Throughout the fall months, Mr. Seve Padilla, Falls Church City Public Schools Director of Facilities and Security Services, gave tours of George Mason in order to bring attention to serious issues regarding the school’s desperate need of maintenance repairs.

Many students have noticed holes in the ceiling or damaged windows, but this is just scratching the surface.

“[The state of the school] is surprising considering our city and county’s income levels,” said freshman Cale Reinfurt.

“The whole building has issues. All of our major infrastructure systems are failing at an alarming rate,” Padilla said.

The maintenance staff is having to constantly repair the building because of its deterioration: There are issues with the elevators, fire alarms, intercoms, electrical wiring, plumbing, and HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning). The TVs in the cafeteria sit blank. Most of the systems date back more than 23 years, and the HVAC system is from the 1950s. Maintenance has worked to address some problems with flooring and roofing within the past two years.

“I’m always freezing and the heaters suck,” senior Andrew Coulson said. “It feels like [Mason] is rotting from the roof down.”

Padilla recognizes that it is difficult for the school system and the community to decide whether to renovate or replace the 60-year-old school building.

“Should we invest millions of dollars in a new roof or HVAC system when the building may be torn down or gutted in a couple of years?” Padilla said.

Even if a decision is made, it will be difficult to execute it. There is not enough funding towards building maintenance in FCCPS. Mr. Padilla is trying to convince members of the FCCPS City Council and School Board that there needs to be more money put into maintenance of the school, but it is proving to be a difficult task. A school of Mason’s size requires serious financial support to keep it running. Despite the school’s worsening condition, the budget for building materials has gone down by $100,000 over the past 2 years.

“The goal of the tours were to highlight the major capital needs we have at George Mason High School. There is a misconception by some in the community that GM is perfectly fine,” Padilla said.

Overall, the school is in bad condition, and in fact, it is worse than many may think. There are problems with many internal aspects of the school, including that some systems are outdated and overworked. The clear solution for this problem is new system or a new facility, but there are not enough funds available to sufficiently fix the dilemma. The staff has to either refine systems, or rebuild them completely.

Padilla urged students to reach out to the school board and community on the condition of the school to show them that students are being directly affected by the state of the building.

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