Annandale Could Lose Talented Students, Parental Support to Woodson

A preliminary  recommendation, from the Fairfax County Public Schools Facilities and Transportation Department, proposes having students in the area attend  instead of .

Currently, half the students at Wakefield Forest Elementary School (WFES) go to  for 7th grade. Poe feeds into Annandale High School (AHS).

Under the recommendation, all WFES students would attend , which feeds into Woodson High School, eliminating the split feed currently in place. The proposed recommendation is intended to help relieve overcrowding at AHS by using the capacity available at Woodson.

Talented Students

By removing the WFES community, AHS could potentially lose 13 percent of its International Baccalaureate students, 17 percent of its athletes, 8 percent of the students in performing arts and 28 percent of its parent leaders. [See chart below, of data collected by Slough for the regional study, which shows the impact of the last boundary change for AHS and the additional impact to the AHS community should the current recommendation be approved.]

Last Boundary Change
(9-10% pop.reduction)

*According to Slough, the variance in the figures numbers is a reflection of the fact that the last boundary change is still ongoing (all those kids have not left AHS). The School Board will not consider parental involvement in their decision.

The change from IB, which is introduced to middle school students at Poe and continues at AHS, to the Advanced Placement program used at Woodson is an additional concern for some parents. If the recommendation is adopted, Poe Middle School students will have no choice but to transition to the AP program.

“The opportunities that kids at AHS as a whole get are so different from other schools. The IB program at AHS gets you into the better schools and gives you the skills you need in college, not just giving you the credit to go further,” said Rolen.

Rolen said she pulled her daughter of the Frost Middle School GT/AP program at Frost so that she could go to Poe and feed into AHS. Now she’s unsure where her daughter will go, but she wants her to go to the middle school that feeds into AHS.

Parental Involvement

One of the biggest areas of impacts in the chart [see part two or the photo of the chart to the right] is the loss of parent leaders. Although the School Board will not consider parental involvement in their decision, many of the parents in the Wakefield community said they volunteer their time to the AHS community and are concerned about the school losing a huge share of their active parents. Parents said this could be similar to what happened during the last boundary change, when Ravensworth neighborhoods and others were removed from the AHS pyramid.

“We get that someone has to move, and we don’t make a big enough difference one way or another, but we do make an impact with our volunteers and our time,” said Kaplan. Kaplan said she and her family chose to stay in the Wakefield area because they wanted their children to attend AHS. One of her kids recently graduated from AHS and is going to Clemson, while the other is a rising sophomore.

There is also concern about a possible loss of funding for AHS programs supported by the Wakefield community. Kaplan said the AHS marching band lost a lot of funds raised on Tag Day when students from Ravensworth were redistricted, because there were fewer doors to knock on in neighborhoods with AHS kids. If the Wakefield students are redistricted, Kaplan fears the same thing may happen.

The Wakefield community also has an annual Annandale Halloween Parade, which has been a tradition for the past 40 years and features the AHS Marching Atoms. If those students to Woodson, Curran said he’s concerned the tradition may die.

Outside of the high school community, the parents also oppose the move because they don’t want to leave the Annandale community. Many Wakefield kids participate in the Annandale-North Springfield Little League and  and the parents said Annandale is their home. In a letter a group of parents against the move sent to School Board members to keep Wakefield Chapel at AHS [See PDF], they said: “We live in Annandale. Annandale is where we shop, bank, dine and seek professional services. Our orientation will shift west if our children are moved, as we will follow our children.”

Curran said he understands that by speaking out, some people will think the Wakefield community feels like they’re special, but McLean stressed that parents at Wakefield just want to stay and be part of the AHS community. 

Socioeconomics

Despite their desire to remain in the community, several parents understand they could potentially benefit economically from such a change. Woodson’s academic reputation (it was ranked #90 by U.S. News & World Report in 1998) and high test scores would make the Wakefield neighborhood more attractive to potential residents. But high property values aren’t the issue. “The happiness of our kids and their education is more important,” said Ryan.

On the other hand, the parents also argue that moving Wakefield Chapel to the Frost/Woodson pyramid would also essentially create a virtual wall ending at the Beltway, dividing middle-class neighborhoods from working-class areas.

Regardless of what happens, McLean said it won’t change what they push their kids to do and accomplish, but they’d prefer to push their kids to make a difference in Annandale.

“The Annandale community inside the Beltway is paying the price because FCPS made TJHSST a magnet school and they just keep making it worse,” said Rolen. “With this recommendation from FCPS, we know we have a fight,” said Rolen.

to hear what parents told Fairfax County School Board members at Monday night's meeting.