Sunday, December 5, 2010

W.T. Woodson Trivia

I got this WTW trivia from Mike Schmidle. I found it quite interesting so decided to share it with you.

The W.T. in W.T. Woodson stands for Wilbert Tucker. This is all according to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Wilbert Tucker Woodson High School, commonly known as W.T. Woodson High School, is a high school located in Fairfax County, Virginia, east of the city of Fairfax.

The school opened in 1962 and once was the largest school in the state. As of 2008, the student population is around 2,100. Woodson has the biggest campus in Fairfax County in size of area, and also houses Woodson Adult High School, a program designed to allow adults to earn their GEDs and HS diplomas. It was ranked #74 on Newsweek's Top 1000 U.S. High Schools in 2008. The school is named after Wilbert Tucker Woodson, superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools from 1929 to 1961.

Robert Elliott, the school's principal, retired in late November 2007. The new principal is Jeff Yost, former Assistant Principal.

PRINCIPALS

Mr. Emory Chelsey 1962-1965
Mr. Robert Phipps 1965-1968
Mr. William P. Ladson 1968-1972
Mr. Robert Phipps 1972-1981
Dr. James Wilson 1981-1986
Mr. Charles E. "Chuck" Billak 1986-1991
Dr. Gary Miller 1991-1999
Mr. Robert Elliot 1999-2007
Mr. Jeff Yost 2007-

RENOVATION

Woodson began the process of renovating all of its facilities in 2005 and adding several classrooms. The project was paid for in bonds that were established in 2003 by a voter referendum. The issue of whether to renovate had been debated for several years before the plan was approved. Woodson was one of the oldest schools in Fairfax County Public Schools, as the main facilities (plumbing, heating/cooling, floors, electrical) were still fundamentally the same as they were when the structure was built. The renovations nearly doubled the square footage of the school.

Thanks, Mike, for sharing this info with us.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The other day I just happened to be reading the Metro section of the Washington Post, and as I turned the page I came to the obituaries. I noticed that Robert Phipps, who was our principal when we were at WTW had passed away in Florida, where he moved after his retirement from the Fairfax County School Systems.

Anonymous said...

I was a graduate of WTW 1980 - Well late but my condolences to the Phipps family; I always remember him to be very popular with the students and he really cared....something that most teachers now don't seem to do.