McLean High School Theater Facility Naming Honors Janie Strauss

MCLEAN, VA — A former Dranesville school board representative is being honored with a facility naming in her honor at McLean High School.

On Nov. 11, the School Board opted to name the theater dressing rooms at McLean High School for Janie Strauss. Strauss was the Fairfax County School Board representative for the Dranesville District from 1993 to 2019 and had multiple terms as chair and vice chair. She is also a former elementary and preschool teacher and now the director of the local Cappies program, which trains high school theater and journalism students to publish theater reviews.

Strauss is also a previous president of the Fairfax County Council of Parent-Teacher Associations and chair of its education and budget committees, according to the school board resolution. Other committees she has served on include the Fairfax County Public Schools Career and Technical Preparation Task Force, the Division Planning Committee, the Citizens Bond Committee, and the Fairfax Framework for Student Success. Three of her four children graduated from McLean and were active in the arts and athletics. She received the Virginia School Board Association Advocate for Education Award in 2018 and was recently named Lady Fairfax of the Dranesville District by the Board of Supervisors.

After the school board action, the McLean High School theater dressing rooms will be named "Janie Strauss Dressing Rooms."

"It has been my honor to serve the children and families of Fairfax County, and to have had the opportunity to be a proud member of the School Board," said Strauss in a statement.

In addition to renaming the dressing rooms, the school board renamed the main gym at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology for Ilryong Moon, at-Large Fairfax County School Board member from 1995 to 2019. The gym will be known as "Ilryong Moon Gymnasium." Moon has two sons who attended TJHSST, volunteered with the TJHSST athletic department, and in 1995 became the first Asian-American to be elected to a public office in Virginia. He had multiple terms as chair and vice chair of the school board.