Suggested School Names

With their next to last virtual meeting taking place Wednesday night, the Falls Church City Schools’ high school renaming committee of 26 citizens reported to the School Board Tuesday night that it has narrowed an initial list of 617 suggested new names for the high school (including 274 unique suggestions) to 18. The elementary school renaming group has narrowed 522 suggestions (181 unique) to 53.

The goal of each is to present the School Board, which will make the final decision, to five by April 9.

Emerging names, as reported by the committee, include Broad Street High, City of Falls Church High (or City High, City Falls High), Cornerstone High, Falls Church City High, Four Mile Run High, Greater Metropolitan High (or Metro High), Little City High, Little Falls High, Mary Ellen Henderson Secondary Campus (or Mary Ellen Henderson Schools, Mary Ellen Henderson MS/HS, Mary Ellen Henderson Secondary School), Barbara Rose Johns High, Memorial High, Meridian High, Metropolitan High (or Metro High), Monument High, Mustang High, Tinner Hill High, West End High (or West Falls High, West Falls Church High).

For the high school naming group, choices were narrowed by categories, including person names of those deceased more than 10 years, more recently deceased, places, ideas and values and low or ineligible (such as living people and existing names). Secondary factors included names starting with the letter “M,” local area connections, not similar but open for discussion, and historical significance.

Both small group and full committee discussions were held, and feedback encouraged from community members and groups, and names considered as derivatives (such as Metro).

For the elementary naming group, suggestions were placed into the categories of place making, historical individuals, aspirational and ineligible.

After receiving lists of top five suggestions from each group, the School Board is scheduled to make its final choices on May 13, although it is not required to choose from either list.

School Board Candidates

The Falls Church City Public Schools’ elected citizens board considered nine individuals at its virtual meeting Tuesday night who submitted their names seeking appointment to the board to fill the unexpired term created by Shawna Russell’s resignation last month.

The names are Ilya Shapiro, Deborah Smyth, David Calabrese, Edwin B. Henderson II, Hunter Hicks, Jenny Thomas, Jerrod Anderson and Caroline Lyon.

Each spoke for a brief period at Tuesday’s meeting.

Shapiro is from the Cato Institute, Smyth a former English and journalism teacher, Calabrese a member of the City’s Board of Zoning Appeals, Henderson the founding director of the Tinner Hill Foundation and grandson of Mary Ellen Henderson, after whom the City’s middle school is named, Hicks a rising high school junior, Thomas a substitute teacher, Anderson a school reopening advocate and Lyon a D.C. schools employee.

The School Board is expected to make its decision at its next meeting on April 9.