Politics & Government

Last-Minute Attempt to Delay School Boundary Vote Fails

Twelve PTAs vote 'no confidence' in study

Although Fairfax Station Patch has already published a story today about the vote, we wanted to also include this story by our colleague from Centreville Patch, with details about the vote and further clarification about the issue.

The Fairfax County school board last night approved changes to school boundaries in the southwestern part of the county, citing the need to alleviate severe overcrowding in a number of area public schools. 

The boundary study was one of the largest in the school system's history, and controversial in many quarters. Twelve PTAs  from 21 of the schools affected voted in favor of a resolution expressing "no confidence" in the southwestern boundary study. Around 70 people attended the board meeting last night, many carrying signs in protest. 

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"I've been getting a lot of e-mails saying, 'just vote no. Vote no on this boundary change.' But we have a school district to run," said James Raney (Member at Large). He said that when some schools are vastly overcrowded, and others are far under capacity, the school board has a responsibility to act.

"In a perfect world, change would be minimized, because change is in and of itself disruptive," said Tessie Wilson (Braddock District). "But this is not a perfect world. And we as a governing board must look at the larger picture and make our decision based on the greater good."

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The boundary changes are effective for the coming school year at Bonnie Brae, Brookfield, Bull Run, Clifton, Cub Run, Deer Park, Eagle View, Fairview, Fairfax Villa, Greenbriar East, Greenbriar West, London Towne, Oak View, Poplar Tree, Providence, Union Mill, Virginia Run, and Willow Springs elementary schools.

In the 2013-2014 school year:

  • Centreville, Centre Ridge, Colin Powell, Eagle View, Fairfax Villa, Greenbriar East, and Union Mill elementary schools will also see changes. Fairfax Villa, Greenbriar East, and Union Mill elementary schools will get building additions.
  • A modular building will be relocated to Centreville Elementary School
  • There will be interior architechtural changes at Fairview Elementary School.

To view an animated powerpoint presentation put together by FCPS staff that illustrates the moves,click here.

The vote was opposed by Patricia Reed (Providence District), Martina Hone and Ilryong Moon (Members-at-Large). 

'No' to Postponing Boundary Changes

Reed, Hone and Moon had voted earlier in the evening in favor of an amendment that would postpone the vote until after new projection numbers are released in March. Citing concerns that the data school board members based their decisions on is too old, and the need for increased public trust in the boundary study process, the three joined Sandra Evans (Mason District), in voting to postpone the vote until April 14. 

"This study uses enrollment data from over a year ago, and projections that show the best guess at the time. So I ask you, would you allow a surgeon to rely on one year old medical tests prior to surgery?" Reed said, to cheers from many of those observing. "Would you even allow your auto mechanic to fix a car that he hadn't evaluated in a year? This study affects 1700 students directly, and many more families and communities indirectly."

Evans said that even if the numbers were completely accurate, public confidence in the process was crucial.

“The community needs to buy into this process. The community needs to have some confidence in what we’re doing...I don’t see that we lose anything significant in waiting." 

However, Wilson and Brad Center (Lee District), said that while the numbers might change very slightly next month, any changes were probably not going to be substantial enough that the board should delay any longer in a process that had already taken two years.

"If this amendment were to pass, we would still be here in April with the same people in the room, arguing about the validity of the numbers," said Stuart Gibson (Hunter Mill). 

"The people who disagree with our decision to close Clifton Elementary School are not going to be swayed by any change in the projections, whether they're proved accurate or inaccurate," Gibson said. "And I would submit that the variance of even one student would be held up as evidence that we should not move forward."

Dr. Jack Dale, Fairfax County Public Schools' superintendent, told the school board that if the data was slightly off, he does have the authority to make some small administrative changes. 

The board also approved a tweak in the staff recommendations, voting to allow 25 students to be reassigned from Oak View to Bonnie Brae Elementary Schools. The area is connected, and the community is united that they would like to see the change, said Elizabeth Bradsher (Springfield District). Reed was the only board member to vote against the amendment, indicating in her questions before the vote that she did not want one group to receive special treatment when many communities had lobbied to stay together. 

Clifton's Closure Won't Fund Full-Day K

An amendment by Kathy Smith (Sully District) to introduce full-day kindergarten at , Greenbriar West and Willow Springs elementary schools next year failed. Smith proposed funding the kindergartens with half a million dollars from the closure of Clifton Elementary School, because many of the families who will attend these schools were originally assigned to other schools where there is already full-day K. 

Most school board members said that while they supported the intent behind Smith's amendment, they felt that it was more appropriate to bring it up in the budget talks.


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