Essentials Magazine Essentials Fall 2019 | Page 32

BY DEISY BRANGMAN AND DR. PETER NOONAN
Planning the HEART of a Community:
The City of Falls Church, Virginia’s New Public High School
“T
he Little City” of Falls Church, Virginia, is currently making
a once-in-a-lifetime investment: It is building a new high
school that will meet the current and future vision for its
top-performing school and district. That vision includes flexibility for
current and future educational programming, enrollment growth, and
continued extensive use by the community.
With any major capital improve-
ment, a district has to find just the right
balance of community engagement.
The City of Falls Church, with a very
civically involved population of over
14,000 residents in just 2.2 square miles,
stepped up to the challenge. A process
involving transparent and collaborative
community engagement, as well as
creative financing and real estate trans-
actions, has resulted in the new Heart of
the Community.
The City of Falls Church, Virginia,
with history dating back to the 1600s, is
known for its urban village community,
nationally ranked K–12 International
24 32 essentials
2019
essentials | spring
| fall 2019
Baccalaureate (IB) public school sys-
tem, environmental activism, endless
community activities, and close prox-
imity to Washington, DC (9 miles from
City Hall to the White House).
As one of the top-ranked high
schools in Virginia (#12) and nationally
(#515) by U.S News & World Report,
George Mason High School has ex-
perienced steady enrollment growth
since its opening in 1952, now serving
over 800 students and with projections
estimating up to 1,500 students in the
next 20–30 years. The aging facility, and
city’s only high school, no longer met
the needs of the school’s progressive and
advanced academic program — the way
students today learn and work together,
appropriate security features to ensure
the safety of the students, and efficient
use by community groups. Falls Church
City Public Schools (FCCPS) needed a
contemporary, appropriately sized high
school. But how could this little city af-
ford such a major investment, in an area
where new high school construction
costs were averaging over $100M?
In 2013, with extensive community
engagement and support, the city took
the first step toward the construction of
a new, larger high school by negotiating
full ownership and control of the land
from adjacent Fairfax County.
From 2014–2016, to facilitate
financial and master planning of the
campus, FCCPS and the city’s General
Government established a Joint Cam-
pus Process Planning Group, Campus
Joint Steering Committee, and commu-
nications plan. Keeping the school and
broader city community informed was