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.