History of Westlawn Elementary
By Westlawn School Staff, January 2003
Westlawn Elementary School opened in September 1952. The original address was 1220 W. Grenstead Street and later was changed to 6920 Oak Ridge Road. At the time of opening, the back wing of six classrooms was not completed. 605 children and 17 teachers moved in using completed rooms and the activity room for classes. Partitions were placed in the primary classrooms to accommodate two teachers and their classes. Unfinished rooms were completed later that year with the dedication service being held Sunday, November 16, 1952. The building then consisted of 16 classrooms, a multi-purpose room (used as a classroom), library, teachers' room, offices, clinic, kitchen, cafetorium, and toilet facilities.
In 1956, there were 1,020 pupils enrolled at Westlawn. This made it necessary to shuttle about 100 pupils and three teachers to Willston Elementary School at Seven Corners. They moved to the newly completed Walnut Hill School in January of 1956, along with all other children from the Broyhill Park area.
Plans were put into effect to add six more rooms, which now comprise the front wing. They were occupied in September 1957. This made 22 classrooms (including a trailer), but still the first grades were on 1/2-day shifts. With an enrollment of 689 in September 1964, it became necessary to shuttle a second grade class to an empty classroom at Walnut Hill School for the 1964-65 session in order to meet the county's pupil-teacher ration of 30.5 to 1.
Groundbreaking for the new addition was May 15, 1970. By April 26, 1971, the remodeling and additions were completed. This addition included the office suite, lobby, kitchen, cafeteria, music rooms, science room, gymnasium, halls, and POD area that included a large open area and five classrooms. The library was designed using the former cafeteria. All new rooms and library were air conditioned. Because of the location of the main entrance after the addition, the address was changed to 3200 Westley Road.
The School Age Child Care addition was built in December 1991 and occupied in September 1992. In 1998, the construction of a new improved playground was completed with the supervision of a committee comprised of members from the school staff and the PTA. Also, the need for more classroom space resulted in the addition of a quad trailer.
Westlawn Elementary was designated as an EXCEL school in 1999. As a result, the kindergarten classes went to full days, the "early release" day was omitted, and the pupil-teacher ratio was lowered. This all has added to a successful learning environment that has been proven in the school's recent test scores. In 2001, Westlawn received Fairfax County's Gold Medal Award for Excellence in academic improvement.
Today, children of many nationalities make up the student body. The 2002-2003 enrollment at Westlawn is approximately 620 students with four buses serving the school. The faculty and staff combined total just over 100 people.
At Westlawn Elementary, time for student learning has increased in several ways. The school implemented a uniform school day by extending Mondays and extending every school day by a half hour. The PTA provides tutoring on Monday afternoons and evenings. Westlawn conducted a 12-week after-school SOL recovery program and offered remediation classes through a summer school program. The school also has had full-day kindergarten for the last several years.