FCPS staff approves four options under Annandale Regional Study
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| The school under construction on the Lacey site, May 10. |
Fairfax County Public Schools staff has developed four options for under the Annandale Regional Study addressing overcrowding at Annandale High School and setting boundaries for the new school on the Lacey Center site.
In general, one option is aimed at moving a minimum number of students, another would reduce split feeders and attendance islands, and a third has the goal of making all elementary schools K-6. The fourth option, a non-boundary solution, would change the grade configurations of Annandale High School and Holmes and Poe middle schools. There are detailed detailed maps on the Annandale Regional Plan website.
The first three options call for the new elementary school to have grades K-5 and feed to Poe Middle School and Falls Church High School. Under the non-boundary option, the new school would be K-6 and feed to Jackson Middle School and Falls Church.
The public is invited to community dialogues on the options May 16 at Annandale and Edison high schools and May 23 at Falls Church High School and Lake Braddock Secondary School. A dialogue for non-English-speakers will be held June 6 at Annandale Terrace Elementary School. All the sessions are 7-9 p.m.
When reviewing the options, “please keep in mind that we do not have to pick one of these scenarios in its entirety,” says Mason school board member Sandy Evans. “The final staff recommendation to the school board may very well be a combination of options from different scenarios or even involving something new that comes out of the community dialogues.”
Evans is also scheduling special meetings at Bren Mar Park Elementary School, tentatively set for Saturday, May 21, 9-10:30 a.m., and Monday, June 13 at 7 p.m.
Here are the details for the four options:
Option 1 – minimum movement of students
Elementary school level:
- Proposes the new elementary school at the Lacey site to be a K‐5 school feeding to Poe Middle and Falls Church High schools.
- Creates an attendance area by reassigning students from Annandale Terrace, Beech Tree, Belvedere, and Woodburn elementary schools.
- Assigns Advanced Academic Program (AAP) students to the Belvedere AAP center.
- Reduces the size of the attendance island—north of Columbia Pike and near Annandale Road and Gallows Road—for Woodburn Elementary School.
- Reassigns approximately 438 students in the 2012‐13 school year and 498 students in the 2016‐17 school year at the elementary school level.
Middle school level:
- Reassigns Bren Mar Park Elementary School from Poe Middle to Holmes Middle School.
- Moves Woodburn Elementary School students—reassigned to the new elementary school at the Lacey site–from Jackson Middle to Poe Middle School.
- Relocates the Advanced Academic Program (AAP) Center from Glasgow Middle to Poe Middle School.
- Reassigns approximately 369 students in the 2012‐13 school year and 438 students in the 2016‐17 school year at the middle school level.
High school level:
- Reassigns Bren Mar Park Elementary School from Annandale High to Edison High School.
- Reassigns approximately 283 students in the 2012‐13 school year and 302 students in the 2016‐17 school year at the high school level.
Option 2 – Reduces split feeders and attendance islands
Elementary school level:
- Proposes the new elementary school at the Lacey site to be a K‐5 school feeding to Poe Middle and Falls Church High schools.
- Creates an attendance area by reassigning students from Annandale Terrace, Beech Tree,
- Belvedere, and Woodburn Elementary Schools.
- Assigns AAP students to the Belvedere AAP center
- Eliminates an attendance island—north of Columbia Pike and near Annandale Road and Gallows Road—for Woodburn Elementary School.
- Eliminates an attendance island—north of 50 and south of Chestnut Avenue—for Pine Spring Elementary School by reassigning this area to Beech Tree Elementary School.
- Reassigns a portion of Annandale Terrace Elementary School—areas east of Hummer Road including Fairmont Garden Apartments—to Woodburn Elementary School.
- Reassigns a portion of the Bren Mar Park Elementary School attendance area—west of I‐395—to North Springfield Elementary School.
- Bren Mar Park Elementary—with an attendance area east of I‐395— becomes K‐6.
- Reassigns approximately 891 students in the 2012‐13 school year and 1,047 students in the 2016‐17 school year at the elementary school level.
- Moves some Belvedere Elementary School students—reassigned to the new elementary school at the Lacey site–from Glasgow Middle to Poe Middle School.
- Moves Woodburn Elementary School students—reassigned to the new elementary school at the Lacey site–from Jackson Middle to Poe Middle School.
- Moves Annandale Terrace Elementary School students—reassigned to Woodburn Elementary School—from Poe Middle to Jackson Middle School.
- Reassigns the Parklawn Elementary School attendance area—along Lincolnia Road and North Beauregard Street—from Holmes Middle to Glasgow Middle School.
- Moves Bren Mar Park Elementary School students (K‐6)—from the attendance area east of I‐395—from Poe Middle to Twain Middle School.
- Moves Bren Mar Park Elementary School students—from the attendance area west of I‐395—reassigned to North Springfield Elementary School—from Poe to Holmes Middle School.
- Moves Pine Spring Elementary School students—reassigned to Beech Tree Elementary School—from Jackson Middle to Glasgow Middle School.
- Moves Wakefield Forest Elementary School students that currently attend Poe Middle to Frost Middle School. This proposal may require a building addition at Frost.
- Relocates the Advanced Academic Program (AAP) center from Glasgow Middle to Holmes Middle School.
- Reassigns approximately 611 students in the 2012‐13 school year and 785 students in the 2016‐17 school year at the middle school level.
- Moves some Belvedere Elementary School students—reassigned to the new elementary school at the Lacey site—from Stuart High to Falls Church High School.
- Reassigns the Parklawn Elementary School attendance area—along Lincolnia Road and North
- Beauregard Street—from Annandale High to Stuart High School.
- Reassigns Bren Mar Park Elementary School—the area east of I‐395—from Annandale to Edison High School.
- Bren Mar Park students, who under this option have been reassigned to North Springfield Elementary, will continue attending Annandale High School.
- Moves Pine Spring Elementary School students—reassigned to Beech Tree Elementary School—from Falls Church High to Stuart High School.
- Moves Wakefield Forest Elementary School students that currently attend Annandale High to Woodson High School.
- Reassigns approximately 419 students in the 2012‐13 school year and 430 students in the 2016‐17 school year at the high school level.
Option 3 – Moves toward K‐6 elementary schools
Elementary school level:
- Proposes the new elementary school at the Lacey site to be a K‐5 school feeding to Poe Middle and Falls Church High schools.
- Creates an attendance area by reassigning students from Annandale Terrace, Beech Tree, Belvedere, and Woodburn Elementary Schools.
- Assigns AAP students to the Belvedere AAP center.
- Changes Beech Tree, Belvedere, and Sleepy Hollow Elementary schools from K‐5 to K‐6.
- Eliminates an attendance area island—north of Columbia Pike and near Annandale Road and Gallows Road—for Woodburn Elementary School.
- Reassigns Annandale Terrace Elementary School attendance areas—east of Hummer Road, including Fairmont Gardens Apartments—to Woodburn Elementary School.
- Reassigns the Bren Mar Park Elementary School attendance area—west of I‐395—to North Springfield Elementary School. Both schools remain grades K‐5.
- Keeps grades 3-5 grade AAP students at Belvedere Elementary and 6th-grade students at the Glasgow Middle School AAP center.
- Reassigns approximately 946 students in the 2012‐13 school year and 1,084 students in the 2016‐17 school year at the elementary school level.
- Keeps the AAP center at Glasgow Middle School.
- Moves Woodburn Elementary School students—reassigned to the new elementary school at the Lacey site—from Jackson Middle to Poe Middle School.
- Moves Annandale Terrace Elementary School students—reassigned to Woodburn Elementary—from Poe Middle to Jackson Middle School. Sixth-grade students will attend Woodburn Elementary School.
- Reassigns the Parklawn Elementary School attendance area—north of Lincolnia Road—from Holmes Middle to Glasgow Middle School.
- Moves Bren Mar Park Elementary School students from Poe Middle to Holmes Middle School.
- Moves Bren Mark Park students—from the attendance area west of I‐395—reassigned to North
- Springfield Elementary School—to Holmes Middle School.
- Moves some Belvedere Elementary School students—reassigned to the new elementary school at the Lacey site–from Glasgow Middle to Poe Middle School.
- Reassigns Wakefield Forest Elementary School students from Poe and Frost Middle Schools to Lake Braddock Middle School.
- Reassigns approximately 637 students in the 2012‐13 school year and 804 students in the 2016‐17 school year at the middle school level.
High school level:
- Reassigns the Parklawn Elementary School attendance area—north of Lincolnia Road—from Annandale High to Stuart High School.
- Reassigns the adjusted Bren Mar Park Elementary School attendance area—east of I‐395—from Annandale to Edison High School.
- Moves Bren Mark Park students—from the attendance area west of I‐395—reassigned to North
- Springfield Elementary School—to Edison High School, making North Springfield a split feeder to Edison High and Annandale High.
- Moves some Belvedere Elementary School students—reassigned to the new elementary school at the Lacey site—from Stuart High to Falls Church High School.
- Reassigns Wakefield Forest Elementary School students from Annandale and Woodson High Schools to Lake Braddock High School.
- Reassigns approximately 669 students in the 2012‐13 school year and 634 students in the 2016‐17 school year at the high school level.
Option 4 – Non-boundary solution
This proposal doesn’t contain boundary changes. Instead, the proposed changes are based on an attendance area that includes the existing Annandale High School boundary for Holmes and Poe Middle schools and changing the grade levels at Holmes, Poe, and Annandale. After elementary school, students from grades 6‐12 would change to Holmes Middle, Poe Middle, and Annandale High School.
- Proposes that Holmes Middle will serve grades 6 and 7.
- Proposes that Poe Middle will serve grades 8 and 9.
- Reassigns 6th and 7th-grade students from Poe Middle to Holmes Middle.
- Reassigns 8th-grade students from Holmes Middle and 9th-grade students from Annandale High to Poe Middle.
- Requires building modifications at both Poe Middle and Holmes Middle to accommodate the
- expansion and addition of programs to increase the capacity of both schools to 1,200 with a total cost estimate of approximately $3.5 million for both.
- This proposal may also require moving existing programs at both Poe Middle and Holmes Middle.
- Would require a bell schedule change at Poe Middle.
- Would require 12 additional buses to accommodate Poe/Holmes Middle changes.
High school level:
- Proposes that Annandale High will serve grades 10, 11, and 12.
- Requires additional transportation between Poe Middle and Annandale High to allow ninth graders the opportunity to access the full‐range of student activities and some course offerings at the high school.
- Would require two additional buses for shuttles to/from Poe to Annandale High schools.
- Reassigns a total of approximately 1,520 student in the 2012‐13 school year and 1,750 students in the 2016‐17 school year.
The FCPS staff notes that if the board adopts this solution, they would recommend that the elementary school at the Lacey site become a K‐6 school and that students in this attendance area attend Jackson Middle School and then Falls Church High School. Should this happen, it would be necessary to fund an addition at Jackson Middle School to ensure that the additional students could be accommodated instructionally.
Only Option 1 keeps a middle class base of kids at Poe and Annandale. None of the other options keeps enough of a middle class base at those schools.
I hope they choose Option 3 as that handles the overcrowding — and the burgeoning population of K-1-2 students — in the best way possible over the long-term.
Option 3 turns 3 Elementary schools to K-6 that go to Glasgow. You still have all the other Elementary schools surrounding Glasgow as K-5. That means the kids at those schools can choose to have 6th grade in Elementary school or Middle School. That does not seem to make sense unless you change all the other Elementary schools feeding into Glasgow.
All the elementary schools should be changed to K-6. Option 3 is a start for making that a reality. Also, Options 2 and 3 are the only options that address the core concern for Annandale overcrowding — getting the student number down below 2350. However, the three options may be missing something, as the ESOL% at the new Lacey will be between 74% and 86%. Not sure that such numbers would be desirable for many native-English speaking families.
One of the bad things about making Poe a split feeder between Annandale and Fall Church high Schools is that the only students from Poe going to Falls Church H.S. are those north of Rt 236. When you look at the boundries, there are not that many from Poe going to Falls Church H.S. I thought they tried to avoid only having a small number of students going to 1 H.S. and the majority going to another when they had split feeders.
Because of this small population going to Falls Church, I think Option 2 is better than Option 1 because it makes a bigger percentage of Poe students feed into Falls Church H.S. from Poe.