August 24 - 30, 2023
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Founded 1991 • V o l . X X X III N o . 28
The City of Falls Church’s Independent, Locally-Owned Newspaper of Record, Serving N. Virginia
F.C. Schools’ MAGIC SCHOOL BUS Higher Than Expected Enrollment Way Ahead of Projections at Elementaries, Middle School by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
The number of students enrolling in the Falls Church City Public Schools came in way above expectations with the commencement of classes Monday. Superintendent Dr. Peter Noonan opened Tuesday’s School Board work session with the announcement that 75 more students above the projected enrollment for this fall showed up at classes this Monday. That’s a big number in a system whose total enrollment is 2,624. Noonan told the News-Press yesterday that so far there is no formal explanation for the enrollment jump but that it is being explored to see if it is a one-time jump or the signal of a new trend. The system’s partners in making such projections, which are key for the smooth running of the system, Weldon Cooper Associates, are working feverishly this week to evaluate the data. “Is this an anomaly, or a harbinger of things to come?” Noonan quipped. Most of the unexpected growth is in the elementary and middle school areas, and not in the high school, Noonan reported. “The numbers have always fluctuated from year to year but this is a big number,” he said. Quick adjustments to balance out classroom sizes were made the first day of classes, he said. It is not known how the numbers may continue to grow over the first weeks of classes. The
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IT WAS THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL for students attending the Falls Church City Public Schools Monday, and everything went flawlessly, within reason, according to Superintendent Dr. Peter Noonan. But the enrollment was much greater than expected. (Photo: Brian Reach)
F.C. ‘Insulated From Real Estate Woes,’ Litkenhous Says by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
How is the real estate market going forward for Falls Church and environs? A panel on just that subject was held at Falls Church’s Fairview Marriott last week for members of the NAIOP commercial real estate developers association, and the results were so mixed that one of the two major presenters, Willie Walker, limited his graphics to cute pictures of apes and other primates. The other presenter, Elizabeth Norton, did better. Attending from the City of Falls Church to make better sense of it all for us was former City Councilman and Economic
Development Authority member Ross Litkenhous, who offered the extensive remarks exclusively to the News-Press in the panel’s aftermath (see below). Commenting on Litkenhous’ important contribution was Falls Church’s Economic Development Authority chair Bob Young, who concluded that Litkenhous’ remarks are “a very accurate assessment of the current real estate environment.” Young said that Litkenhouse is “correct that the situation in Falls Church is very different (much better) than our neighbors.” “I believe his continued suggestion that we work on creating an innovation hub is a good
one. I also would add that it’s time for a concentrated effort to envision future development of the city’s property yard (which is in the Gorden Road Triangle). This is, I believe, a fertile area for new affordable housing as well as new facilities for the Department of Public Works and other uses such as selfstorage.” Here’s what Litkenhous had to say following last week’s NAIOP panel: “This down cycle in the real estate market is still accelerating but the mechanics behind this particular decline are different. Banks are better capitalized which means they can absorb losses better than they did in the
Great Recession. There isn’t the same systemic concern that we had when residential values collapsed back in 2008/2009. “Despite struggles with commercial real estate, the residential market seems poised to remain strong, even with higher borrowing costs. There is still an under-supply of housing nationally and locally, and as we discuss almost daily in Falls Church, the real need here is workforce and affordable housing which can partly be solved through a more diversified housing stock. Falls Church is facing what many localities are experiencing throughout the country
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