Finalists Picked To Replace George Mason HS, TJ Elementary School

FALLS CHURCH, VA — The Falls Church City School Board on Tuesday narrowed down the list of names for George Mason High School and Thomas Jefferson Elementary. The school board voted in December to rename the two schools.

The city school board decided the schools should not be named after Founding Fathers who owned slaves. In January, Falls Church Schools Superintendent Peter Noonan selected committees to come up with new names for the schools. The committees consisted of students, faculty, alumni, parents and community members.

The final candidates for the new name of George Mason High School are Tinner Hill High School, Meridian High School, Metropolitan High School, Metro View High School and West End High School.

The finalists for the new name of Thomas Jefferson Elementary School are Mattie Gundry Elementary School, Oak Street Elementary School, The Little City Elementary School, Tripps Run Elementary School, and Truth and Justice Elementary School.

Last June, the Falls Church City School Board committed to actively promoting anti-racism and calling out injustice. Around the same time, there was a community push for renaming the two schools in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The school board initiated the renaming consideration process on June 30, 2020, which led to two public hearings, hundreds of public comments, and a survey to gauge public sentiment.

For George Mason High School, the renaming committee started from a list of more than 274 names. The committee narrowed the list to 18 names, which were presented to the school board at its work session on March 23. The renaming committee then narrowed the list to the five names.

At the school board's Tuesday meeting, Jamie Argento Rodriguez, chair of the high school renaming committee, emphasized that selecting a new name for the high school should only be one step in the process of the school system's goal of creating curriculums that are more inclusive.

Among the five finalists, Tinner Hill High School is the only one named after a family or person. The Tinner Hill area of Falls Church has been recognized as being the location where the first rural branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in the United States.

"The Tinner and Henderson families were instrumental in shaping the Falls Church City we know today, including their efforts to desegregate our schools," the committee said in its justification for including Tinner Hill High School as one of the five finalists. "They represent the type of forward-thinking civic involvement we hope our students will emulate. Tinner Hill High School will combine city history and diversity."

Argento Rodriguez discussed the debate over whether the city should name the high school the City of Falls Church High School or Falls Church City High. A high school in Fairfax County near Loehmann's Plaza just off Route 50 is named Falls Church High School.

Members of the Falls Church High School community contacted the committee to express their "outrage" that the city of Falls Church would consider including "Falls Church" in the name of their high school, she said.

But many members of the community and several members of the committee thought incorporating City of Falls Church or Falls Church City in the name of the high school would be the most logical option.

In the end, the committee decided to be a good neighbor and not include "Falls Church" in the name of any final candidates presented to the school board, even though the school is the only high school in the city of Falls Church.

"Naming the school to include 'Falls Church' is likely to lead to confusion as there would be two high schools with nearly identical or significantly similar names within six miles of each other," the committee wrote in its final report dated April 9.

The proposed names to replace Thomas Jefferson Elementary School include two named after people. Mattie Gundry, an educator, opened The Virginia Training School in Falls Church in 1899.

Sherry Witt, who chaired the renaming committee for Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, said the committee was able to conclude that Gundry was not a supporter of eugenics. Aside from her advocacy for children with disabilities and her other views on education, the committee could not find her views on other topics.

Tripps Run Elementary School would be named after Silas Tripp, a former resident of Falls Church. Witt said the committee was unable to find Tripp's views on race and other issues.

The Falls Church City School Board is asking community members to provide feedback by its next meeting on April 27. The public can reach out to board members by email.

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