. The screener, given twice a year, asks students how well their school community helps them develop skills they need to succeed and how valued and supported they feel. A specific October date has not been announced.

Results will be posted in the Documents tab of SIS ParentVUE after the screener is completed. Families without a ParentVUE account will receive results by mail.

Parents who want to review the screener questions or opt out can find details on the FCPS Social-Emotional Learning Screener webpage at fcps.edu.