Teachers preparing for the beginning of school. Photo by Michael McMorrow.
Why Discovery?
Years ago, a Marine officer named John Glenn moved his family to Arlington. The decision was based on the excellence of county schools for his children. He built a house on North Harrison Street directly across from Williamsburg Middle School. Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth. When the new school was announced, naming it for Glenn was an obvious thought. The suggestion sank because of a School Board policy: No school can bear a person’s name unless that person has been dead at least five years. Fortunately, Glenn is alive. As a retired Marine officer and astronaut, Glenn continued in public service in the U.S. Senate. Invited to join the crew as a scientist, he became the oldest person to fly in space at age 77. The shuttle was christened “Discovery.”
A new school often is thought of as “added to” the neighborhood. Dr. Erin Russo, founding principal of Discovery Elementary School located beside Williamsburg Middle School, disagrees. She says the new school is, and will remain, “of” the community it serves. Russo underscores the point by describing citizen involvement over the years between concept and completion.
Attendance boundaries of existing elementary schools, Nottingham, Jamestown and Taylor, were changed. Parents and children in those schools were involved from the beginning. The important question was which children in which houses on which streets would be assigned to the new school. Concerns over busing and walking were not far behind.
However, voices also were heard on lighter issues, issues where the views of prospective students weighed heavily. The adoption of a school nickname and a school logo belonged to the students. After surveys and balloting, those questions were answered with “Discovery Explorers” and an astronaut figure hovering over the earth.
In Arlington, and especially North Arlington, not much happens if civic association support is lacking. The new school touched on everyday affairs of residents in six associations: Donaldson Run, John M. Langston, Old Dominion, Rock Spring, Williamsburg and Yorktown. Each provided two representatives on an oversight committee which improved future school operations while minimizing adverse effects on the neighbors. The foremost issue, bus and automobile traffic on adjacent streets, was addressed and resolved.
With the school year underway, community and school will stay in close touch, according to Russo. Her door will remain open to neighbors, and she is one of them since her home is not many blocks from the school. For an indefinite time, student-led tours of the building will be offered, likely on Friday afternoons. A website is being established through which students, parents, staff and neighbors can access up-to-the-minute information related to the school and its activities.
Russo is a 15-year veteran educator. With undergraduate and first graduate degrees from George Mason University, she earned a doctorate at George Washington University. Following classroom experience, she moved into administration and last bore the title of assistant principal in Williamsburg Middle School.
As a new principal of a new school, Russo reacts to her situation in one word: “Thrilled.” She can barely wait to greet the pioneering group of 538 registered students. On a different level, Russo is excited to test and experiment with design elements of the new building. “Every nook and cranny is designed as an educational space,” she said. Built-in electronics will maximize collaborative learning by the students and afford great flexibility for the teachers, she added. Additionally, collaboration with the “next door neighbor,” Williamsburg Middle School, offers great promise of benefiting both student bodies, Russo said.
DURING the month of August, many gazing at ongoing construction doubted the school would open on-time. Late last week, literally surrounded by dozens of hard hats, Project Manager Steve Stricker was confident the school’s doors would open on schedule the morning after Labor Day. As he spoke, fire marshals, building inspectors and health officials were confirming that every safety and health item in the building was working properly to protect students and staff.
Stricker described many months of work as “a blast” and called selection as project manager “a privilege.” The design incorporates ultra-modern building materials, extensive use of solar panels and even tapping into geothermal energy. The result is a structure recognized as a “net zero” consumer — meaning the energy produced on-site equals the energy used. Access to the area’s electrical grid is preserved, if and as needed.
Visitors will be amazed at one feature in the school: The slide. A yellow, twisting tube runs from the second to the first floor. Quizzed about its educational value, Russo dissolves into laughter but then shares her confidence that the slide will create a very special bond among all the students that will make them happier and, thus, more willing to learn. Without prompting, she rushes to repeat the pledge made many times over recent weeks: “Every student will ride the slide on the first day of school.”