FCPS' plans to address concerns at under-enrolled and over-enrolled schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why want Franconia Elementary School an option to move to Lewis? It’s literally right there. If over crowding at Edison is an issue, why isn’t this school being considered?

Has anyone looked at the demographics of Bren Mar? Interesting that this was the school targeted……

A lot of Franconia ES walks to Edison HS. Cross Van Dorn from Edison and you’re in the Franconia ES area.

They target Bren Mar Park because it’s the only school zoned to Holmes that doesn’t feed to Annandale and they expect the parents to put up less of a fight than if they tried to move people out of West Springfield to Lewis. They are the lowest-hanging fruit.

Bren Mar Park should be moved back to Annandale. They just changed it to Edison like 15-20 years ago and the community was angry. They like Annandale. That would solve the split feeding. They are not connected to the Lewis area and it is not convenient to get to from the Bren Mar neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why want Franconia Elementary School an option to move to Lewis? It’s literally right there. If over crowding at Edison is an issue, why isn’t this school being considered?

Has anyone looked at the demographics of Bren Mar? Interesting that this was the school targeted……

A lot of Franconia ES walks to Edison HS. Cross Van Dorn from Edison and you’re in the Franconia ES area.

They target Bren Mar Park because it’s the only school zoned to Holmes that doesn’t feed to Annandale and they expect the parents to put up less of a fight than if they tried to move people out of West Springfield to Lewis. They are the lowest-hanging fruit.

Bren Mar Park should be moved back to Annandale. They just changed it to Edison like 15-20 years ago and the community was angry. They like Annandale. That would solve the split feeding. They are not connected to the Lewis area and it is not convenient to get to from the Bren Mar neighborhoods.

Historically, you had two elementary schools - Edsall Park and Bren Mar Park that fed to Holmes and pre-TJ Jefferson.

Then Edsall Park got folded into Bren Mar Park and Jefferson got closed and converted to TJ. At first all of BMP went to Annandale and then it got moved to Edison in 2011.

They've largely made their peace with being at Edison but would welcome a move to Annandale (especially the Edsall Park area west of 395) and don't want to move to Lewis.

It's telling how FCPS is so willing to move some people around - repeatedly - and won't touch other neighborhoods at all. Their commitment to equity is a farce.

[Anonymous]

That horrible facilities director is the reason West Springfield is overcrowded. He messed up so many schools because of his own personal agenda which was to make West Springfield have no split feeder schools. Selfish man. He also was responsible for ruining Annandale when he sent Wakefield Chapel area to Woodson taking away huge swaths of single family houses from the eastern high schools. West Springfield can deal with overcrowding for another year after having all boundaries re drawn just to eliminate split feeders.

[Anonymous]

What happened to the West Springfield principal? The school's profile is now showing an acting principal.

[Anonymous]

Edison was down to 103% capacity as of September 2025 and has lost 31 students over the course of the school year.

They can't seriously claim there's a need to move kids out of Edison yet on capacity grounds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Edison was down to 103% capacity as of September 2025 and has lost 31 students over the course of the school year.

They can't seriously claim there's a need to move kids out of Edison yet on capacity grounds.

They are building a big new neighborhood where the Top Golf and Ruby Tuesday used to be, they will probably also redevelop the old Franconia government center and police station at some point and maybe even Rose Hill. That will add a lot of housing to the area. They’re trying to get ahead of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I listened to the presentation today. The commenters and people attending at Bren Mar Park were not happy. It was pretty transparent that they were being targeted, and also pretty transparent that the goal was not just relieving capacity at Edison, but also filling up Lewis. One commenter correctly pointed out that if the capacity issue is with Edison, the solution should involve all of Edison. Not just the one school being targeted for removal. They were wondering why Franconia elementary wasn’t involved in this or why any of the West Springfield feeders weren’t being involved, so poking that hornets nest again. Some of the meeting attendees also pointed out that the commute from the Bren Mar Park area would involve driving on 395/95 or on Van Dorn right past Edison to get to Lewis.

This is a mess and the facilities guy presenting was unprepared. The answer to all the questions seemed to be “submit your feedback through the feedback form.” Also worth noting, the guy presenting and answering the questions today was Eric Gordon from facilities. However the “champion” for this project is the head of HR, a guy named Andrew Solomon.

Additionally I want to point out that they said that Nardos King 🤮 will be the “champion” for the Lorton issue.

Why is the Chief Equity Officer being named champion for the “Lorton issue”? Unless the issue has nothing to do with capacity and everything to do with “equity.” It’s also interesting that Silverbrook Elementary is not being included in the Lorton Boundary review issue, which is where Sandy Anderson lives. Halley and Silverbrook are both physically located in Crosspointe, and moving Hagel Circle out of Halley will leave the school at roughly 60% capacity. Wouldn’t it make sense to also include the other elementary school in the same neighborhood in the review? Some students assigned for Silverbrook live physically close enough to Halley to be walkers.

I’m in the area (but not at Halley, but am at South County) and this is my take. Halley and Silverbrook are literally in the same neighborhood and there could easily be capacity balancing between the two schools if and when Hagel Circle is out of Halley. Halley also has a big pre-K program of both the income-based and special needs, both the half day and PAC classes, and I could see it growing if needed to take up some empty classroom space. Silverbrook is quite large but always seems to be at capacity, but they did just get a renovation and expansion. There was a proposal to move some of the edge neighborhoods on the other side (so like behind South Run Park) to Sangster and Lake Braddock, but those few neighborhoods fought against it because that’s an annoying drive and Sangster doesn’t need any more students. Halley is also going to get a Korean immersion program to fill up some space … allegedly.

Lorton is one of those places that has lower income areas alongside middle class and nice neighborhoods. Right now those areas are pretty evenly distributed. Hagel Circle is in an attendance island for Halley and South County. The income restricted apartments and Woods of Fairfax are with Lorton Station and Hayfield. The low rise condos at the end of Silverbrook Road are with Laurel Hill and South County, and Newington Forest/South County has a small section of public housing off Southrun by their pool. Gunston has some lower income neighborhoods but I don’t know if those areas end up at South County or Hayfield for MS/HS since I’m less familiar with that area.

The issue right now is where Hagel Circle ends up and who, potentially, goes with it. As a South County parent the only thing I really don’t want, is Hagel Circle at Lorton Station and all of Lorton Station ES ending up at South County. Lorton Station is a very large school. Adding them to our attendance area would push both SCMS and HS over 105% capacity, I think they said the middle school would instantly jump to 119% which is insane. But this was a proposal on one of the maps when this was discussed privately with LSES’s PTA earlier this year. South County is literally at the southern border of the county so we have a very limited number of “moves out” that can be made.

Again as a South County parent I don’t care if Hagel Circle stays here. They’re already here! I’m not trying to dump this neighborhood. My issue is solely with the proposal to add all of Lorton Station to South County and adding several hundred students to our middle and HS. That would also create a cascading effect at Hayfield where they’d have to pick up a large number of students from Edison most likely in order to balance the enrollments.

Fellow South County parent here, and I agree with this take. There can and should be rebalancing between Halley and Silverbrook to solve some of this, but it's likely that Sandy Anderson made sure her home elementary school was not impacted. South County does not have the capacity to take all of Lorton Station and doing so would create major issues that would impact multiple schools. There are several neighborhoods zoned for Gunston near Route 1 and Gunston Road that are zoned for Hayfield despite that fact that they are nearly entirely surrounded by South County - sort of an attendance peninsula if you will. Those neighborhoods could be moved to South County, and Hagel Circle could go to Lorton Station and Hayfield...or don't touch middle school and high school and also make Lorton Station a split feeder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I listened to the presentation today. The commenters and people attending at Bren Mar Park were not happy. It was pretty transparent that they were being targeted, and also pretty transparent that the goal was not just relieving capacity at Edison, but also filling up Lewis. One commenter correctly pointed out that if the capacity issue is with Edison, the solution should involve all of Edison. Not just the one school being targeted for removal. They were wondering why Franconia elementary wasn’t involved in this or why any of the West Springfield feeders weren’t being involved, so poking that hornets nest again. Some of the meeting attendees also pointed out that the commute from the Bren Mar Park area would involve driving on 395/95 or on Van Dorn right past Edison to get to Lewis.

This is a mess and the facilities guy presenting was unprepared. The answer to all the questions seemed to be “submit your feedback through the feedback form.” Also worth noting, the guy presenting and answering the questions today was Eric Gordon from facilities. However the “champion” for this project is the head of HR, a guy named Andrew Solomon.

Additionally I want to point out that they said that Nardos King 🤮 will be the “champion” for the Lorton issue.

Why is the Chief Equity Officer being named champion for the “Lorton issue”? Unless the issue has nothing to do with capacity and everything to do with “equity.” It’s also interesting that Silverbrook Elementary is not being included in the Lorton Boundary review issue, which is where Sandy Anderson lives. Halley and Silverbrook are both physically located in Crosspointe, and moving Hagel Circle out of Halley will leave the school at roughly 60% capacity. Wouldn’t it make sense to also include the other elementary school in the same neighborhood in the review? Some students assigned for Silverbrook live physically close enough to Halley to be walkers.

I’m in the area (but not at Halley, but am at South County) and this is my take. Halley and Silverbrook are literally in the same neighborhood and there could easily be capacity balancing between the two schools if and when Hagel Circle is out of Halley. Halley also has a big pre-K program of both the income-based and special needs, both the half day and PAC classes, and I could see it growing if needed to take up some empty classroom space. Silverbrook is quite large but always seems to be at capacity, but they did just get a renovation and expansion. There was a proposal to move some of the edge neighborhoods on the other side (so like behind South Run Park) to Sangster and Lake Braddock, but those few neighborhoods fought against it because that’s an annoying drive and Sangster doesn’t need any more students. Halley is also going to get a Korean immersion program to fill up some space … allegedly.

Lorton is one of those places that has lower income areas alongside middle class and nice neighborhoods. Right now those areas are pretty evenly distributed. Hagel Circle is in an attendance island for Halley and South County. The income restricted apartments and Woods of Fairfax are with Lorton Station and Hayfield. The low rise condos at the end of Silverbrook Road are with Laurel Hill and South County, and Newington Forest/South County has a small section of public housing off Southrun by their pool. Gunston has some lower income neighborhoods but I don’t know if those areas end up at South County or Hayfield for MS/HS since I’m less familiar with that area.

The issue right now is where Hagel Circle ends up and who, potentially, goes with it. As a South County parent the only thing I really don’t want, is Hagel Circle at Lorton Station and all of Lorton Station ES ending up at South County. Lorton Station is a very large school. Adding them to our attendance area would push both SCMS and HS over 105% capacity, I think they said the middle school would instantly jump to 119% which is insane. But this was a proposal on one of the maps when this was discussed privately with LSES’s PTA earlier this year. South County is literally at the southern border of the county so we have a very limited number of “moves out” that can be made.

Again as a South County parent I don’t care if Hagel Circle stays here. They’re already here! I’m not trying to dump this neighborhood. My issue is solely with the proposal to add all of Lorton Station to South County and adding several hundred students to our middle and HS. That would also create a cascading effect at Hayfield where they’d have to pick up a large number of students from Edison most likely in order to balance the enrollments.

Fellow South County parent here, and I agree with this take. There can and should be rebalancing between Halley and Silverbrook to solve some of this, but it's likely that Sandy Anderson made sure her home elementary school was not impacted. South County does not have the capacity to take all of Lorton Station and doing so would create major issues that would impact multiple schools. There are several neighborhoods zoned for Gunston near Route 1 and Gunston Road that are zoned for Hayfield despite that fact that they are nearly entirely surrounded by South County - sort of an attendance peninsula if you will. Those neighborhoods could be moved to South County, and Hagel Circle could go to Lorton Station and Hayfield...or don't touch middle school and high school and also make Lorton Station a split feeder.

If Hagel Circle was out of Halley, Halley would be single digit FARMS at the K-6 level. There aren’t even any townhomes or condos in bounds for Halley other than Hagel Circle. That area is NICE. Silverbrook doesn’t want to move now because of the demographics at Halley. There is also the AAP issue unfortunately. Silverbrook is large enough to have a pretty robust LLIV program, and Halley is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:West Springfield has over 2800 kids but they are proposing to kick kids out of Edison because they think Lewis needs more kids? Pathetic.

Edison is already at capacity and there are new housing developments being built literally within walking distance at the old Top Golf and the old local government building. They are going to have to do something about capacity there in the next 5 years and the Bryn Mar Park option seems like a pretty solid solution.

Uh huh. Because that POS facilities guy who went to West Springfield (Platenberg) made sure West Springfield got a much bigger expansion than Edison when they were renovated within years of one another?

Move BMP to Lewis and then both Edison and Lewis will have 1800-1850 kids while West Springfield is closer to 2800.

Okay. But…. WSHS doesn’t feel over crowded and it isn’t a growth area. Projections have it growing by 1 student. Would you pull kids out and then have WSHS be an empty building? AT this point, you can’t really

I think the commute to Lewis sucks from everywhere but that immediate community. No one wants to trudge through the mixing bowl to attend events or have their new driver driving there. It needs a different solution, and or a huge renovation to make it more appealing.

Instead the board is offering sky view on the other side of the county. I hope one of the members creates a bond to make Lewis upgraded and appealing. Maybe more the academies out of Edison and make Lewis academy only so kids and buses are in after rush hour and out before rush hour.

PS- the WSHS principal is out on medical leave. I hope he recovers fully and quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:West Springfield has over 2800 kids but they are proposing to kick kids out of Edison because they think Lewis needs more kids? Pathetic.

Edison is already at capacity and there are new housing developments being built literally within walking distance at the old Top Golf and the old local government building. They are going to have to do something about capacity there in the next 5 years and the Bryn Mar Park option seems like a pretty solid solution.

Uh huh. Because that POS facilities guy who went to West Springfield (Platenberg) made sure West Springfield got a much bigger expansion than Edison when they were renovated within years of one another?

Move BMP to Lewis and then both Edison and Lewis will have 1800-1850 kids while West Springfield is closer to 2800.

Okay. But…. WSHS doesn’t feel over crowded and it isn’t a growth area. Projections have it growing by 1 student. Would you pull kids out and then have WSHS be an empty building? AT this point, you can’t really

I think the commute to Lewis sucks from everywhere but that immediate community. No one wants to trudge through the mixing bowl to attend events or have their new driver driving there. It needs a different solution, and or a huge renovation to make it more appealing.

Instead the board is offering sky view on the other side of the county. I hope one of the members creates a bond to make Lewis upgraded and appealing. Maybe more the academies out of Edison and make Lewis academy only so kids and buses are in after rush hour and out before rush hour.

PS- the WSHS principal is out on medical leave. I hope he recovers fully and quickly.

Lol WSHS parents clinging to trudging through the mixing bowl. The commute would be way way way worse for the Bren Mar kids. You don’t need to go on a highway to get from WSHS to Lewis

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:West Springfield has over 2800 kids but they are proposing to kick kids out of Edison because they think Lewis needs more kids? Pathetic.

Edison is already at capacity and there are new housing developments being built literally within walking distance at the old Top Golf and the old local government building. They are going to have to do something about capacity there in the next 5 years and the Bryn Mar Park option seems like a pretty solid solution.

Uh huh. Because that POS facilities guy who went to West Springfield (Platenberg) made sure West Springfield got a much bigger expansion than Edison when they were renovated within years of one another?

Move BMP to Lewis and then both Edison and Lewis will have 1800-1850 kids while West Springfield is closer to 2800.

Okay. But…. WSHS doesn’t feel over crowded and it isn’t a growth area. Projections have it growing by 1 student. Would you pull kids out and then have WSHS be an empty building? AT this point, you can’t really

I think the commute to Lewis sucks from everywhere but that immediate community. No one wants to trudge through the mixing bowl to attend events or have their new driver driving there. It needs a different solution, and or a huge renovation to make it more appealing.

Instead the board is offering sky view on the other side of the county. I hope one of the members creates a bond to make Lewis upgraded and appealing. Maybe more the academies out of Edison and make Lewis academy only so kids and buses are in after rush hour and out before rush hour.

PS- the WSHS principal is out on medical leave. I hope he recovers fully and quickly.

Lol WSHS parents clinging to trudging through the mixing bowl. The commute would be way way way worse for the Bren Mar kids. You don’t need to go on a highway to get from WSHS to Lewis

Yeah, you “only” need to go on congested Old Keene Mill or the section of the parkway where there are always accidents every day. Bussing WSES or KMES to Key and Lewis would mean bussing Irving’s walkers in all likelihood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Edison was down to 103% capacity as of September 2025 and has lost 31 students over the course of the school year.

They can't seriously claim there's a need to move kids out of Edison yet on capacity grounds.

They are building a big new neighborhood where the Top Golf and Ruby Tuesday used to be, they will probably also redevelop the old Franconia government center and police station at some point and maybe even Rose Hill. That will add a lot of housing to the area. They’re trying to get ahead of it.

BS. FCPS is reactive, not proactive, and they are only reacting to the sustained low enrollment at Lewis by targeting a school that they think can be moved to Lewis with the least pushback. If they were proactive in their decisions, they'd be focusing on a lot of other things before they got to overcrowding at Edison that isn't even at the 105% level yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:West Springfield has over 2800 kids but they are proposing to kick kids out of Edison because they think Lewis needs more kids? Pathetic.

Edison is already at capacity and there are new housing developments being built literally within walking distance at the old Top Golf and the old local government building. They are going to have to do something about capacity there in the next 5 years and the Bryn Mar Park option seems like a pretty solid solution.

Uh huh. Because that POS facilities guy who went to West Springfield (Platenberg) made sure West Springfield got a much bigger expansion than Edison when they were renovated within years of one another?

Move BMP to Lewis and then both Edison and Lewis will have 1800-1850 kids while West Springfield is closer to 2800.

Okay. But…. WSHS doesn’t feel over crowded and it isn’t a growth area. Projections have it growing by 1 student. Would you pull kids out and then have WSHS be an empty building? AT this point, you can’t really

I think the commute to Lewis sucks from everywhere but that immediate community. No one wants to trudge through the mixing bowl to attend events or have their new driver driving there. It needs a different solution, and or a huge renovation to make it more appealing.

Instead the board is offering sky view on the other side of the county. I hope one of the members creates a bond to make Lewis upgraded and appealing. Maybe more the academies out of Edison and make Lewis academy only so kids and buses are in after rush hour and out before rush hour.

PS- the WSHS principal is out on medical leave. I hope he recovers fully and quickly.

Lol WSHS parents clinging to trudging through the mixing bowl. The commute would be way way way worse for the Bren Mar kids. You don’t need to go on a highway to get from WSHS to Lewis

Yeah, you “only” need to go on congested Old Keene Mill or the section of the parkway where there are always accidents every day. Bussing WSES or KMES to Key and Lewis would mean bussing Irving’s walkers in all likelihood.

Also bussing WSHS walkers as many KMES children are. Just a dumb idea. That is why advocating for a new use for Lewis that benefits everyone rather than trying to pass the buck to another community makes more sense. The mixing bowl and commercial area of Springfield grew up around Lewis. Instead of forcing the issue and making one community or another angry, admit that the school is now poorly placed and rethink the needs of the school and community around it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:West Springfield has over 2800 kids but they are proposing to kick kids out of Edison because they think Lewis needs more kids? Pathetic.

Edison is already at capacity and there are new housing developments being built literally within walking distance at the old Top Golf and the old local government building. They are going to have to do something about capacity there in the next 5 years and the Bryn Mar Park option seems like a pretty solid solution.

Uh huh. Because that POS facilities guy who went to West Springfield (Platenberg) made sure West Springfield got a much bigger expansion than Edison when they were renovated within years of one another?

Move BMP to Lewis and then both Edison and Lewis will have 1800-1850 kids while West Springfield is closer to 2800.

Okay. But…. WSHS doesn’t feel over crowded and it isn’t a growth area. Projections have it growing by 1 student. Would you pull kids out and then have WSHS be an empty building? AT this point, you can’t really

I think the commute to Lewis sucks from everywhere but that immediate community. No one wants to trudge through the mixing bowl to attend events or have their new driver driving there. It needs a different solution, and or a huge renovation to make it more appealing.

Instead the board is offering sky view on the other side of the county. I hope one of the members creates a bond to make Lewis upgraded and appealing. Maybe more the academies out of Edison and make Lewis academy only so kids and buses are in after rush hour and out before rush hour.

PS- the WSHS principal is out on medical leave. I hope he recovers fully and quickly.

According to FCPS West Springfield has been above the 105% capacity threshold that was used to justify boundary changes at lots of other schools every year since 2022-23 (four years in a row).

Claiming it doesn't feel overcrowded is just another way to say you don't want to be treated the same as other schools because you consider Lewis beneath you. If anyone should be moved to Lewis, they should come from a school that has ACTUALLY been over 105% capacity for the last four years, not one that MIGHT be over 105% at some later date. If eliminating the split feeder at Holmes remains a priority, that is most easily achieved by moving Bren Mar Park to Annandale, and not by moving it to both Key and Lee.

Further, they don't have the money to upgrade Lewis now, and if anything the money being spent on Skyview will delay a Lewis renovation. There are at least two other high schools that are older than Lewis and logically should be renovated before Lewis. However, that's not a reason not to move kids to Lewis if it has room.

It's utterly despicable that they are looking to gut Holmes and Edison as a last resort to increase the enrollment at Lewis, when Lewis borders a high school with over 2800 kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got an email that the South County boundary change meetings will be held on May 8th to discuss Halley, Lorton Station, etc. https://www.fcps.edu/about-fcps/maps/boundary-adjustments-information/gunston-halley-laurel-hill-and-lorton-station

I like how they schedule it for a Friday night, hoping many won’t attend. Time to get ready for 6 months of arguing about which school gets stuck with Hagel Circle.

Actually I love that it’s on a Friday night. No pressure to get kids to bed because it’s a school night.