Staff Recommendation Approved by School Board

On July 28, 2011, the School Board approved the Staff Recommendation in its entirety, passing and including the amendments regarding Pine Spring, Columbia Pines and Barcroft Knolls.  The vote on the amendment to keep Wakefield Forest ES at Poe MS and Annandale HS failed on a 6-6 tie.  School board members voting for the amendment (and therefore to keep Wakefield Forest ES at Poe MS and Annandale HS) were Jane Strauss, Ilryong Moon, Daniel Storck, Patty Reed, Tina Hone and Sandy Evans.  Those voting against the amendment were Tessie Wilson, Brad Center, Stu Gibson, Liz Bradsher, Jim Raney and Kathy Smith.  The School Board was obviously torn in this decision, and we understand that.  However, we are pleased that in the end, the School Board valued a long-term approach to resolve the overcrowding.

We wish to thank the hardworking Facilities staff, the School Board and their staff and the Ad Hoc Committee for the considerable time and effort they put into this process.  Thank you also to the many of you who wrote the School Board to let them know your opinion.  Your voice was heard!

Now is the time to move forward and heal.  We are hopeful that we will once again be able to come together as a community.

Amendments Proposed to Staff Recommendations

Yesterday, six amendments were proposed to the Staff Recommendation to relieve the overcrowding at Annandale High School.  Those amendments, and the school board member who proposed them, are:

1.  A motion to postpone action on the Staff Recommendation until the September 22, 2011, Board meeting, proposed by Sandy Evans.

(If the motion to postpone passes, then the rest of the amendments would not be offered.)

2.  A motion to amend the Staff Recommendation by retaining the eastern portion of the Wakefield Forest Elementary School attendance area at Poe Middle School and Annandale High School, proposed by Tina Hone and Sandy Evans.

3.  A motion to amend the Staff Recommendation by retaining the assignment of students in the Bren Mar Park “west” attendance area (those portions west of 395) at Annandale High School, proposed by Sandy Evans.

4.  A motion to amend the Staff Recommendation for the new elementary school at the Lacey site by retaining the current Pine Spring ES attendance island assignment at all school levels (Pine Spring ES, Jackson MS, and Falls Church HS), proposed by Patty Reed.

5.  A motion to amend the Staff Recommendation by assigning the Columbia Pines subdivision from Poe Middle School and Falls Church High School to Glasgow Middle School and Stuart High School, effective with rising 6th and 9th graders in school year 2012-2013, proposed by Sandy Evans.

6.  A motion to amend the Staff Recommendation by retaining Barcroft Knolls, Overlook Knolls and the Dean Subdivision in the Belvedere Elementary School attendance area, proposed by Sandy Evans.

For those who support the Staff Recommendation or who believe that Annandale HS is overcrowded and needs relief, you need to write the School Board NOW to voice your support and stress the overcrowding.   Not only is there a proposal to keep Wakefield Forest ES at Poe MS and Annandale HS, there is a proposal to keep Bren Mar Park ES west of 395 at Annandale HS, leaving Annandale HS severely overcrowded.  You should also tell the School Board that you do not want a delay.  Any delay will just put off the hard decisions until later and continue the divisiveness that we have all been experiencing already.

The School Board will vote on this subject on Thursday, July 28 at 7:00 p.m. at Luther Jackson MS.  The public is permitted to attend.

 Let the School Board hear your VOICE!

We received the following comment from a reader and wished to share it with the public:

From “Keep the Atom Together:"

You attempt to merely present an argument that it is solely about the overcrowding and the necessity to resolve the same "for the sake of Annandale". Annandale has been overcrowded more or less for the past 7 to 8 years. It made AYP based on SOL scores. The retired principal expressed in a letter to the school board earlier this week that the WFES community which attends Annandale is essential to the fabric of Annandale and their loss would be disruptive to the advances that the school has made over the past 5 to 6 years. It is NOT just an overcrowding issue. The school has been able to flourish in spite of the overcrowding conditions. It is just as much a socioeconomic issue. I completely understand your disdain with the thought of all of WFES being shipped off to Lake Braddock, and I suspect as far as I can tell that this option is dead. Why still push for all of WFES be sent to Woodson and Frost? Particularly given the fact that most who currently feed to Annandale from WFES would prefer to stay at Poe and Annandale. I find your request to send e-mail to the school board most misplaced. Without moving out the WFES feed from Annandale in 2015 Annandale would be at 102% capacity and 110% of core capacity. Yes, still overcrowded, but really no different from how it has been the past 6 or 7 years. Additionally, because of the liberal grandfathering, any shift in the attendance area will not reduce the attendance area for several years. Because there will be a need for additional boundary changes in the next 5 years, why not take a more cautious approach rather than one which endangers Annandale to closer to the tipping point.

As we read this statement, the writer has acknowledged that (1) Annandale HS is overcrowded; (2) Annandale will be overcrowded in the future, as overcrowded as it has been during the past 6 or 7 years, during which time FCPS did a boundary change to relieve the overcrowding; (3) that liberal grandfathering will not help relieve the overcrowding; and (4) there will be a need for a future boundary change in the next five years.  We are pleased that we agree on all of these points.  We cannot agree with the writer on five issues:

1.      The writer’s short-term approach.  If the writer cares so much about Annandale HS, WHY would the writer want to put AHS through another boundary change in five years?  Why not take a more long-term approach like the one we have advocated all along by moving more children out of Annandale HS and actually relieve the overcrowding?

2.      The entire reason that FCPS is looking at Annandale HS and attempting to come up with a solution is the OVERCROWDING.  This has nothing to do with socioeconomic issues.  Overcrowding is not good for any child.  ALL children learn better in an uncrowded environment.  Those who oppose the move of WFES to Frost MS and Woodson HS have not offered a solution to reduce the overcrowding to the same level as the Staff Recommendation (96% of program capacity).  To the extent AHS has succeeded (and it has), it has done so in spite of the overcrowding and not because of it.  That success has been a result of great leadership and of the performance of the ENTIRE student body, not just one neighborhood.  Imagine how successful the school might become if the population were reduced to within the building's capacity.

3.      A majority of those who currently feed into Annandale from WFES recognize that Annandale HS is overcrowded, that WFES can be a solution, and are in fact in favor of the Staff Recommendation.

4.      As demonstrated by the comments made by others disagreeing with the solutions espoused on our blog, which we have freely published, we believe in freedom of speech and expression.  We are astonished that the writer would tell anyone else not to write the School Board to express an opinion.  We respect the fact that there are those that have alternate viewpoints, and we ask them to respect the fact that our opinions may vary from theirs.

If you believe that the Staff Recommendation with regard to WFES is the correct solution, YOU ARE NOT ALONE.  We are a majority of Wakefield Forest.  Stand up and let your voice be heard.  Write the School Board today and ask them to relieve the overcrowding at Annandale HS.

Work Session Update

The School Board held a work session on Monday, July 18 to discuss the Staff Recommendation to relieve the overcrowding at AHS.  There will be an amendment proposed to keep Wakefield Forest ES students at Poe MS and Annandale HS.  It is unclear exactly what this amendment would be, but it appears that would be a return to "Option 1," whereby the only students removed from Annandale HS would be the 302 students from Bren Mar Park ES, who would be moved to Edison HS.  This does not move enough students to relieve the overcrowding.  Only removing 302 students is a short-term solution, and FCPS will be forced to revisit the overcrowding in the near term if this solution is adopted.  This opinion is borne out in part by birth rate data presented by Facilities staff to the school board during the meeting, which made it very clear that the density of population at Annandale HS is not a temporary change, but will continue to increase at a rapid rate.   

We still believe strongly that Annandale HS is severely overcrowded and needs relief.  AHS has the second smallest campus in Fairfax County, uses 16 trailers with 33 outside classrooms, plus a 14 room modular to educate its current student population, and has no space left to add any additional capacity.

We question why it is acceptable to keep one school at 110% of design capacity and 102% of program capacity when a neighboring school will be at 89% capacity, especially given the numbers of children coming in the future.  Overcrowding is not good for ANY child.  Option 1 is a short-term solution and is unfair to ALL of the students of Annandale HS.  

The final vote by the School Board will be Thursday, July 28 at 7 p.m. at Luther Jackson Middle School.  Please continue to send your e-mails to the school board supporting the staff recommendation and emphasizing the overcrowding.  If you have already sent an e-mail, we very much appreciate it, and we would appreciate it even more if you would send yet another one (or several) in the next 10 days.  Let your voice be heard!

One More Chance to Support the Staff Recommendation

We are asking our many supporters to write the School Board one more time to express your support for the Staff Recommendation because of the tremendous overcrowding at Annandale HS.  The School Board votes on this issue on Thursday, July 28 - a mere two weeks from now. There are those who would like to amend the Staff Recommendation to eliminate a Wakefield Forest ES unification at Frost MS and Woodson HS, leaving AHS still overcrowded. We are being portrayed as to the School Board and in the media as people who only care about test scores and are afraid of diversity. We and our over 200 supporters know this is not true, and now we need you to write the School Board and let them know that the majority of Wakefield Forest supports the Staff Recommendation.

We chose the name "VOICE" for this group because we felt strongly that, although a majority of Wakefield recognized that AHS was overcrowded and that WFES might be an ideal solution to the overcrowding, our voices were consistently drowned out by a small, very vocal minority that wants to stay at AHS. These are passionate people who are entitled to have and express their views. SO ARE WE.

When you write the School Board, if you believe these points to be true, you may wish to highlight the following:

1. The overcrowding: AHS is extremely overcrowded. The lunchroom, hallways, gymnasium and library at AHS were built for 2,179. The enrollment projection for the 2012 school year is 2,617. For the 2016 school year, they project 2,704. This is a difference of 400-500 students. No matter how many classrooms they add to AHS (and they have added a 14 room modular, as well as over 25 trailers), which helps with classroom space, they cannot increase the capacity of these core spaces because there is no room to do so. AHS is also the smallest campus in FCPS. There is simply no room to add any additional space. The Staff Recommendation moves 441 students by the 2016 school year, bringing AHS from 115.1% capacity to 96.3% capacity.
   
2. What is best for ALL of the students at AHS, rather than just a few? Is it better to keep a school overcrowded? Do students learn better in an overcrowded environment when they cannot negotiate the hallways or the lunchroom?
   
3. WFES is the only K-6 school in FCPS to enter a 6-8 middle school in 7th grade.
   
4. This is not about diversity or test scores. This is, simply, about overcrowding. The ad hoc committee looked at the overcrowding issue for six months, and one of its recommendations was to move WFES to Frost MS and Woodson HS. Facilities examined this issue further, sought, received and considered public comment, and agreed that the Staff Recommendation was the best solution here.

The possibility of a proposal of an amendment keeping WFES at an overcrowded AHS is very real. We need action NOW. Please write the School Board today and stay engaged on the issue.