School officials say recently approved changes to its 2012-2013 bell schedule are necessary to and three new elementary schools in Fairfax this fall, but some parents are taking issue with what they call a significant change in their family's quality of life, particularly for working parents who need to see their children off to school and still get to work on time.
Come September, the system will welcome the first of what it says , along with the opening of Mason Crest Elementary School in Annandale, Graham Road Elementary School in Falls Church and South County Middle School in Lorton.
The shift will change more than 60 schools' schedules across the elementary, middle and high school levels.
For a full list of schools affected, click here.
Some schools will shift as little as 20 minutes. But others could see changes as large as 40 minutes, which will significantly affect the daily lives of students and their families, opponents say.
"With this time difference, many parents, some of whom travel from places as far as Clifton and South County districts will be unable to maintain their jobs requiring them to arrive to work by 9 a.m.," one parent wrote to Patch. "And parents who have children at our local high school may have to wait over two hours to drop their children off at elementary school and high school."
Some parents say they've received little information about the change, until they requested a town hall meeting scheduled for Monday.
Braddock District School Board representative Megan McLaughlin will meet with a group of parents on Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the Laurel Ridge Elementary School cafeteria to address the bell schedule changes. The meeting is open to the public.
"Although 20 minutes does not seem like a drastic difference, it will certainly change the quality of life for many families and most importantly, our children," the parent wrote.
School Board docs which mention the predicted enrollment increase: http://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=8UHSE87246F7 And earlier details about the enrollment projection prior to the budget approval: http://www.fcps.edu/news/fy2013/bottomline/bottomline.html
If we didn't need to make a living to pay for our lives, mothers could stay home and care for their homes. I paid less than $40K for this place - now, well there is at least one house that sold for over a Mil. here. More people have huge mortgages - so everybody works - Yes?
While I am sure success stories can be pointed out of children who were left to take care of themselves, there are just as many concerns. There are plenty of counselors who point out that the number of young adults who are staying home longer is increasing, past the age when our generation moved out and was on our own. And a belief is that it is because they were left alone without the supervision to teach them how to be motivated. Alone, they play video games and watch tv. I'm not saying all do, but there are plenty of them that do. Can we as parents do this? Sure. We are human, we can adapt, we can overcome any adversity. Just because we can doesn't mean we should have to, when there are other options available. Why is the transportation window for Fairfax county compressed when other counties in the country are not? Why can't we learn from what other counties in the country do?