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About Us

entrance to Grace Miller ES

School Year

  • Office Hours: Monday - Friday     7:45 AM - 4:30 PM 
  • Instructional Hours: 8:35 AM - 3:20 PM
  • Summer Hours: Monday - Thursday   7:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Our History

Opened in 1990 as a K-6 elementary school, Grace Miller Elementary School was named in honor of Mrs. Grace Clark Miller, a teacher for 40 years in Fauquier and neighboring counties. Mrs. Miller sold the property where her namesake school is located, which was part of the family farm, to the Fauquier County School Board.

When Mrs. Miller started teaching public school in Fauquier County in 1922, she earned $85 a month and got to her Bealeton classroom by horse and buggy. Many of her students were the children of dairy farmers and would come to school after having been up for hours milking the cows and doing farm chores. If they were tired, Mrs. Miller would let them sleep; after an hour, however, it was time to learn!

The playground wall at Grace Miller Elementary was added to the school campus in 1996 and officially dedicated on June 11, 1996.  The wall was designed and originally painted by Tish Inman, a local artist and parent of a GMES student at the time.  The silhouettes commemorate the first group of students to go from kindergarten to 5th grade at Grace Miller Elementary.  Ms. Inman is represented at the end of the wall with a paint bucket.  Mrs. Grace Miller, the namesake of the school is represented with the school mascot, a mustang.  Also represented are Mr. J. Michael Wine, the first principal of Grace Miller Elementary, and Mrs. Judy Williams, the assistant principal of GMES at that time.

The playground wall was restored in May, 2014 through a combined effort.  Mrs. Judy Williams, then principal of Grace Miller, worked with Mr. Gary Colson, Art teacher at Liberty High School, and Ms. Inman to guide the adult alumnae of Grace Miller to repaint their own silhouettes!  Current GMES and LHS students also helped with the effort.  Their work will hopefully preserve the playground wall for many more years.

Various other memorials can be found on the school campus.  There are trees and shrubs planted by various graduating classes and Student Council groups.  The garden on the west side of the school was added in 1998 as a memorial to a favorite teacher, Ms. Carol Davis.

Grace Miller Elementary has long been an important part of the Bealeton community and will continue to support its children.