January 12 – 18, 2017
FA LLS CHUR C H, V I R G I NI A • WW W. FC NP. C OM • FR EE
FOU N D ED 1991 • VOL. XXVI NO. 47
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I����� T��� W��� F.C. S������ E��� F���S����� IB C������������ The Falls Church City Public School System became the first in Virginia to be certified as an all-grade, K-12, International Baccalaureate system last week. SEE NEWS BRIEFS, PAGE 9
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George Mason High School’s varsity girls basketball team opened the new year with two resounding wins over Conference 35 opponents, taking down Rappahannock County High School, 88-25, and William Monroe High School, 50-38.
5 F.C. School Principals Spell Out Needs to Begin New Budget Cycle
Webb, Reitinger New F.C. School Board Chair & Vice Chair
BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
to focus attention on the need for communities to come together peacefully and demand justice for those whose rights are in danger of being violated and to begin a dialogue on solutions to heal our nation’s divisiveness.” At City Hall, following the march, a two-hour program will feature a video honoring Dr. King and an open panel discussion in the Council chambers. It will commence at 2 p.m.
In a wholly novel approach to presenting the Falls Church Public School System’s needs for the coming fiscal year, the F.C. School Board and the public Tuesday night heard directly from the principals of the system’s five schools about the predominantly enrollment-growth-driven needs for added staffing. They, and heads of other school system departments, all claimed their needs assessments were based on core educational requirements, and the bottom line levied on the School Board was daunting. Pressures on the system include extraordinary levels of enrollment growth in recent years and the added burden of being certified last week as the only full kindergarten-through-grade 12 International Baccalaureate school division in Virginia (see News Briefs, page 9). Following a report by the system’s chief financial officer Hunter Kimble that, based on current estimates, the system can expect $1.5 million in new revenue over the current year, the school and department heads’ needs as laid out Tuesday totaled $2.5 million, and this is just projected new personnel costs. On top of that, there is a projected $814,000 in increased costs within the current system at its present level. That with the $2.5 million in new personnel needs brings the overall needs to an added $3.3 million for the coming year, or $1.8 million above a projected revenue increase. For the $1.8 million difference to be bridged from its only pos-
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SEE SPORTS, PAGE 16
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The more we learn about Russia’s hacking and the release of its electronic loot during our presidential election, the more it becomes clear that Donald Trump’s victory and his imminent presidency are already tainted beyond redemption. SEE PAGE 13
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Smashburger closes in Falls Church, Falls Church Distillers gets closer to opening and there’s a new batch of doughnuts at Astro. SEE FOOD NEWS, PAGE 15
PRINCIPALS OF THE 5 Falls Church City Public Schools assembled before the F.C. School Board Tuesday night to delineate the needs they’ve identi�ied for staf�ing in their schools in the coming year. (P����: N���-P����)
F.C.’s First-Ever Civil Rights March on MLK Day Monday BY DEBRA Z. ROTH
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS-PRESS
INDEX Editorial.................6 Letters...................6 News & Notes 10-11 Comment ........ 12-14 Food & Dining.....15 Sports .................16
Calendar ........18-19 Classified Ads .....20 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword .........21 Critter Corner......22 Business News ...23
On the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday Monday, the first-ever march for civil rights in the 70-year history of the City of Falls Church will commence from the Tinner Hill Historic Monument, where 100 years ago the first rural branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People began in once-segregated Falls Church, to its City Hall. Several hundred marchers repre-
senting diverse races, religions, ethnicities, the LGBT community and more are expected to walk to celebrate the legacy of Dr. King. Following the march, a program of unity, racial healing, and justice will be held at City Hall as the nation readies for a new president. On the one-half mile march, according to Tinner Hill Foundation co-founder Ed Henderson, “participants will march, sing, and stand together in unity.” The event, he said, “is designed