Vol. XXI, No. 7 Mount Vernon’s Hometown Newspaper • A Connection Newspaper February 18, 2010 Local Schools Have More To Lose Specialized programs targeted. By Julia O’Donoghue Board took an initial vote Feb. 4 The Gazette to cut its focus program, which funds Hollin Meadows gardening ast year, First Lady program, out of the school Michelle Obama in- system’s budget next year. L vited Hollin Meadows “With limited resources, this Elementary School stu- program would really be at risk,” dents to the White House to visit said Gates, pointing to the veg- her vegetable garden. This Novem- etable gardens. ber, the Mount Vernon area el- In addition to Hollin Meadows, ementary school returned the fa- 13 other elementary schools vor, giving Obama and U.S. Sec- around the county stand to lose retary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack funding for special focus academic a high-profile tour of the 1,500 programs, including three others square feet of gar- located in Mount dens that students Vernon. maintain. “The neediest Riverside Elemen- “I think we are still tary will lose its pro- feeling the after glow schools need fessional develop- from that visit even ment academic cen- now,” said principal additional ter, which provides Jon Gates, as he resources.” four extra “high qual- flipped through a ity” teachers at the glossy magazine to a — School Board school. Fort Hunt El- picture of Obama member Dan Storck ementary would lose standing outside funding and staffing Hollin Meadows surrounded by that supports it special fine arts the students. program and Woodley Hills El- “This magazine came out this ementary would lose funding and past weekend. Stuff like that staffing for extra math and science seems to happen all the time. Pho- work. tographs from her visit here pop The focus program is mostly lo- up in all sorts of places,” said cated in schools with large at-risk Gates. populations to provide extra re- Hollin Meadows’ extensive stu- sources and enrichment for Photo by Louise Krafft/Gazette by Louise Photo dent gardening program is no needier students. doubt what caught Obama’s atten- Approximately 22.5 percent of tion. The First Lady, who recently students across the school system launched a campaign to combat are considered poor enough to childhood obesity, has tried to pro- qualify for free or reduced-priced mote healthier eating by drawing meals at school. At three of the attention to her own vegetable four elementary schools with fo- garden at the White House. cus programs, the percentage of students receiving discounts on BUT IF the First Lady had waited meals is much higher. to visit Hollin Meadows next year, Forty-four percent of Hollin there is no guarantee that she Meadows students qualify for free would have seen any student gar- or reduced-priced lunch because Estate Celebrates George’s 278th Birthday dening at all. of their families’ economic sta General George Washington portrayed by Dean Malissa talks to visitors at the Mount The Fairfax County School See More, Page 18 Vernon Estate after a special birthday tribute on Sunday afternoon. He is describing the antics of one of his many hound dogs named Vulcan. Vulcan, a massive French hound 2/19/10 Requested in home in Requested was a gift along with six others to the General from the Marquis de Lafayette. Vulcan material. enjoyed a good meal and on at least one occasion found his way into the kitchen and Time-sensitive onto the table where dinner was being prepared. Opening his jaws Vulcan grabbed a Postmaster: Virginia ham and carried it back to his kennel. The General recalled how Martha yelled Attention Permit #482 Permit at the servants to rescue the ham, but the General also recalled how Martha disliked VA Alexandria, PAID Vulcan’s affectionate licks from time to time, and now that the ham was in his mouth, Postage U.S. surely Martha would not really want the ham retrieved. STD PRSRT www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Mount Vernon Gazette ❖ February 18-24, 2010 ❖ 1 2 ❖ Mount Vernon Gazette ❖ February 18-24, 2010 www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Mount Vernon Gazette Editor Steven Mauren History 703-778-9415 or [email protected] Gum Springs: A Slave’s Legacy, Part III By Michael K. Bohn by Photos The Gazette This is the third in a four-part series on the history and future of Gum Springs, a Michael K. Bohn historically African-American community in the Mount Vernon area. GROWING PAINS he successes that the residents /The Gazette of Gum Springs achieved in im- Tproving their community have been substantial, even heroic in Ron Chase, president of the Gum some cases. Their efforts, however, have not Springs Historical Society and been a seamless flow of good news. Begin- Museum, is worried that his ning in the late 1970s, there were instances community will lose its cultural of reported mismanagement or “account- identity. ing irregularities” involving the neighborhood’s community improvement one in 2007 asked $900,000, an extraor- organizations. dinary shift in Gum Springs real estate Buoyed by the increasing national success values. of the civil rights movement, Gum Springs According to Queenie Cox, president of residents formed the Saunders B. Moon the Gum Springs Civic Association, regular Community Action Association in 1965. participation in neighborhood activities Named for the deceased principal of Gum New homes on Saint Elliott Court contrast sharply with not only the now seems to be limited to a group of what Springs’ Drew-Smith School, the association shanties of the 1960s but also many modest dwellings still scattered she calls “seasoned” African-American resi- acquired federal, state, and local funding about Gum Springs. dents, those with long family ties to the to sponsor social programs on the former community. She noted that representatives Drew-Smith campus (the school closed af- operated all activities at the Gum Springs The Gums Springs Conservation Plan has of the Village and Mount Woodley Manor ter desegregation). The association created Community Center. The GSCDC has disap- expired, and Gum Springs activists are had initially attended the civic association its housing arm in 1977, the Housing De- peared and no organization has taken its working with county staff to revitalize it. meetings, but none do now. velopment Corporation, headed initially by place. For the last 15 years, people have been “New residents aren’t interested in the Kay Holland. moving into Gum Springs not because it has history of Gum Springs,” Cox said. “They In 1978, a Fairfax County audit discov- TURNING POINT been a sanctuary for freedmen or a refuge appear to be interested in living in a com- ered that the Moon Association had not paid from discrimination. They seemed to have munity that fits their lifestyle. Nothing tens of thousands of dollars in federal and In 1979, Fairfax County adopted a Neigh- bought or built houses because the commu- more.” state withholding taxes for county-funded borhood Improvement Program and Con- nity offered a nice place to live. An infor- Both Cox and Chase believe that Gum employees. In response, the county board servation Plan for Gum Springs, the goal of mal poll of a few residents of Mount Springs can keep its cultural identity only of supervisors installed themselves as trust- which was to preserve the area as a viable Woodley Manor and the Village at Gum through a continuing struggle to educate ees of the association, and in 1980, agreed residential community. Both the county Springs supports the theory that many are new residents about the community’s to pay association debts of $110,000. government and residents then seemed fo- unaware of their neighborhood’s history. unique past. “If we don’t keep trying,” Chase The U.S. department of energy accused cused on the same objectives — maintain Both areas are racially diverse and are closer said, “Gum Springs is headed for oblivion.” the Moon Association in 1980 of misusing Gum Springs’ historic place in the county to the greater Mount Vernon district demo- “The success in Gum Springs must be a federal funds awarded to winterize poorly and improve life for its residents. graphics. mixed blessing,” concluded John Vlatch in insulated Gum Springs houses belonging to Yet as both the housing and general con- Today, there are multiple pockets of new 2007. He is a professor of American Stud- low-income residents. Twenty of the 57 ditions improved in Gum Springs, alert resi- “infill” houses throughout Gum Springs. ies and Anthropology at George Washing- upgraded houses reportedly belonged to dents started noticing that outside builders During the housing bubble of the 2000s, ton University, and a long-time observer of ineligible residents — their income ex- were buying parcels in the community. builders would raze a bungalow and erect Gum Springs. “They got what they wished ceeded the maximum specified by the grant. Homeowners began to worry that the very three new homes in its place, and target for, but at a cost. Gum Springs is just blend- The Saunders B. Moon Community Ac- fabric of their neighborhood was slipping vacant lots for McMansions. A listing for ing into the larger population.” tion Association changed its name to the away. “We as a black community are being Gum Springs Community Development swallowed everywhere,” said Gladys Corporation (GSCDC) in the mid-1980s. Quander Tancil in 1987. “We are being dis- ‘The Canterville Ghost’ In 1990, Fairfax County, citing misman- placed,” continued Tancil, a descendent of Mount Vernon Com- agement and other problems, took control a Mount Vernon slave. “Our land is being munity Children’s of the county-funded day care center oper- sold to developers.