The new year is now fully underway for the City of Falls Church Public School System, and so far, so good. After a contentious election was held last year that resulted in all the best (read “News-Press endorsed”) candidates winning, it looks like the School Board leadership will continue above reproach, and Superintendent Dr. Peter Noonan deserves kudos for leading the system through myriad travails associated with the successful construction of a brand new high school, now the pride of the region, and headaches associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, which are all now hopefully behind us.
As experienced by neighboring school divisions, especially Arlington and Loudoun County, disruptions of school board activity were a major problem and will likely continue this fall. Citizens were activated in the last years by a combination of the pandemic, and school policies adopted to deal with it, that some seemed to be controversial, and a more general climate of protest and disruption associated with the sorry last U.S. presidential administration. Now this dissent has spread to include protests over books suddenly deemed inappropriate and other hot button issues aimed at throwing school systems off balance all across the U.S.
Falls Church certainly had its share of dissenting parents over Covid-19 policy issues, but it was mitigated by superior efforts at communicating with the community at large, sticking strictly to guidance from the state and county health departments, and mostly from a preponderance of wise and responsible citizens who stepped up to bring to pass the right outcome from last fall’s School Board election and to support the superintendent’s and School Board’s decisions.
Yes, Falls Church’s is an unusually small system, and for some that is a sufficient explanation to account for the relative concord through recent crises it has experienced. But there is more to it, lessons that should be learned for the nation’s political fabric, more generally. They have to do with attention given to communication and discourse, and the implicit respect that is afforded to all as a result. It also has to do with civility, and a broad based community insistence that civility be maintained.
One of our main concerns with what has been going on nationally has been the way social media platforms have tolerated and therefore played roles in proliferating such disgusting language and sentiments among all the comments that citizens convey, a great majority anonymously, online. We used to get our share every week on our website, too. But it stopped for us abruptly when we required that parties identify themselves as a precondition for commenting. It caused an immediate change. All the bad mouthing ceased overnight, and of course a good share of that came from “bots,” not real people but often foreign-sourced dissemblers. If there is any lesson from this, it is how our nation’s adversaries see hate-mongering and foul language as effective tools against us, and against democracy more generally.
May 02 2025 WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, led a coalition of senior Senate Democrats in sending a letter
Several plays of high interest are being presented in early May at Falls Church high schools. Falls Church High School Spotlight Theater Company is staging, for example, “The Addams Family,”
This week marks the end of the first 100 days of Donald Trump’s second term as president. Has it only been 100 days? Seems like the national and international chaos
Legitimate news organizations need grass roots support like never before, and that includes your Falls Church News-Press. For more than 33 years, your News-Press has kept its readers informed and enlightened. We can’t continue without the support of our readers. This means YOU! Please step up in these challenging times to support the news source you are reading right now!
Off To a Good Start
Nicholas F. Benton
The new year is now fully underway for the City of Falls Church Public School System, and so far, so good. After a contentious election was held last year that resulted in all the best (read “News-Press endorsed”) candidates winning, it looks like the School Board leadership will continue above reproach, and Superintendent Dr. Peter Noonan deserves kudos for leading the system through myriad travails associated with the successful construction of a brand new high school, now the pride of the region, and headaches associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, which are all now hopefully behind us.
As experienced by neighboring school divisions, especially Arlington and Loudoun County, disruptions of school board activity were a major problem and will likely continue this fall. Citizens were activated in the last years by a combination of the pandemic, and school policies adopted to deal with it, that some seemed to be controversial, and a more general climate of protest and disruption associated with the sorry last U.S. presidential administration. Now this dissent has spread to include protests over books suddenly deemed inappropriate and other hot button issues aimed at throwing school systems off balance all across the U.S.
Falls Church certainly had its share of dissenting parents over Covid-19 policy issues, but it was mitigated by superior efforts at communicating with the community at large, sticking strictly to guidance from the state and county health departments, and mostly from a preponderance of wise and responsible citizens who stepped up to bring to pass the right outcome from last fall’s School Board election and to support the superintendent’s and School Board’s decisions.
Yes, Falls Church’s is an unusually small system, and for some that is a sufficient explanation to account for the relative concord through recent crises it has experienced. But there is more to it, lessons that should be learned for the nation’s political fabric, more generally. They have to do with attention given to communication and discourse, and the implicit respect that is afforded to all as a result. It also has to do with civility, and a broad based community insistence that civility be maintained.
One of our main concerns with what has been going on nationally has been the way social media platforms have tolerated and therefore played roles in proliferating such disgusting language and sentiments among all the comments that citizens convey, a great majority anonymously, online. We used to get our share every week on our website, too. But it stopped for us abruptly when we required that parties identify themselves as a precondition for commenting. It caused an immediate change. All the bad mouthing ceased overnight, and of course a good share of that came from “bots,” not real people but often foreign-sourced dissemblers. If there is any lesson from this, it is how our nation’s adversaries see hate-mongering and foul language as effective tools against us, and against democracy more generally.
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Senate Democrats Demand Investigation into Elon Musk’s Alleged Abuse of White House Position for Personal Gain
May 02 2025 WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, led a coalition of senior Senate Democrats in sending a letter
A Musical, a Classic, and Comedy Horror on High School Stages in F.C.
Several plays of high interest are being presented in early May at Falls Church high schools. Falls Church High School Spotlight Theater Company is staging, for example, “The Addams Family,”
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