On Wednesday night, April 22, Fairfax County Public School’s Assistant Superintendent Maribeth Luftglass stepped down from her position following failures to operate Blackboard 24/7 Collaborate Ultra, the county’s sole virtual communication platforms. Luftglass’s resignation comes after FCPS was forced to cancel another week of learning due to technical difficulties with the service.

When Virginia schools were forced to shut down due to the rapid spread of COVID-19, FCPS had decided to cancel classes until April 14 so the county could prepare and properly transition into a virtual-based school system. After one day of classes, the lack of security measures and connection inabilities caused the county to cancel classes for the remainder of the week. The same thing happened in the week of April 20th. However, classes are set to resume on Thursday, April 23.

The assistant superintendent was in charge of the Department of Information Technology, who many blamed for the lack of leadership in establishing a well-formatted distance learning system.

Numerous, high-ranking petitions have been created demanding Superintendent Scott Brabrand and his senior staff to be held accountable for their failure to provide an education to the county’s 189,000 students. After 21 years in this position, Luftglass is reportedly the first senior leader to resign.

Chief Managing Officer Mary Smith is set to conduct day-to-day technological operations as the school system hunts for an interim assistant superintendent.