August 31 – September 6, 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 No. 28
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Inside This Week Democrat Wins Fairfax Special Election Karen Keys-Gamarra, the Democratic Party-endorsed candidate for the Fairfax School Board in a county-wide special election, won over her Republican rival by an almost 2-to-1 margin Tuesday. See News Briefs, page 9
Forum on November Bond Referendum Set
Shields Reveals Virginia Tech Talks On GMHS Campus Development But Big Decisions By University Won’t Come Until March
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
The League of Women Voters of Falls Church and the Village Preservation and Improvement Society will co-host a debate on Sunday, September 17, on a school bond referendum that will be on Falls Church City’s November 7 ballot.
He affirmed it is the aspiration of the Falls Church system, one of only seven in the entire U.S. that offers a K-12 International Baccalaureate curriculum, to be “the premiere IB school division in the U.S.” Noonan introduced the slogan, “Better Together,” for the system, and the now popular “hashtag” of “#TeamFCCPS” to link Twitter feeds. He gave brief updates on physical improvements to the five campuses, most significantly the
Falls Church City officials have been meeting quietly with top level officials of Virginia Tech who’ve flown in from Blacksburg for meetings this summer. The school will be making some major decisions about its growth plan for Northern Virginia by next March, City Manager Wyatt Shields revealed at Friday morning’s meeting of the Economic Development Task Force for the 35-acre west end high school/middle school project. Virginia Tech, along with the University of Virginia, currently shares the educational building constructed in the mid-1990s adjacent to the campus site, 10 acres of which have been designated for economic development. While there has been talk of a hoped-for collaborative effort with the universities there for things such as shared parking and even more use of classroom spaces in their building than currently, Shields suggested Friday that Virginia Tech might be interested in a lot more. “Virginia Tech currently has a number of small sites around the region. But their hope is to grow into areas where they could directly collaborate with and achieve a mutually-beneficial working relationship with cutting edge industry,” Shields said. Needless to say, the F.C. campus site could accommodate such an arrangement. While no definitive decisions may be forthcoming from Tech until its big confab next March, that would still be in time to have a major impact on what the City,
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See News Briefs, page 9
Frank Bruni: The Waters Swell. So Does Trump’s Ego.
I would like to believe that what fascinated Donald Trump about the floodwaters of Texas and pulled him to the state Tuesday were the scenes of human suffering. I would also like to believe that I’m a dead ringer for Brad Pitt. See page 24
Press Pass with Selwyn Birchwood
Selwyn Birchwood’s new album Pick Your Poison has catapulted the blues musician’s gravitas to the next level.
THE BEST ARE HERE! All the winners of the News-Press’s 8th annual Best of Falls Church reader vote are inside this special Best Of F.C. edition. Also inside, our editors’ own Best Of selections like the 24-hour Vietnamese bakery and deli Ba Le, with its combination banh mi sandwich pictured here. See Best of Falls Church 2017, pages 14-23. (Photo: Jody Fellows)
Connelly Tells ‘Back To School’ Fete of November Referendum
See page 29
by Nicholas F. Benton
Editorial..................6 Letters..............6, 26 News & Notes.10–11 Comment.. 12–13, 24 Business News....25
At Tuesday morning’s annual “Back to School” assembly of all the paid staff of the City of Falls Church’s public school system and its five schools was briefed on the issues surrounding and importance of the $120 million school bond referendum that will be on the ballot in the City. F.C. Vice Mayor Marybeth Connelly, who is also the outreach coordinator for the schools, laid out the issues of what passage of the referendum
Falls Church News-Press
Index Calendar........30–31 Classified Ads......32 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword...........33 Critter Corner.......34
will mean for the future of the system, were it to pass. She was joined in the standing room only audience by City Council member Phil Duncan and City Manager Wyatt Shields. New Superintendent Peter Noonan, who took his post in midMay, gave a lengthy presentation to introduce himself, including his concept of the kind of “servant leadership” he espouses, citing “the power of public education” rendered with an “ethical lens” and “students in the forefront” in “a culture of equity and fairness.”