School board seeks $310 million bond
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| Annandale Terrace |
The Fairfax County School Board has asked the Board of
Supervisors to place a $310 million school bond referendum on the ballot for
the general election on Nov. 3.
The bond would fund just one school project in the
Annandale/Mason area: planning for renovations at Annandale Terrace Elementary School. That school is celebrating its 50th anniversary with
a community celebration on June 5.
The bond referendum would provide construction for an
addition at South Lakes High School, renovations at eight schools, planning
funds for a new elementary school in the northwest part of the county, and
renovation planning at five schools.
addition at South Lakes High School, renovations at eight schools, planning
funds for a new elementary school in the northwest part of the county, and
renovation planning at five schools.
Falls Church High School is in need of renovation and most
schools in the Mason District are overcrowded or are expected to be in a few
years but those issues won’t be addressed in this year’s bond, which is based on the school district’s Capital Improvement Program.
schools in the Mason District are overcrowded or are expected to be in a few
years but those issues won’t be addressed in this year’s bond, which is based on the school district’s Capital Improvement Program.
10 responses to “School board seeks $310 million bond”
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Majority of Annandale/Mason District overlooked? Shocker.
Parents, it's beyond time to demand better for our kids.
Why do you think the Fairfax County School Board decided to overlook and shortchange Mason District? Don't fall back on being lazy, and fail to think, which plagues many of the commenters on this blog and in knee-jerk fashion blame Supervisor Gross.
News flash – Penny Gross is not on the Fairfax County School Board; Pro Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Karen Garza, Sandy Evans is Mason District's school board rep.
Of course, that won't matter to most of the knee-jerk complainers that dominate the comments on this site.
We got Mason Crest and Bailey's Upper recently.
Mason gets more than its fair share of capital dollars – new Glasgow MS, new Mason Crest ES, new Bailey's Upper school. There hasn't been a new school built in other districts for decades.
It's not like the poorer parts of the county are getting short-changed in the 2015 bond. There are more schools in the Mount Vernon District (five) covered by the 2015 bond than schools in any other district, followed by four in the Springfield District, and five in other districts, including Mason.
The choice of which schools get put on the bond are up to Garza and the school board members – so any vitriol or snarky comments should be leveled at them. K? Thnxs. Bai!
So far as Mason District goes, I'd prefer to focus on: (1) not losing over $10 MM in proffers toward the construction of the elementary school at Moncure; and (2) not inflating the cost of a school on the Willston site through the addition of unrelated offices for social services and a shelter.
My kids graduated from Holmes Middle & Annandale H.S. Both underwent massive renovations but still had trailers full of kids at the end of the reno. Young adults are having fewer children especially because of the economy, but we continue to gain families through immigration. Hopefully providing affordable birth control and encouraging the drop in teen pregnancies will help stem over-population. Fewer children would put less strain on all our resources.
TO Anon 5/11/15, 10:28 AM and 12:34 PM
Re: Upper Bailey’s & Mason Crest schools. We did NOT get Mason Crest recently–it was 6 years ago. Upper Baileys was not on in a bond referendum, but was refurbished with CIP funds "in reserve” and on hand.
The idea of capital improvements is a classroom for every student–not every district gets the same amount of money. 7 Corners and Baileys are overcrowded now! It doesn't matter what has been built here before or even when “before” was.
I agree, but there are nut jobs in McLean and Great Falls conjecturing that we are living high on the hog over here due to our smaller class sizes. So, we have to have some point to reason with them on, and recognize that yes, we got a couple of schools built recently.