Oct. 26 Silverbrook Community Meeting

(Contributed by an anonymous poster, 10/27/06)

Silverbrook is very organized and was able to get half of the Fairfax County School Board members, several members of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, as well as Congressman Tom Davis to attend an Oct. 26 meeting to discuss potential adjustments to the South County Secondary School (SCSS) attendance boundaries. The meeting was civil, with featured speakers touching on several important points, not the least of which was none of the three boundary adjustment options (Options 1, 2A and 2B) presented by FCPS Facilities & Planning Office at the October town meeting were acceptable to the Silverbrook community, and all affected communities in general.

Option 1 treats the 7th and 8th graders as "ping bong balls" bouncing them around from school to school and not allowing the kids get a sense of school pride, knowing that they will be bouncing back out to another school in a couple years – not a good option when dealing with developing teenagers. A Hayfield parent questioned the Board members about this option and what kind of feedback they received from teachers and administrators on this option and they answered that none of them liked it.

As to Options 2A and 2B, the Silverbrook community is dead-set against splitting Silverbrook in any fashion. Their passion is understandable, especially concerning Option 2B which would split off the northwestern neighborhoods of Silverbrook and send them to Lake Braddock Secondary School (LBSS). Because this was a Silverbrook community meeting, most of the concern expressed and questions offered up were directed at shooting down Option 2B, which is to be expected, but very little was said about Option 2A, which sends Newington Forest children to LBSS.

Liz Bradsher, the Hayfield Pyramid Solutions group leader that formed the public/private partnership that built SCSS, was asked to give a brief history of how SCSS came about and received a standing ovation when she finished. This was a nice gesture, but the time taken for Ms. Bradsher’s presentation might have been better spent on the pressing issues and questions for the busy officials attending the meeting.

The next major point made by several community speakers is that LBSS does not have the room to absorb the Silverbrook numbers. Again, little was said about Option 2A which would send Newington Forest kids to LBSS which is completely understandable at a Silverbrook-sponsored meeting. The main thrust speakers emphasized is that the Facilities & Planning Office projections for LBSS are plain wrong this year, and that LBSS capacity is not as large as FCPS says because the “core capacity” is not taken into account.

Later in the meeting, Mr. Dean Tistadt, superintendent of FCPS Facilities & Planning, disputed the numbers presented but he was going to look into the “core capacity” issue and hoped to have revised numbers at the Nov. 1 meeting. Hopefully, Mr. Tistadt will include Hayfield Secondary School (HSS) in that research. The bottom line message was that LBSS does not have as much room as Facilities & Planning says they do, and that LBSS will be overcrowded if Silverbrook is split off and sent there.

Another primary point driven home at this meeting was the need of a new South County Middle School, and there was powerful support to get it done. Fairfax County supervisor Gerry Hyland spoke in support of working to get it done as did Supervisor Elaine McConnell. Mr. Hyland made it clear that building a new middle school is solely a decision of the school board, but if that group opted to do so, he would fully support getting it done. Congressman Tom Davis also spoke in support of building a new middle school, and it was apparent that he is “up” on the issues and supports getting it done.

Not to be outdone, Virginia State Delegate Dave Albo, not only expressed his support of building a new middle school, but is serving on a task force to explore the creation of another public/private partnership to get it done. He also made it clear that it is the school board that must give the go-ahead to build a new school. The question arose about how long it would take to build a new middle school, to which Dean Tistadt replied that it would be at least four to five years if they got the go-ahead from the school board today.

By far, the primary message expressed by official panel speakers and audience members is that this boundary study and any related adjustments should be postponed or tabled for now. There are far too many unknown influences, such as the Base Realignment and Closure process (BRAC) that will bring up to 20,000 additional DoD workers to the Fort Belvoir area, the yet-to-be-completed McKibben study, and the potential inaccuracy of the Facilities & Planning Office’s population projections that could all contribute to another poor boundary adjustment decision by the school board.

It was this writer’s observation that SOME school board members would support a delay in taking any boundary adjustment action at this time, BUT they need to hear support of that action from Hayfield and Lake Braddock community members as well as South County area folks. The general opinion coming out of this Silverbrook meeting is that residents whose children attend SCSS can live with the status quo, as long as the school board plans to build a middle school sooner rather then later.

Overcrowded Classrooms, Sprawling Trailers & Congested Traffic: Let's Not Go THERE Again!

What’s the situation?

Due to overcrowding at South County Secondary School, school boundaries for Hayfield Secondary, Lake Braddock Secondary and South County Secondary Schools are once more in question. All affected communities are invited to two important town meetings -- one is this evening, Tuesday, October 10, and the next is on Wednesday, November 1, at 7:30 p.m., both at South County Secondary School's auditorium.

What’s happening to change it?

The Fairfax County School Board is reviewing at least two possible boundary scenarios: making a traditional boundary adjustment based on geography; or eliminating the middle school from South County Secondary and dividing the middle school population (projected at more than 1,000 students) between Hayfield Secondary and Lake Braddock Secondary Schools based on available seats at each school.

What are the desired outcomes?

• Hayfield Secondary School (HSS) should remain under capacity if boundaries are redrawn to allow for future growth. HSS was well over capacity for well over a decade!
• HSS should remain a balanced, diverse and desirable community school, with only elementary schools in the immediately surrounding neighborhoods feeding the school.
• Students should stay at HSS for all six years of middle and high school. Hayfield and Lake Braddock are secondary schools with carefully planned and separate spaces for middle school and high school populations. A large middle school population and a smaller high school population would be detrimental to the educational quality on both sides of the building.
• Transportation routes and bus ride time MUST be considered during the boundary-setting process.
• The school board MUST consider consequences from DoD’s Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process –– with a potential influx of 20,000 workers at Fort Belvoir over the next four years.

What about these town meetings?

Please plan to attend this evening's (Tuesday, October 10) meeting, and be sure to mark your calendar for the follow-up meeting on Wednesday, November 1. Each meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of South County Secondary School, located at 8501 Silverbrook Rd., Lorton, VA 22079. The meetings will feature group discussions and breakout sessions so the school board can gather data and info from the affected communities. As parents, residents and voters, you are strongly encouraged to attend and prove to the school board that you have a vested interest in the educational needs of your children and the welfare of your community. That’s why it’s important to be there!