April 13 – 19, 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. X X V I I N o. 8
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Inside This Week Falls Church Hires Kiran Bawa as New CFO The City of Falls Church has named Kiran Bawa its new Chief Financial Officer. Bawa replaces previous CFO Richard La Condre who retired last November. See News Briefs, page 9
F.C.’s New K9 Officer Hits the Streets
Falls Church Police officer Matthew Parker and his trusted partner, Fitz, a 21-month-old German Shepherd, are the force’s newest tandem patrolling the streets of The Little City.
F.C. Council ‘Holds Noses’ to Add $2 Million More to Mt. Daniel Expansion Now Comes News of Expansion Needs at
Jefferson Elementary
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
A 12-page summary of the current condition of Mt. Daniel circulated to the Council drove home the point. Among other things, it noted that the current building is “insufficient” now, and that is putting it mildly. The building capacity without trailers is 275 and current the enrollment is 388. Consider that “all 17 interior classrooms designated for kindergarten and first grade are full, and
Following the forceful recommendation of the Falls Church Public Schools’ Interim Superintendent Dr. Robert Schiller to “hold your nose and vote yes for this,” the Falls Church City Council voted unanimously Monday (David Snyder absent) 6-0 to approve a supplemental allocation of $2,143,000 to cover the increased cost of a renovation and expansion of Mt. Daniel Elementary School to begin when school lets out in June. Schiller cautioned the Council that contracts for subcontractors on the $15 million project are due to expire the end of this week, precluding desires by some on the Council to postpone action further. It was reported that since first the bids for the work were opened in February, revealing that costs had ballooned over $2.5 million above earlier projections, the Schools worked with the contractor, Grunley Construction, to shave $510,000 off that increase, lowering the amount of new money needed to just over $2 million. So, the project will now proceed to provide an additional 58,218 square feet to Mt. Daniel, increasing its student capacity from 275 currently (without temporary trailers) to 660. But the other shoe that dropped at Monday’s Council meeting was the revelation that in order to meet enrollment growth expectations over the next decade, in addition to already identified expansions of the middle and high school, another roughly $10-12 million will be required for a further expansion of Thomas Jefferson Elementary,
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See page 4
David Brooks: The Age of Wonkery
If you were a certain sort of ideasoriented young person coming of age in the 20th century, it was very likely you would give yourself a label and join some movement. You would call yourself a Marxist, a neoconservative, a Freudian, an existentialist or a New Deal liberal. See page 14
Mason Soccer Teams On Break After Wins
George Mason High School’s girls and boys soccer teams entered spring break with wins as the girls took down Madison County High School 4-2 at home, while the boys knocked off the Mountaineers 5-0 on the road. See Sports, page 18
F.C. SCHOOLS’ INTERIM SUPERINTENDENT Dr. Robert Schiller made a passionate case for a new $2 million allocation by the F.C. City Council to cover the added change-order costs of the Mt. Daniel expansion and renovation to begin in June. The Council voted 6-0 to comply with his submission. (Photo: News-Press)
Current Mt. Daniel Conditions Spelled Out in Grim Details
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
Index Editorial..................6 Letters..............6, 10 News & Notes.12–13 Comment........ 14–17 Calendar........20–21 Food & Dining......23
Business News....25 Classified Ads......27 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword ..........29 Critter Corner.......30
If you knew nothing about the stellar global reputation of the City of Falls Church’s public school system, and looked only at the state of its facilities as presented to the City Council meeting Monday night, you’d think it was a struggling, poverty-stricken backwater operation. Graphic presentations made by F.C.’s Interim School Superintendent Dr. Robert Schiller
veritably shamed the policy makers of the City that has one of the highest average household incomes of any jurisdiction in the U.S. None of the four campuses above the pre-school level were shown to be even marginally adequate in terms of the condition of their plants. The presentations were made in the context of seeking an additional $2 million to cover the cost of a major renovation and expansion of the Mt. Daniel Elementary. (The money was provided. See story, this page).