Falls Church School Board, Renaming Committee Applicants Sought

FALLS CHURCH, VA — Falls Church City Public Schools put out a callout for applicants to fill an upcoming school board vacancy and a renaming committee.

The Falls Church City School Board seeks is seeking applications to term of School Board member Lawrence Webb, who will resign on Jan. 4, 2021. Applications may be submitted by qualified City of Falls Church voters in the City of Falls Church who are not employed by the School Board. The appointee will serve from the date of appointment until Dec. 31, 2021.

Applications will be accepted through Friday, Jan. 15. Letters should indicate the applicant’s interest in the position, state why they are applying, and describe their qualifications and sent to School Board Clerk, Ms. Marty Gadell (gadellm@fccps.org). All letters received by the deadline will be posted publicly.

The school board will hold a public hearing on Jan. 26 to hear from interested parties and consider applications received. A final vote could happen on Feb. 9.

The renaming committee formations follow a Dec. 8 school board vote to rename Thomas Jefferson Elementary School and George Mason High School. Superintendent Peter Noonan is accepting applications for those seeking appointment to one of two advisory study committees to the school board. One of the committees is for the high school, and the other is for the elementary school. Each will have a chairperson and 15 to 20 members with a broad representation of race, gender, socioeconomic, and category.

The renaming process will follow the guidelines outlined in the school district's Regulation FFA-R School Building Names Committee. The committees are tasked with providing five potential names for the elementary school and five names for the high school to the school board by April 13. The committees are encouraged to think beyond naming buildings after people and think about place making and other aspects of the community, as well as seek public input.

Applications can be found online and will be accepted through Jan. 15. Below is the timeline for the committees' work.

• Jan. 29: Committee “kick-off” meetings
• Feb. 23: Committee Chairs meet with the School Board for an interim update
• March 12: Committee prepares 5 names for presentation to the School Board
• March 23: Committee Chairs present proposed names to the School Board at the work session
• April 13: School Board votes on the final names at a Regular Meeting