The Observer Newspapers | Parents Move On After Redistricting

August 1 , 2008

Parents Move On After Redistricting

By Leslie Perales

Observer Staff Writer

Since the Fairfax County School Board made a decision in the redistricting of the high schools in western Fairfax County in February, many parents have been finding different ways of sending their children to the school of their choice.

The redistricting affected about 225 students and many of them applied for pupil placement into other schools. One of the largest reasons families applied was because South Lakes High School offers the International Baccalaureate program rather than Advanced Placement classes.

Jay Kelkar's daughter attended Rachel Carson Middle School and was to attend South Lakes this school year. He applied to have her transferred to Oakton instead. Their request was approved but then they decided they did not want to deal with the hassle of transportation, so they made the decision to move into the Oakton district.

"I'm still bitter about the whole thing, but what can you do?" Kelkar said. "From my point of view education is the most important thing." He said for him moving was not a big sacrifice to make for the sake of his daughter's education. "Everything happens for a reason. I'm very happy where I am now," he said. His daughter is happy too, he said.

"As a parent, I'm extremely disappointed," said Scott Chronister, who has one child at Oakton and one at Rachel Carson. "It's shocking to me the amount of arrogance that the school board has shown in the way it's manhandled this decision." Chronister, who is the director of FairfaxCAPS, said he knows a number of families who moved shortly after the school board's February decision and others who waited for a decision from the courts to decide whether or not to move.

"The school district can redraw the lines but they can't change people's feelings about the schools they want to be in," Chronister said. The future of his middle school student is still undecided and his family will make a decision in the next year as to what they will do to keep their children in the same school, he said. Though the redistricting process used by the school board has upset many in the community, others are just happy to be able to move forward.

Jeanette Thomas, a member of the South Lakes PTSA, said she and other parents are excited to start the school year with some new faces. "If we pour those energies into South Lakes it's just going to make it one of the premier high schools in Fairfax County," she said. South Lakes has a lot to offer, including a new theater and labs, state of the art technology, exciting programming and wonderful teachers, Thomas said.

Earlier this spring, the school held events for families that are new to the school. Thomas said the special events were held because many of the students that will be new to the school this year missed out on some events that occurred before the school board made its February decision. Now parents and community members are focusing on welcoming all South Lakes students, she said. "As people become familiar with the school there's just no doubt in my mind that they're going to be favorably impressed," Thomas said.

South Lakes Principal, Bruce Butler, said the mission of the school has not changed during the past year and its goal is to continue to do what is best for the students. South Lakes will receive 50 to 60 percent of students who will shift schools because of the redistricting, Butler said.

There have been some positive effects from having the community microscope focused on the school, Butler said. "The process of having hundreds of people come by for tours to meet our students, to see our instructional programs in action, to meet our teachers, it actually was really healthy for our school," he said. Having the large amount of transparency was a good way to allow people to learn about South Lakes, and faculty and students have shown a lot of leadership and class, Butler said.

Last year South Lakes was under capacity by about 700 students, while both Westfield and Chantilly high schools were at maximum capacity. This year only Chantilly is at capacity for the upcoming school year. Cindy Dickinson, coordinator for the Office of Social Work and Support Services, said student transfers do not affect a large number of the county's students. Last year about 5,500 students out of the more than 165,000 students in the county had transfers approved.