Fairfax County Public Schools has revised, eliminated and postponed several planned redistricting proposals after extensive public feedback.
Superintendent Michelle Reid’s revised recommendations for new attendance boundaries were released last week ahead of a final public hearing on Thursday (Jan. 22).
The boundary review has been underway since fall 2024 after the school board adopted a new policy requiring the superintendent to reevaluate boundaries across the division every five years.
It would be the first district-wide boundary overhaul in 40 years after a piecemeal approach to addressing capacity issues created complications, including several split feeders separating two or more middle or high schools and attendance islands assigned to schools with no geographic connection.
After a first public hearing on Jan. 10, Reid said it was clear the school division needed to pump the brakes on some of the changes.
“It’s clear that we need to phase the recommendations to be thoughtful for all of our communities,” she said.
Proposed boundary changes affecting Keene Mill, Cardinal Forest and White Oaks elementary schools in Springfield were postponed to January 2027 to allow further study. The original recommendation eliminated a Keene Mill attendance island by splitting it between Cardinal Forest and White Oaks.
A partially delayed change would still move two Rolling Valley Elementary attendance areas to Saratoga Elementary, but would leave a third to be studied for January 2027.
Reid also abandoned a change that would move one area from Crossfield Elementary to Lees Corner Elementary.
The scale of redistricting impacting Glasgow Middle School was significantly reduced. Now, only one area from Glasgow will be reassigned to Poe Middle. Originally, three areas were moving from Glasgow to Poe, and three were moving from Glasgow to Holmes Middle. Additional changes to Glasgow’s boundaries related to Beech Tree and Belvedere elementary schools will be considered in 2027.
A similar change happened to a proposal for Justice, Annandale and Falls Church high schools. Annandale was removed from the equation, so now, just one area will move from Justice to Falls Church, affecting 46 students.
Some high school students came out to oppose the redistricting at an overflow public hearing last week that also dealt with FCPS’ proposed capital improvement plan. Willow Rosenthal, a junior at Justice High, said switching schools right when she’s getting ready to apply to colleges is not fair.
“This is the last thing that I and my fellow students need to be worrying about right now,” she said.
A new recommendation not originally proposed takes one attendance area from Franklin Middle School and gives it to Rocky Run Middle, which affects fewer than 10 students. Reid said the change had been previously approved but was paused for a separate study to determine the boundaries for the new Western High School.
Another new recommendation is to further study Lewis and West Springfield high schools for future boundary adjustments.
After the revisions, the proposed redistricting plan will affect an estimated 1,697 students, including 859 elementary school students, 364 middle school students and 474 high school students.
The final public hearing on the redistricting changes is scheduled for this Thursday at 6:15 p.m. at Luther Jackson Middle School (3020 Gallows Road) in Merrifield.
