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Fairfax County is nearing a vote on its first comprehensive school boundary review in decades, with Superintendent Michelle Reid’s recommended plan affecting 1,697 students across elementary, middle and high schools.
The proposal is designed largely to ease overcrowding while reducing split feeders and disconnected attendance areas. It would affect fewer students than Reid’s original plan, which called for moving 2,210.
Under the recommendation, seven elementary-to-middle and eight elementary-to-high school split feeders would be eliminated or reduced. Split feeders occur when children from the same elementary school later attend different middle or high schools.
The plan also would eliminate or reduce five attendance islands—geographic pockets assigned to schools despite not being connected to their main boundaries.
Reid has spent months meeting with families and community members. Some have objected to the disruption that reassignment could cause, while others contend the proposal does not address enough of the county’s capacity problems.
“It’s a big undertaking, and it would have been better to do it area by area,” said Stephanie Friel, whose children attend Justice High and Glasgow Middle. “But that’s what they decided to do.”
School Board Chair Sandy Anderson acknowledged the difficulty of changing student assignments.
“No one wants to move kids, and so none of us are in the position where we want to move kids,” Anderson said.
Other residents have urged the board to act more aggressively. At a Jan. 10 public hearing, Carolynn Moore raised concerns about overcrowded campuses relying on modular classrooms, arguing that trailers provide inadequate protection during emergencies.
“Make these boundary adjustments,” Moore told the board. “But don’t stop there.”
The School Board is expected to consider approving the changes Thursday, following a final public hearing.
Elementary school changes
The recommendation would move:
- 48 students from Rolling Valley Elementary to Saratoga Elementary, bringing Rolling Valley to 90% capacity.
- 53 students from Olde Creek Elementary to Laurel Ridge Elementary, reducing Olde Creek from 92% to 79% capacity while eliminating split feeders and an attendance island.
- Fewer than 10 students from Westbriar Elementary to Colvin Run Elementary, eliminating a middle school split feeder.
- 19 students from Fort Belvoir Primary and Fort Belvoir Upper elementary schools to Washington Mill Elementary.
- 35 students from Riverside Elementary to Stratford Landing Elementary and 76 to Woodlawn Elementary, lowering Riverside from 93% to 79% capacity.
- 108 students from Coates Elementary to McNair Elementary and McNair Upper Elementary, 190 from Coates to Herndon Elementary, and 65 from Coates to Floris Elementary. The changes would eliminate a split feeder.
- 78 students from Parklawn Elementary to Belvedere Elementary and 20 from Parklawn to Columbia Elementary.
- 107 students from Fort Hunt Elementary to Mount Vernon Woods Elementary, eliminating an attendance island.
- 58 students from Groveton Elementary to Hybla Valley Elementary, also eliminating an attendance island.
Another boundary adjustment would transfer an area from Hollin Meadows Elementary to Stratford Landing, but it would not affect any current elementary students.
Middle school changes
At the middle school level, the plan would reassign:
- 23 students from Katherine Johnson Middle to Rocky Run Middle, bringing Katherine Johnson to 101% capacity.
- 172 students from Kilmer Middle to Thoreau Middle, reducing Kilmer from 118% to 101% capacity and eliminating a split feeder.
- 107 students from Longfellow Middle to Cooper Middle, eliminating a split feeder and attendance island.
- 27 students from Glasgow Middle to Poe Middle, lowering Glasgow from 102% to 94% capacity.
- 32 students from Sandburg Middle to Whitman Middle.
- Fewer than 10 students from Franklin Middle to Rocky Run Middle.
High school changes
The high school recommendations would move:
- 45 students from Fairfax High to Chantilly High, bringing Fairfax to 97% capacity.
- 128 students from Marshall High to Madison High, reducing Marshall from 97% to 91% capacity and eliminating split feeders.
- 201 students from McLean High to Langley High, lowering McLean from 109% to 100% capacity while eliminating a split feeder and attendance island.
- 46 students from Justice High to Falls Church High, eliminating a split feeder.
- 54 students from West Potomac High to Mount Vernon High.
More boundary proposals expected
The current recommendation will not end the county’s boundary work. School Board documents indicate that Reid plans to recommend another series of changes by January 2027.
Those reviews are expected to include the neighborhoods served by Gunston, Halley, Laurel Hill and Lorton Station elementary schools, along with Bren Mar Park Elementary’s middle and high school feeders.
Future proposals also could affect the Greenway Downs, Jefferson Village, City Park Homes and Kingsley Commons neighborhoods in Falls Church; Rolling Valley Elementary’s middle and high school feeders; and the Keene Mill Elementary attendance island and nearby Cardinal Forest and White Oaks elementary schools.
The county also expects to consider Glasgow Middle boundary changes involving the Beech Tree and Belvedere elementary school areas.