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Sun Gazette VOLUME 39
GREAT FALLS McLEAN OAKTON TYSONS VIENNA
Warmer Spell May Help Get School System Back on Track BRIAN TROMPETER Staff Writer
Broken Water Mains are Keeping Area Crews Busy
Fairfax County Public Schools managed to avoid canceling classes when winter began late last year, but 2018 has gotten off to a rocky start. County schools were closed Jan. 4 and 5 following a light snow and bitterly cold wind chills, which caused mechanical problems for buses and endangered students’ health, school officials said. The school system, which since Dec. 15 had held classes only on Jan. 2 and 3, also canceled classes Jan. 8 because forecasters expected freezing rain to begin descending early that afternoon. “Due to the high potential for the onset of inclement weather starting as early as midday Monday, even with an early closure elementary-school bus routes would
BRIAN TROMPETER Staff Writer
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JANUARY 11-17, 2018
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TAKING IT TO THE BASKET
McLean High School’s Brian Aka shoots between Flint Hill’s Qudus Wahab, left, and Christian Turner during a recent holiday-tournament championship game. Flint Hill won, but McLean continued to show improvement, with four victories this season after going winless last winter. See a basketball roundup in sports and a slideshow from the game at PHOTO BY DEB KOLT www.insidenova.com/sports/fairfax.
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Chilled by a recent cold spell, hit by the “bomb cyclone” and bracing for a new spate of bone-chilling temperatures, area public-works crews are battling the inevitable: a jump in the number of broken water mains. Fairfax Water, which is responsible for about 4,000 miles of water lines in Fairfax County, has dealt with 88 water-main breaks between Dec. 29 and Jan. 4, said spokesman Susan Miller. “It’s kind of normal for this type of weather,” she said. Most recent water-main breaks have been in older sections of the county. There were 19 active breaks listed on Fairfax Water’s Web site as of 11 a.m. on Jan. 4, most of them centered in the Fairfax, Falls Church and Annandale areas. Fairfax Water repaired nine broken mains on Jan. 3 alone. The town of Vienna is responsible for 131 miles of water main and town employees repair any breaks, said Deputy Public Works Director David Donahue. As of Jan. 3, Vienna crews had responded to 30 water-main breaks since fiscal year 2018 began on July 1 last year. During the same six-month period in the last four fiscal years, starting with the most recent, the town experienced 29, 23, Continued on Page 19 Fresh out of college, I wasn’t sure which job was right for me. TM Real-Time Job Matching helped me identify my best job options and start a bright new career.
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