Schools

Parents Review Options for Regional Study

The first of five community meetings presenting the options to relieve overcrowding at Annandale High School brought differing opinions from parents

Annandale parents and community members expressed divided opinions about the four options for the Annandale Regional Study at a community meeting at on Monday night.

The four options, developed by the ad-hoc Annandale Regional Study Committee, have not been presented or considered by the Fairfax County School Board. They were published on the Annandale Study website on May 12 and will be presented to members of the community through , the first of which was Monday.

Reactions to the options varied among parents with many believing the options did not do enough to relieve the overcrowding at Annandale High. “It was a lot of information and some of it was overwhelming,” said AHS Parent Teacher Student Association President Emily Slough. “Depending on where you live and your perspective, you may have come to the meeting with a particular favorite; however, the mix of strong opinions, plus the ensuing debate and conversation prevented most tables from reaching complete consensus (each table submitted a single feedback form).  So I am not sure that any one option is the clear favorite.”

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Annandale Study Options

According to Monday’s presentation [see PDF for full details of each option] option one would allow minimum movement of students and proposes the new elementary school at the Lacey site become a K-5 school that feeds to and Falls Church High. At the middle school level, it reassigns Bren Mar Park Elementary School from Poe Middle to and also from Annandale to Edison at the high school level.

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Option two would reduce split feeders and attendance islands and proposes the same K-5 designation for Lacey and feed to Poe and Falls Church. Some Belvedere students would move from Glasgow to Poe for middle school with some moving from Stuart to Falls Church for high school.

Under option three Beech Tree, Belvedere and Sleepy Hollow become K-6 schools from K-5 and moves students to Jackson from Poe with sixth graders attending Woodburn. According to committee member Regina Printz, the committee collaborated on all options except option three. The non-boundary solution under option four is based under the attendance area of the current Annandale boundary [see PDF].

Discussing the Pros and Cons

Parents from showed up to express their concerns over option three. Daniela Walrath, whose child is currently a 7th grader at Frost Middle School and attended Wakefield Forest Elementary, said she feels there was a “bait and switch” tactic to the process by including option three.

“[It] does not make sense for us to be yanked out of [a] school with capacity to relieve overcrowding at a Annandale High School that has nothing to do with us,” said Walrath.

One AHS alumnus was concerned about the percentage of free and reduced lunch price increasing if hundreds of students were removed from some schools.

Instead of the usual town hall meeting, the committee and parents in attendance were split into smaller groups led by a chosen group leader. Fairfax County Public School staff including director of Fairfax County Public Schools facilities and transportation Dean Tistadt, Cluster 3 Assistant Supervisor Dan Parris, Mason District School Board Member Sandy Evans and Braddock District School Board Member Tessie Wilson sat at the tables and received feedback from parents. Slough said after the meeting the mood at her table was contentious.

“Most parents I spoke to were not thrilled with small group discussions because what they desire is direct conversation with School Board members, who are – after all – the final decision makers,” said Slough via e-mail after the presentation. “However, folks seemed to be making the best of it.”

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Linda Knoche contributed to the reporting in this article.

What do you think of the four options for the Annandale study? Tell us in the comments.


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