Parents Give Testimony to School Board for Annandale Regional Study

More than 75 parents, students and concerned residents spoke at a public hearing to urge Fairfax County School Board members to keep their neighborhoods in their current school attendance-area pyramids or to do what’s necessary to relieve overcrowding.

Fairfax County Public Schools officials hosted the public hearing on the Annandale Regional Study at Luther Jackson Middle School in Falls Church Monday night.

The most prominent perspective echoed throughout the evening came from those who want to keep certain Fairfax County neighborhoods in the / pyramid.

Parents spoke about the benefits of keeping Wakefield Forest Elementary School students feeding into Annandale High School, and others epressed the desire to shift them into the pyramid. Still, others asked School Board members to vote for whatever solution relieves overcrowding at and area schools while moving the minimum amount of students.

"This is not an issue of the quality of the school, test scores or fear of diversity. This is about the overcrowding and the need to implement a long-term solution," said speaker Brenda Meeks, who asked the School Board to vote in support of the proposed staff recommendation from the Fairfax County Public Schools Facilities and Transportation department.

The auditorium was reminiscent of a high school lunchroom with the “cliques” sitting in their own sections: Wakefield Chapel community members and other supporters created a sea of red and white on the left side, while Pine Spring community supporters sat behind them near the back row with yellow leis around their necks. Woodson High School supporters spread out between the middle section and the right wearing navy blue and white T-shirts and holding “Keep Us @ Woodson” signs, and Belvedere Elementary School, Bren Mark Park, Columbia Pines and Sleepy Hollow neighborhoods and other supporters were sprinkled in between.

Those who weren't fighting for their neighborhoods asked the school board to come up with a long-term solution for the overcrowding and not "band-aid" the issue.

Pre-Hearing Protest

Before the hearing began, a group of approximately 50 parents and students, many from the Wakefield Chapel neighborhood in Annandale who want to keep WFES students in the pyramid, gathered for an “I Believe in Annandale High School” rally [see video here and photos here].

As chants of “A-T-O-M-S” and more outside went up outside, parents supporting students staying in the pyramid handed out signs to people as they entered the lobby and auditorium of Jackson Middle School.

Statistics, Personal Stories Dominate

Every speaker rattled off statistics and personal anecdotes to back up the sentiments in their testimonies, but overall, there was only passion and very little anger throughout the hearing.

Parent-Teacher Student Association President Emily Slough asked the School Board to think about the unique families and students that "lie behind the data." "This is about 800 students and their families, not just 141,” said Slough, adding that regardless of what the School Board decides, “we will continue to do what we have always done nonetheless and that is rise.”

The majority of AHS supporters listed community support, diversity, socioeconomics and more as reasons why they oppose but the recommendation, but Erin Kramer, one of the Wakefield Chapel residents who supports the recommendation, said the recommendation “allows students to succeed in an environment where they will flourish” and urged the School Board to allow students in Annandale "to get the learning opportunities they deserve."

In addition to the AHS and Woodson supporters, representatives spoke on behalf of Bren Mark Park Elementary School, which many believe FCPS has neglected in the study, and even Lacey Elementary School. Speakers also asked the School Board to shift the Columbia Pines neighborhood to Glasgow Middle School, which feeds into .

Mark Viehmeyer, speaking for the Bren Mar Park community, said the staff recommendation “represents another failure to engage in long-term strategic planning on the part of Fairfax County Public Schools.”

“The Facilities and Transportation department should engage the community in a process that focuses on uniting the community rather than redrawing lines on a map and busing our kids out of their community,” said Viehmeyer. “It is only through pursuing such smart changes that we can avoid repeating the failures of the past."

Option three from the which was presented to the School Board in May also received some criticism from handful of speakers even though it isn’t part of the FCPS staff recommendation.

In her remarks, speaker Bonnie Clements called Option 3 an "embarrassment to the School Board as it clearly fails to meet the criteria of School Board Policy 8130," which drew applause from AHS supporters. Another speaker, Noel Leavitt, spoke in support of the staff recommendation, but urged the School Board to refrain from adding option three back in.

Parents who spoke in support of keeping students from moving to listed traffic and safety concerns among their chief reasons for opposing the move in their testimonies while parents like John Long said moving students from AHS to Lake Braddock moves kids from "one crowded school into another".

North Springfield Elementary School PTA president Cyndi Brown was one of a handful of speakers not representing an Annandale school. Brown suggested moving Edsall Park back to Bren Mark and giving Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology back to the community, which drew applause from the audience. Before concluding her remarks, Brown said it’s time for people to stop talking about what can’t be done. “If that doesn’t work for you, it is the job of the School Board to find something that will," said Brown.

The School Board will vote on the Annandale Regional Study on July 28.

To read more remarks from the public hearing, read Annandale Patch's from Monday night.