By Stephen Twentyman (October 7, 2003)

"For a long time, people thought [the population boom] would stop," Falls Church Superintendent of Schools Mary Ellen Shaw said in a recent interview with the journalism at George Mason.. "Well, it hasn’t. It’s just gotten bigger and bigger and bigger." 
 

Shaw spoke to the class about the upcoming bond referendum and its potential consequences. If the referendum passes on November 4, the City will be authorized to borrow $25 million to construct a new middle school that would house grades five, six and seven, on the site of the current tennis, volleyball, and basketball courts and bus parking lot. The loan, to be paid at $2 million per year over 20 years, would go towards much-needed relief of overcrowding and inadequate facilities. The annual debt repayment represents the equivalent of approximately 13 cents per $100 property value annually, meaning a homeowner of a house valued at $500,000 would pay $650 a year in additional taxes. All three Falls Church City school buildings housing four schools are beyond capacity. Twenty-one trailers have been erected at the schools to provide extra classroom space at the expense of parking, field space, and aesthetics, and the schools’ libraries and cafeterias are struggling to keep up with the growth. In the elementary schools, art, music, and physical education classes are being cut back because they take up valuable space. Special education in Mount Daniel has been moved into spare conference rooms to provide space to a bulging kindergarten

Supt. of Schools Mary Ellen Shaw points  to the architect’s drawings of the  proposed new middle school that would  be built if the Nov. 4 bond referendum passes. (Photo by Rebecca Roa)

"[If the referendum passes]," Shaw elaborated, "We should be able to take care of the expected population growth until 2010."

Approximately $30 million will be needed to fix the school situation, $25 million of that being the proposed loan to construct the new 600-student middle school, a panacea, as Shaw argued, for the entire school system. The new school would house the fifth, sixth, and seventh grades and remove considerable segments of the Thomas Jefferson and George Mason student populations. A Mount Daniel expansion would be conducted separately with funds from the City’s own coffers.
 

"A lot of the eighth grade students take up to three high school credit courses: a foreign language, algebra or geometry, and social studies. They can play on the high school athletic teams, so it is a reasonable fit to have the eighth grade stay [in the current George Mason building]." A large gymnasium is planned for the new school, proposed to seat 1,000. Currently, there is fierce competition for limited gym space between the high school, middle school, and Recreation and Parks. The new gymnasium would ease those issues as well as provide space and seating for large productions and district athletic tournaments, providing a new source of revenue. Shaw also pointed out that the new school would provide or free up 140 new parking spaces once some of the trailers are removed. The current bus parking lot would become general parking, with the buses moving to a new lot farther up, on the current transfer site. In addition, traffic would flow much more easily, especially in the mornings when the Haycock Road entrance backs up with a glut of parents dropping off their students.

“People thought that the school  population would stop growing and  growing, but it hasn’t,” Shaw told the  journalism class. (Photo by Rebecca Roa)

"A lot of the drop-off traffic is middle school students whose parents are bringing them to school. [The new school] will establish a second place to drop off kids, and that should help the traffic. Now, middle and high school students are all dropped off at that one spot."

The timeline is for the new school to open for the 2005-06 school year. If the referendum passes, work would begin immediately on a new bus lot and tennis courts on the far side of the softball diamond. The current courts would then be bulldozed and electrical and utility lines would be installed in the spring. Soon thereafter, the foundation would be laid and the new George Mason Middle School built, ready to open its doors in September 2005. 

The new school itself will consist of three stories and a cellar, assuming the referendum passes. The ground floor will house administrative offices, gymnasium seating, special education, a band room, and a "cafetorium," a cross between a cafeteria and auditorium. This room will feature a stage on one end for assemblies and student productions. The other end of the room will have a removable partition revealing the band room when taken out. The gym floor and locker rooms will be in the cellar, submerged a half-story below ground level, and the second and third floors are designed to accommodate classrooms, computer labs, and a new library. The staff would simply move from their current schools, leaving custodians and computer technicians as the only anticipated new hires.

If the referendum fails, the School Board would be forced to make extremely difficult adjustments. Shaw elaborates: "What we may have to do is split days and have different schedules, so one group starts early in the morning and another starts later. We can build new trailers, but where would we put them? We could increase class sizes, and that’s something that nobody wants to do. But what are we going to do if we get another 50 kids each year and have nowhere to put them? We’re hoping that won’t happen, because whatever we turn to, it’s not going to be good."

There is a chance that pipe-laying may interfere with spring athletic practices, Shaw said, noting that alternate sites for practices have been found and that alternatives would also be provided for transportation off the GM property.

The projected, possible peak of the City’s school-age population is 2,500 students, compared to the approximately 1,900 currently enrolled. No new school has been built in Falls Church in nearly 50 years, although a bond referendum was passed about 10 years ago to allow the GMHS renovation.