An Open Discussion on Split Feeders.

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01/02/2026 17:53

Subject: An Open Discussion on Split Feeders.

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Anonymous wrote:I would fix the middle schools in Reston/Oak Hill/Chantilly. There's no reason for Carson, Franklin, Rocky run to be split feeders.

Rocky Run is not a split feeder, but it does have AAP students which feed to other schools like Westfield and Centreville.

AAP is over half the school, and around half of AAP comes from other pyramids. So around 25% of the school is transferring from other pyramids. We are in boundary for Rocky. I'm seriously considering having my AAP kid drop to honors in MS if it's not fixed by then because the kids in those classes should all continue to Chantilly, vs only approx half of the AAP cohort.

You should learn more about MS scheduling before making your decision. My RR student is in AAP and has very few classes with students who were in their ES program. There are just so many students that the mix is much greater. And it doesn’t matter for HS - AAP ends after 8th. If what you’re saying is you think it would be better for your student’s friends too move along with him to high school, I don’t disagree but also see value in having friends at other nearby schools.

Pp here, yes, I would prefer my kid not spend 2 years making friends and then half of them do not continue on to the same school. I think it makes the transition to 9th grade a little more difficult.

If your kid is at a MS that splits fairly evenly to two high schools, that's no big deal. They'll have a large cohort of kids going to the same high school yet the chance to make new friends. It's the really uneven split feeders that can be more of an issue but as PP pointed out you get people like the parents at Kilmer who fight to stay at Madison even though only 15% or so of Kilmer feeds there rather than Marshall.

This is why I’m fighting for the idea of an Oakton Area Middle School.

They should get Oakton down to two feeders eventually, probably Franklin and Jackson (again). No need for a new MS.

We have more middle schools than high schools.

When the new high-school opens, we will have one more middle school than high schools.

We should have no more than one or two middle school split feeders, and those midfle schools should not split to more than 2 high schools.

What you want and what other people want and FCPS will do are not the same thing.

I agree that Middle-High School alignment is important, but here’s the thing.

Scenario 4 boundary changes illustrate Bren Mar Park moving back to Annandale from Edison, with all of Parklawn moving to Justice.

The issue lies with Mason Crest.

I propose moving Justice Bound Mason Crest Students to Beech Tree or Belvedere, and with them out, adding 6th grade to Mason Crest, zoning it for Jackson to align with Falls Church, or also rezoning it completely to Glasgow/Justice.

Poe would shrink to Annandale Terrace and Braddock in this scenario, which could end up resulting in a singular “Annandale Middle School”

I think that site would be the Poe site, which would retain its name, with something happening to Holmes (I want to keep it open for capacity reasons due to the lack of Elementary 6th grade in the Annandale Pyramid, where Annandale Terrace, Braddock, Bren Mar Park, Columbia, North Springfield, and Weyanoke may not have the capacity to add 6th grade classrooms, resulting in a snag.

Therefore, Poe holds Annandale Terrace, Braddock, and North Springfield, and Holmes takes Bren Mar Park, Columbia, and Weyanoke.

If Mason Crest moves to the Justice Pyramid, I fear a second 6-8 MS could be needed. That MS would hold Beech Tree, Belvedere, Mason Crest, and Sleepy Hollow, with Glasgow holding Baileys, Glen Forest, Parklawn, and a new Mason District ES in the Baileys Crossroads/ Skyline area, as well as Justice Pyramid AAP.

Unless Glasgow and Justice Pyramid MS II both have AAP.

However it might not be needed if AAP is placed into the Annandale Middle Schools, unless only one is needed.

Jackson therefore, takes Camelot, Fairhill, Graham Road, Pine Spring, Falls Church Part of Timber Lane (moves to Graham Road to put school in Attendance Area with Pine Spring Island), Westlawn, and Woodburn, with Falls Church losing its part of Mason Crest Feeding into it.

With Oakton, we have reached a problem too.

If Western HS has comprehensive school boundaries and no magnet program and takes Westfield part of Coates, Crossfield, Floris, Fox Mill, McNair, Navy Island, and Oak Hill (if it has the room after interior work is done) unless it takes just Fox Mill or Crossfield, Carson will redraw boundaries to be consistent with this new HS as one would hope.

Furthermore, option maps show Bull Run, Part of Brookfield west of Flatlick Branch, and Chantilly feeding part of Cub Run to Westfield, which would result in that becoming consistent with stone.

Say Western takes both Crossfield and Fox Mill plus Navy Island, and Carson aligns its boundaries to that which would mean including Oak Hill, that means Franklin remains with Lees Corner, Navy sans Island, and Waples Mill, meaning it would still be a split feeder for Chantilly and Oakton.

This is where my proposal for an Oakton Middle School comes into play.

It takes Navy sans Island, Waples Mill, Oakton feeding part of Oakton ES, Mosaic, and Oakton Feeding part of Marshall Road, remaining consistent with the OHS boundaries.

It would also as per Scenario 4, take students in from Providence, KJMS, and Fairfax High School north of 66 who are not in the City of Fairfax.

Land is available near Oakmont and Flint Hill for a new MS, and at the site of Oakton Elementary School, which if an agreement is made with Flint Hill, the Hazel Lower School moves to that land near Oakmont, and a new middle school is built where Oakton ES stands, and Oakton Elementary Moves to Blake Lane Park, the aforementioned dog park where a Fairfax/Oakton Area ES was originally supposed to be built before Dunn Loring happened.

That’s my take after looking into the misalignment of middle schools in FCPS.

It's sad that you're spending so much time writing about things about which you're so out of touch with residents and FCPS.

Let's just talk about your proposals relating to Justice, Annandale and Falls Church.

Yes, Scenario 4 moves Bren Mar Park back to Annandale to eliminate the split feeder at Holmes, but then FCPS put out a later proposal to move Bren Mar Park to Lewis, only to table that proposal and announce that Bren Mar Park will remain at Edison for at least the next five years. So you're working with stale information.

Second, Scenario 3 proposed to move the Justice part of Mason Crest back to Belvedere, which is where it went before Mason Crest opened around 2012. The families affected pushed hard to stay at Mason Crest, so FCPS undid that change in Scenario 4. Again, you're proposing something already considered and rejected. In fact, they are now proposing to move the Justice part of Mason Crest from Glasgow/Justice to Poe/Falls Church, because the local School Board member (Ricardy Anderson) is far more interested in reducing the enrollment at Glasgow than eliminating the split feeder at Poe. In fact, the latest proposal that FCPS staff put out to address Anderson's wants turns Belvedere into a new split feeder to Holmes and Glasgow, turns Beech Tree into a new split feeder to Poe/Falls Church and Glasgow/Justice, and turns Holmes into a three-way split feeder to Annandale, Edison, and Justice. Maybe they'll reconsider and reassign the part of Belvedere moving to Holmes to Annandale, so Holmes stays a two-way split feeder, but they've made no such announcement yet.

Your other proposals seem to leave Holmes and Poe too small, and further burden Glasgow when, as noted, the big push has been to reduce the enrollment there. They are no more likely to build another middle school to feed into Justice than they are to build a new middle school that feeds exclusively to Oakton.

Oh, I missed those parts.

Would you mind providing those slides so that I can look into this new information.

I don’t understand Regions 2 and 6, but I understand 1 and 5 as that’s more where I’m from, and I emailed Karl Frisch, Seema Dixie, and Melanie Meren yesterday about the middle school.