Clifton Elementary Community Says Goodbye in 'Legacy' Event

Clifton Elementary School parents said goodbye to the school Friday in a special event celebrating the institution.

“This was the glue of the community,” said Alyson Pollard, an alumna of the school who now has young children of her own. “It’s a sad day.”

Other parents who attended the ‘Clifton’s Legacy to the Community’ event expressed that same sentiment. Though the Legacy program itself was not open to the media, advertisements for the event said that the program included refreshments and a slideshow of photos taken of the school.  

“I’m very sad to see the school go away,” said parent Doug Jennings, whose sons and daughter both attended the school.

Le-Ha Anderson’s two daughters both attended Clifton Elementary. Her youngest daughter was set to start kindergarten next school year.

“They were all looking forward to it,” Anderson said. “People got to know each other in this small, community school. We moved here to come to a school like this."

Anderson added one of the best memories of the school was when her eldest daughter, Amelia, was involved in an “innovation and invention” program, which has students develop a solution to a common problem.

“You get the sense that students are being nurtured and that my children aren’t just another number,” Anderson said.

The Fairfax County School Board made the decision to close Clifton Elementary last year. Parents filed two separate lawsuits in the aftermath of that decision. ().

Parents are now exploring whether the school could be converted into a charter school, to be named Lewis and Clark Public Charter School, tentatively, said Charles T. Rau, who is one of the proponents of the charter school idea.

“The community has had a school within the town for over 100 years,” Rau said. “We were devastated.” 

In the meantime, students who currently attend Clifton Elementary have been reassigned to other schools including Fairview, Oak View, and Union Mill Elementary schools.  The last day of school at Clifton is Tuesday, June 21.