New FCPS Head Asked About McLean HS Upgrades, Salad Bars, Environment

MCLEAN, VA — Michelle Reid, the new superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools, met with students and families Wednesday night at the McLean Community Center where she took questions on a variety of school-related topics, including planned renovations at McLean High School.

The McLean Citizens Association, which hosted the event, is hoping to make the forum — where students get a chance to pose questions to the Fairfax County schools superintendent — an annual event each fall.

Reid, who took over as superintendent in early July, was joined by Elaine Tholen, the Dranesville member of the Fairfax County School Board, as well as Amielia Mitchell, executive principal for FCPS Region 2, and Douglas Tyson, assistant superintendent of FCPS Region 1. The event was facilitated by Jim Beggs, chair of the McLean Citizens Association education and youth committee.

When asked about any planned renovations at McLean High School, Reid immediately said she was told to expect questions about the school’s infrastructure, including bathroom renovations.

Tholen explained that funding from the state will allow the bathrooms at McLean High School to be renovated in the summer of 2023. Some carpet and ceiling tiles also will be replaced at the school, she said.

Poor building conditions and overcrowding are significant causes of concern for administrators and students at the school, The Highlander, McLean High School’s school newspaper, reported in March.

McLean High School was built in 1955 and was last renovated in 2005. “[The aging building] is a huge issue. I know that the students are concerned with the bathrooms, as we all are, because it is not pretty in there,” McLean High School finance technician Jennifer Hill told The Highlander.

Despite the building concerns at the school, McLean High School is often ranked as one of the best high schools in the state in terms of student achievement. Langley High School, located a few miles away, recently underwent a renovation and does not have a similar student capacity problem. Langley also is ranked annually as one of the best high schools in Virginia.

The Highlander reported that the @mclean.rot Instagram account was created by students to document areas of the school in need of renovation. Many of the photos posted on the account show bathrooms with backed up toilets and writing on the bathroom stalls, along with ceiling tiles with water damage.

“We don’t have a plan right now for a complete renovation [of McLean High School],” Tholen said at Wednesday’s meeting.

FCPS is currently looking at developing new criteria for ranking its schools for renovation. A request for proposals has been issued for a company to review the status of all 200 school buildings and the types of renovations needed, she said.

At the forum, a sixth-grader asked Reid about whether a salad bar would be coming to her school.

The superintendent said that before the pandemic, 101 of the 140 elementary schools in Fairfax County had salad bars. Currently, all FCPS schools have removed their salad bars due to the COVID-19 pandemic and “that’s a problem,” Reid said, citing the nutritional value of the healthy food choices in a salad bar.

Students in the Environmental Club at McLean High School asked Reid about steps that FCPS is taking to address climate change and environmental sustainability, including promoting composting at schools.

One of the club members noted that students at McLean High School are developing a pilot program for composting at an elementary school in the McLean area and have secured funding for the project.

“That is a fabulous idea,” Tyson said in a response to the proposal. “It could be something that we could let others see and that we could promote it and hopefully replicate it.”

Tholen noted that Churchill Road Elementary School and other elementary schools in the county had composting programs before the COVID-19 pandemic and are looking to get them up and running again.

Composting is "harder to do at a high school because the waste streams out of the high school cafeterias are much larger than our elementary schools," she said. "But we would love to have a new pilot."

Tholen also said that FCPS is close to signing a contract with a solar contractor to put solar panels on the roof of Annandale High School. The high school has been analyzed to see if its roof could hold the weight of the solar panels and whether the positioning of the building's roof would allow for maximizing electricity production from solar panels.

FCPS is looking at other ways to increase its use of renewable energy, including placing solar panels in school parking lots. The school system may consider the construction of solar carports, which are ground-mounted canopies with solar panels placed on top. The carports are high enough off the ground that vehicles can park underneath and be protected from the elements.

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