Prince William and Loudoun counties will open a total of five new elementary schools on the first day of the 2007-2008 school year Tuesday.
The three schools in Loudoun — Steuart W. Weller Elementary and Creighton Corner Elementary in Ashburn and Liberty Elementary in South Riding — are “off the pod and ready to go,” said Wayde Byard, spokesman for Loudoun Public Schools.
Prince William will open Samuel L. Gravely Elementary in Haymarket and Fannie W. Fitzgerald Elementary in Neabsco.
“Everything’s looking very well,” said Deraine Simpson, principal of Fitzgerald, the first elementary school to open in the Neabsco District in 30 years. “I think the community is just overwhelmed.”
She said about 1,000 community members attended the school’s ribbon-cutting ceremony Aug. 25, including 100 members of the Fitzgerald family from across the country. Fannie Fitzgerald was a longtime public school teacher who began teaching in the county just as Prince William was starting to integrate its schools in the late 1950s.
Though the projected enrollment for Fitzgerald was at 743, it is currently at 783 “and still rising,” Simpson said.
Samuel L. Gravely Elementary in Haymarket held its dedication ceremony Aug. 21 with similar fanfare — and the U.S. Navy Band. The school was named after the late Vice Admiral Samuel L. Gravely Jr.
Vice Admiral Gravely was the first African-American to ascend to such a rank in the Navy, “making it okay for me and others like me to follow him,” said Rear Admiral Julius S. Caesar at the ceremony. “He made us believe we could make it to the next level. He was a man of towering character, and he was very humble. He was our hero.”
Prince William is planning to spend $700 million over the next decade to add 35 new schools and additions in the county.
Byard said that though enrollment in Loudoun schools has increased to 57,317 students this year, the county plans the construction of new schools on a two-year building cycle.
“We tend to build a year or two in advance to stay ahead of the curve,” he said.
