Pine Ridge Elementary School opened on September 5, 1967. Designed by the architecture firm of Mintz & Easter, Pine Ridge was built by the Whyte Construction Company at a cost of $542,320. During the design and construction process, the building was known as the Prosperity Avenue School. It was given the name Pine Ridge by the Fairfax County School Board on June 15, 1967. The first principal of Pine Ridge Elementary School was Mrs. Marcia R. Humphreys. Prior to coming to Pine Ridge, Mrs. Humphreys was an assistant principal at Parklawn Elementary School and taught fourth-grade at Shrevewood Elementary School.

A shortage of kitchen equipment will delay the start of the noon lunch program in several Fairfax County schools when classes begin Tuesday. Fairfax School officials said the equipment was ordered well in advance, but the needs of the Vietnam war have hampered shipments. Shipments of silverware and trays are also late, an official said. Meanwhile, parents – who will have to prepare a daily bag of lunches – are being asked to be patient. Milk will be sold at the affected schools. They are Rolling Valley, Springfield Estates, and Pine Ridge Elementary; Kilmer Intermediate and Falls Church and Oakton High Schools. ~ The Washington Post, September 2, 1967

Inside Pine Ridge

Pine Ridge Elementary School had 24 classrooms: eleven on the first floor and thirteen on the second floor. The school office, teacher’s lounge, and teacher workroom were located in the center of the building on the first floor and the library occupied the central space on the second floor. A single-story multi-purpose room, which served as a cafeteria and meeting space, was located to the right of the school’s main entrance.

Gifted and Talented

Known since the early 2000s as the Advanced Academic Program (AAP), and historically as the Gifted and Talented Program (GT), Fairfax County Public Schools’ specialized program of studies for gifted children started during the 1964-65 school year. In 1967, Pine Ridge became the second elementary school in Fairfax County with a GT center. 193 children were screened for FCPS’ GT program that year, but only 116 met the eligibility threshold of an intelligence quotient (IQ) of at least 140. 52 percent of the children admitted into the GT program in 1967 had IQ’s above 150. The two elementary GT centers enrolled children in grades 3-6 and, in 1967, had 15 to 18 students per class working in multi-age groupings.

Our child was spotted as a psychological or social problem by his second-grade teacher. But then the school psychiatrist tested him, and he was identified as gifted. We were selected to send him to the Pine Ridge Elementary School program for the gifted, where he was challenged by teachers with special interest and training, joined with other kids he could identify with and was able to get much better-rounded courses. We’ve been very pleased ~ Leonard Deibert, quoted in The Washington Post, March 25, 1976

Pine Ridge Memories

Mrs. Selma L. Ziff taught sixth grade at Pine Ridge during the 1970s. A former student of Mrs. Ziff wrote, “She was my teacher in 1976-77, and was very innovative and challenged us all the time. She always made us feel special. One memory was the weeklong game of running our own countries, picking form of government, leader, and then trying to cope with an array of natural disasters that befell our country. The country with the dictator came in first since they could made decisions so quickly. She also instilled a love of newspapers and news and really encouraged my ability in math. Some of my classmates from sixth grade are famous now, in government or public service.”

One famous Pine Ridge alumna is Catherine “Cady” Coleman. A former NASA astronaut, Cady Coleman served on two Space Shuttle missions, STS-73 in 1995 and STS-93 in 1999, and aboard the International Space Station as a member of the Expedition 26/27 missions. Other famous alumni include Grammy Award-winning singer TobyMac (Kevin McKeehan), Steve Curtis, a musician in the band Hem, and Emmy-nominated musical director David Chase.

Susan Chess, a sixth-grader at Fairfax County’s Pine Ridge Elementary School, was selected as one of four youngsters from the Washington area to represent the United States at the Children’s International Summer Village in Sweden. ~ Northern Virginia Sun, June 5, 1971

A Snapshot of Pine Ridge

In 1981-82, the student population of Pine Ridge Elementary School was approximately 88 percent White, three percent Black, seven percent Asian or Pacific Islander, and one percent Hispanic. The school had eleven general education teachers, six GT center teachers, one English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher, and five special education teachers. The school also had a librarian and three specialists who taught reading, music, and physical education. There were four self-contained classes for students with autism, and 24 students received ESL services. On weekends, the congregation of Annandale Bible Church held services in the school’s multipurpose room.

There was a high degree of parent involvement at Pine Ridge. A report to the School Board noted that Pine Ridge was supported by 4,474 volunteer hours in 1978-79, 3,452 hours in 1979-80, and 4,411 hours in 1980-81. Volunteers helped classroom teachers with clerical work, art lessons, and small group instruction. They also assisted in the library and the school clinic during the students’ annual health screening. Volunteers served as room mothers, field trip chaperones, and assisted with events such as the annual bookfair, spaghetti dinner, and movie nights.

The Computer Literacy Program is in full swing here at Pine Ridge. Through the efforts of the PTA, enough money was raised last year for the purchase of an ATARI-800 micro-computer. Since September, a Computer Curriculum Committee has worked hard developing a computer literacy program and training parent volunteers as computer aides to work in the classrooms with the students. There is a waiting list of parents who would like to become computer aides. Most of the faculty at Pine Ridge have been participating in a training course being given in computer programming. Both parents and teachers have demonstrated through this program a willingness to go “that extra mile” to ensure the best possible education for the children here at Pine Ridge. ~ Jo Ann Murphy, Chair, Computer Evaluation Committee, February 1982

Pine Ridge Closes

From the mid-1970s into the early 1980s, student enrollment began a gradual decline resulting in the closure of several schools in Fairfax County. A study was conducted to determine which of three elementary schools—Camelot, Mantua, or Pine Ridge—should be closed at the completion of the 1981-82 school year. The following enrollment data for Pine Ridge Elementary School was included in the school consolidation study report.

On April 22, 1982, the Fairfax County School Board voted to close Pine Ridge Elementary School at the end of the school year. Ownership of the building was later transferred to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, and, in June 1983, the supervisors approved a $8.7 million plan to convert Pine Ridge into office space for the Fairfax County police department and a computerized command post for county emergency operations. Today, the facility is home to the Fairfax County Police Department Operations Support Bureau.

The Principals

The principals of Pine Ridge Elementary School were Marcia R. Humphreys (1967-1973), Dolores Lawrence Varnon (1973-1974), Joyce S. Pittman (1974-1976), and Earl Williams, Jr. (1976-1982).