As Fairfax County Public Schools continues to work through a sweeping redistricting process, the school board decided to revisit its policy on how the upcoming changes will be implemented.
Led by Mason District Representative Ricardy Anderson, the Fairfax County School Board voted unanimously this Thursday (July 17) to revise the phasing policy that guides which students are affected by boundary adjustments.
Under its current policy, FCPS generally lets the school board decide how to phase in boundary changes on a case-by-case basis, though it suggests families with students entering their final year in a particular school should have the option to stay put:
The School Board may approve a grade-by-grade phase-in of adjustments for students beginning with the incoming class at the middle or high school levels, when feasible. The School Board may adopt other phasing plans as appropriate to the individual boundary study. Parents of rising sixth (or fifth) graders, eighth graders, and twelfth graders affected by a boundary change may, at the discretion of the School Board, be provided the option of having their students remain in the school they attended prior to the change.
Mason District Representative Ricardy Anderson, who introduced the proposed revisions, feared the existing policy would make boundary changes unfairly disruptive to older high school students as well as middle school students, most of who will only spend two years at the school before moving on to high school.
“I’m very concerned that the boundary policy, as it stands, only allows for those who are rising seniors to not be impacted by boundary adjustments,” Anderson told FFXnow last week. “So, if you’re a rising 11th grader, 10th grader, you could potentially be moved after completing two years of a high school experience. That’s not healthy, and I don’t think we need to put our students in that position in order to achieve what we want to out of the boundary adjustments.”
The newly revised policy will require new incoming middle, high and secondary school students to attend the school assigned by their new boundary, but all other students would be allowed to stay at their existing school if they choose:
Middle Schools: When a boundary adjustment occurs at the middle school level, attendance in the new school boundary shall be mandatory for incoming 6th grade students in schools with a 6-8 grade configuration and for incoming 7th grade students in schools with a 7-8 grade level configuration. Currently enrolled students shall be given the option to remain at the school or attend the school in the new boundary. These allowances shall not be applicable in the opening of a new school, or in the closing of an existing school.
High Schools: When a boundary adjustment occurs at the high school level, attendance in the new school boundary shall be mandatory for incoming 9th grade students. Students in grades 10-12 shall be given the option to remain at their current school or attend the school in the new boundary. These allowances shall not be applicable in the opening of a new school, or in the closing of an existing school.
Secondary Schools: When a boundary adjustment occurs at the secondary school level, attendance in the new school boundary shall be mandatory for incoming 7th grade students. Rising 8-12 graders shall be given the option to remain at their current school or attend the school in the new boundary.
For elementary schools, students in the final two grades — either fourth and fifth or fifth and sixth — would have the option to choose whether to stay at their current school or follow the new boundary.
The current phasing policy was adopted last July as part of a new boundary adjustment policy intended to standardize a process that FCPS has traditionally undertaken in response to capacity issues at a specific school or an individual school board member’s request.
Among other changes, the superintendent is now required to review boundaries division-wide every five years.
The first such review is currently underway and has provoked strong community reactions, with some neighborhoods organizing petitions and demonstrations in objection to potential changes from draft scenarios released by a consultant in May.
A survey seeking feedback on the proposals is scheduled to close this Friday (July 18) at 5 p.m.
When the school board voted on the new boundary adjustment policy on July 18, 2024, Anderson and Hunter Mill District Representative Melanie Meren advocated for letting all current middle school students, elementary students in their final two years, and high school students in grades 10-12 choose between staying at their existing school or going to their newly assigned school.
The school board ultimately voted 7-4 for the case-by-case approach to implementing boundary adjustments. At-Large Representative Kyle McDaniel, who proposed the approved amendment, argued at the time that specifying grade levels for phasing in new boundaries could create logistical challenges.
But Anderson was hopeful she might find more support for her preferred approach to phasing now that FCPS is a year into its boundary review, and “parents are a little bit more aware of potential impacts.”
“Life’s events will change things, but we shouldn’t have to compel a change,” she said. “We should put a stake in the ground that we are committed to having these students have a consistent educational experience at those levels.”
