for the week of April 1-7, 2010

city

APRIL 2010Questions or Comments?City of Falls Church, Harry E. Wells Building300 Park Avenue, Falls Church, VA 22046703-248-5003 (TTY 711)The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act.This document will be made available in alternate format upon request. Call 703-248-5003 (TTY 711).

www.fallschurchva.gov - The official site for City of Falls Church news

1 Second Quarter B

usiness License

T

ax Payment Due (if

eligible)

C

ity Council Work Sessio

n, 7:30 p.m.

3 Farmers’ M

arket, 8 a.m.-n

oon

Easter Egg Hunt, 1

0 a.m.

4 Community Center Closed

6 Juvenile and Domestic Relations

C

ourt in Session

E

conomic Development Authority

, 6:30 p.m.

Recreation & Parks Advisory Board, 7 p.m.

7 General Distric

t Court i

n Session

Architectural Advisory Board, 7:45 p.m.

5 Yard Waste, Bundled Brush

and Special Collections

E

aster Egg Hunt R

ain Date, 4 p.m.

City Council W

ork Session, 7:30 p.m.

Planning Commission, 7:45 p.m.

2 FIRSTfriday

The City of Falls Church will host its annual Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 3 at 10 a.m. in Cherry Hill Park, 312 Park Ave. In addition to scrambling for eggs, children are invited to meet and take pictures with the Easter Bunny! Please bring a basket to collect eggs. In the event of rain, the Easter Egg Hunt will be held on Monday, April 5 at 4 p.m.

This free event is sponsored by the Recreation & Parks Division. Call 703-248-5077 (TTY 711) for more information.

The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To request a reasonable accommodation for any type of disability, call 703-248-5077 (TTY 711).

Find Us on FacebookBecome a fan of the City of Falls

Church on Facebook and get up-to-date City government information. Get the link at www.fallschurchva.gov.

Hunt for Easter Eggs in Cherry Hill Park

Harvest April Showers With a Rain Barrel

April showers bring May flowers, so take advan-tage of Mother Nature’s offering by harvesting the rain for future use. Learn how at a rain barrel work-shop and sale. A rain barrel is a modified 50-gallon food-grade polyethylene barrel placed under roof downspouts to collect rain water from the roof.

Why use a rain barrel?• Protect natural resources! Using rainwater for outdoor gar-

dening reduces dependence on municipal water.

• Why spend money on something that can be collected for free! Lawn and garden watering make up nearly 40 percent of total household water use during the summer.

• Reduce the amount of runoff. This helps the over-stressed storm drain system during rainfall events.

• Plants thrive on naturally soft rainwater that contains no chlo-rine, fluoride or other chemicals.

• Encourage neighbors to think of clean water as a finite resource that must be conserved and protected. Lead through example!

Register for a “make your own” rain barrel workshop or purchase one ready made at www.arlingtonenvironment.org/barrel.php. For more information, contact rainbarrel@fairfaxcounty.gov or 703-324-1428.

Northern Virginia Rain Barrel Program partner orga-nizations and agencies: The City of Falls Church, Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment, Arlington County, Northern Virginia Soil & Water Conservation District, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Fairfax County, Fairfax County Public Schools, the City of Alexandria, the Reston Association, and Fairfax County Park Authority.

Pick Up Leaf Mulch At the Recycling Center

Don’t miss out on high quality leaf mulch available at the Falls Church Recycling Center free of charge! The Recycling Center is located at 217 Gordon Road and is open daily from 7 a.m. to dusk.

Bring your own container and tools for loading mulch, or you may hire someone to load and/or haul it for you. Contractors must hand-load mulch and may not bring heavy equipment into the Recycling Center (no loaders or dump trucks, please). For more information about hiring a contractor, go to www.fallschurchva.gov.

The Department of Environmental Services Operations Division will continually refill the mulch pile as their time per-mits, but there is plenty of mulch to go around! You do not need to be a City of Falls Church resident to pick up free mulch.

For more information, visit www.fallschurchva.gov or call 703-248-5176 (TTY 711).

FY11 Budget Schedule April 10: Budget Town Hall, 10 a.m., Community Center

April 12: 2nd Public Hearing, 7:30 p.m., Council Chambers

April 26: 3rd Public Hearing and FY 11 Budget Adoption, 7:30 p.m., Council Chambers

A series of work sessions is also scheduled ahead of the budget adoption. The complete schedule is available at www.fallschurchva.gov.

E-mail Budget CommentsSend general government budget suggestions to

budget@fallschurchva.gov. Correspondence submitted to this e-mail will be reviewed by the City and considered for the FY11 Budget. Comments are posted online at www.fallschurchva.gov and will remain anonymous.

The 6th Annual Falls Church Art Show & Sale is scheduled for April 23-24.

Call for entries! City residents of all ages are invited to submit original artwork to the show (limit three submis-sions per person). Photography, paintings (watercolor, oil, or acrylic), and draw-ings (pencil or pastel) of any size will be accepted. Submissions can be framed or unframed.

All artwork may be submitted to the Community Center, 223 Little Falls St., beginning Monday, April 19 and no later than noon on Friday, April 23.

For more information, visit www.fallschurchva.gov or call 703-248-5077 (TTY 711).

Submit Artwork To the Art Show & Sale

Scho

ols

School content published in The Schools Focus is written and edited by the Falls Church City Public Schools. For more information, visit www.fccps.org - the official site for Falls Church City Public Schools news.

BIE Partner of the WeekDonald BrobstBAE Systems

School involvement: BAE Systems donated funds to sponsor the George Mason High School Robotics Team. Donald serves as a men-tor to the team.

Why Donald is a BIE partner: “BAE Systems is the largest cor-porate sponsor of FIRST Robotics in the U.S. This competition is a hands-on training ground for the next generation of engineers. As a mentor, I work with the team to help them build the robot. It is gratifying to see their progress. The team looks forward to the FIRST World Championship at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta this month.”

For more information about sharing your expertise through the BIE Partnership, visit www.fccps.org or contact Marybeth Connelly at connellym@fccps.org.

Calendar for April 1-12, 2010Testing4/5 - 9 WIDA Access for ELL (All Schools)

4/5 – 5/7 SRI Post Test (MEH/GM)

April1 Spring Break (Schools Closed/Day Care Open)

2 Easter Holiday (Schools Closed/Day Care Closed)

5 5:00 p.m. Mason @ Potomac Falls (B Tennis)

5:00 p.m. Potomac Falls @ Mason (G Tennis)

6:00 p.m. Mason @ Stuart (Softball)

6:30 p.m. Mason @ Eastern View (B Lacrosse)

7:00 p.m. Special Education Advisory Committee (TJ)

7:00 p.m. Mason @ South Lakes (B Soccer)

7:15 p.m. Eastern View @ Mason (G Lacrosse)

7:30 p.m. Joint School Board/City Council/ Planning Commission meeting (City Hall)

6 5:30 p.m. Broad Run @ Mason (B Tennis)

5:30 p.m. Mason @ Broad Run (G Tennis)

7:00 p.m. Rappahannock Co. @ Mason (B Soccer)

7:00 p.m. Mason @ Rappahannock Co. (G Soccer/Baseball/Softball)

7 4:30 p.m. Mason @ Manassas Park (Track)

7:30 p.m. PTSA (GM)

8 4:30 p.m. Mason @ Stone Ridge Country Day School (G Tennis)

6:00 p.m. Mason @ Stonewall Jackson (Baseball)

7:15 p.m. Broad Run @ Mason (G Lacrosse)

7:15 p.m. Mason @ Broad Run (B Lacrosse)

12 Snow Make Up Day (Schools Open/Day Care Open)

For more calendar information, visit www.fccps.org/calendar.

(MD) Mt. Daniel School (TJ) Thomas Jefferson Elementary(MEH) Mary Ellen Henderson Middle

(GM) George Mason High (CO) Central Office

Foundation FootnotesFCEF sponsors team up for fundraiser Thanks to the following sponsors for supporting the Falls Church Education Foundation’s 6th Annual Celebration and Auction on Friday, April 23, 2010 at The Westin Arlington Gateway: Acacia Federal Savings Bank, Akridge Real Estate, Clark Construction, Dominion Resource Services, Exemplar Communications, JBGRosenthal, LaFave & Associates, Lampert, O’Connor & Johnston, Tori McKinney/Long & Foster Realtors, McLean Asset Management, NOVA Connections members, Moore Cadillac, Needham, Mitnick & Pollack, Noland Company Bath & Idea Center, Pal-Tech, Pivotal Point, Kieran and Barbara Sharpe, Virginia Lottery, and The Young Group. Proceeds from the fund-raiser benefit the foundation’s annual operations and programs.

For more information, visit www.fcedf.org or call (703) 538-3381.

FCC-TV Spotlight: International InvestorTune in to Falls Church Community Television (FCC-TV) to watch International Investor. Producer Robert Sherretta hosts this weekly business program which examines the global market. You can watch International Investor on FCC-TV at the following times:

• Tuesdays at 10:00 a.m. & 6:00 p.m. • Thursdays at 10:00 a.m. & 6:00 p.m.

• Sundays at 1:00 p.m.

You can now see FCC-TV programming live at www.fcctv.net anywhere in the world! FCC-TV also airs in the greater Falls Church area on Cox Channel 12, Verizon Channel 35 and RCN Channel 2.

Family Nights during the annual Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School book fair are set for this Monday and Tuesday, April 12-13 from 5pm - 8pm in the MEHMS media center. Children’s books may be purchased and gift certificates and teacher wish lists will also be available.

Through the “One for Books” program, donations will also be accepted for the Auchtermuchty Primary School library in Scotland, the home school of Fulbright exchange teacher Gillian Thomson, currently teaching at MEH this year.

For more information, contact MEH librarian Adele Eskin at eskina@fccps.org or (703) 720-5712.

MEHMS Book Fair Next Week

MEH, GM Students Advance to History Day Finals

Mary Ellen Henderson Middle and George Mason High School students recently com-peted in the regional National History Day competition. Of the group, 11 will advance to the state competition in Williamsburg in two weeks.

Winners from Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School were Sarah Miller, who finished first in the historical paper category, and Arijeet Sensharma and Jarman Taylor, who earned honorable mentions in the same category.

The George Mason winners were Calder Hannan and Crystal Luo who finished first and sec-ond respectively in the historical paper category. Jessica Kemp and Alissa Forbes won first place for their historical exhibit, Fae Montgomery and Honora Overby won first place for their performance, and Scott Connuck, Sarah Devlin, Liam O’Connell and Meredith Brindley finished in second place for their documentary. Ryan Short, John Glover, Kevin Schmidt and Jeremy Brown finished in third place.

All first and second place winners will advance to the state competition in Williamsburg on April 17th. The students are sponsored by teachers Jeremy Shumpert and Rory Dippold.

Mary Ellen Henderson Middle and George Mason High school students celebrate at the Fairfax campus of George Mason University after successfully competing in the regional National History Day competition.

The Virginia Regional FIRST cham-pion George Mason robotics team is seek-ing funding to offset travel expenses for the upcoming national competition, April 15th- 17th, in Atlanta.

Generous dona-tions have already been received from the Falls Church Education Foundation, Clare & Don’s Beach Shack, local families and GMHS alumni.

Every little bit counts and the team would appreciate a dona-tion in any amount. To contribute send a check to GMHS, 7124 Leesburg Pike, FC, VA 22043, attn: Edna Baldo, with “Robotics Team” in the subject line. Donations will be accepted through April 10th.

Mason Robotics Team Seeks Funding for Nationals

“Blattobot,” the award winning George Mason robot, hopes to roll to victory in the FIRST national compe-tition in two weeks.