Due to overcrowding at South County Secondary School (SCSS), school boundaries for Hayfield Secondary School (HSS) and even Lake Braddock Secondary School (LBSS) will likely be changed. We may end up once again sending our children to a secondary school that is far too crowded for anyone’s good. And the decision to make that happen will happen in several weeks unless YOU let the school board hear your opinions NOW!
It is imperative that, in these last several weeks before formal action is taken, you raise your voice to the Fairfax County School Board and Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) about this issue. Some very important facts that the school board needs to know and be reminded of in the final weeks of this decision process:
- Two years ago, when 4,000 students attended HSS, the school was 25% over its maximum capacity, and adding any students to HSS once more runs the risk of overcrowding.
- There continues to be development in the HSS area with more on the way. HSS has about 12,500 homes within its boundaries. Currently, there is a possibility of a minimum additional 1,200 units to be built according to current zoning planning. If zoning changes, the number of additional units could increase. Therefore, HSS needs to plan for at least a 10% increase in its size as new homes are built.
- Even though the latest round of Department of Defense (DoD) Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) changes were approved well over a year ago, BRAC plans for Fort Belvoir are still in flux. The Hayfield area is certain to feel impact from BRAC; therefore adding more students at HSS will only increase the impact on the schools in the Hayfield pyramid.
The first, best choice for the School Board to opt for in this situation is to DELAY any decision on school boundaries for one year until consequences and impacts from BRAC-related changes at Fort Belvoir and infill development in and around the Hayfield area are better defined.
For the record, the school board has publicly supported statements that affected secondary schools in this latest boundary study should maintain an “expansion buffer” of about 10% of the schools’ capacity. Maintaining such a buffer at HSS means that the school’s population should be no more than approximately 2,900 students. However, the most popular option being considered by the school board in this latest boundary study will put the HSS population at nearly 3,100 students -- dangerously close to the school’s overall capacity of 3,200 students.
Urge the school board NOW – by writing an email or letter, by calling them directly, or by appearing at the public hearing –to keep the following guidelines regarding Hayfield Secondary in mind, when considering how to improve conditions at South County Secondary:
- HSS should be able to maintain the School Board mandated buffer of 10% to provide HSS administrators some future growth flexibility. The School Board suggested this buffer to account for future growth due to BRAC, infill development, errors in population projections and class size variations.
- HSS should have a maximum of 950 Middle School students and 1900 High School students when boundaries are redrawn (which is actually about 500 students over HSS’s current population).
- HSS should remain a balanced, diverse and desirable community school.
- Once attending HSS, students should be able to stay for all six years of middle and high school. Hayfield is a secondary school with carefully planned and separate spaces for middle school and high school populations.
Please contact school board members within the NEXT TWO WEEKS and express these thoughts and opinions to them before it’s too late! You may email the school board with your opinion about this matter at the following email addresses: Ilryong.Moon@fcps.edu, Brad.Center@fcps.edu, Catherine.Belter@fcps.edu, Stuart.Gibson@fcps.edu, Stephen.Hunt@fcps.edu, Kaye.Kory@fcps.edu, Pneichner@fcps.edu, Janet.Oleszek@fcps.edu, Kathy.L.Smith@fcps.edu, Daniel.Storck@fcps.edu, Jane.Strauss@fcps.edu, Tessie.Wilson@fcps.edu.
Please also include the following two email addresses on the CC line of any emails that you send to school board members: boundaries@fcps.edu (reaches the FCPS Facilities and Planning staff) and Jack.Dale@fcps.edu, the FCPS Superintendent.
If you’re not comfortable communicating electronically, you may also write a letter to school board members at their mailing address (8115 Gatehouse Rd., Suite 5400, Falls Church, VA 22042) or call them – the main office number for the school board is 571-423-1075, and individual phone numbers are available at http://www.fcps.edu/schlbd/members.htm.
The MOST EFFECTIVE WAY to be heard in this process is to sign up to speak at the public hearing scheduled for this boundary study on January 8 and 9 (starting at 7 p.m. each evening). Your children are welcome to sign up and speak, too. Don’t know what to say? There are plenty of parents engaged in this process who will be glad to help you write a statement. And if you’re afraid to speak in public, don’t worry about that either – you have only 3 minutes to get your points across to the school board!
Here are some other important upcoming dates:
Dec. 21: The school board will hear a final boundary recommendation regarding South County, Hayfield and Lake Braddock Secondary Schools from the FCPS Facilities office staff (you may watch this at 7 p.m. that evening on Cox Cable Channel 21)
Dec. 22: The January public hearing speakers list opens – sign up to speak at http://www.fcps.edu/schlbd/requestspeak.htm or by phone at 571-423-1060.
Jan. 8 & 9: Public hearing hosted by the school board at Luther Jackson Middle School at 7 p.m. each evening (Right off Rt 50/Beltway – very easy to get to!)
If you have additional questions, or would like assistance in crafting a statement to give at the public hearing, please contact Marie Sudik at msudik@cox.net or Dick Reed at grreed@cox.net. And be sure to contact the school board in the next week or two to reinforce the points made above and to keep the Hayfield Secondary School population at a manageable level into the future.
