School History

Hayfield Elementary School was founded in the fall of 1966, and our building opened on Friday, January 13, 1967. Our first principal was Dorothy O. Hoge. Prior to January, Hayfield students were housed at Hollin Meadows Elementary School and attended classes on half-day modified shifts. In January 1967, the Alexandria Gazette newspaper reported: "Notified two days earlier that the school would be ready to receive them Friday, the students were alerted to bring large paper bags from home to hold their belongings. Then on Friday, they were picked up by bus as usual, taken to Hollin Meadows where they picked up their packed sacks, bade goodbye to their hosts at Hollin Meadows, and re-boarded the buses for the five-bus caravan to their new quarters on Telegraph Road."

Black and white photograph of the main entrance to Hayfield Elementary School taken in 1967. The multi-purpose room and cafeteria are on the left, and the classroom wing and offices are on the right. A station wagon is parked in front of the building. A sidewalk runs down the side of the building where an addition will be constructed in 1972. Two small trees or shrubs have been planted near the flagpole. — This photograph of Hayfield Elementary School appeared on the cover of the program given to guests during our school’s dedication ceremony in May 1967.

Hayfield Elementary School was designed by the architecture firm of Pickett, Siess, and Hook, and was modeled after their plans for Spring Hill Elementary School. Our school was built by Burroughs & Preston, Inc., at a cost of $555,500. 295 students walked through the doors of Hayfield on opening day and, by the end of the month, enrollment had grown to 318 children with 11 teachers. On the first floor of the building were nine classrooms, two activity rooms, a conference hall, administrative office, and a multi-purpose room/ cafeteria. 11 additional classrooms, an audio-visual center, and the library were located on the second floor.

Color class photograph from the 1966 to 1967 school year. A sign indicates the teacher’s name was Miss Powell and that the picture was taken in March 1967. 23 children are pictured, an even mix of boys and girls. Some are standing, others are seated. The girls are all wearing dresses or skirts and the boys are wearing button down shirts or sweaters. Miss Powell can be seen standing on the right. She has shoulder length blonde hair and is wearing a multi-colored vertical striped blazer and crew neck blue blouse.

Hayfield Elementary was dedicated at a ceremony on Sunday, May 21, 1967. Virginia's Lieutenant Governor, Fred G. Pollard, spoke at the dedication, and his remarks touched on the history of the Hayfield area. Our school was built on land once owned by President George Washington who, in 1785, sold the property to his cousin Lund Washington. Lund Washington’s property became known as Hayfield Farm. Learn more about the history of Hayfield Farm in this video produced for Fairfax County Public Schools’ cable television channel Red Apple 21.

Egg Crates and Pods

By November 1970, enrollment at Hayfield swelled to 760 students, well over our building's original 600-pupil capacity. Four Quonset trailers, like the ones pictured below, were brought in to handle the overflow.

Black and white photograph taken in 1954 of a Quonset hut at Fairfax Elementary School. The building is a long semi-cylindrical structure with a door and three windows on one end and four windows along each side. The buildings were made out of metal and could be rapidly assembled and disassembled. Children can be seen to the left of the Quonset hut playing on the playground. Two men are examining the structure. — Quonset huts like this one at Fairfax Elementary School were purchased from United States military surplus suppliers after World War II and were used as temporary classrooms at schools throughout Fairfax County during the 1950s and 60s.

In February 1972, construction began on the first addition to Hayfield Elementary. At this period in Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) history, the "open classroom" movement was in full swing. Open classroom schools were built differently from the "egg crate" style schools built in Fairfax County pre-1968. The oldest portion of Hayfield was constructed in the egg crate style, which emphasized rectangular buildings with long rows of classrooms separated by a central hallway. Open classroom schools placed groups of door-less classrooms around an open area called a "pod" or "learning bay" as it was called at Hayfield. Typically, five or six teachers were assigned to a pod, which held students from multiple grade levels grouped according to their subject-matter skill level. The new addition to Hayfield was built in the open classroom style.

Color photograph of the exterior of Hayfield Elementary School taken from the playing fields behind the school. Construction work is in progress because there are large mounds of earth between the field and the school. The open classroom wing is complete, but the gymnasium and music room addition are not yet constructed. — This photograph, taken during the early 1970s, shows the “egg crate” portion of our building at center, and the “open classroom” wing on the left.

Two pods, with space equivalent to ten classrooms, a gymnasium, and a music room were constructed in 1972 at a cost of $582,000. The original library was converted into a science lab, and a new media center was built in the open classroom wing of the building. The addition increased Hayfield's capacity to 900 students.

Color photograph of Hayfield’s sixth grade class. They are posed outside of the building with some children seated on the ground and others standing behind them. In the background several teachers can be seen standing behind the students. Approximately 80 children are pictured. — 1983 6th Grade Class Photo, taken outside next to the open classroom wing of our building.

Declining Enrollment

From the mid-1970s into the early 1980s, student enrollment began a gradual decline resulting in the closure of several schools in the eastern part of Fairfax County. The closures affected neighborhoods that saw the earliest growth post-World War II. By 1979, enrollment at Hayfield had fallen to 509 students. Two years later, in 1981, enrollment bottomed out at 423 students. The closure of several schools in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County, and the subsequent redistricting, stabilized our population to approximately 500 students by the late 1980s.

Black and white yearbook photograph taken in 1980 showing students at dismissal. It is wintertime and there is snow on the ground. The children are wearing heavy coats and are boarding school buses. One of the children is waving at the camera. — Hayfield Elementary School, 1980

Renovations and Additions

In 1991, construction began on a second addition to Hayfield Elementary School to provide classrooms for the School Age Child Care (SACC) program. Our school's first building-wide renewal began in July 2000 and was completed during the summer of 2003 at a cost of $6 million. Additional classrooms, a hallway connecting the learning bay to these new classrooms, and a courtyard were constructed. Hayfield was rededicated on September 29, 2003, as part of our school's 35th anniversary celebration.

Collage showing the covers of three Hayfield Elementary School yearbooks. On the left is the cover of the 1978 to 1979 yearbook. It is an orange cover with a three-dimensional letter H printed in white, and small cartoon figures of an owl, a dog, and a mouse. At center is the cover of our 1986 to 1987 yearbook. It is a white cover with an illustration of our mascot, the hawk, printed in orange. On the right is the cover of our 2006 to 2007 yearbook. It features a full-color student-drawn illustration of a hawk inside a circle. The circle has text that reads: Honoring each child. The circle is set above an American flag. Beneath the flag is an illustration of the front of our building. — The earliest yearbook in our collection is from the 1978-79 school year. Pictured alongside it are two yearbook covers from our 20th and 40th anniversary years.

Fast Facts

Did you know that when Hayfield Elementary opened there were no kindergarteners in our school? A kindergarten program was piloted in several schools in 1967 and proved so successful that one year later FCPS implemented kindergarten county-wide. FCPS enrolled approximately 8,000 children in kindergarten in September 1968.

Color class photograph from the 1968 to 1969 school year showing some of the first kindergarteners enrolled in our school and in FCPS. 25 children are pictured, an even mix of boys and girls, and their teacher, Mrs. Walsh is standing behind them on the right.

When Hayfield Elementary opened our building did not have air conditioning. On warm days, classroom windows were propped open to let in fresh air. The 1972 open classroom addition to our building was air conditioned, but it wasn't until 1995 that air conditioning was added building-wide.

Black and white photograph of the front of Hayfield Elementary School from our 1993 to 1994 yearbook. The building was photographed from the sidewalk along Telegraph Road. A row of cars is parked in the bus loop in front of the school. — Hayfield Elementary School, 1994

The American flag quilt in our library was constructed by Suzanne Shaw. Hayfield students and staff helped to make the quilt pieces “in memory and appreciation for all Americans who have worked tirelessly, sacrificed so much, and dedicated their lives to keep our country free.” This memorial was displayed in the wake of the events of September 11, 2001 and still hangs today.

Photograph of the American flag quilt that hangs on the wall in our library. The quilt was hand-decorated by students and staff.

Inclusion

Today, students with special needs learn alongside their peers in general education classrooms, but this was not always the case. Hayfield Elementary School was one of the first schools in FCPS to implement "mainstreaming," as this practice was originally called, in the 1980s. In May 1999, Hayfield Elementary School received a national award for our "exemplary special education inclusion program" from the Allyn and Bacon Publishing Company and the Learning Disabilities Division of the Council for Exceptional Children. The award, presented at the council’s national convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, included a $1,500 stipend to be used for special education staff development.

Photograph of artwork created by students in 2018 displayed in a hallway at Hayfield Elementary School. Created to look like a hawk, this large piece of artwork is approximately ten feet wide and covers the wall from floor to ceiling. Pieces of yellow, orange, red, green, blue, and lavender paper, cut into long oval shapes, have been overlapped to look like feathers. Next to the hawk, text printed in large letters reads: Together We Soar with Kindness! — Together We Soar with Kindness, 2018

Our Principals

Hayfield has had eight principals since our school was founded in the fall of 1966.

Portraits of Hayfield Elementary principals Dorothy Hoge, James Luscavage, and Joseph Hucks. Hoge is holding an American flag, Luscavage’s picture is a head-and-shoulders staff portrait, and Hucks is seated at a desk working with a student. — Dorothy O. Hoge (1966-70), James V. Luscavage (Center, 1970-78), and Joseph B. Hucks (Right, 1978-82)

Portraits of Hayfield Elementary principals Audrey Montgomery and Edwin Grady. Montgomery is seated at a table reading to three students, and Grady is in his office speaking on the telephone. — Audrey T. Montgomery (1982-84) and Edwin R. Grady, III (1984-94)

Portraits of Hayfield Elementary principals Barbara Vaccarella, Theresa Carhart, and Jessica Lewis. All three images are head-and-shoulders staff portraits. — Barbara Vaccarella (Left, 1994-09), Theresa A. Carhart (Center, 2009-13), and Jessica R. Lewis (2013-Present)