Herrity Criticizes Langley HS Book Display — Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity took issue with a display in Langley High School’s library featuring books “some adults don’t want you to read.” The supervisor later claimed that Fairfax County Public Schools “apologized for the sign on display” and “are now reviewing their policies and procedures.” [Pat Herrity/Twitter]

How to Detect COVID-19 Scams — “Martin Bailey, a member of the Northern Virginia AARP Fraud Watch Network, the Virginia Senior Medicare Patrol and Fairfax County’s Silver Shield Task Force, regularly produces a Scam Slam audio series. And the most recent Scam Slams cover these COVID scams — unsubstantiated COVID-19 treatment claims appearing on social media platforms, phony COVID testing sites and how to get your free COVID test kits.” [Fairfax County Health Department]

Tysons Ritz-Carlton Among Top Virginia Hotels — “We are delighted to share that The Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner has been awarded the #9 Best Hotel in Virginia and #20 in Washington, D.C., and has earned a Gold Badge in the Best USA Category by U.S. News and World Report! Thank you to our guests for supporting us through the years and for the #RCMemories shared.” [The Ritz-Carlton Tysons/Facebook]

General Assembly Hits Midpoint — It’s crossover day for the Virginia General Assembly, when the House and Senate take up the other chamber’s bills. The Republican-controlled House has passed a slate of bills favored by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, including restrictions on voting, abortion, and school curriculums, while the Democratic Senate has mostly blocked the governor’s agenda. [The Washington Post]

McLean Budget Forum Scheduled — With the new proposed county government budget set to be unveiled next Tuesday (Feb. 22), the McLean Citizens Association will host a free, virtual public forum on the topic on Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. Participants will include Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust, School Board Representative Elaine Tholen, and County Executive Bryan Hill. [MCA]

Real Estate Company Relocates Tysons Office — After nearly a decade in its current space at 1850 Towers Crescent Plaza, the real estate firm JLL will move its Northern Virginia office to 1800 Tysons Boulevard in the first quarter of this year. The new office will occupy 26,500 square feet in the Lerner-owned, 12-story-tall tower. [Commercial Observer]

Spring Hill Rec Center Pool Closed This Morning — “The Spring Hill Rec Center pool will be closed through at least midday Tuesday (February 8, 2022) due to mechanical issues. The rest of the facility remains open.” [FCPA/Twitter]

Lane Shift Coming for Route 7 in McLean — “Starting on or about Thursday, Feb. 10, drivers on westbound Route 7 will experience a lane shift to the south (towards the median) between Laurel Hill Road and Lewinsville Road as crews perform utility work under Route 7. All residences, businesses and other public facilities will remain accessible.” [VDOT]

McLean Teen Makes Science Competition Finals — Ben Choi, a senior at the Potomac School, is among 40 finalists in the nationwide 2022 Regeneron Science Talent Search, a prestigious science and math competition. For his project, Choi designed a “low-cost 3D prosthetic arm that can be controlled by a brainwave-detecting headband worn on the forehead.” [Patch]

McLean Coding School Has Global Reach — “When she helped start Codefy in 2019, [Lucy] Chen was a 17-year-old junior at Langley High School in McLean. Now 19 and a student at Columbia University, Chen helps oversee an online coding school that has grown exponentially and has taught thousands of students — all for free.” [Inside NoVA]

Inova Launches COVID-19 Testing Site — “Experiencing COVID-19 symptoms? An Inova COVID-19 Vehicle-Side Testing Clinic will open Dec 30. Open M-F, 8am-5pm. PCR testing only, no rapid antigen testing. Appointments are required, please contact call ctr: 571-472-6843. Open M-F, 8am-6pm.” [Inova Health/Twitter]

Fairfax County Public Schools Commits to In-Person Classes on Return — “We recognize that a lot has changed over the past two weeks, with the omicron variant causing an increase in COVID-19 cases nationwide. As we continue to live through this ever-changing pandemic, we are committed to keeping our schools safe and open for in-person instruction.” [FCPS]

Men Arrested for Local 7-Eleven Robberies — Fairfax County police have arrested two men who are allegedly connected to robberies of a 7-Eleven at 9511 Blake Lane in Fairfax on Dec. 6 and a 7-Eleven at 8110 Old Dominion Drive in McLean on Dec. 11. Police believe the suspects were also involved in other robberies in neighboring jurisdictions. [FCPD]

Fire Department Further Adjust Staffing Due to COVID-19 Cases — The Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department detailed additional staffing changes yesterday (Wednesday) on top of ones reported earlier that day by Tysons Reporter’s sister site FFXnow. The department now has 66 employees infected by COVID-19, with another 12 staff members required to quarantine. [FCFRD]

Langley Student Gets Perfect ACT Score — “Kaavya Radhakrishnan, a junior at Langley High School in McLean, scored a perfect 36 on her ACT exam this year…Only about a third of 1% of students who take the ACT earn the top score – or just 5,579 out of 1.67 million students who took the ACT in the United States in 2020, according to the nonprofit that administers the test.” [Inside NoVA]

Highline Office Buildings Refinanced — “Westbrook Partners and American Real Estate Partners (AREP) have landed a $148 million refinance from CIM Group for Highline at Greensboro District, a 460,851-square-foot, Class A office campus in Tysons Corner…Westbrook and AREP purchased the two-building Highline complex — at 8401 and 8405 Greensboro Drive in McLean, Va. — in 2017 for $132 million, and have invested a further $31 million to renovate and reposition it since.” [Commercial Observer]

A beloved 65-year-old security professional killed this week in a crash on Georgetown Pike will be honored with a candlelight vigil in McLean, along with funeral services at the D.C. school where he worked and in his hometown state of Texas.

The family-led candlelight vigil will be held tomorrow (Nov. 20) at 5 p.m. at Langley High School, honoring Fairfax resident Andre Newman, the son of Ray Charles saxophonist David “Fathead” Newman.

Newman was driving east on Georgetown Pike on Saturday (Nov. 13) when he collided with a Range Rover attempting to turn left near Langley High School, police reported. He was taken to the hospital, where he died on Sunday (Nov. 14).

“Andre Newman always seemed to have the light on his side,” said an obituary shared by his daughter. “Born the son of the world renowned Jazz legend, David ‘Fathead’ Newman, Andre knew the weight and gravity of cultivating your personal talents, exhibiting a great work ethic, community servitude and investing into family unity.”

Newman was born in Dallas on May 16, 1956 and earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Bishop College in Marshall, Texas. He moved to the D.C. region to pursue a graduate education at American University, going on to serve as a partial owner of the now-defunct firm Aimats Security Agency.

Starting in August 2002, he worked as a security supervisor at Sidwell Friends, the D.C.-based private school attended by several presidents’ children, from Richard Nixon’s daughters, Julie and Tricia, to Sasha and Malia Obama.

Head of School Bryan Garman praised Newman as a “lifelong learner” who “lived with kindness” in a letter to the Sidwell Friends community.

“A former supervisor of the night shift, he more recently took on mid-day responsibilities, including dismissal,” Garman wrote. “He especially took pride in his meticulous documentation of security incidents and his keen investigative skills.”

Sidwell Friends will have a service at 10 a.m. on Nov. 28. Newman’s Dallas funeral service will be Dec. 5.

He is survived by his wife, Shirleen Newman; his children, Esther Newman, Arianna Newman, and Andre Newman II; and his brothers, Terry, Cadino, and Benji.

Photo via Robert Towell/Flickr

Fairfax County student Pranav Choudhary started watching school board meetings on YouTube in middle school.

Now, the rising senior at Langley High School is the next student representative to the school board.

Elected by the countywide Student Advisory Council to serve a one-year term, beginning July 1, he will participate in board meetings as a nonvoting member, filling the position currently held by Nathan Onibudo, a senior at South County High School. He will be the school board’s 51st student representative.

Choudhary aims to be a voice for students on issues affecting his peers, including how Fairfax County Public Schools delivers instruction to students enrolled in different programs and supports students struggling with their mental health or who have disabilities.

He also hopes to carve out more spaces for students to use their voices.

“If you don’t have a seat at the table, you’d better pull over a chair and sit yourself down to make your voice heard,” he said. “[That’s] why I want to expand student voice opportunities across the county.”

He has experience amplifying student voices as a member of the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council and as the co-founder of Virginia Teen Democrats.

“We didn’t see a space for teens in the Democratic Party of Virginia and in Virginia Democratic politics,” he said. “VATD has taught me how to organize [and] how to make sure that everybody is pulling their weight.”

Choudhary argues that student voices will be critical to overcoming the educational gaps that FCPS sees based on race, socioeconomic status, and English language proficiency.

He says FCPS should also examine differences in the kinds of experiences students get depending on whether they’re in the Advanced Academic Program, general, and honors education, such as the extra field trips available to AAP students.

“We often talk about equity in this broad, intangible sense, but we don’t talk about what that means and what that looks like,” he said.

He also sees room for more student participation in deciding what services schools must provide to students with disabilities — codified in an Individualized Education Plan — a conversation mostly directed by parents, teachers, and specialists.

“There is a lack of students’ voice in the IEP process,” he said. “Ensuring everyone can be heard and that their individual needs are met is beyond vital.”

That also means “proactively monitoring the environment in which students are being put day-to-day” to look for signs of depression and suicide, he says. Read More

At this time next week, middle and high school students in Fairfax County will be able to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as part of their school day.

Now that adolescents aged 12-15 are eligible to get the Pfizer vaccine, Fairfax County Public Schools is partnering with the Fairfax County Health Department to open COVID-19 vaccination sites at several high schools around the county, including Langley High School in McLean on May 26.

Announced in a letter sent to parents last night (Monday), the initial schedule will be:

• Tuesday, May 25: Bryant High School (2709 Popkins Lane, Alexandria)
• Wednesday, May 26: Langley High School (6520 Georgetown Pike, McLean)
• Thursday, May 27: Annandale High School (4700 Medford Dr., Annandale)
• Friday, May 28: Mount Vernon High School (8515 Old Mt. Vernon Rd., Alexandria)

More sites will be added starting on June 1, with at least five additional sites expected to be selected later in May, according to FCPS spokesperson Lucy Caldwell.

Registration is now open online for appointments, which will be scheduled between 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. each day. Students must obtain parent or guardian consent by 8 p.m. on Thursday (May 20) to participate in next week’s clinics.

“It is important to register as soon as possible to ensure that your student will be able to take advantage of this opportunity,” FCPS said. “If maximum capacity is reached, families will be referred to the nearest vaccine clinic for an appointment.”

The county health department estimates that it will be able to vaccinate roughly 600-700 students a day with these clinics, according to Caldwell.

The clinics are open to all eligible students, not just students who attend the schools where they will be located. Transportation will be provided to and from the vaccination sites for all students, but students who are learning virtually need to be dropped off and picked up at their base school.

Caldwell says the schools scheduled for next week were chosen based on the availability of appropriate facilities.

“This is a busy time of year with testing and other events underway at our schools,” she told Tysons Reporter by email. “The large rooms needed — gyms/cafeterias — were essential for the vaccination sites.”

FCPS and the Fairfax County Health Department announced that they were planning to organize vaccine clinics at schools last week after federal officials approved the Pfizer vaccine for people 12 to 15 years of age.

FCPS previously worked with Inova Health System to set up vaccine clinics specifically for school employees.

By partnering with the county health department, FCPS hopes to remove barriers with scheduling, transportation, or other issues that might make it challenging for some students to get access to the vaccine, Caldwell says.

In addition to hosting clinics, FCPS has launched an “Ask Me Why” information campaign to encourage eligible students to get vaccinated, which will be critical as the school system prepares to resume five days of in-person learning in the fall.

On top of the general public health benefits of getting immunized against a disease that 689 Fairfax County students have contracted since Sept. 8, fully vaccinated students will be able to continue attending school in person without having to quarantine if they are exposed to someone who tests positive for COVID-19.

“We are hopeful that our students, ages 12 and up, will take advantage of vaccination and return to five days, in-person learning in Fall,” Caldwell said. “It is significant for many reasons, as we believe it is best for students to attend school in person, but also for the social-emotional aspect of building relationships, friendships and rapport with peers.”

The Fairfax County School Board voted last night (Thursday) to change the boundaries for McLean and Langley high schools — but not in the way they had discussed last month.

Of the three possible boundary changes presented to the community in December, Fairfax County Public Schools recommended a modified version of Option C when the school board met on Jan. 21. Last night, however, the option presented for the board to vote on was “Option B,” which passed 11-1 with Member-At-Large Abrar Omeish dissenting.

The approved boundary change will reassign students from McLean to Langley in the Colvin Run Elementary School split feeder area, along with portions of the Westbriar and Spring Hill elementary school split feeder areas.

Dranesville District Representative Elaine Tholen also included a provision that would allow rising ninth graders affected by the boundary change to either attend Langley High School this fall or be grandfathered into McLean High School and get transportation provided for all four years of school.

Overcrowding is a decades-old problem at McLean despite several attempts to add space, the latest of which comes in the form of 12 modular classrooms that are currently under construction. They will be finished later this month and ready for students’ return in March, Tholen said.

The option that was favored last month would have shifted some Spring Hill Elementary students from Longfellow Middle School and McLean High to Cooper Middle School and Langley High.

Tholen said Option B came out ahead after the board weighed “many considerations, many of them contradictory,” from the impact of future developments to diversity at Langley High School.

“We heard loud and clear from those who participated in our public hearing and public engagement process: Clean up at least one split feeder while giving McLean some capacity relief,” Tholen said.

Community input is also the reason why the two feeder middle schools of Longfellow and Cooper were included in the boundary adjustment study.

As a result of the new boundaries, an estimated 190 students previously assigned to McLean will now go to Langley, and an estimated 78 students from Longfellow will be moved to Cooper.

“This is not a perfect solution. Neither were the other options,” Providence District Representative Karl Frisch said, adding that he would have loved to address the Colvin Run and Spring Hill split feeders “in their entirety.”

Frisch said this option relieves capacity concerns at McLean without overloading Langley or Cooper, and improves both the Colvin Run and Spring Hill split feeders. He added that FCPS and the board will continue studying capacity data for McLean, Langley and Marshall high schools as well as other schools in the Tysons area.

Omeish commended Tholen for her diligence but predicted the board will be “finding ourselves here in a few years” with this limited change.

“I don’t feel in good conscience that this is the most long-term solution,” she said.

Image via FCPS

Fairfax County Public Schools has further refined a plan to relieve overcapacity at McLean High School using available space at Langley High School.

After presenting three possible boundary changes for the McLean and Langley pyramids at a community meeting on Dec. 7, FCPS Facilities and Transportation Services reviewed public feedback to refine one of its proposals, dubbed “Option C.” The updated option was presented to the Fairfax County School Board last night (Thursday).

For the last 10 years, overcrowding has persisted at McLean despite several limited attempts to add space over the years. The school sits at 118% capacity, with 2,350 students in a building designed for 1,993. Currently, 12 modular classrooms are being built to bring the capacity down to 100%.

The new recommendation from FCPS reassigns a portion of the area that currently feeds students from Spring Hill Elementary School to Longfellow Middle School and McLean. About 159 students would move from McLean to Langley, and about 73 students would move from Longfellow to Cooper Middle School.

“We have come a long way since work first began on the boundary adjustment between McLean and Langley pyramids,” Dranesville Representative Elaine Tholen said during the meeting. “Tonight, we are seeing some of the fruits of hard work our facilities staff has done to analyze option after option after listening to and incorporating public input.”

The original “Option C,” presented in December, considered reassigning students in the Spring Hill Elementary School split feeder area. After collecting emailed comments and verbal feedback, staff modified this option to create the new recommendation, said Jeffrey Platenberg, the assistant superintendent of facilities and transportation.

“This is a pretty natural process,” he said during the meeting. “We usually call these the hybrid recommendation.”

Staff who reviewed public feedback found that the communities involved were primarily concerned about the impact of development in and around Tysons, the possibility of too many split feeders, and the socioeconomic diversity of the schools involved, he said.

Meanwhile, Tholen said some have shared concerns about balancing populations amid COVID-19 uncertainties and ongoing development. Others worry that Cooper Middle School will be overlooked in the focus on McLean and Longfellow, and still other community members want FCPS to diversify the types of housing within the boundaries for Langley.

As for those worried about children in their final year of elementary, middle or high school, school board policy allows FCPS to grandfather in these students, Platenberg said.

The assistant superintendent said the proposed revision addresses some of these concerns while allowing FCPS to monitor growth at McLean and Langley high schools.

Tholen acknowledged that no plan will address all concerns, but she encouraged every neighborhood to share how they feel they would be impacted.

“We are still taking public input,” she said. “No final decision has been made.”

There will be a public hearing next Thursday (Jan. 28), and after that, the school board will vote to pick a plan on Feb. 4.

“Your input has been thoughtful and extremely helpful, so please continue,” Tholen said.

Chart via FCPS

Fairfax County Public Schools will host a community meeting to discuss a potential boundary adjustment for McLean High School at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 7, Dranesville District School Board Representative Elaine Tholen said in a newsletter sent out on Tuesday (Nov. 24).

The proposed boundary adjustment is intended to address overcrowding at McLean High School, which currently has 2,292 students in a building designed for 1,993 students, according to FCPS.

With enrollment at McLean High projected to increase over the next five years, FCPS has been exploring the possibility of moving the school’s boundary to instead send some students to Langley High School, which increased its capacity to 2,370 students after being renovated in 2018.

As of this October, Langley High School has 2,004 enrolled students.

Plans to adjust McLean High’s boundaries have been in the works since at least early 2019. FCPS even held two boundary scope community meetings last December, but the process was put on hold as the Fairfax County School Board’s focus shifted to challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tholen says FCPS staff will use the upcoming community meeting to present information and options for the boundary adjustment to community members, who will then give feedback that will be shared with the school board.

Public input from the previous meetings convinced the school board to expand the study’s scope to include the boundaries for Longfellow Middle School and Cooper Middle School as well as McLean and Langley High, according to Tholen.

“If we move forward with a boundary adjustment, the plan will be for students to move from their elementary school to Cooper and then to Langley, or to Longfellow and then to McLean,” Tholen said.

In the meantime, FCPS hopes to “increase the comfort and efficiency of educational spaces” at McLean High School by replacing trailers on the school’s tennis courts with a modular unit that has 12 classrooms and restroom facilities.

Tholen says the unit has been placed at the school and will be ready for use in late December, though whether any students will be allowed to use it at that point remains to be seen.

FCPS staff has also been working with staff from Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust’s office, Providence District staff, and members of the McLean Citizens Association “to enhance data analysis for Tyson’s area development and the impact on schools.”

“We are fortunate to have John Foust as a member of that work group,” Tholen said. “I will be working with these groups to look at our next steps for further capacity work at McLean High School and the surrounding areas.”

Photo via McLean High School PTSA