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School Boundaries Edition, Part 5

Dear Friends and Neighbors:

I am writing to provide you with an important update on the Comprehensive School Boundary Review because the plan and schedule have changed significantly in the last few weeks. I provided previous updates on October 16, October 30, November 6, and January 23, which provide important context to understand the Comprehensive School Boundary Review.

FCPS is in the early stages of identifying potential changes (or “scenarios”) to school boundaries. FCPS was expected to publish detailed scenarios by this point, but instead, FCPS has published so-called “initial” scenarios. These initial scenarios are conceptual in nature, with the objective of soliciting community input on whether FCPS is headed in the right direction. By analogy, a child’s drawing might provide a general sense of what a house looks like, but it is not comparable to architectural plans that could be used to construct a house. Detailed scenarios will be presented at community meetings in October 2025.

I welcome the opportunity to present to your community, to include PTAs, PTSAs, PTOs, HOAs, and civic associations. To date, I have made over 25 presentations on school boundaries to diverse audiences and organizations, to include the Fairfax Federation of Citizens Associations, the Mount Vernon Council of Citizens Associations, and the South County Federation.

I will be holding a Virtual Town Hall on Wednesday, June 25 @ 7 PM to discuss the Comprehensive School Boundary Review, safety and security, and the FCPS budget. Register here to participate. (Please include any requests for language interpretation services with your registration--all requests must be received by June 20.)

In addition, I will be holding a community meeting on Monday, June 30 @ 7 PM to discuss the proposed expansion of the Mount Vernon HS boundaries to include the neighborhoods adjacent to and around Whitman MS. This change would transfer some students from Hollin Meadows ES and Stratford Landing ES to Riverside ES, from Sandburg MS to Whitman MS, and from West Potomac HS to Mount Vernon HS. Register here to participate. (Please include any requests for language interpretation services with your registration--all requests must be received by June 25.)

BACKGROUND:

The Comprehensive School Boundary Review is being conducted in accordance with Policy 8130. (I provided a comprehensive history of the development of Policy 8130 in my October 30 update.)

Policy 8130 establishes four priority factors for the adjustment of school boundaries (in no particular order):

• Access to Programming: Ensure equitable access to programs and facilities, and consider impact on school programs and populations.
• Enrollment/Capacity: Using student enrollment projections, balance available capacity across the school division and maximize efficient and effective use of school facilities, as per best practices for capacity utilization and program needs while eliminating or preventing the establishment of split feeders, whenever possible.
• Proximity: Promote contiguous attendance zones and maintain neighborhood groupings (to include condominium and apartment complexes) to eliminate and/or prevent establishment of attendance islands.
• Transportation: Provide for walking and bussing safety and limit transportation times and ensure efficient transportation routes with attendance areas.

Policy 8130 establishes optional factors for consideration by the Superintendent (in no particular order):

• Maintain relationship with school pyramid groupings.
• Minimize disruption of students' instructional programs.
• Minimize future capital and operational budget costs.
• Minimize use of temporary classrooms and modular units.
• Promote stability by focusing on long-term attendance zone stability.
• Reasonably allow for all students from the adjacent neighborhoods and communities to attend a school, taking into consideration natural and man-made barriers (eg major roads, geographic features).
• Support optimal family involvement.

REVISED PLAN:

FCPS is not starting from a blank piece of paper. Instead, FCPS is starting with the current boundaries. FCPS is focused on making limited adjustments to fix the most egregious problems with current school boundaries. (For more information, please refer to my November 6 update.)

The original plan was to present detailed scenarios at 24 community meetings (one at each high school pyramid) in June-September 2025. It was expected that revised scenarios would be prepared and presented later in Fall 2025 as necessary.

The revised plan is to present initial scenarios at 8 regional meetings in May-June 2025. I would describe the initial scenarios as conceptual in nature. I would like to caution that there are obvious errors in the drafting of the initial scenarios. For example, certain changes made to elementary school boundaries are not reflected in the boundary maps for middle schools and high schools. Detailed scenarios will be presented in October 2025. It is expected that approximately 24 community meetings (one at each high school pyramid) will be held at that time.

You can view the initial scenarios online, to include the potential impact on your home and school through the Scenario Explorer. (An instruction video is available on YouTube here.)

Neighborhood Connectivity: The first scenario focuses on eliminating all attendance islands. FCPS has 3 schools located outside of their boundaries,. For example, Whitman MS is an attendance island school. All students are transported by bus to Whitman MS. All students living within walking distance of Whitman MS are assigned to attend Sandburg MS. FCPS has 16 elementary schools, 5 middle schools, and 3 high schools with neighborhoods located outside the boundaries of the assigned school. For example, Fort Hunt ES has an attendance island adjacent to Mount Vernon Woods ES. All students living in the attendance island are bused to Fort Hunt ES despite living within walking distance of Mount Vernon Woods ES, which is under-enrolled.

Cohort Continuity: The second scenario focuses on reducing split feeders where less than 25 percent of students from an elementary school are assigned to a different middle school (or less than 25 percent of students from a middle school are assigned to a different high school).

Comprehensive Balance: The third scenario focuses on reducing overcrowding and under-enrollment.

REVISED SCHEDULE:

PROPOSED CHANGES TO MOUNT VERNON DISTRICT SCHOOLS:

Based on the Scenario Explorer, FCPS is proposing the following adjustments to the boundaries of schools attended by students living in the Mount Vernon District:

• Extending the boundaries for Mount Vernon HS to include certain neighborhoods adjacent to and around Whitman MS. This change would transfer some students from Hollin Meadows ES and Stratford Landing ES to Riverside ES, from Sandburg MS to Whitman MS, and from West Potomac HS to Mount Vernon HS.
• Extending the boundaries for Annadale HS to include most neighborhoods north of I-95. This change would transfer some students from Edison HS to Annadale HS. The impacts on elementary and middle schools are unclear.
• Eliminating the attendance island for Fort Hunt ES. This change would transfer students living in the attendance island from Fort Hunt ES to Mount Vernon Woods ES, from Sandburg MS to Whitman MS, and from West Potomac HS to Mount Vernon HS.
• Eliminating the attendance island for Groveton ES. This change would transfer students living in the attendance island from Groveton ES to Riverside ES, from Sandburg MS to Whitman MS, and from West Potomac HS to Mount Vernon HS.
• Eliminating the attendance island at Halley ES. This change would transfer students living in the attendance island to Gunston ES. The impacts on elementary and middle schools are unclear.
• Eliminating the attendance island for Sangster ES. This change would transfer students living in the attendance island from Sangster ES to Newington Forest ES, from Lake Braddock MS to South County MS, and from Lake Braddock HS to South County HS.
• Expanding the boundaries for Woodlawn ES. This change would transfer some students from Riverside ES and Mount Vernon Woods ES to Woodlawn ES. It appears the affected students would continue to attend Whitman MS and Mount Vernon HS.
• Expanding the boundaries of Island Creek ES. This change would transfer some students from Gunston ES to Island Creek ES. It appears the affected students would continue to attend Hayfield MS and Hayfield HS.
• Expanding the boundaries of Sangster ES. This change would transfer some students from Silverbrook ES to Sangster ES, from South County MS to Lake Braddock MS, and from South County HS to Lake Braddock HS.
• Expanding the boundaries of Gunston ES. This change would transfer some students living off-base from Fort Belvoir ES to Gunston ES. It appears these students would be assigned to attend Hayfield SS for middle school and high school.

GET INVOLVED:

Before any potential scenarios were developed, FCPS held 6 regional community meetings in November-December 2024. FCPS also held 6 virtual community meetings in January-February 2025.

Now FCPS is holding a series of 8 community meetings to solicit community feedback on the initial scenarios. You can participate in person or virtually. The presentation will be the same at every meeting, so you should participate in any of the meetings that are convenient for your schedule.

Click on the date below to register to attend in person or virtually, and click on the name of the school to find it on Google Maps.

• Wednesday, May 28, 7-8:30 p.m., at Annandale High School
• Thursday, May 29, 6:30-8 p.m., at Whitman Middle School
• Friday, May 30, 6:30-8 p.m., at Chantilly High School
• Friday, June 6, 6:30-8 p.m., at Glasgow Middle School

Through the Scenario Explorer, you can take a Survey and identify your top priorities for the Comprehensive School Boundary Review. (Click the orange box labeled “Take Survey” at the top right.) In addition, you can provide comments on specific school boundaries. (Click the orange box labeled “Comment” on the bottom right, then click on the part of the map you are commenting on.)

A third round of 24 community meetings (one at each HS pyramid) will be scheduled for October 2025. The detailed scenarios for potential changes to school boundaries will be presented at these meetings.

QUESTIONS?

If you have any questions, please contact my staff:

• Nelda Brown (nnbrown@fcps.edu) for the Mount Vernon HS, South County HS, and Hayfield SS pyramids; and
• Sarah Goodell (slgoodell@fcps.edu) for the West Potomac HS, Edison HS, and Lewis HS pyramids.

You are also welcome to contact me at mdunne@fcps.edu. We look forward to hearing from you!

Very Respectfully,

Mateo Dunne, Mount Vernon District Representative

The views contained within this newsletter reflect the views of the individual school board member who is the publisher of this newsletter and may not reflect the views of the Fairfax County School Board.

© Fairfax County Public Schools, Fairfax County, Virginia

E-mail: Mateo Dunne  |  Phone: 571-423-1086

Staff Aide: Nelda Brown, 571-423-1049