After killing the boundary change proposal to relieve McLean High School, the Fairfax County School Board is currently beginning discussions on a broader redistricting effort. But as it does, it’s having trouble escaping the shadow of McLean’s overcrowding.
“I’ve received a number of letters about the McLean area saying that they had a meeting and that staff members were there and there were decisions made,” Karen Keys-Gamarra, an at-large member of the School Board, said in work session on Monday. “In the letters I’ve received, they are expecting to get this boundary change, it’s just a matter of time, so they want to know why the Board is dragging its feet. I think we need a statement in a more official capacity.”
Overcrowding at McLean High School has been a contentious topic made worse by nearby Langley High School’s under-capacity status following extensive renovations.
Dranesville District Representative Jane Strauss had put forward a plan to shift some students in McLean High School’s feeders — elementary and middle schools whose students are planned to attend McLean High School — to Langley. But the plan faced pushback from other members, who said McLean High School needed to wait for the broader redistricting to take effect.
As the School Board is putting together its priorities, Fairfax County Superintendent Scott Brabrand said he will work on putting together more information for the McLean community.
“My own view is I want to work with the Board and get goals and prioritization clear before making boundary decisions,” said Brabrand. “I get that there’s tension, but I think we need to build this transparency… [this process] is based on prioritized factors or goals. When that’s done, then we can begin going through the boundary decisions to include that pyramid.”
School staff said the ongoing challenge is that any school-level changes that get made to address immediate overcrowding could conflict with the countywide plans being developed. Staff noted that a new modular facility will be installed at McLean High School, but that it will not eliminate overcrowding at the school.
But Brabrand assured McLean parents that the update would likely come within the month.
“In March, we will put together goals and hope to have a framework in place before the school year ends,” said Brabrand. “It could impact the 2021 school year.”
Photo via McLean High School PTSA
(Updated 3:15 p.m.) — For 17 years, Natalya Anderson worked cutting hair in Tysons with one goal: opening her own salon. The recently opened Alya Salon and Spa, located at 139 Park St. in Vienna, represents the realization of that dream.
“I always wanted to own my own salon,” said Anderson. “I wanted to have a great team and create a good family.”
The salon opened on Feb. 1, and Anderson said business has been good so far, with a very friendly customer base in Vienna. The store is one block south of Maple Avenue behind the Whole Foods.
For Anderson, people working in hair design are artists, and one of her goals was to have a place in Vienna where she could bring great artists under one roof.
The salon deals mainly with hair, including coloring, cuts and extensions. Anderson said she’s currently looking for someone to help the salon expand to offer spa and facial care services.
Haircuts at the salon are $75, with the salon specializing in curly hair and health-focused haircare. Anderson said the salon has vegan, gluten-free, and paraben-free hair products.
“We’re working on being a ‘green salon’ in the near future,” said Anderson.
Anderson said the green salon status involves entirely eliminating product waste and reducing energy use. Gustavo LLC, where Anderson says she gets her cosmetic products, is also cruelty-free and organic.
But it isn’t all checkups and dye jobs at Alya Salon. Anderson said the company also handles weddings and some fashion shoots.
They recently helped Fairfax Woman Magazine with the cosmetic work for their March/April magazine. Anderson’s also interested in helping out more with charity events around town to help give back to the community that’s welcomed her.
The Fairfax County School Board is looking for a new student voice.
Every year, a high school student is selected to serve as a representative on the School Board.
Applications for the position are currently available online and are due March 18.
“The student representative is not a member of the School Board but serves in a nonvoting, advisory capacity, representing the interests of the students of Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS),” according to a post by FCPS.
The student representative will be required to attend meetings and engage in discussions with members of the School Board. According to the school board bylaws, the student representative will receive compensation for their participation in meetings, but not to exceed $50 per day.
Students in grades 9, 10, and 11 are eligible for the position.
Applicants will need to attend the election convention at Edison High School on April 11 and speak in front of the Student Advisory Council’s student delegates. The delegates will then elect a representative to the board.
Photo via FCPS
Hästens, a self-described luxury bed company based out of Sweden, is opening a new store in Tysons Galleria.
According to an employee in the Tysons Galleria management office, construction hasn’t started on the store yet. The opening is expected sometime late in the summer.
Hästens was founded in 1852 and is the official bedding supplier of the Swedish royal court.
Some of the beds are over six-figures, though the most popular model is $27,500.
There are approximately 200 locations worldwide. This is the first location in the region for the chain, whose next closest store is in New York City.
Photo via Facebook
If you’re a member of Vienna’s Nextdoor neighborhood network, you might start to see an increased number of updates on crime and issues in your local community.
Nextdoor is a social networking service focused on neighborhoods, requiring users to submit their real names and addresses to keep the information local. The website often includes reports on crime in the area and has taken some flack as a potential tool for racial profiling.
The Vienna Police Department announced yesterday it’s partnering with the website’s government interface to send updates.
“I am pleased to let you know that starting today; we’ll start using Nextdoor’s free government interface to partner with you and your neighbors to build community, improve quality of life, and work together to make your neighborhood safer and stronger,” Juan Vazquez, public information officer for the Vienna Police Department, said in the post. “As a member of Nextdoor that lives in Town of Vienna, you’ll automatically get our messages.”
The messages can be opted out of at Nextdoor’s management system.
Vazquez also noted in the post that police cannot read what users of Nextdoor are discussing, but can see replies to posts when discussions are enabled.
Photo via Facebook
There’s black bunting up on the Vienna Volunteer Fire Station in commemoration of George William “Bill” Ellis, a man who worked in the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department for 50 years and served as chief for 20.
Ellis died last Friday (Feb. 22) at 81 in Fairfax Hospital.
He was born in D.C. in 1937 and joined the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department at 18, according to his obituary. He attained the rank of Fire Chief in 1980 and remained in that role until 2001 when he and his wife, Joan Ellis, moved to Culpeper. He was the longest serving volunteer firefighter.
There, he joined the Salem Volunteer Fire Department and continued to work as a fire truck driver until a little over a year ago.
“He represents the best of Vienna over the years,” said Vienna Town Councilmember Howard Springsteen at a meeting on Monday.
When he wasn’t volunteering at the fire department, Ellis was a cable splicing technician with C&P Telephone, hanging off of telephone poles to install and fix lines.
“Bill enjoyed tinkering with everything,” according to the obituary. “His collection of nuts, bolts, washers and various fasteners, tools and wire allowed him to create a device for almost every situation. If you were missing a small part, Bill had it or could make it. His basement in Vienna and, later, his garage in Culpeper were his domain. Only he knew where things were.”
The Salem Volunteer Fire Department will host a celebration of his life on Saturday (March 9) at 11 a.m. in their headquarters at 13428 Scotts Mill Road.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation to his wife, Joan, to assist with medical and funeral expenses. Donations can also be made through PayPal by contacting Bill’s son, Robert Ellis at [email protected].
Ellis photo via Twitter, Vienna Volunteer Fire Department photo via Facebook
(Updated 4 p.m.) — A same-sex “power couple” from McLean has helped to push through new legislation in Virginia that streamlines the surrogacy process.
When an out-of-state judge denied Jay Timmons and Rick Olson parental rights for their newly born son, Jacob, through surrogacy, they decided to do something about it.
The couple, who are both Republicans, lobbied GOP lawmakers in Richmond with the help of Timmons’ one-time boss, former Virginia Gov. George Allen. Their efforts helped a new surrogacy bill pass.
More on the bill from WUSA 9, above, and from the Washington Post.
Some attempted shoplifting at the Tysons Corner Center mall’s Apple Store escalated into a foot chase as one of the suspects attempted to flee, according to county police.
The incident occurred yesterday (Tuesday) at 1 p.m.
According to Fairfax County Police, officers responded to the Apple Store for a report of two individuals taking store property. One of the men was stopped by store employees, but a juvenile led officers on a short foot pursuit through the mall before being arrested.
“Aideen Bryar, 18, of Chevy Chase, Md., was charged with petit larceny and released on a summons,” police said in a crime roundup. “The juvenile was released to their parents and charges for petit larceny are forthcoming.”
File photo
(Updated 2:40 p.m.) — The Boro, the Meridian Group’s 1.7 million-square-foot development that aims to compete with Tysons Corner Center Mall as the commercial heart of Tysons, is inching closer towards completion.
The first opening is Boro Tower, which has already started opening to tenants.
“As of right now, we’ve delivered the Boro Tower,” said Caroline Flax, senior analyst for the Meridian Group. “Tegna moved in January.”
The Boro Tower is part of Block C, which includes the Showplace Icon theater building. Flax said the movie theater building is complete, with tenants finishing their build-out inside the space.
The residential and retail towers of Block A at the development’s northern point are scheduled for an opening later in the summer. Flax said the 25-story luxury condominium “Verse” tower, a collaboration between the Meridian Group and Kettler, is planned to open this fall. Pre-leasing for residential units for “Rise,” a 27-story apartment tower, will begin in the spring with move-in scheduled for the summer.
Much of the site’s premier retailers are located along Boro Place, the pseudo-main street of the Boro development. The street is currently undergoing its final round of paving.
Flax said many of the openings on Boro Place hinge on the timing of the region’s largest Whole Foods opening.
“Boro Place is going to open in coordination with Whole Foods, which is looking at late summer, early fall,” said Flax. “A lot of tenants don’t want to open until they do.”
Flax noted that most of the restaurants and retail in the development have already been announced, but that the company is still working on a couple contracts for retail occupants.
“We’re excited to get everything open and ready for the general public,” said Flax.
Fresh off a ranking in Bloomberg’s wealthiest places in America list, McLean took the number 10 spot in a rundown of American cities ranked by money management.
The list by WalletHub, a personal finance website based in D.C., compared over 2,500 cities and ranked them based on 10 indicators of money management.
The ranking factors in things like credit card, mortgage, and other debts as compared to incomes.
The median credit score in McLean is particularly high at 761 with an average number of late payments at 0.75.
Vienna also made an appearance on the list at 37th overall. The town’s average credit score is 763, but residents are a little sloppier on the payment deadlines, with an average 1.1 late payments.
Falls Church comes in at number 68 with a credit score of 733 and 2.08 late payments.
