Prince William County Schools (PWCS) has announced their latest boundary recommendation for the 12th high school, version 1.2.
According to PWCS’s website announcement of the plan, 1.2 is “now the sole boundary recommendation of the administration.”
Boundary Plan 1.2 affects western Prince William County in that it moves New Bristow Village out of Patriot High School, but keeps Victory Lakes at Stonewall Jackson High School (SJHS.)
According to PWCS, recommendation 1.2 is based on the previous version plan 1.1; however, it differs in that it reassigns the Lake Terrapin community from the 12th high school back to Forest Park High School.
Dr. Matthew Cartlidge, Supervisor of Planning for Facility Services at Prince William County Schools, said that version 1.2 is the “recommendation of our administration staff for our School Board's consideration,” however the School Board can “absolutely” entertain or combine other alternative versions.
While school division can recommend boundaries, the School Board has the final say.
“The School Board has the power and authority to set the,” Cartlidge said. “Our role is to facilitate and provide to them the information to make that difficult decision.”
Enrollment
The recommended boundary plan helps to even out enrollment numbers as at mid-county high schools.
Osbourn Park High School (OP) would be at 121.2 percent capacity in 2016-17, but would fall to 93.3 percent after the opening of the 12th high school. OP continues to remain under capacity within the next few years.
Hylton High School would be at 119.2 percent capacity in 2016-17, but instead will be at 107 percent capacity in that year. Its population continues to decrease in the following years.
Brentsville District High School (BDHS) would be at 123.7 percent capacity, but instead will be at 104.3 percent in 2016-17 and will continue to decrease in population.
Forest Park High School would be at 108.9 percent, but instead will be at 103.3 in 2016-17. That number also decreases.
The 12th high school will open at only 66.4 percent in 2016-17. That number will jump to 87.2 percent in 2018-19. That number stays within the 80 percent range, but will likely attract many transfers.
Small Decrease in Enrollment at Patriot High School
Patriot High School's enrollment would decrease slightly from being at 138.8 percent capacity in 2016-17 to 133.7 percent capacity upon the opening of the 12th high school.
However, it is not the opening of the new mid-county school, per se, that will help alleviate Patriot capacity, but the redistricting of New Bristow Village from Patriot into BDHS per boundary recommendation 1.2.
This means, upon the opening of the 12th high school in September of 2016, 104 ninth through eleventh grade students from New Bristow Village will instead attend BDHS. Going forward, high school students from New Bristow Village will attend BDHS, should the School Board adopt plan 1.2.
This move will marginally help overcrowding at Patriot, although Cartlidge acknowledged the school is still over its capacity and more needs to be done. However, he said his staff does not want to move students out of Patriot just to have them redistricted again to the 13th high school in three years.
New Bristow Village
Cartlidge said that he is unable to easily determine if the majority of New Bristow Village residents prefer to stay within the Patriot boundaries. He has heard that 98.8 percent of the community participating in a New Bristow Village poll voted that they wanted to stay within the Patriot boundaries; however, he said he does not know the inclusiveness of that poll.
Rather, Cartlidge said that he and his staff are basing their recommendation on phone calls and emails he received from residents.
“It is too complex to make a simple statement,” he said. “There are a variety of variables that are contributing to these people's preferences.”
One of the complicating variables is the opening of the new Linton Hall middle school in 2018. While residents often want their students to progress with their peers, it is yet undetermined from which neighborhoods the new middle school would pull.
New Bristow Village Plan 3.1
Cartlidge said his office complied with the New Bristow Village residents who wanted to stay at Patriot by creating alternate Boundary Plan 3.1. In Boundary Plan 3.1, New Bristow Village remains at Patriot; however, the enrollments are not very balanced and Patriot remains severely overcrowded.
Should this plan be enacted, Patriot would rise to 141.3 percent capacity in 2018-19, before the opening of the proposed 13th high school. Additionally, BDHS would fall to 87.7 percent capacity and remain there for several years.
Cartlidge said his office offered the New Bristow Village community the opportunity to work together to create a 3.1a plan, but there little interest in doing so.
“[My office was] working in close collaboration with New Bristow Village residents. It was left up to them if they wanted to make any further changes or modifications… open invitation for a 3.1a plan.”
One of the criteria for being redistricted is the neighborhood would not be redistricted again within a few years. Thus, Cartlidge said he does foresee New Bristow Village, if they are rezoned for BDHS, being rezoned again for the 13th high school.
However, “that is not a promise,” he said, but “we strive to not move communities multiple times at the same level,” whereas a level indicates elementary, high school or middle school.
Victory Lakes
In the administrative recommended Boundary Plan 1.2, Victory Lakes would remain at SJHS. Cartlidge said the primary reason for this is that his office expects that parts of the Stonewall Jackson attendance area* will be redistricted when the 13th high school opens in 2019. To move students from SJHS now to BDHS, only to move them again in three years, goes against the procedures that the planning and facility services try to follow.
A poll by Victory Lakes also showed that the majority, 90 percent, of their residents wanted to be redistricted for BDHS, and they wanted their students to progress into BDHS with New Bristow Village students.
The School Board may still entertain two alternative plans, which move Victory Lakes into BDHS.
Lake Terrapin
Cartlidge said the Lake Terrapin community, located near Forest Park High School, was interested in keeping their neighborhood together. Additionally, most residents also wanted to stay within the Forest Park community. As enrollment in Forest Park is projected to decrease in coming years, Cartlidge said his office saw that they could agree to their request.
Balancing Demographic Enrollment
Dr. Cartlidge said that in balancing the demographic enrollments, his office looks at the number of economically disadvantaged students, racial minorities and students with limited English proficiency (LEP.)
“Collectively, those demographic variables are more representative of the variables at the high school level division wide than the demographics of those same high school per the current boundaries,” he said.
This means changing demographics actually allows for more schools to have demographics closer to the county-wide demographic numbers, which are 8.3 percent LEP students, 30.9 percent economically disadvantaged and 64.1 percent racial minorities (or non-white students.)
One concern among residents is that the demographic make up at OP would change markedly. Its minority population would go from 51 percent to 58.7 percent; LEP from 6.7 percent to 9.1 percent; and economically disadvantaged from 20.9 percent to 27 percent.
Meanwhile demographics at the 12th high school are less diverse than many neighboring schools with 36.6 percent minority students; 2.1 percent LEP; and 9.1 percent economically disadvantaged students, defined as receiving free or reduced lunch.
Cartlidge noted that his office makes no determination of whether having a high number or low number of those diverse students is “good” or “bad.”
Additionally, he explains that while some other boundary proposals may have created a more diverse population at the 12th high school, Cartlidge said that balancing enrollment numbers is only one criterion his office must follow. He and his staff also needs to consider efficient transport of students, keeping small communities together and not moving students too frequently from one geographic area.
Responding to Citizens' Concerns
“I’m really pretty pleased with the amount of public input,” Cartlidge said. “We’re on our third revision. I’ve responded to countless emails. Our staff has been pretty blessed [to have gotten such a response from parents.]”
He said that he and his staff are endorsing a recommendation that has been “built by public input as well as our staff expertise…these schools are a county resource and it is important the communities are involved in the process.”
Participating in Public Input Process
The posting of this new boundary plan comes after the public hearing but not before the final School Board vote on the evening of June 4. Those wishing to have their concerns heard by the School Board can still sign up to speak during citizen’s time at that meeting. They must sign up at pwcs.edu, or before 6:50 p.m. at the Kelley Leadership Center the day of the meeting.
The public hearing has already been delayed once to allow for more community input.
*This article originally stated that the Dr. Cartlidge expected that Victoria Lake would be redistricted when the 13th High School opens. Cartlidge clarified that that the Stonewall Jackson attendance area would be redistricted. He cannot attest to which communities would be affected by that redistricting at this time.
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