Smoke Detected in Building at Inova Fairfax Medical Campus — Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department units reported to the 3300 block of Gallows Road in Falls Church yesterday. Smoke in a building was determined to be from “an arching light fixture in a data center. Most units returned to service shortly after the situation was controlled. [FCFRD/Twitter]
Virginia Surpasses COVID-19 Vaccine Goal — “In early January we set a goal of administering at least 50,000 doses of #COVID19 vaccine per day. Today, our daily average is over 51,300 shots and nearly 16% of Virginians have received at least one dose. While we still have a lot of work ahead of us, this is great progress.” [Gov. Ralph Northam/Twitter]
Falls Church City School Board Member to Resign — Shawna Russell announced last week that she will resign from her seat at the end of the month. She is the second member to step down in the past two months after Lawrence Webb, whose temporary replacement Sonia Ruiz-Bolanos joined the board for the first time on Feb. 23. [Falls Church News-Press]
McLean Private School Students Earn Place in Science Olympiad State Championships — “The BASIS Independent McLean Middle School Science Olympiad team is headed to this year’s virtual state championships! The team has placed well in many competitions throughout the season, and the team’s overall second place the February’s Regional Tournament secured their advancement to states.” [BASIS Independent McLean]
McLean High School Students Curate Women’s History Month Art Show — “Members of the McLean Student Art Projectare sponsoring the show that portrays gender equality, celebrates women, and bring awareness to gender stereotypes and the objectification of women that still exists today. The virtual art show is available online.” [Fairfax County Public Schools]
Photo via Elvert Barnes/Flickr
McLean Private School Announces New Leader — “We are excited to announce that Jason Shorbe, current Head of School at BASIS International School Guangzhou, will join the BASIS Independent McLean community as Head of School for the 2021-2022 school year.” [BASIS Independent Schools]
Researchers Seek Public Input on Merrifield Self-Driving Shuttle — “Relay will be available to public riders for about a year, and George Mason University School of Business is seeking public feedback on the pilot program.” [Greater Greater Washington]
Vienna’s Jammin’ Java Awarded COVID-19 Assistance Grant — “The Live Music Society has committed to giving $2 million in grants in its first two years of operation to support the live music ecosystem around the United States.” [Falls Church News-Press]
Salesforce to Purchase Acumen Solutions in McLean — “On Dec. 1, the same day it announced that it was acquiring workplace communication service company Slack for $27.7 billion in cash and stock, cloud-services company Salesforce.com Inc. revealed that it’s also acquiring McLean-based professional services firm Acumen Solutions.” [Virginia Business]
Haycock Elementary Teacher Turns Treehouse into Classroom — “For Haycock Elementary School teacher Nellie Williams, creativity took on new heights as she and her husband decided to upgrade their backyard treehouse for her to use as a classroom.” [Fairfax County Public Schools]
Hybrid Learning — “BASIS Independent McLean, which like all Virginia schools switched to online-only classes this spring because of the public-health emergency, on Aug. 25 reopened under a hybrid plan combining in-person and online learning.” [Inside NoVa]
Food Insecurity High — “Share of McLean is seeing twice its usual demand for food assistance, and several times its usual demand for emergency financial assistance, as the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to exact a heavy toll on the country’s most vulnerable populations.” [Connection Newspapers]
Calls to Remove Library Trustee — “A Fairfax County Library Board of Trustees member is facing criticism for comments about the diverse titles featured on the library’s online catalog. The Virginia Library Association expressed opposition to Phillip Rosenthal’s comments in a letter, while the NOVA Equity Agenda Coalition took it a step further and called for his resignation or removal.” [Patch]
Work Completed Along Route 7 — “The Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project Phase 1 crews have completed all work along eastbound and westbound Route 7 in Tysons.” [Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project]
Photo by Michelle Goldchain
Students at a private school in Tysons got to examine and touch artifacts from American history in a unique lesson on World War II.
The traveling “Operation Footlocker” exhibit stopped by an AP U.S. history class at the BASIS Independent McLean (BIM) yesterday (Tuesday), according to the school.
The program by the National WWII Museum sends a footlocker full of 15 artifacts from WWII — like letters home, sand collected from Normandy and Iwo Jima, or wartime magazines — to schools in order to facilitate hands-on educational experiences.
The footlocker opened in BIM included a 1944 high school yearbook, wooden toys, and a U.S. Army field manual. The footlockers come with cotton gloves for handling the artifacts and a manual to explain the significance of each object.
“We’re grateful to the National World War II Museum for this fantastic learning opportunity that allows our students to touch, feel and see this moment in history with genuine artifacts,” said Tiffany Conroy, head of school for BIM in the press release.
Arconic Scraps Plan to Move to Tysons — “New York City-based Arconic Inc. has decided not to relocate its corporate headquarters to Tysons, following announcements this week of a new chief executive and plans to split into two companies.” [Washington Business Journal, Wall Street Journal]
Crash Closes Road in McLean —Â Georgetown Pike was closed in both directions at Tebbs Lane in McLean by a multi-vehicle crash Sunday afternoon. [Twitter]
Beyer and Wexton on ‘Face the Nation’ — “Democratic Virginia Reps. Don Beyer and Jennifer Wexton renewed their calls for Gov. Ralph Northam and Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax to step down over their respective controversies” on CBS’s Face the Nation Sunday morning. [CBS News]
Academic Competition for Local Students — A 10th grade BASIS Independent McLean student won first place in the 2019 Northern Virginia History Bowl Junior Varsity Division, an eighth-grader won The Langley School’s 2019 National Geographic Bee, and the Oakcrest School in Vienna sent three teams to compete at the regional Science Olympiad earlier this month. [McLean Connection, InsideNova, Fairfax Times]
Screen capture via @DildineWTOP