As the school overcrowding problem grows in western Prince William, Ronald Reagan Middle School to get trailers for the first time

With the Haymarket Town Council’s 5-1 decision to rezone 9.94 acres from business commercial to “Residential Moderate Density” land use designation, schools in the Gainesville District will become increasingly more crowded.

?“We don’t run the schools,” said Haymarket Vice Mayor Susan Edwards just before voting in support of a rezoning request that would allow 79 new townhomes to be built in The Crossroads Village Center Haymarket.?

According to Prince William County Gainesville District School Board member Alyson A. Satterwhite, Battlefield High School was over student capacity at 143.3 percent enrollment in the 2017-2018 school year, and Ronald Reagan Middle School was at 112.2 percent.

There has already been an increase in student population for the 2018-2019 school year that will add to this overcrowding. Officials estimate that the 79 proposed new townhomes will add 49 new students to the Gainesville District.

These students will have a major impact on an already overcrowded Prince William County Public School system, officials add. This over-capacity means that students must utilize more trailers for classrooms. Battlefield will have 18 trailers for the start of fall classes. Ronald Reagan Middle School, for the first time, will have five trailers.

Parents at the Haymarket Town Council meeting expressed concerns about insufficient heating and cooling systems in trailers along with safety during threats such as severe weather or active shooters when students are not inside a more secure building.

“The school division understands the concerns of the parents and the inconvenience of temporary classrooms. To ensure safety, we have a full-time school security training specialist on staff who frequently updates crisis plans and works with principals and other staff to ensure appropriate plans are in place to accommodate and protect students and staff in portable classrooms,” Prince William County Public Schools spokeswoman Diana Gulotta told Potomac Local in an email.

In addition to having classes outdoors, trailers also impact student activities, they could take up space on school grounds otherwise used for activities. Cindy Buckley, who is on the Band Support Organization at Battlefield High School told the members of the Haymarket Town Council that “one more trailer at Battlefield means the marching band has not practice area.”

?Edwards told the citizens at the Town Council meeting that they should take their comments “to the School Board and put pressure on them.” ?However, the School Board has no control over development in the county.

At a June 6 meeting of the Prince William County School Board, the Board passed an Impact Statement for the Crossroads Village Center rezoning proposal that states “the School Board is not in favor of ay rezoning that increases student capacity at schools already at or in excess of 100 percent capacity or rezoning that causes student capacity at any school to exceed 100 percent capacity.

At that meeting, Satterwhite told people to talk to the planning commission, and talk to the Prince William County Board of Supervisors and tell then we simply do not have the place in our schools for any more students right now.

”?In addition to the 79 new homes that will come as part of the Crossroads Village Center], 144 new townhomes will be built in the James Madison Commons Development and 55 new townhome units in Dominion Valley as approved by the Prince William County Board of Supervisors.

At the time of the approval, these two developments were projected to add an additional 93 students to the Gainesville school District. ?At the June 6 Prince William County School Board meeting, Brentsville District School Board Member Gil Trenum said that “the cumulative effect is not taken into account.”