Changes at Longfellow Middle School are just around the bend, and this year will be spent figuring out exactly what those changes will be.
“We’re in the planning stages of renovation right now and toward the end of September we’ll be gathering teachers’ input on places that they feel need adjusting,” said Vincent Lynch, principal at Longfellow. “We’re excited about that because we are in need of renovation, and because there’s actually been an increase in the extent of them — they are going to renovate a great deal more than originally planned.”
Lynch, who has been an administrator at Longfellow for the last two decades, said that plans are now in the works to replace the modular unit behind the school with a brick and mortar building.
Lynch is also looking forward to what appears to be growing into a mutually beneficial relationship between Longfellow and its soon to be next door neighbor, Chesterbrook Residences, Inc., a mixed-income assisted living facility for seniors. Construction on Chesterbrook Residences has been under way all summer long, and the building is expected to open its doors sometime in the fall. In the early stages of the project, representatives from Chesterbrook Residences approached Longfellow about the possibility of allowing the school to eventually use the Chesterbrook Residences parking lot to help alleviate some of the school’s traffic overload during the morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up periods.
“Our parking lot in the morning and afternoon is just horrible,” said Lynch. “We have 200 to 400 parents and 25 school buses coming through and it’s been quite a challenge for us for many years.”
According to Lynch, numerous traffic studies were done at the school in an effort to come up with a solution to the problem, but it was ultimately deemed unsolvable.
“At one point, VDOT [Virginia Department of Transportation] even took helicopter photos of our parking lot from above, but there never seemed to be a good solution because of all the middle schools in Fairfax County, we have the smallest property,” said Lynch. “So there’s really not a lot of room for modification.”
Lynch said Longfellow is still working out the final details of its arrangement with Chesterbrook Residences, but most likely, parents will be able to exit the school via the Chesterbrook parking lot instead of through the Longfellow exit — greatly improving the in-flow and out-flow of traffic.
Congestion solutions may not be the only gift coming from Chesterbrook Residences. Lynch said he had already been planning to look into having Longfellow students earn their required community service hours by volunteering at the assisted living facility, but recently discovered that the relationship between the two neighbors could go both ways. Lynch was approached by Chuck Thorton, director of marketing and admissions at Chesterbrook Residences, about the possibility of having some of the Chesterbrook residents volunteer at Longfellow.
“He wants to make it a two-way street, because he thinks some of the residents might be interested in volunteering to help us out with various things,” said Lynch. “So it looks like we are developing a pretty good working relationship with them.”
LONGFELLOW WELCOMES a new assistant principal this year, with the arrival of Michelle Padgett at the end of the month. Lynch said the school is also currently searching for a new director of Student Services, as the person who had long held the position, Greg Hood, left to become an assistant principal at Irving Middle School.
“He was loved by the community,” said Lynch.
There will also be 10 new teachers at the school this year, and student enrollment will be approximately 1,025. Lynch said Longfellow will also be implementing a new discipline system.
“It’s called the Positive Behavior System, and the focus is a little more positive,” said Lynch. “It’s about learning to exhibit some of the self control we’d like to see … all the schools in the McLean pyramid are doing either the Positive Behavior System, or another program called the Positive Response program in the classroom.”