Details of Proposed School Boundary Line Shift Revealed, Vote Coming May 9

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) and Fairfax City Schools are closer to making a decision on how to redraw school boundary lines in an effort to relieve overcrowding in three of the City's four schools.

The issue has been a large focus of both the City and FCPS since the summer of 2012, when the City first requested that FCPS address the issue.

The original goal was to try and relieve overcrowding at Fairfax High by 600 students, as it is estimated that the school will reach 600 students over capacity by the 2017-18 school year. However, a compromise seems to have been reached following a boundary study conducted by FCPS that proposes moving 300 students out of Fairfax High, and 150 students out of Lanier Middle School.

FCPS officials have said that this "partial relief" should help sufficiently relieve overcrowding at those two City schools without overwhelming nearby neighborhood County schools too much.

FCPS held three community meetings in February and provided three boundary change options. Based on community input and the goals of the study, FCPS presented a fourth option at the end of March. 

Based on feedback and the county's boundary study, FCPS came back to the table with a staff recommendation that both parties are expected to vote on, on May 9.

The staff recommendation

• Move a portion of the Greenbriar West Elementary School attendance area east of Stringfellow Road that would usually feed into Lanier Middle School to instead feed into Rocky Run Middle School, and from Fairfax High into Chantilly High School. Officials say, "This change eliminates the current split-feeder assignment for Greenbriar West Elementary and reassigns approximately 40 high school students and 20 middle school students currently attending Fairfax and Lanier, respectively, by the 2017-18 school year."

• Move the Fairfax Station, Fairview Woods, and Fairfax Manor subdivision portions of Oak View Elementary School's attendance area from Frost Middle School and Woodson High School to Robinson Secondary School. Officials say, "This change eliminates an attendance area 'island' at the middle and high school levels and sends these students to a much closer school. The proposed change reassigns approximately 100 students at the high school level and 40 students at the middle school level by the 2017-18 school year. The middle school AAP assignment for these students would change from the AAP Center at Frost to the AAP Center at Lake Braddock Secondary School, impacting approximately 20 students. This boundary change makes additional capacity available to move students from Fairfax and Lanier in to Frost and Woodson."

• Move all of the Fairfax Villa Elementary attendance area (including areas north of Lee Highway) from Lanier Middle to Frost Middle School and from Fairfax High to Woodson High School. Officials say, "The proposed change reassigns approximately 330 students at the high school level and 160 students at the middle school level by the 2017-18 school year. The middle school AAP assignment for these students would change from the AAP Center at Rocky Run to the AAP Center at Frost Middle School, impacting approximately 20 students."

Additionally, FCPS officials said, "Reassignment of the Penderbrook/Fairfax Farms area is not recommended at this time. To do so without removing other sections of the current Oakton attendance area simply transfers the significant overcrowding problem from Fairfax to Oakton, unduly burdening that school, which is already projected to be at 109 percent of capacity by the 2017 school year."

"Renovation of Oakton High School, to include additional capacity, is scheduled to start in the 2017 to 2018 time frame," officials continued. "Additional enrollment pressure should not be added to Oakton until extra capacity is provided."

Some students can be 'grandfathered in'

FCPS staff said, some tweaks to the proposed plan were made in reference to parent concerns about changing their child's school mid-stream. To that effect, the staff recommendation document indicates:

"In order to address parental concerns expressed in the community dialog meetings and achieve adequate relief in a timely fashion, staff has proposed grandfathering both the rising 11th and 12th grades at high schools and rising 8th grade students at middle schools beginning in fall 2014."

Further, "Staff further recommends an option which would allow rising 9th grade students to attend their newly assigned school beginning in the 2013-14 school year with transportation. This option would provide some relief to Fairfax High beginning with the next school year and would benefit families who may not want to move their students at the 10th grade." 

Fairfax City Schools' response

In a letter to Fairfax City families on the City Schools website, Superintendent Peter Noonan commented on the proposed staff recommendation.

"While no solution is perfect, we feel the FCPS staff and School Board have worked to find an answer that aims to be the best for schools and students," he said. "We appreciate all of their hard work." 

The next steps

This Wednesday, April 17, FCPS will hold a public hearing to hear locals' feelings on the staff-recommended plan.

The meeting will be held at Luther Jackson Middle School, 3020 Gallows Road in Falls Church at 7 p.m. 

Anyone who would like to address the School Board during the public hearing can go to the FCPS website and click on the "public engagement" link on the right, or call the School Board office at 571-423-1075.

PATCH WANTS TO KNOW - What do you think of the proposed changes? Tell us in the comments below.

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