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G. M.'s Enrollment Frustrations: Where Did All the People Go? by Margaret Cesnik February 11, 1977

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     Falls Church became an independent city because of interest in it's own schools.  I frankly think it would get to be very, very small before it would consider not having its own school system.  I don't believe it would even consider that unless there were a referendum of the people to determine that they wanted a different arrangement to educate their children." stated Dr. Warren J. Pace, Superintendent of the Falls Church school system.

     In reference to the question of whether Falls Church would ever have to merge with another school system because of declining enrollment, Dr. Pace said,  "I don't think there is an answer that there is a certain size at which this [merging] would occur, because there is a history of commitment of the part of the people in Falls Church since 1948 to support their own school system."

     George Mason is facing a steady decline in enrollment.  Since 1970 G.M. has lost 178 students.

     One of the results of this decline has been a reduction in the number of teachers.  According to Dr. Pace there is one less social studies teacher since last year.  In addition, one math teacher and one language teacher now work part time.  Dr. Pace sees this trend continuing.

     "What does this do in terms of teachers being able to plan and feel job security?  It creates problems of morale and anxiety and uncertainty on the part of the teaching staff."

     Dr. George Thoms, the principal at George Mason, outlined the different causes of the decrease.

     "There are many factors contributing to this drop.  One is the fact that there are no new homes being built, and the ones that are being built are too expensive for families with children.

     "Falls Church is a nice place to live and once peoples' children graduate and move away the parents usually continue to live here.

     "When we lost our major apartment complex, Tyler Gardens, we lost a large number of kids that have not been replaced."

     Between the 1973-74 school year and the 1974-75 school year, George Mason lost 80 students due to Tyler Gardens' closing. (All enrollment figures are taken from the Task Force study done in 1976)

     "We expect a large drop after the remaining Tyler Gardens buildings are torn down,"  Dr. Thoms continued.  "We are shooting for 730 students when we open next year."

     Dr. Pace explained further about the effects of the decline.

     "Potentially, if a secondary school becomes too small you have to look at the number of classes which can be offered and eventually you may have to cut programs;  you may have to look at whether or not you have enough students to continue all the athletic programs that you have.

     "So the picture in some ways is a gloomy one, but at the same time I'm not completely convinced that it's going to decline as much as some of the projections indicate.  I think there may be some factors that could enter in to change that.

     "But in the meantime, philosophically, we have to have the highest quality system that we can have and continue to have Falls Church to stand for those things that has made it one of the outstanding, if not the most outstanding, school systems in our state and in the area.