Tension Over Annandale HS Band Director’s Resignation — “By the time Tyron Barnes prepared to address Annandale High School’s band students and parents during an end-of-year banquet in the school cafeteria on June 1, the group had already learned that he had resigned…In an email that same night, Barnes wrote that it had become apparent to him that some people didn’t want him leading the band program.” [WTOP]
New Historical Marker Unveiled in Gum Springs — “Thank you to the New Gum Springs Civic Association and Queenie Cox for inviting me to the West Ford Virginia historical highway marker dedication and Juneteenth Celebration. It was an honor to attend and celebrate the life of the ‘Father of Gum Springs,’ West Ford,” a formerly enslaved man who founded the community in 1833. [Supervisor Rodney Lusk/Instagram]
Ice Cream Shop to Replace Annandale Dance Studio — “International Dance is moving from its current location in Pinecrest Plaza to the former Treasure Trove spot in the Annandale Shopping Center on Columbia Pike. According to the Pinecrest Plaza website, an ice cream shop called Mimi’s Handmade will occupy the dance studio’s current location.” [Annandale Today]
Herndon Student Raises Funds for School Supplies — “Sanya Bhalla believes strongly in the importance of giving back to the community…As a way of continuing her charitable efforts, the Oak Hill resident recently launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to purchase school supplies for underprivileged children in the area.” [Patch]
Vintage Car Garage Approved in Vienna — “A warehouse building in a southeast Vienna industrial park soon will be converted to store about 180 classic and exotic automobiles. Vienna Town Council members on June 20 voted unanimously to support a certificate of occupancy for Roadhouse Development Co. LLC to provide vehicle storage…at 831 Follin Lane, S.E.” [Gazette Leader]
More People Trying to Cross Train Tracks, Metro Says — “A man needed to get from one Metro platform to the other, so he risked his life by jumping onto the tracks and over the electrified third rail — twice. Alarming video caught on Metro security cameras shows a man crossing the tracks…in Northern Virginia on Friday. It’s just one instance of what Metro officials call a trend of dangerous trespassing in the rail system.” [NBC4]
Dominion Upgrades Power Poles in Springfield — “With some crew members digging a hole and others navigating a bucket truck, 13 older power poles were being replaced, hours before threatening weather was set to approach Monday afternoon…Green said the new poles are better suited to withstand inevitable summer storms, which include trees and heavy branches falling on wires, which often cause outages.” [WTOP]
Longtime Oakton Nonprofit Leader to Retire — “Eileen Ellsworth will retire as president and CEO of the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia, the foundation announced Monday…Founded in 1978, the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia supports a number social and civic ventures across the region, but board chair Catherine Schott Murray noted its role has expanded under Ellsworth.” [Inside NoVA]
It’s Tuesday — A chance of showers and thunderstorms between 11am and 2pm, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm after 2pm. High near 81. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Low around 65. [Weather.gov]
Some pretty gnarly weather is bearing down on Fairfax County and the rest of the D.C. area.
The National Weather Service has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for the region until 9 p.m.
A Hazardous Weather Outlook issued earlier that could last until midnight forecast heavy storms with the worst impact expected to be east of I-81, including Fairfax County, where the likelihood of severe weather is considered “moderate.”
“Damaging wind gusts and large hail are the primary threats along with the possibility of a brief tornado,” Fairfax County said in a blog post sharing the NWS alert. “Additionally, there is a threat for flash flooding across the entire outlook area this afternoon and evening.”
Severe thunderstorms are possible this afternoon with localized damaging wind gusts and large hail being the primary threats. Please stay weather aware, and be ready to seek shelter if warnings are issued. pic.twitter.com/cw9lnHTCmC
— NWS Baltimore-Washington (@NWS_BaltWash) June 26, 2023
[2:20 PM] – A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM THIS EVENING.
Localized damaging wind gusts, hail, and rain that may cause flash flooding are possible. pic.twitter.com/Bzyn38J36R
— Ready Fairfax (@ReadyFairfax) June 26, 2023
According to the Virginia Department of Transportation, the region along and east of I-95 could see wind gusts of “up to 75 mph, large hail and possible isolated tornadoes.”
The department is advising travelers to pay close attention to weather reports and to potential limit travel as conditions evolve, warning that the storm could take down trees and power lines and result in flooding.
“Whenever severe weather is expected, we partner with the Virginia Department of Emergency Management and Virginia State Police to coordinate efforts,” VDOT Commissioner Stephen C. Brich said. “Teams throughout the Commonwealth are prepared to address impacts from this storm. We ask for the public’s assistance to remain safe and stay aware of changing weather and road conditions in their area and along their travel routes.”
The storms are moving to the East Coast from the Midwest, which were hit by hail ranging from the size of a baseball to a grapefruit yesterday (Sunday), according to the Capital Weather Gang. Tornadoes have reportedly damaged dozens of homes and killed at least one person in Indiana.
Here’s more advice on navigating the upcoming weather from VDOT:
Obey all “road closed” signage.
“Turn around, don’t drown” – Do not attempt to travel through flooded roadways. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the primary causes of flood-related deaths occur to individuals driving into or walking in or near flood waters.
- 6 inches of flood water is enough to knock an adult off of their feet
- 12 inches can move most cars
- 18-24 inches can carry away most large SUVs, vans and trucks
Be alert to debris, downed trees and power lines
Move over for emergency crews operating in or near roadways
Be alert to High Wind Advisories, especially on bridges or taller structures. High-profile vehicles such as tractor trailers, SUVs or box trucks are especially vulnerable and should not cross a bridge when a High Wind Advisory is posted.
As frustrations persist over the pickleball courts at Glyndon Park, the Vienna Town Council has resorted to appealing to Fairfax County for assistance.
The council voted on June 19 to send the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors a letter asking them to identify potential sites for pickleball near the town, whose only existing facilities — the four courts at Glyndon — have been plagued by noise complaints from neighbors.
“We are asking you to help Fairfax County residents have more options of locations to play pickleball with longer hours,” Mayor Linda Colbert and the town council said in the draft letter. “The county owns facilities near the town that could be used for pickleball. Because of their relative distance from residential neighborhoods, several of those facilities are far better suited to use for pickleball than Town of Vienna owned property.”
Earlier this year, the town reduced the hours when pickleball was permitted at Glyndon Park (300 Glyndon Street) in an effort to alleviate tensions between neighboring residents and local players.
Under the new policy, set open play hours were eliminated, and a reservation system was implemented for players who live in Vienna. The town is also encouraging players to use quieter paddles.
Since the policy took effect on March 1, the Vienna Police Department has received 18 noise complaints about pickleball being played outside the designated hours, Vienna Parks and Recreation Director Leslie Herman reported at a June 5 town council meeting.
Seven of those complaints were determined to be unfounded, and 10 resulted in police issuing a warning. At least four complaints have been made to police since that meeting, according to the VPD’s weekly recaps.
Despite those complaints, residents told town staff that the situation has been more tolerable this spring, and most regular court users seem to be abiding by the rules. The ongoing issues appear to stem from non-regular users who “either ignore the posted rules or do not know the rules,” Herman said.
“The residents feel that the limited number of people due to no open play is a big factor that is helping them tolerate pickleball play,” Herman said. “There is a concern that allowing open play will generate additional noise as the number of players will increase. The issue is not from the ball, but from the amount of people congregating.”
Based on 48 random visits to the park, town staff observed up to 18 people on the courts at one time, but that could increase if open play was encouraged, particularly with the warmer summer weather bringing more people outside, according to Herman.
The Vienna Pickleball Club had requested a return of designated open play hours when anyone can show up and use the courts, reporting some confusion around the reservation system and concerns that newer players are being left out.
From March 1 through May 20, the courts were reserved approximately 37% of the available pickleball times, Herman reported.
While the council agreed to keep the new hours, Councilmember Chuck Anderson suggested contacting the county about adding more pickleball facilities in the area, such as at Nottoway Park or even James Madison High School.
“Given the fact that we as Vienna residents pay 100% of Fairfax County property taxes and given the fact that a number of non-Vienna residents play pickleball in Vienna, I think that we certainly on strong moral grounds for asking the county to help us out on this issue, which helps them out too, because these are Fairfax County residents who want to play pickleball,” Anderson said.
The pickleball-lined courts closest to Vienna are at the Providence Rec Center in West Falls Church and Westgate Park in Tysons, according to the county’s park locator.
The Fairfax County Park Authority is designing a conversion of one tennis court at Cunningham Park into a shared-use court to accommodate pickleball, according to its website.
“We do not yet have a detailed schedule for the Cunningham Park pickleball improvements other than it is to occur during fiscal year 2024” from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, FCPA spokesperson Benjamin Boxer said.
The county isn’t planning right now to add pickleball at Nottoway, but that “does not preclude improvements at the park at a future time,” Boxer said.
At last week’s council meeting, Colbert said she had already discussed the town’s request with Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn, who suggested adding “some data points” to the proposed letter.
“Other than that, we had a very good, positive conversation,” she said.
According to the Town of Vienna, the letter hasn’t been sent to the Board of Supervisors yet, but Colbert is expected to finalize it later this week.
Fairfax County’s plan for bus rapid transit (BRT) service on Route 7 in Tysons sailed through the planning commission last week.
The commissioners recommended on Wednesday (June 21) that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approve a comprehensive plan amendment establishing guidelines for the future public transportation system, including the route and station locations.
If the amendment is approved at the board’s scheduled public hearing on July 25, the project will become eligible for funding through the county’s Transportation Priorities Plan and state and regional grants, Fairfax County Department of Transportation senior planner Sean Schweitzer told the planning commission.
“This is for future planning. This is not an immediately funded initiative. It’s also very timely,” Planning Commission Vice Chairman Timothy Sargeant noted, referencing FCDOT’s collaboration with the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission on a larger study that could eventually extend the Route 7 BRT to Alexandria.
Known as Envision Route 7, that study has been underway since 2013 and shifted its focus last fall to a portion of the system that will run through Falls Church City down to Seven Corners.
Because the Tysons section is at a more advanced stage of planning, with an overall route alignment in place since 2021, Fairfax County hopes to initially implement service within Tysons down to the West Falls Church Metro station as a temporary southern terminus.
As shared with the planning commission at a committee meeting on May 11 and with the public at virtual community meetings on June 7 and 8, the Route 7 BRT will serve nine stops in the Tysons area:
- West Falls Church Metro
- Route 7 (Leesburg Pike) at Chestnut Street
- Patterson Road, near the Tysons Station and Idylwood Plaza shopping centers
- George C. Marshall Drive
- Fashion Blvd, serving Tysons Corner Center
- International Drive and Fletcher Street
- International and Greensboro Drive, next to Tysons Galleria
- International and Lincoln Circle
- Spring Hill Metro station
To give the buses a clear path, since BRT is intended to be faster than a regular local bus service, the county has proposed designating two future lanes on Route 7 (Leesburg Pike) as BRT-exclusive lanes. The service will also repurpose two existing lanes on International Drive to Lincoln Circle.
The buses will occasionally enter mixed traffic at the West Falls Church station and when turning left from International Drive onto Spring Hill Road, where they will use Business Access and Transit (BAT) lanes to reach the Metro station.
“We know that the middle of Tysons doesn’t really have too much in the way of transit options,” Schweitzer said. “So, this preferred alignment helps to kind of expand the overall transit network within Tysons and gives people…different modes to use in order to get around Tysons and, ultimately, in the future, to Alexandria.”
FCDOT staff is studying how to incorporate improvements for bicyclists and pedestrians into the project, Schweitzer told the commission. Also to be determined is whether the BRT will keep stopping at the West Falls Church Metro station or stay on Route 7 after service is extended into Falls Church.
Franconia District Commissioner Dan Lagana suggested the county could learn from the existing BRT systems in Arlington and Alexandria when designing bicycle and pedestrian facilities, such as wider or raised crosswalks.
“I use and drive by, for example, the Metroway in Alexandria frequently, and…the city has done an outstanding job, Arlington and Alexandria,” Lagana said. “But there are some clear gaps now that we’ve seen it in action and we know crosswalks in the area are insufficient.”
Schweitzer said the county has been collaborating with its neighbors in Arlington, Alexandria and Falls Church, including through the Envision Route 7 study.
“We’re making sure all our transit projects and studies are kind of lining up so it can create, in the future, an expansive BRT system and also connect to the West End Metroway as well in Alexandria,” he said.
(Updated at 11 a.m. on 6/27/2023) The Fairfax County School Board voted 9-1 last night (Monday) to raise member salaries to $48,000 with an additional $2,000 for the board chair, starting Jan. 1, 2024.
Aiming lower than what staff proposed, the raises are comparable to compensation for other paid school boards governing large school systems elsewhere in the country and raises approved in previous years, Mount Vernon District School Board representative Karen Corbett-Sanders said.
At-large member Abrar Omeish opposed the motion, saying that she struggled to support it “from a moral perspective” when “education in general is hurting.” Hunter Mill District representative Melanie Meren and Sully District representative Stella Pekarsky abstained.
The raises will take effect on Jan. 1, 2024. All school board seats will be up for election on Nov. 7.
FCPS staff recommended raising the annual pay for each of the 12 elected school board members to $60,404. An additional $2,000 increase is proposed for the board chair, a position that changes each year.
Prior to the board meeting, School Board Chair Rachna Sizemore-Heizer told FFXnow that the staff proposal “would align future board members’ modest compensation with new starting teacher salaries,” noting that the board has raised its pay just three times in the past 35 years, most recently in 2015.
A new teacher with a bachelor’s degree and a 260-day contract will make $66,177 for fiscal year 2024, which starts July 1, according to FCPS’ salary scales.
“Increasing compensation for future school board members acknowledges the significant time commitment of the work in one of the nation’s largest and most complex school systems and opens the door to public service for Fairfax County residents with diverse backgrounds and experiences who may not be able to consider serving otherwise,” Sizemore-Heizer said.
Like the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, the school board is required by state law to vote on any member pay raises, which can only be proposed before July 1 of the year of an election.
Fairfax County’s school board last approved raises by a 5-4 vote in April 2015, bumping the salary for each member up from $20,000 to the current $32,000 rate. Virginia lets school boards give their chair an additional increase of up to $2,000, so the chair receives $34,000 right now.
In a summary, FCPS staff highlighted the school board’s various duties as it oversees the largest public school district in Virginia:
School Board members are responsible for developing and setting school division policy, approving the annual budget, hiring the Superintendent, and adjudicating student disciplinary and school division employee appeals. They spend many hours preparing for and attending official meetings, work sessions, committee meetings, public hearings, and other functions – nearly 150 meetings in the 2022-23 school year alone. Additionally, Board members attend school, PTA, and community meetings and events, visit schools, attend required professional development programs, and communicate with students, parents, staff, stakeholders, and other constituents.
The Board of Supervisors approved salaries on March 21 of $123,283 for supervisors and $138,283 for the chairman — slightly lower rates than what county staff had initially proposed. It was the board’s first raise since 2015.
While that vote was preceded by a public hearing with sometimes emotional testimony by residents and county workers, the school board’s vote took place around 1 p.m. without public comment. The Code of Virginia doesn’t appear to require a hearing, only a vote by the school board.
Notably, only three school board members are seeking reelection this year: Karl Frisch (Providence District), Melanie Meren (Hunter Mill) and Mason District representative Ricardy Anderson (Mason).
Sizemore-Heizer, an at-large member, is campaigning for the Braddock District seat after Megan McLaughlin announced in February that she’ll retire when her third and final term ends on Dec. 31.
At-large member Abrar Omeish, Karen Corbett Sanders (Mount Vernon), Tamara Derenak Kaufax (Franconia) and Elaine Tholen (Dranesville) have also opted out of reelection bids.
The other members — Karen Keys-Gamarra (at-large), Laura Jane Cohen (Springfield) and Stella Pekarsky (Sully) — are running for General Assembly seats. All of them won the Democratic primary for their respective races last Tuesday (June 20).
Man Pulled From Burning Car, Gets DWI — “Police say around 2:30 am on June 15, officers responded to Annandale Rd & Gallows Rd for a single vehicle crash. The driver struck a curb, hit a telephone pole then a tree and came to a rest on its side, according to FCPD. Officers found the car engulfed in flames and rushed to safely remove the driver. The 27-year-old driver was arrested for DWI.” [ABC7]
Metro Introduces Nighttime “Courtesy Stops” — “Metrobus customers who travel at night will have the option to get off between bus stops along the route, closer to their destination to provide a safer, better bus experience…Beginning, Sunday, June 25, customers may request a courtesy stop between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.” [WMATA]
Man Charged With Attempted Abduction in Annandale — “A man who Fairfax County police say attempted to kidnap a 4-year-old girl while she was sleeping inside an apartment in Annandale, Virginia, earlier this month, has been charged…The girl’s mother woke up to the sound of shaking window blinds and her daughter crying at around 4 a.m. The living room window was open, she told police, and the girl was on the floor.” [WTOP]
County Sees Uptick in U-Haul Thefts — “On June 15, during a routine patrol, Auto Crime Enforcement detectives located a stolen U-Haul in the Huntington area…During a search of the recovered vehicle, officers located a gun, three extended magazines, and more than 200 rounds of ammunition.” Police say 32 U-Hauls have been reported stolen or not returned in the county since January. [WUSA9]
New Coworking Site Open in Mosaic District — “SevaSpaces, a coworking space in Fairfax County’s Mosaic District, officially opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 7. Featuring eclectic art and furnishings, a gym and parking, SevaSpaces was designed to inspire creativity and collaboration, according to the company…A second SevaSpaces location is set to open in Tysons in August 2023.” [Fairfax County EDA]
Annandale Barbershop Relocates After Fire — “JJ Salon & Barber has relocated to a temporary location since its building on Columbia Pike in Annandale was heavily damaged in a huge fire in March. The owners, Jenny and Joey Lee, are renting a few chairs at the 7 Hair Line salon across the street at 7116 Columbia Pike in the shopping center with Subway and Pizza Hut.” [Annandale Today]
Renovation Planned for George Washington Rec Center — “The George Washington Rec Center…plans to close from July 24 to August 18, according to the Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA). Among the improvements slated for the facility are new pool filters; new and more secure doors at the front entrance; retiled showers; an updated party room; and a deep cleaning of the pool deck.” [On the MoVe]
Madison Student Wins Tennis Championship — “Winning a second straight state championship was at the least as equally fun and satisfying as the first, according to Simone Bergeron, but the Madison Warhawks senior admitted there were added expectations being the defending champion.” [Gazette Leader]
It’s Monday — A slight chance of showers between 8am and 2pm, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm after 2pm. Some of the storms could produce gusty winds and heavy rain. High near 90. Low around 66. [Weather.gov]
The man who fired multiple gunshots in Tysons Corner Center last summer has been sentenced to three years in prison, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano announced today (Friday).
Noah Settles, a 23-year-old D.C. resident and rapper with the stage name No Savage, pleaded guilty on Feb. 9 to three counts of maliciously discharging a firearm in an occupied building and one count of using a firearm in the commission of a felony.
A Fairfax County Circuit Court judge also gave Settles 10 years of probation and barred him from returning to Tysons Corner Center, according to Descano’s office.
“Today, the justice system has shown that perpetrators of gun violence will be held accountable for their actions,” Descano said. “Firing a gun into a public space is a serious crime, one that endangered our community members and threatened their future sense of safety. In cases like these, it is the prosecutor’s job to ensure accountability and use the tools at our disposal to prevent this sort of dangerous incident from happening again.”
Settles sparked a panic at Tysons Corner Center on June 18, 2022 when he fired three gunshots during a busy Father’s Day weekend, according to police and prosecutors. No one was struck by the bullets, but three people were reportedly injured during the chaotic evacuation of the mall.
The Fairfax County Police Department later identified Settles as the man who had fired the shots, describing the incident as the escalation of an argument between two “crews” based in southeast D.C.
“During court hearings, video footage from mall surveillance cameras and bystanders’ phone show Settles getting into an altercation with another group of young people, fleeing briefly, then turning back to fire three shots by a mall kiosk,” Descano’s office said.
Settles was indicted by a grand jury on seven charges, but charges of attempted malicious wounding, brandishing a firearm and carrying a concealed weapon were dropped as part of the plea agreement.
Three years of jail time was the minimum sentence possible under his guilty plea. The maximum was 33 years.
A new crop of plants will take root this fall along Maple Avenue and Church Street, the Town of Vienna’s main commercial roadways.
LSG Landscape Architects, a landscaping firm contracted by the town, will present its proposed design for the new planters next Thursday (June 29) after sharing the concept with the Vienna Town Council this past Tuesday (June 20).
The town is inviting residents, business owners and other community members to attend the informational meeting, which will take place at 6:30 p.m. in the Vienna Community Center (120 Cherry Street SE).
“Homeowners understand the importance of curb appeal, especially when they want to sell their homes,” Vienna Park and Recreation Director Leslie Herman said in a press release. “We’re working with the Town’s economic development department to create a similar dynamic to create a welcoming, vibrant commercial area that attracts residents and visitors and ‘sell’ them on supporting local businesses.”
LSG has proposed replacing or refurbishing 81 landscape planters on both sides of Maple Avenue between East Street and 213 Maple Avenue West, along with 46 planters on both sides of Church Street between Mill Street and Lawyers Road.
The project will focus on flowers, shrubs and other low-lying plants, but some trees may be removed if they’re in “poor condition” or “to allow more light and reduce root competition with the new plant installations,” town staff said in its recommendation to the council.
Replacing planters that were first installed 20 years ago, construction on the new landscaping is expected to begin in mid-September and finish by the end of November.
“If all goes as planned, the commercial corridor’s planters will begin to burst with color next spring,” the town said.
Vienna previously hoped to have the new plants in place by this summer, but in March, the town council argued that funds should be allocated separately for design and installation, rather than all at once, leading to a delay.
The contract of $83,445 was ultimately awarded to LSG on May 1. The town will conduct a second bidding process for a contractor to build and install the new planters in August and September, per a timeline provided by LSG.
This past spring, Fairfax County Public Schools launched a new Twilight Program to assist students whose “life circumstances” beyond the classroom complicated their ability to attend classes.
The program operates outside of the traditional 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. high school day with the goal of helping students graduate on time, FCPS Special Projects Administrator for the Non-Traditional Schools and Programs Joe Thompson says.
According to FCPS, 90 seniors in the program attended extra classes in-person for three days a week from 4-6 p.m. and worked remotely for the remaining two days of the week. The evening instructional hours are meant to compensate for the classes students may miss in the morning or afternoon for external responsibilities, such as child care or a part-time job.
“A lot of our students are closing down a restaurant and not getting home until they’ve cleaned the kitchen at 3 in the morning sometimes, so catching that bus at 7 in the morning is really a very difficult thing to do,” Thompson said. “Or the parents are working late, and they need to watch them and get their own younger siblings off to school, so they were missing their first couple of classes of the day — not because they didn’t want to be there, but just that they have priorities.”
While numbers haven’t been reported for this past year yet, FCPS reported that 94.2% of the Class of 2022 graduated on time. However, the rate dropped to 82.9% for Hispanic students and 72.8% for English language learners.
The program was piloted at six high schools: West Potomac, Justice, Herndon, Mountain View, Bryant and Fairfax County Adult High School. For students not in areas districted to those schools, Thompson says “alternative schools” were used “to supplement the pilot schools.”
He credits FCPS Superintendent Michelle Reid with petitioning principals to voluntarily take on the challenge of implementing the program halfway through the academic year — a busy time for any school.
“During the seventh semester, all the seniors are getting their grades off to colleges, and we’re scheduling for next school year, so for schools to take that on during that time of year was actually pretty surprising and pleasing for us,” Thompson said.
Since the program’s conclusion, Thompson says the pilot schools gave positive feedback on how “powerful” the program has been. Though there were no “set benchmarks” for the program, he believes it was “very successful.”
“We were able to help students get back on track and reengage with school and feel confident about their learning again, so the students were very thankful,” Thompson said. “…It really gave them the confidence to come back into the classroom and feel like people understood their needs and that they could get their education without falling so far behind or having to give up a diploma to help their family.”
“I was so stressed because I knew I was failing a class I needed to graduate,” Madelyn, a Twilight student, told FCPS. “Joining the program was like a second chance and brought so much relief to me.”
The program’s benefits are not only limited to students, Thompson says. While the students receive the necessary support to complete their educational careers in the face of hardship, teachers derive personal fulfillment from helping students succeed and avoid burnout.
“[Teachers] were revitalized by the opportunity to help,” Thompson said. “These students are the underdogs that everybody’s rooting for to do well, and these teachers are having a hand in bringing these students back from possibly not graduating.”
Additionally, the Twilight Program gave teachers — who often already work second jobs and stay after the end of the school day to coach or supervise clubs — the “real advantage” of being able to gain that extra compensation from their own classrooms with familiar faces, Thompson says.
With the school year over, as of June 16, administrators and teachers are evaluating the most effective way to take the program forward. While Thompson isn’t sure the program will start on “day one of school” next fall, he’s optimistic it will continue based on the success indicated by the pilot schools.
“I think this is something that’s going to continue and hopefully grow over the next couple of years,” Thompson said. “We want to grow it right and slow so that we don’t throw people into a position where they can’t succeed. But I do think that based on the success this year, we should see this be something that’s very much sustainable for the next several years.”
One change Thompson aims to implement is an earlier start to the program to “catch a few more students who are struggling.”
“Now, what we want to do is fine-tune timing. Obviously, if we can get students involved earlier, maybe we can catch more before they disengage from school,” Thompson said. “…So we’re hoping that not only will [the program] grow to more schools in our region, but also more students within those schools will see this as an opportunity for them.”
While the future of the program is not set in stone, Thompson hopes to continue making schooling more flexible for FCPS students.
“We really think all students can learn, and it’s just a matter of getting them in the right environment,” Thompson said. “This was our chance to do it, and it worked out as well as we could have hoped.”
After introducing itself earlier this year with a website update and some cherry blossom-related events, the Tysons Community Alliance is now digging into the area’s strengths, needs and what needs to be done to set it up for future success.
Picking up where the now-defunct Tysons Partnership left off, the nonprofit community improvement organization launched a strategic planning effort for Tysons this week by convening a series of work groups that will focus on different topics, such as residential development, transportation and parks.
The strategic plan will serve as an update on the current state of Tysons and a guide to implementing Fairfax County’s Tysons Comprehensive Plan, TCA Board of Directors Chair Josh White told the Board of Supervisors at an economic initiatives committee meeting on June 13.
“One of the key purposes of the alliance is to help catalyze the continuing transformation of Tysons into a walkable, urban center and community,” White said. “…It is our intent to facilitate a community engagement process with a lens focused on diversity, inclusion, equity, and sustainability, which will chart a future direction for Tysons and help shape an action agenda.”
As part of the planning process, the TCA is conducting a conditions assessment and market study that will provide data on economic trends and gaps to support the future strategic plan as well as a new Tysons database.
Acting TCA CEO Richard Bradley — who will soon give way to the first permanent CEO, Katie Cristol — described the database as a more comprehensive version of the Tysons Tracker that the county launched in 2021, sharing information about all things Tysons, from population data to office usage.
Underway since April, the market study is slated to be finished around mid-July, per the presentation. But statistics shared by TCA leaders reinforced the oft-repeated refrain that Tysons is the county’s “economic engine,” while also exposing potential challenges to its ambitions.
Despite encompassing just 1% of the county’s total land area, Tysons accounts for 17% of its jobs, 10% of all retail revenue and 8% of tax revenues, White touted.
As reported to the Fairfax County Planning Commission in January, about 30,124 people now live in Tysons — a 96% increase from 2010, when the comprehensive plan was adopted. Like the county as a whole, the area has a “minority-majority” population, and while 29% of residents earn salaries of $200,000 or more, 38% have incomes of $100,000 or under — a larger percentage than in the overall county.
Some supervisors expressed surprise at those numbers, noting that affordable housing will be critical for maintaining the area’s “economic diversity.”
“I think we all hear Tysons or we hear McLean or we hear Oakton or we hear Falls Church or Alexandria, and we have these preconceived notions of who lives there and what does the community look like and what do the businesses look like,” Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik said.
The TCA also shared positive news for the retail market, where visits have bounced back to 96% of pre-pandemic 2019 levels. Sales in Tysons represent 10% of the county’s total retail revenue, with about 65% of spending coming from non-residents.
On the flip side, the office market continues to struggle, though Tysons and Fairfax County are better off right now than the rest of the D.C. region, according to Bradley.
Despite a 2021 market study that projected a need for at least 1.9 million square feet of new office space over the next decade, existing vacancies have climbed to 20% from around 15% a few years ago, Bradley said. He noted that office visits have returned to about 78% of what it was back in 2019, suggesting that more employers with offices are bringing workers back.
The sustained vacancies have led to an uptick in developers repurposing offices for residential uses. The McLean Citizens Association recently said it counted nine such proposals in Tysons and McLean, raising concerns about possible negative impacts to funding for public services in a June 7 letter to Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay.
“We’ve had some vacancy issues…for quite a while in certain pockets of Tysons,” McKay said. “We don’t want those vacant and, in most cases, antiquated, more suburban-scaled office components to be hinder us from some of the other redevelopment and some of the connecting-of-the-sidewalks piece.”
A recent TCA analysis identified 4.62 miles of gaps in Tysons’ 24-mile sidewalk network, which has been built in large part by developers.
White said the strategic plan will offer more insight into how Tysons can strike the right balance between responding to current trends and preparing for the future by combining a data-driven approach with the firsthand knowledge of the residents, employers, developers and other community members participating in the work groups.
The effort will expand beyond the work groups next month, when TCA anticipates launching surveys on residential development, offices, retail, transportation, parks, and hospitality. The organization hopes to publish a full report with the plan by late fall.
