School Board Approves Plan 6 for Devlin Road Elementary

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Map of Plan 6 for Devlin Road Elementary School provided by PWCS Office of Facility Services. Map of Plan 6 for Devlin Road Elementary School provided by PWCS Office of Facility Services.

The Prince William County School Board voted Wednesday evening to approve districting Plan 6 for the new Devlin Road School scheduled to open in September of 2015. This plan would not affect the HOA community of Glenkirk Estates in Gainesville.

The Devlin Road plans are all wide-ranging, affecting students from many Brentsville and Gainesville district neighborhoods. However, of all the communities affected, Glenkirk Estates was the most vocal that their children remain at Glenkirk Elementary rather than moving to Piney Branch on Linton Hall Road.

Although Glenkirk Elementary is operating past capacity, those in the Glenkirk Estates community felt strongly that their community not be separated and their children continue to attend the school built right in their community and bearing their community name.

At their meeting, school board members agreed to Plan 6, which allows Glenkirk neighborhood students to remain at Glenkirk Elementary. Members said that Plans 5A and 6 were very similar, except that 6 leaves empty seats at Piney Branch and offers less of a reduction to the Glenkirk Elementary student population.

Glenkirk will be at 99 percent capacity in the 2015-16 school year. Meanwhile, Piney Branch will be at 77.4 percent capacity next year. Devlin Road is scheduled to open at 80.3 percent capacity.

School board members felt this population discrepancy is appropriate since Glenkirk Elementary is surrounded by mature communities whereas new development is expected around Piney Branch.

Shifting some neighborhoods from Glenkirk into Piney Branch allows for students to also move from Piney Branch to the new Devlin Road school, and provide overall district shifts towards the north.

Neabsco District School Board member Lisa Bell was the only board member to vote against Plan 6. Bell’s specific objection was that Plan 6 once again shifts students in the Manassas community of Cover Stone.

Bell notes that children from that neighborhood are frequently shifted from school to school and they also do not progress with along with their classmates from elementary to middle school to high school. In previous school board meetings, board members asked if there were any objections from the Cover Stone community, but there were none.

The following is the overview of the neighborhoods being affected by the opening of the Devlin Road elementary school according to the Prince William County Schools website.

Neighborhoods Reassigned to Devlin Road Elementary School:

Residences located within the Barretts Crossing, Independence, Lanier Farms, Sheffield Manor, Summertree, or William Center community.

Residences located along Coverstone Hill Circle, Cass Place, Mangione Court, or Croce Court.

Neighborhood Reassigned to Piney Branch Elementary School:

Residences located within the Broad Run Oaks, the portion of Brookside that exits to Glenkirk Road, or New Dominion Hunt Estates.

Neighborhood Reassigned to Cedar Point Elementary School:

Students residing in the Youth for Tomorrow facility.

Neighborhood Reassigned to Victory Lakes Elementary School:

Residences located within the Arcadia Run, Regency, Stillhaven, or University Village community.

Neighborhood Reassigned to Mullen Elementary School:

Residences located along Wild Ginger Circle or Cattail Court.

Residences located within the Jackson Ridge Condo community.

Neighborhood Reassigned to Ellis Elementary School:

Residences located within the Stone Bridge or Sudley Crossing community

Neighborhood Reassigned to Sinclair Elementary School:

Residences located within the Stonington or Westgate community.

Residences located along Lomond Drive eastward towards Urbana Road.

Neighborhood Reassigned to Signal Hill Elementary School:

Residences located within the Blooms Mill community.

Residences located east of Centreville Road, south of Oak Street, and west of Maplewood Drive.

Residences located along Maplewood Drive, Browns Lane, Leighlex Court, Linblake Court, or Saint Marys Lane.

More information on redistricting can be found at via facility services on the pwcs.edu website under Devlin Road boundaries. 

This article has been updated as we previous referred to the neighborhood of Glenkirk Estates, as Glenkirk. The redistricting list has been updated for clarification. 

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