Preliminary Plan for the Devlin Road elementary school attendance areas, and redistricting of 10 surrounding schools. Map provided by Facility Services, PWCS.If approved, the new boundary plans to create an attendance area for Prince William County School’s Devlin Road elementary school in Bristow will affect several schools in Bristow, Gainesville and Manassas. Specifically, the elementary schools that will be affected are Glenkirk, Piney Branch, Victory, Mullen, Ellis, Sinclair. Sudley, West Gate, Yorkshire and Signal Hill. Additionally, Cedar Point would gain more geography, though most of it is not residential.
The Devlin Road school is scheduled to open in Fall of 2015. Redistricting of surrounding schools would also take effect at that time.
To discuss the new boundary options with community members, PWCS will hold the first of two boundary meetings Monday, Nov. 24 at 7 p.m. at Piney Branch Elementary School in Bristow. After the meeting, more will be known about the exact neighborhoods affected.
The boundary plan map provided by PWCS is very large. It stretches from Gainesville into the Yorkshire attendance area in Manassas. The reason the map is so extensive is because PWCS plans to have the new school relieve crowding in almost a dozen Prince William County Schools on the western side of the county.
With approximately 7,000 new dwellings tentatively planned for western Prince William County over the next decade, PWCS is taking a long-term view of boundaries. While Supervisor of Planning and Financial Services David Beavers said he did not know if new developments, such as Stone Haven will be approved, it almost does not matter in terms of planning. Either way, there are enough new developments awaiting county approval that staff at PWCS knows they have to look towards the future with their boundary plans.
“When you look at the long-term potential, that includes Stone Haven, Prince William Station and Dominion Station, all of which are very speculative. There are a number of other large developments that we’re tracking that we’re seeing for the 7-10 year window, but are not approved yet,” Beavers said.
Beavers explained that the new boundary plans for the Devlin Road school and other schools affected are aimed at relieving crowding at approximately 10 district elementary schools for several years to come. To do so, PWCS would leave them under capacity for a few years to make room for students coming from new developments.
Beavers believes it is a comprehensive plan that should serve the community well for years to come.
“We’ve balanced these schools at about 87 percent capacity over the next three years. In this case, we’re not trying to position ourselves for the next school. In all likelihood this is the last school for a little while,” Beavers said.
The opening of Devlin Road will shift student populations to the west, and relieve elementary schools in west Manassas, Prince William County. However, according to Beavers, Manassas will not be affected to the same degree as Glenkirk, Piney Branch and Victory, which will have large student populations redistricted.
PWCS, in accordance with its boundary committee, have prepared three plans they expect to present before the School Board for their approval.
According to the Preliminary Plan, Glenkirk Elementary would be left with a small densely populated area around the school, and the Piney Branch boundaries would form a crescent around it. Neighborhoods west of Glenkirk Road would be redistricted, as would neighborhoods adjacent to Kingsbrooke and neighborhoods northeast of Glenkirk Elementary. Glenkirk is currently the most overcrowded elementary school on the western end of the county at 122.2 percent capacity. After the shift, the school population will decrease to just 88.2 percent.
Those being redistricted out of Glenkirk are being reassigned to Piney Branch. Piney Branch can take so many new students because much of its population is being reassigned to the new Devlin Road elementary school.
The Devlin Road school boundaries include a huge swath of land to the north and into Manassas or Stonewall, Sudley area of Prince William County. It includes land that may become the development of Stone Haven, should that area be developed. However, the Devlin Road elementary school also takes some existing communities, areas previously zoned for Victory Elementary School such as neighborhoods along Devlin Road. The Victory Lakes community will not be affected.
Neighborhoods along University Boulevard would also be rezoned for the Devlin Road school.
Shifting populations into the Devlin Road school would help alleviate overcrowding at Mullen and Ellis as well, in the Preliminary Plan, as Mullen could then take some neighborhoods from Ellis. Another patch of land in the north central part of the Mullen attendance area is also rezoned for the Devlin Road elementary school.
The plan even affects Sinclair and Sudley elementary in that the northwest end of Sudley’s attendance area may be rezoned to Sinclair. Signal Hill will gain an area in the south attendance area of Yorkshire, and West Gate would lose some areas along Lomond Drive to Sinclair Elementary.
Cedar Point would gain geography around Youth For Tomorrow and north on Route 28/Nokesville Road. PWCS's data does not show the school's population changing, as that area includes only a small area across from YFT that is open for new residential construction. Cedar Point may gain a few existing homes near the railroad tracks along Bristow Road as well.
The plan balances student populations, so that no western end school would need learning trailers until after 2020,according to facility service’s extrapolated data.
The Devlin Road school would open with a small population and be at just 68.2 percent of capacity. By 2019, that would remain at 75.1 percent. And, if the predictions are correct, which is extremely difficult to determine with so many factors currently unknown about potential developments, the school will continue to have room to house students coming from new developments.
However, by 2024, the situation may look much different. By that year, the school is expected to be at 187.4 percent capacity, should no other elementary school be built to help alleviate its incoming population. While other surrounding schools would also be over capacity by that time, none would be as significantly overcapacity.
PWCS Plan 2 for the Devlin Road attendance area and that of surrounding schools.In several instances, Plan 2 affects different neighborhoods than the Preliminary Plan does.
In the case of Glenkirk, the area northwest of Glenkirk Roads would remain in the Glenkirk attendance area. Instead, the map carves out northeast portions of the attendance area to reassign to Piney Branch.
In this map, Victory loses its neighborhoods to the north to the Devlin Road school but gains neighborhoods from Ellis. It also loses Sheffield Manor to Piney Branch.
Keeping more students at Glenkirk means that Glenkirk would open in fall of 2015 at 92.3 percent capacity. However, PWCS does not predict it will reach full capacity again until 2024 as there are no new developments planned for that attendance area.
Boundary Plan 3.Plan 3 looks similar to Plan 2. In this plan, Glenkirk population reduces to just 92.3 percent. And in this plan, the Devlin Road elementary school takes more existing neighborhoods.
About Boundary Plans
The Prince William County School Board receives final approval on all boundary changes. PWCS looks at keeping neighborhoods together, balancing demographics, creating efficient transportation for students and allowing students to progress from one school to another with their peers and not continuously redistricting neighborhoods.
Beavers said that the Devlin Road elementary school would look similar to the county’s most recently built elementary school, which is Haymarket Elementary.
After Monday night’s meeting, Bristow Beat plans to look more closely at the boundaries and neighborhoods.
In the past, and most recently with the redistricting of the 12th high school, PWCS has allowed for some flexibility as to where students can attend school. Flexibility is usually provided for students attending their last year at a school.
Parents can contact Facility Services* after the meeting with their questions, or their school board representative to voice their opinion.
There will be a second community boundary meeting held at Loch Lomond Elementary School Dec. 8 at 7 p.m.
*If you click through to Facility Services' Devlin Road page, there is a link at the bottom for sending emails to Facility Services.
This article has been updated after the Boundary Committee Meeting on Monday night. Bristow Beat corrected that Sheffield Manor will be redistricted in Plans 2 and 3, not the Preliminary Plan. Bristow Beat added that Cedar Point would receive more geography.
Support Bristow Beat - Donate Today!