Bren Mar Park ES parents concerned about last-minute boundary proposal

With Fairfax County Public Schools’ boundary review study in the home stretch, parents at Bren Mar Park Elementary School are concerned that a new proposal has popped up calling for students to be transferred to different middle and high schools than had been discussed.

In early 2026, the school board is expected to review the recommendations developed by the Superintendent’s Boundary Review Advisory Committee. The committee is charged with redrawing the attendance zones across the entire county.

Students who complete the fifth grade at Bren Mar Park (BMP) currently go to Holmes Middle School and Edison High School.

Under a last-minute proposal from FCPS staff, students would go to Key Middle School and Lewis High School, says BMP PTA President A.J. Sutton.

The boundary committee didn’t include that proposed change in its latest boundary plan, Scenario 4, and its last meeting is set for next week.

Sutton says having a new proposal for BMP surface at the last minute doesn’t give parents enough time to consider whether they approve of that change or not. The PTA sent a survey to parents, but hasn’t gotten the results yet.

BMP parents aren’t necessarily opposed to having students moved to the Lewis pyramid, Sutton says. “We don’t have enough information to make an informed decision.”

“Substance aside, the lack of transparency or opportunity to comment publicly on this is something I think we can all agree is not acceptable for our community,” he wrote in an email to parents on Dec. 4. The last day to comment on Scenario 4 was Dec. 5.

Because Key Middle School enrolls only seventh and eighth-graders, he says, BMP, which currently serves grades K-5, would have to add sixth-graders. Now, BMP students go to Holmes for the sixth grade.

Scenario 4 called for BMP students to continue at Holmes Middle School, then go to Annandale High School instead of Edison. But the new staff proposal would seem to override that.

BMP parents opposed an earlier proposal that called for creating a split feeder, with about half the students moved to North Springfield Elementary School. That plan, since dropped, would have also created an attendance island, shifting some Weyanoke students to BMP.

BMP is temporarily overcrowded due to an ongoing renovation and expansion project. As a result, all third-graders and some administration offices are in trailers, there are no athletic fields, and parking is limited.

The project is expected to be completed in 2028. At that time, the school will have more capacity and will have space for sixth-graders and the Weyanoke students.

Sutton also notes that a boundary change would be disruptive, especially after BMP students went to Annandale High School before BMP was moved to the Edison pyramid in 2011.

He believes the most recent proposal is driven by parents in Springfield who want to stay at West Springfield High School rather than transfer to Lewis. “Boundary changes shouldn’t be based on who complains the loudest,” he says.

Related story: Parents weigh priorities for FCPS boundary study