It has barely been 10 days since Fairfax County launched its annual Hypothermia Prevention Program, and it’s already clear that this winter will be unlike any other that Abby Dunner has experienced in her nearly decade-long work with the initiative.
Now the manager of the Fairfax County Office to Prevent and End Homelessness, Dunner has been involved with the hypothermia prevention program since she was employed as a case manager and assistant by the nonprofit FACETS in 2012.
The COVID-19 pandemic, however, forced Dunner and the other county and nonprofit officials who run the program to completely reengineer their operations, which were well-honed after 15 years of providing shelter for people in need during the coldest months of the year.
This year’s hypothermia prevention program, which started on Dec. 1 and runs through Apr. 1, 2021, must contend not only with the public health risks and social distancing protocols created by COVID-19, but also the looming threat of a surge in homelessness if emergency assistance measures end.
“We recognize the challenges and kind of the unique situation that we’re in, but everybody is also very much on board with understanding that the program has to continue,” Dunner said. “We have to still be able to shelter people who are experiencing homelessness.”
County officials and the nonprofit contractors that operate the hypothermia prevention shelters realized early on that they would have to make major changes to the program to make it viable this year.
Dunner says the Office to Prevent and End Homelessness collaborated extensively with the Fairfax County Health Department throughout the planning process. Health officials walked through each site and recommended ways to implement social distancing as much as possible.
Typically, the county relies on faith communities and nonprofits to host the actual shelters, which rotate between different locations every week, but the churches and other buildings usually utilized were too small to allow for the approximately 100 square feet of space sought per guest.
This time, the county turned to its own facilities, ultimately identifying seven sites that were sufficiently spacious, centrally located, and accessible by public transportation.
The ideal site for Central Fairfax, which includes the Tysons area, turned out to be a former Container Store at 8508 Leesburg Pike in Vienna.
According to Mike Dykes, the hypothermia coordinator for FACETS, which is operating the site, Fairfax County had been renting it out to George Mason University as a storage space before realizing it could be repurposed. At roughly 19,000 square feet in size, it can accommodate up to 84 shelter guests with social distancing.
“It’s quite a lot of space, much larger than the spaces we were looking at earlier and larger than most of the spaces we’re at in other years,” Dykes said.
Dunner says the hypothermia prevention program generally serves about 1,200 people across its four months of operation, and roughly 215 people utilize the shelters each night.
Though only a handful of people stayed at the Container Store site for the first couple of nights, the shelter averaged about 26 guests over the program’s first seven days, reaching 40 people on Dec. 7 with numbers expected to continue rising, according to Dykes. Read More
Fairfax County Public Schools could start expanding in-person learning to more students again in January.
Under a draft timeline that FCPS Superintendent Scott Brabrand presented to the county school board last night (Thursday), all students will learn virtually for the first week after winter break, which lasts from Dec. 21 through Jan. 3.
Students who opt for hybrid in-person/virtual learning would then begin returning to school buildings on Jan. 12, starting with five cohorts that encompass pre-K and kindergarten students, as well as students in special education, English learners, and other specialized programs.
Elementary school students will be phased in, two grades at a time, between Jan. 19 and Feb. 2. Middle and high school students have been split in two groups, with seventh, ninth, and 12th graders returning on Jan. 26, and eighth, 10th, and 11th graders returning on Feb. 2.
“This plan is contingent on health and operational metrics being met,” Brabrand emphasized. “We’ll provide the board an update on this plan on Jan. 5 at our next monthly return-to-school work session and as needed as we get closer to the target dates for the groups.”
During the school board work session, Brabrand also laid out plans for a revised bell schedule to accommodate the increased time and reduced capacity needed to transport students to school by bus, a change that he acknowledged will present challenges for some families and employees.
“However, it is the only way we can return all of our grade levels back to in-person following health and safety guidance,” he said.
To address concerns about students falling behind academically while learning online, FCPS will loosen its grading policies and implement a system of interventions to give more individualized support to students who are struggling. English learners and special education students will also receive targeted support, including teacher-family conferences and regular check-ins.
Brabrand’s Dec. 10 presentation represents represent FCPS’s first concrete effort to resume a process that began on Oct. 5 but was suspended on Nov. 16 after Fairfax County’s COVID-19 caseload exceeded established thresholds for phasing students back into in-person learning.
Whether the new Return to School plan will actually come to fruition as proposed remains to be seen, as the Fairfax Health District continues to report record levels of COVID-19 transmission. Read More
The Tysons-based theater 1st Stage is taking a stand against gun violence with a virtual night of staged play readings on Dec. 14.
Kicking off at 7:30 p.m. on Zoom, the free event will feature readings of seven short plays written by teen playwrights as part of the nationwide ENOUGH: Plays to End Gun Violence project, which encourages teenagers to express their activism through art.
1st Stage Artistic Director Alex Levy says the project aligns with his belief in theater as an arena where people “can come together as a community and have difficult conversations about our world.”
“I was especially moved to amplify the voices of these young people whose entire lives have been lived in the shadows of lockdown drills, gun violence, and mass shootings,” Levy said. “They are demanding a better world, and we at 1st Stage stand with them.”
The plays were written by teens from around the country, and they were selected by a committee of playwrights, including Lauren Gunderson and David Henry Hwang, according to a press release.
The readings will be followed by a discussion led by Coalition to Stop Gun Violence Executive Director Josh Horowitz and Fairfax County NAACP President Sean Perryman, who is currently campaigning to become Virginia’s next lieutenant governor.
Descriptions of the featured plays and a link to register for a limited quantity of tickets can be found on 1st Stage’s website.
Metro Silver Line Phase 2 Delayed Again — “Metro executive vice president of capital delivery Laura Mason said Thursday based on the latest information from the Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority – which is in charge of building Silver Line phase two – fall 2021 appears to be the best estimate for when service can start.” [ABC7-WJLA]
VHSL Issues New Face Mask Requirement for Student Athletes — “Starting tomorrow, winter athletes must wear a face mask at all times. This includes while they are engaged in physical activity. Because of safety concerns the only exceptions would be wrestling, gymnastics and swim & dive (when engaged in activity).” [McLean High School]
Fairfax County Suggests Pause on 495 NEXT — “Fairfax County supervisors approved two letters to the state transportation secretary Dec. 1 urging the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) not to finalize decisions on its 495 Express Lanes Northern Extension (495 NEXT) project until Maryland officials make highway-capacity arrangements on their side of the Potomac River.” [Sun Gazette/Inside NOVA]
Comcast Expands Network in Tysons and Other Parts of Virginia — “Comcast Business today announced it has completed construction in Virginia – expanding the company’s advanced fiber-optic network to more than 2,800 additional businesses.” [Comcast Business/PR Newswire]
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced a series of new guidelines today (Thursday) aimed at getting the COVID-19 pandemic under control as case numbers soar in Fairfax County and throughout the state.
Starting at 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 14, all Virginians will be expected to stay at home between 12 and 5 a.m. unless they are traveling to and from work, obtaining food and goods, or seeking medical attention.
While the modified stay-at-home order only applies to those early morning hours, Northam urged people to stay home whenever possible during other hours of the day as well, stating that he “strongly” encourages people to telework if they can.
“We already have strong public health measures in place, and with these additional steps, we can turn this around,” Northam said. “Virginians, if you don’t have to be out, stay at home. Whenever we are around other people, we all need to wear a mask, indoors and out.”
The new COVID-19 mitigation measures that take effect on Monday also include an expansion of the state’s existing requirement that all Virginians 5 and older wear a mask in indoor public settings.
Now, all individuals 5 and older will be required to wear face coverings in all indoor settings other than their own home and in all outdoor public settings when within six feet of another person.
The limit on indoor and outdoor social gatherings has been reduced from 25 to 10 individuals. Like before, this rule applies primarily to parties, celebrations, and other social events, but not religious services, workplaces, and schools.
The prohibition on alcohol service in dining establishments after 10 p.m. remains in place, and all restaurant workers are required to wear a mask, even if they don’t interact with customers face-to-face.
Northam said that state agencies will step up their enforcement of social distancing, cleaning, and mask-wearing requirements for businesses. Virginia has issued 181 letters for COVID-19 rule violations so far.
However, the governor declined to follow the lead of some neighboring jurisdictions in shutting down indoor dining, stating that social distancing requirements already significantly reduce the capacity of restaurants.
Despite calls for a statewide return to virtual learning from teachers’ unions in Northern Virginia, Northam also did not introduce any new guidelines for educational institutions, leaving decisions regarding school operations up to the discretion of local officials.
“Local leaders know what’s right for their community,” Northam said. “We’re going to keep working with local leaders to make sure they have the information they need to make the right decisions.”
Virginia is now averaging 3,700 new COVID-19 cases per day, three times higher than the peak of 1,200 daily cases in May. The statewide testing positivity rate is 11%, and more than 2,000 Virginians are currently hospitalized, an 80% increase over the last four weeks.
The Fairfax Health District recorded 440 new cases today, and its seven-day average hit a new high of 501.9 cases after reporting a single-day record of 725 new cases on Dec. 8.
During his announcement, Northam played a video from a healthcare worker named Emily who has been working in a COVID-19 intensive care unit over the past month. She described holding patients’ hands as they died and putting an “ungodly” number of people in body bags.
“I cry a lot. This is real,” Emily said. “…If you could stop just one case by wearing a mask or staying home when you didn’t have to go out, it would help us so much.”
Images via Governor of Virginia/Facebook, Virginia Department of Health
The City of Falls Church Planning Commission gave its support to the long-gestating Broad and Washington project last week, recommending after a Dec. 2 public hearing that the city council approve the proposed mixed-use development.
The commission’s unanimous decision to recommend approval of a comprehensive plan map amendment and a special exception for the project came despite some lingering dissatisfaction with aspects of Insight Property Group’s oft-revised proposal.
“Overall, I think this is a good project,” Commissioner Tim Stevens said. “There’s a lot of potential benefits for the city, and I stress potential, because there are a couple of high-exposure risks that the city faces.”
Given the current market, the commissioners concluded that there is likely little that can be done to address the project’s lack of office space. They also expressed concern about how much the project’s appeal relies on Whole Foods as the anchor, a skittishness inspired by the recent loss of the cornerstone tenant of Falls Church’s Founders Row project.
However, the commission addressed some issues by qualifying their approval with conditions related to the availability of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, the distribution of ground-floor square footage, and affordable housing requirements.
As part of a package of voluntary concessions, Insight has currently committed to providing a minimum of five electric vehicle charging stations as well as electrical conduit to support the future installation of five additional stations at the roughly three-acre site.
In its resolution recommending approval of Broad and Washington, the commission stated that the voluntary concessions agreement should require “the addition, at a minimum, of 10 conduits and related infrastructure to support future demand for equipment to charge electric vehicles.”
“That would give this project equal to what the city achieved with Founders Row,” said Stevens, who proposed the amendment. “It would be disappointing to think that we made progress with Founders Row and would possibly experience some back-sliding with this project.”
The commission also inserted a clause recommending reducing the amount of ground-floor area in the project’s main building that can be redistributed.
In its retail plan, Insight has agreed to dedicate at least 6,500 square feet of ground-floor space to retail sales and restaurant uses. 56,000 square feet on the ground floor and mezzanine levels will be devoted to a full-service grocery store – presumably Whole Foods – and 5,000 square feet on the ground floor has been reserved for the arts group Creative Cauldron.
However, the voluntary concessions agreement also includes a provision allowing the property owner to redistribute up to 10% of the ground-floor area between uses.
McGuireWoods partner Scott Adams, who represented Insight at the public hearing, told the planning commission that the developer is already reevaluating the amount of space that can be redistributed.
“[10%] probably made sense last time when we had a lot of uses on the ground floor,” Adams said. “It doesn’t work for the current configuration, so that’s something we’ll be changing in the VCs.”
The planning commission also encouraged the Falls Church City Council to explore ways to increase the number of affordable dwelling units in the Broad and Washington project. Insight has currently agreed to make 6% of the 339 units it plans to construct affordable to households that earn up to 60% of the area median income.
Noting that Falls Church lost approximately 200 affordable market-rate rental units between 2012 and 2018, Commissioner Cory Weiss initially suggested lowering the project’s required capital contributions in order to get a bigger ADU commitment, but the commission ultimately opted to be less prescriptive.
“I would support encouraging city council to consider that and look into that to see if it’s a viable option,” Planning Commission Chair Andy Rankin said. “…I just don’t want to suggest that they necessarily do it, because I don’t know what the consequences of that would be.”
Adams says Insight will submit a revised proposal that incorporates feedback from the city on Dec. 16. The city council will hold a public hearing and take action on Broad and Washington on Jan. 25, 2021.
Image via City of Falls Church
The New Dominion Women’s Club awarded a $1,200 literary grant to the Falls Church-McLean Children’s Center on Dec. 1 for Giving Tuesday, the McLean-based civic group announced today (Tuesday).
A nonprofit dedicated to supporting the local community through volunteerism and fundraising, the New Dominion Women’s Club (NDWC) received the grant in February from the Express Lanes Community Grant Program run by Transurban, the company that operates Northern Virginia’s I-95, 395, and 495 toll lanes.
The NDWC applied for the program with the goal of obtaining funds to promote early childhood literacy, a cause that it regularly supports by reading and distributing books to the Falls Church-McLean Children’s Center’s Reading Is Fundamental program.
“New Dominion Women’s Club is pleased to help FCMLCC upgrade their materials for pre-K and kindergarten students,” NDWC President Kim Marinus said. “The center’s commitment to providing a safe space for children to learn and play during this difficult time is truly admirable.”
The Falls Church-McLean Children’s Center, an early childhood education center located on Idylwood Road in Falls Church, plans to use the grant to upgrade its technology and software with Bluetooth speakers to help children hear music when they are spread out in a classroom, according to the press release.
The funds will also go toward technology intended to help students develop early literacy skills, such as rhyming, spelling, and identifying letter sounds.
“This grant is particularly well-timed for this very unusual school year,” FCMLCC Interim Executive Director Lucy Pelletier said. “Many of our books and puzzles have faded due to frequent sanitizing. The new materials were chosen for their durability and will better stand up to frequent cleanings.”
Photo courtesy Melissa Snyder
Jinya Ramen Bar will kick off the new year with a pop-up in the Mosaic District, the noodle shop chain announced today (Wednesday).
Scheduled to open within the next six weeks, the space will be paired with a Japanese-inspired dessert shop that offers soft-serve ice cream and donuts. The pop-up space will be open Thursdays through Sundays.
Jinya’s existing Mosaic District location (2911 District Ave.) is also still open for takeout, delivery, and indoor dining in accordance with social distancing guidelines.
Jinya is also adding menu items for the holiday season that will be available at all four of its spots in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, including the Mosaic restaurant:
Holiday cocktails
- Sassy Old Fashioned: Toki whiskey with honey and saffron syrup and orange bitters, garnished with an orange peel and cherry
- Winter Blossom: Etsu gin with cranberry syrup, citrus, and Asian pear puree, topped with sake
Chef’s specials
- Soft Shell Crab Bun: a steamed bun stuffed with crispy soft-shell crab, avocado, and baby mixed greens
- Spicy Maze-Men: extra-thick noodles with no broth, dressed with umami bonito Japanese aioli and topped with pork chashu, kimchi, seasoned egg, green and white onions, bonito flakes, and nori (seaweed)
The specialty cocktails cost $10. The holiday menu items will be available through New Year’s Day.
Photo courtesy Jinya Ramen Bar
The McLean Project for the Arts is unveiling its two latest exhibitions today (Wednesday) with a virtual launch and artists’ talk at 7 p.m.
The Emerson Gallery will feature “Vertical Interval,” a collection of paintings and digital works by McLean-based artist Joseph Cortina. The exhibit draws on Cortina’s background as a painter and filmmaker to explore “the fleeting, elusive quality of time-based media,” MPA says.
“Vertical Interval” has been paired with multimedia artist Shanthi Chandrasekar’s exhibition “Beginningless Endless,” which will be displayed in MPA’s atrium gallery.
According to MPA, Chandrasekar has a background in physics and psychology and employs drawing, painting, and sculpture to explore “big questions of science and the natural world” in “Beginningless Endless.”
MPA Curator and Director of Exhibitions Nancy Sausser says Cortina and Chandrasekar had been on her radar for some time.
She also likes using the nonprofit’s two galleries to showcase exhibits that reflect on each other in some way. Both artists have an abstract element to their work, and these specific exhibits are focused in different ways on the idea of space.
“Shanti’s very interested…in sort of the cosmos and physics and, you know, that greater cosmic space,” Sausser said. “Joe is really interested in the space within the painting, and he has a lot of open area within his paintings that’s undefined and sort of becomes a place you can enter into.”
MPA will display both exhibitions online and in its physical galleries at the McLean Community Center, though the Emerson Gallery is largely closed to the public for the time being.
For its fall show, MPA allowed up to six visitors in the Emerson Gallery by appointment, but climbing COVID-19 case numbers in the region convinced staff members to change their approach for the new exhibition.
Sausser says people can contact MPA if they are interested in arranging a private viewing of “Vertical Interval,” but the nonprofit is mostly approaching it as a virtual show.
Images from both exhibitions will be available online tonight at the same time as the virtual launch, which will include prerecorded interviews of the artists by Sausser. Chandrasekar and Cortina will also appear live from their studios to answer questions from the public.
While navigating the COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging, Sausser says it has also opened new opportunities as MPA staff had to develop there digital and video skills. She hopes to continue offering virtual options even after both galleries resume normal operations.
“It’s definitely more work, and people aren’t experiencing [the work] the same way, but maybe the audience who gets to experience it is a little larger,” Sausser said.
Photos courtesy McLean Project for the Arts
The Falls Church City School Board unanimously voted on Tuesday (Dec. 8) to rename both George Mason High School and Thomas Jefferson Elementary School.
The decision came after months of debate that involved two separate public hearings and an independently conducted survey that garnered more than 3,000 responses.
Emphasizing the care they took to consider different perspectives, the seven school board members ultimately agreed that Falls Church City Public Schools should adopt new monikers for its elementary and high schools in recognition of its goal to create a welcoming, inclusive environment for all.
“I’m in support of changing the names of our elementary and high schools, because if one student feels uncomfortable walking into a building named for a person who did not respect the dignity of another human being, that’s one too many,” School Board Member Lawrence Webb said.
The school board launched an effort to consider whether to rename Mason and Jefferson on June 30 after some community members started advocating for the changes in response to the protests against racial injustice and police brutality sparked by George Floyd’s murder in May.
During two hour-long public hearings in October, community members weighed Mason and Jefferson’s legacies as key figures in the formation of the U.S. against the pain they inflicted as slaveholders. Falls Church’s history of excluding Black people, the impending completion of a new George Mason High School campus, and the cost of renaming the schools also came up.
FCCPS estimates that renaming Mason would cost $96,760 and renaming Jefferson would cost $13,500. The school system also spent $8,500 to hire the consultant K-12 Insight to administer a public survey on the topic.
Presented to the school board on Nov. 17, the survey of students, staff, parents, and the general community found that 56% of respondents preferred to maintain the status quo, while 26% supported a name change for Mason and 23% supported one for Jefferson.
School Board Chair Greg Anderson noted that the survey was just one avenue used to solicit public feedback.
“The survey wasn’t a referendum or a generalizable, statistical, random sample of public opinion,” Anderson said. “…The survey was informative, but not decisive on its own and should be viewed as information.”
Now that the name changes have been approved, FCCPS Superintendent Peter Noonan will be accepting nominations for advisory study committees that will recommend new names to the school board. The board will announce the timeline for that process at an upcoming meeting, FCCPS says.
Anderson said the school board should continue to address inequity in education by reviewing FCCPS’s curriculum, hiring practices, and policies around diversity and discrimination. He also suggested developing a public space to educate people about Mason and Jefferson as well as the City of Falls Church’s history.
“Honestly, I’m not sure I know what this all looks like, but I think it’s an idea worth considering,” Anderson said.
Photo courtesy FCCPS
