STAFFORD — The School Board postponed a series of planned public hearings on Feb. 12 and Feb. 26 for the ongoing elementary school redistricting process.
The move delays a commitment by the Board to have a redistricting plan in place by the end of the month in exchange for funds from the Board of Supervisors to purchase a building in North Stafford to be converted into head start center.
“The event has been postponed as the School Board reviews other redistricting plans,” per a tweet from Stafford County Schools.
New dates for the meetings have not been set. The county’s growing population is forcing the need to shuffle elementary school children from overcrowded schools to buildings with fewer students.
The School Board met for a special meeting Saturday, Feb. 2 to discuss redistricting options. The board has been wrangling with the process since June, when the Board of Supervisors funded its request to buy the old Fredericksburg Christian School to house the county’s headstart Northstar campus. In exchange for the building, schools officials promised to redistrict elementary schools.
However, there have been hangups between the School Board the Herndon-based contractor ARCBridge, which was hired to complete the process. After it had issues with the first two plans put forward by the contractor, the School Board has requested a third.
Because of the number of complaints and questions both Plan A and Plan B had from residents and the School Board. The main force behind a new plan Plan C is the need for a “radius approach” to the redistricting, favored by school board members.
It comes after some residents have said, under Plans A and B, that their children would be forced to travel to schools further away from their homes, bypassing close-by elementary schools.
“Seventy-five to 80 percent of our students should stay where they are based on their proximity because hopefully, they are close to their schools,” Hartwood School Board member Holly Hazard said. “I’m hoping under that approach we will then see where some of the districts don’t make sense.
The School Board had said the redistricting plans would take effect during the 2019-2020 school year. The School Board’s main goal is to limit elementary school student capacity to about 85 percent for the 2022-2023 school year.
The Board wants to get close to the 85-percent capacity in order to manage the county’s expected growth in the next 10 to 15 years.
“We’re starting out with today’s numbers but we’re looking forward by four years,” School Board Chair and Rock Hill District member Patricia Healy said during the Feb 2 meeting. “In four years, some schools are going to have fewer students, and we’re going to need to look at that.”
In all three plans, some subdivisions are split up and into small islands requiring passing two or three closer elementary schools to get their districted elementary school. For example, students who live on the west side of Mine Road and in the Hampton Oaks subdivision in North Stafford are close enough to walk to their current elementary school which is Hampton Oaks Elementary School.
In all three plans, those students will be redistricted to Park Ridge Elementary School or Kate Waller Barrett Elementary School, each about 10 minutes away from Hampton Oaks.
“Our goal was to keep neighborhoods together but it didn’t work out in some cases,” an ARCBridge Representative told School Board members.
One board member suggested splitting up Aquia Harbour.
“Let’s not keep Aquia Harbour together,” Garrisonville Representative Pam Yueng said. “Just move who you need to move. If you have to move a certain amount of students then move them and see what happens.”
But the idea was quickly shot down by other board members.
The school division is considering two plans for its redistricting process. A total of 3,195 students would be affected if Plan A were to be chosen and 3,800 students would be affected if the School Board chose plan B. Plan C will be determined once ARCBridge makes the plan public.
The School Board is paying Arc Bridge $41,610 over a 60-day period for the redistricting proposals.
The timelines will be reworked. There will be additional town hall meetings and times for community comments, once the new plans are released to the board and public.
