The vice chair of the Falls Church School Board confirmed to a Town Hall meeting this morning that in the wake of the Egyptian and other political upheavals in the Middle East, the tiny F.C. school system was suddenly challenged to absorb 30 new students in the last two months.

The vice chair of the Falls Church School Board confirmed to a Town Hall meeting this morning that in the wake of the Egyptian and other political upheavals in the Middle East, the tiny F.C. school system was suddenly challenged to absorb 30 new students in the last two months. Patrick Riccards told the two dozen citizens assembled at the Falls Church Community Center, in addition to City officials, that U.S. State Department employees have confirmed that the State Department encourages U.S. citizens coming back to the Washington D.C. area from overseas, including State Department employees, to consider locating in the City of Falls Church because of the quality of its school system.

“In a school system of 2,100 students, when we suddenly get an additional 30 students in the middle of the school year, we feel it,” Riccards said. “But don’t worry about it. We are in good shape.”

F.C. City Manager Wyatt Shields confirmed that his staff is “looking into” issues related to this, especially given that when the Department of Defense relocates significant numbers of its people to a new area, the school system in that area is compensated to help bear the added costs. “But I have to say, it is an honor to serve those State Department families,” Shields added. Many of the families come to reside at the Oakwood Apartments, F.C. Commissioner of the Revenue Tom Clinton said, and that entity is taxes as a commercial, not residential, property, including with an added short-term occupancy tax that applies only for 30 days. “It is very challenging getting taxes out of those folks once they move back overseas,” he conceded.