School bond referendum would fund an addition at Justice High School
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| Braddock Elementary School |
A $360 million school bond referendum on the Nov. 5 ballot will provide funds for several projects in the Annandale/Mason District area.
Those projects include $33 million for renovations of Braddock Elementary School, $53.5 million for renovations at Frost Middle School, $14.6 million for an addition at Justice High School, and $1.17 million for renovation planning at Wakefield Forest Elementary School.
The also includes $35.3 million for construction of a new elementary school in the Fairfax/Oakton area, $2 million for planning a new school elementary school by the Silver Line, and school renovations and additions throughout the county.
Projects funded with the bond are based on capacity needs as outlined in the Fairfax County Public Schools’ Capital Improvement Program.
14 responses to “School bond referendum would fund an addition at Justice High School”
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How about we spend this money on Falls Church High School instead!
Pages 42-45 of the Capital Improvement Program (see the link above) may give you some quick answers. Note that while FCHS is included in the list of schools slated for renovation, the list does not include all FCPS schools.
Drastic cuts to the FCPS budget in the 90s and early 2000s have never been recouped. Among the effects of that are the original standard of rejuvenating schools every 20-25 years; it's now has been stretched to 37 years.
CORRECTION: The bond referendum will only fund the "planning" of an addition at Justice HS; there is no money authorized for construction funding of such an addition for the next 5 years.
Also, why is Glasgow MS the only "Mega Middle School" in Fairfax County? Glasgow has nearly 400 more students than the next biggest middle school (Carson). Glasgow has nearly 2000 students! It is way too big. Some students must eat lunch at 10:30 in the morning because there are 4 lunch periods to accommodate so many kids. Such a crowded environment is not conducive to learning. There should be a moratorium on new housing projects in the Mason District until FCPS figures out how to add a second middle school or redraw the boundaries.
Mason has a lot of apartments, condos, and townhomes. I wish there were more SFH communities in the works because that would raise the income and the lessen the strain on the schools. Mason also has huge issues on overcrowding since even the SFH are oftentimes filled with illegal renters and multifamilies that code enforcement does nothing about. The shear number of out of state cars (all MD) that park on our streets because they are living in Virginia is crazy. So the schools will be overcrowded. These same issues do not exist as much in other districts.
Apartments and condos still pay property tax bro. Just not the renters doing the paying.
How about we send a bill to the governments that could not keep their communities safe, causing a massive migration. This has caused an overload of educations and other social services needed in our district. I am all for helping the needy and unfortunate, but this is ridiculous.
You reside in a Democrat governed sanctuary jurisdiction that appropriates tax money for the use of private organizations in representing migrants with cases before the immigration courts. If we're lucky, the BOD won't propose a dedicated meals tax for that purpose. – Sparky
I hate to say it but a lot of the overcrowding is due to the undocumented aliens we have in the area. Cheap housing, lots of families living in homes violating code violations, etc. have led to overcrowding of the schools. They also are the primary reason for the low scores Mason District schools receive that drive housing prices down. Appreciating is lower because of the perceived poor schools. Mason District is a great location. Centrally located, inside the beltway, easy access to DC, Old Town, and Arlington but the housing market does not reflect it because the schools are ranked so low in performance.
The housing market here is very good, you’re completely wrong.
I generally support renovations as they are needed, but additions or new schools at this point seems premature. The materials on the CIP website indicate a trend of lower enrollment, which is consistent with the overall demographic trend of fewer children, generally. I hope the county leaders are mindful of these trends as they think about spending money on additions and new schools when the trends may indicate there is no need.
For what it's worth, there appears to be an interesting phenomena happening: young families moving to Parklawn (and I'm assume the rest of Mason as well.) Arlington has become so expensive, that our neighborhood is becoming a magnet. Most of what I see happening in the neighborhood is positive. And remember, the salient indicator of an excellent education system is excellent educators: teachers are the heart of good education. The building's are secondary. An excellent teacher in a trailer is better than a lousy teacher in a great building.
Good things are coming to Mason. The Lincolnia neighborhood including and around Landmark Plaza will begin rezoning in accordance with the newly BOD-approved Comprehensive Plan. The development at Carlin Springs and Columbia Pike is nearing completion with first move-ins in November 2019.
I toured this building last week and it is going to be an incredible new asset to Bailey's Crossroads and Mason. And the developer who is running that project is eyeing other projects in Mason.
As Bing Crosby used to say (actually, sing). . . "You have to accentuate the positive, and eliminate the negative (and don't mess with Mr. In-between.)"
Just my two cents.
Just a few comments: the housing market is volatile, however, one important factor is the quality of neighborhood schools.
The taxes paid by apartment owners rarely, if ever, cover the cost of services required by their tenants, e.g schools, public safety and emergency services, libraries, recreation facilities, etc. as well as the continuing impact on the area's infrastructure: storm water runoff, sewers, water, public utilities, roads.
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Anon 3:26
What you have stated is factually incorrect.
Apartment owners pay taxes that support county services. And all planning and zoning decision take county services in account. No development can be done without this analysis.
I reply as chair of the Lincolnia Task Force, as a member of the Fairfax County Board of Code Appeals, and as a licensed professional engineer.
County voters approve every school bond referendum, and this one should be no exception, but there has been no transparency at all about why Justice, Madison and West Potomac HS were selected for additions outside the scheduled renovations of those schools. Why not Centreville, Chantilly, or McLean instead? In the long run, the lack of transparency and back-room deals that were cut to favor these schools over others will reduce confidence in the integrity of FCPS's management of scarce resources. And it's particularly inappropriate to be spending money to expand these three high schools, but not others, when the School Board has been suggesting it needs to consider school boundaries more "holistically." Do they really not understand that expanding West Potomac HS, for example, will reduce the odds that the School Board could balance the demographics at West Potomac and nearby Mount Vernon HS, which is both poorer and below capacity?
I can somewhat understand the logic behind expanding Justice, since reassigning the neighborhoods closest to other schools (Annandale, Falls Church) would likely concentrate poverty at a high school that already has the highest percentage of low-income kids in the county. But, again, if that is the logic the School Board ought to explain that to the public, rather than just keep asking for what is essentially blank-check authority to spend money as School Board members see fit.