A handful of public buildings in Fairfax City are open almost 365 days a year, if not every day. The police station and the fire stations are such buildings, as is the Fairfax Museum and Visitors Center.
Another building is Fairfax High School. Even if students are on vacation, the building is still open almost every day, due to the dozens of community groups that use it for meetings or performances.
"It's a rarity that you drive by the building and there isn't something going on," said Rod Spelman, the building's director of community use.
With renovations to the high school possibly occurring within the next several years pending the passage of the November school bond referendum, and as Fairfax City explores the possibility of one day constructing a community center for its citizens, community use at Fairfax High School could be affected or modified by both situations. Although serving the area's high-school-age students is the building's primary purpose, both the city and outside groups from throughout Fairfax County enjoy using the facility because of its central location and size.
"People are very comfortable coming to Fairfax High School. The facility is very user-friendly, [and there's] positive, upbeat service," Spelman said.
Even though proposed renovations to the high school are tentative and months away, Spelman's office, the Office of Community Use, has already been notifying the building's user groups that their use may be modified as the renovation progresses. Since the building's schedule is set months in advance, Spelman's office has had to keep renovations in mind as it schedules.
WHAT COULD also impact scheduling is what happens when the John C. Wood Center is demolished to make way for the new public safety building. Several groups and activities using that facility, including John C. Wood's role as a voting precinct, may temporarily move to Fairfax High School.
"It'll be a tough transition with any change," Spelman said.
Using public schools as meeting places for the community is not new. Every school in Fairfax County has some level of community use, said Amy Craig, whose office schedules and coordinates community use of schools for all Fairfax County. Today, Craig explained, almost every school gym is utilized by community groups and RECenter classes. Over 100 cultural and religious groups also use school buildings, and that number excludes use by the Fairfax County Park Authority, Fairfax County Public Schools' adult education program, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, and homeowner and civic associations.
"They've always been open to the community for use," said Craig, who served in Spelman's position at Fairfax High School for 22 years before she left in 2003.
What makes Fairfax High School special, Craig added, is that the city funds the building's office of community use. As a result, the office not only schedules community use of Fairfax High School, it handles scheduling, room assignments and maintenance for the school itself.
"It's a great concept that they have the manpower to do [scheduling]," Craig said.
WHEN FAIRFAX High School was constructed in 1972, it was built with the intent of serving the wider community as well. Using a school facility in Flint, Mich., as a model, school planners laid out Fairfax High School in such a way that it could accommodate simultaneous uses at any given time. As a result, the building is only one story, has many rooms in different wings of the building, can accommodate 750 parked cars in its parking lot, and separates the auditorium from the field house.
"It's really professional grade," said Patty Chatman, community activities assistant at Fairfax High School, of the school's 1,147-seat auditorium.
What adds to the building's popularity is its location. Situated near the center of the county and in the proximity of major roads such as Route 66, Route 123 and Interstate 495, the facility is known for being easy to get to.
"We're equidistant for everybody," Chatman said.
While the facility is used as a high school during the daytime, at night it's not only school groups and athletic programs that may be holed up in the high school's many classrooms or using the facility's fields during evening hours. Some of the users have been in place for decades. George Mason University conducts some graduate classes at the building, along with Fairfax County Public Schools' adult education program. Homeowners associations may be meeting at the high school, and performing groups such as the City of Fairfax Band and the Vienna Falls Chorus of the Sweet Adelines may be rehearsing there. The Fairfax Squares may be square dancing, and one of three toastmaster groups meeting at the high school may be practicing speeches.
USE ISN'T limited to weekdays, either. During the weekends, the building hosts two churches and the Hope Chinese School on Sundays. Special events could include evening performances by area performing groups, the annual Ms. Senior America pageant, graduation ceremonies for the Fairfax County Police Academy, and holiday celebrations by area Buddhist, Indian and Vietnamese cultural groups.
Fairfax City uses the building, too, for recreation time scheduled by the city's Parks and Recreation Department, as well as for special events such as the annual Holiday Craft Show and Fourth of July festivities.
"It really encompasses a total swipe across the community," Chatman said.
Although renovations to the high school are still tentative, the Office of Community Use has already been alerting community groups that the renovations might influence the availability of the building. The office hosted a meeting last spring and sent a July 15 memo to all groups notifying them of the renovations that would be completed over a three-year period.
The Office of Community Use will continue to work with groups throughout the fall and up to spring 2005, when preparations for renovations could start.
"We have to think two, three, four years out," Spelman said.
WHILE POSSIBLE renovations are still several months away, and plans to accommodate groups and events such as the City's Fourth of July celebrations still need to be hashed out, some groups already have the renovations on their radar screen. For instance, the City of Fairfax Band has been rehearsing at the high school since the facility’s opening. With over 90 band members and several ensembles including the main band, practices can take place simultaneously in several rooms at the facility. Band members also like the facility's central location.
"Obviously, there are no concrete plans. Some of the plans will develop as events develop," said Roy Burgess, City of Fairfax Band Association president.
Burgess has been talking with Spelman since this past spring and will meet with him again in the fall.
"We're working closely with them," Burgess said. "We'll take it one step at a time."
Spelman and Chatman both said they wanted to work with community groups to ensure that community use will continue even after renovations are completed. They've met with the architects who are designing the renovations to the facility's different uses and needs.
"I think it's a vital aspect to have in the school," Spelman said.
To which Chatman added, "And we welcome it."