McLean High renovations coming soon

NEWS RENOVATIONS ON THE WAY

McLean identified as one of the top schools needing updates

Natalie Vu News Editor

After years of putting off making necessary improvements to McLean High School, FCPS has decided to renovate the indoor bathrooms during the summer of 2023.

FCPS facilities have identified McLean High School and Whitman Middle School as the two schools most in need of student bathroom renovations. In the near future, McLean will receive indoor bathroom upgrades as well as new stadium restrooms, and some floor and ceiling tiles will be replaced throughout the school. The specifics and details of the renovation, however, are still being determined.

Students frequently share concerns abour the bathrooms, including issues with backed up and broken toilets, frequent flooding and unsanitary conditions. While these bathroom renovations are just a partial update to the school as a whole, they will provide a huge improvement for both students and teachers.

“Of course I’m excited about bathroom renovations,” senior Vivianne Ngo said. “During away tennis matches, I saw how nice the bathrooms in other schools were. They had fully stocked paper towels and toilet seats in one piece, unlike our school.”

I SAW HOW NICE THE BATHROOMS IN OTHER SCHOOLS WERE. THEY HAD...TOILET SEATS IN ONE PIECE, UNLIKE OUR SCHOOL.”

- VIVIANNE NGO SENIOR

Along with indoor bathroom upgrades, McLean will get new stadium bathrooms near the football field. The FCPS School Board announced this decision last year to utilize the leftover money from the fiscal year-end plan (FY22) to pay for facilities throughout the county.

Breaking down — Missing ceiling tiles and poor bathroom conditions are just a few problems with McLean’s building. Bathroom renovations are set to happen over the summer.

“The outdoor bathrooms are honestly something that we’ve just been talking about for a while, but this is something that the school board decides on, so it really wasn’t a process that we had to go through,” Director of Student Activities Greg Miller said.

More than half of the high schools in FCPS have no permanent restrooms for the athletic facilities; out of the 28 high schools in the county, 15 are scheduled to have stadium bathrooms added. The budget for these bathrooms will come from state funding, and the current estimate for all 15 bathroom construction projects is approximately $15 million. Completion is expected to take up to three years and will be implemented in phases.

Throughout the county, FCPS is also evaluating high schools in need of security vestibules, which let administrators know who is entering or exiting the building. Principal Ellen Reilly said she is uncertain if McLean will be chosen to have one of these security vestibules installed over the summer.

With these building updates on the way, students hope to see more renovations coming to McLean in the future.

“I think new desks would be a great improvement to the school. Some of the desks at school aren’t sized comfortably right now. They should also definitely resurface the tennis courts,” Ngo said.

Although some improvements are being implemented, a full renovation of McLean remains far in the future. During a school board meeting on Oct. 19, board members discussed future renovation plans.

“We don’t have a plan right now for a complete renovation [of McLean High School],” FCPS School Board member Elaine Tholen said at the meeting.

With no major renovations planned, Reilly is concerned the changes will do little to alleviate the overcrowding at McLean, which currently has over 2,400 students.

“If you look at Marshall, Langley, Falls Church, they have all been built up to 2,500 capacity. We’re still at 2,100 capacity,” Reilly said. “They need to add the space by adding on an addition, so that is what I’m really stressing for, but we’re going to [be in the] queue for a while.”