STAFFORD — The Stafford County School Board will move forward with its effort to change the attendance boundaries of every elementary school in the county.
The school division will now look at two of three new redistricting proposals, plans C and E. Each School Board member has the ability to make changes to the plans that were selected.
The School Board asked for plans C, D, and E at a Feb. 2 work session after becoming dissatisfied with the original plans the Herndon-based consulting company, ARCBridge Consulting created.
ARCBridge created plan C, using a radius-based approach, where consultants drew a radius of one-and-a-half miles from each elementary school and in an attempt to keep as many children of the same neighborhoods attending the same schools.
“There are 831 total neighborhoods in Stafford County and it would be impossible to keep them all together,” ARCBridge’s Priti Mather said. “But plan C would affect the fewest number of children and split the least number of neighborhoods.”
Plan C affects 3,127 students and splits 11 neighborhoods while a plan E affects 3,358 students and splits 11 neighborhoods.
The School Board held a redistricting on Feb. 28 to discuss how board members wanted to move forward with the redistricting situation.
“All of the plans have good and bad parts to them,” said Sarah Chase, Falmouth School Board member.
Some School Board members made their own adjustments to the remaining plans after the School Board eliminated both plans A and B.
“I would like to move forward with one of the plans as-is and one with my own requests,” said Jamie Decatur, Griffins-Widewater School Board member.
Each School Board member may make their own adjustments to the remaining plans. Board members can only make adjustments within their respective districts.
Some members were concerned with the number of predicted students from some subdivisions were incorrect.
“Augustine North is an established neighborhood,” Chairwoman Patricia Healy said. “There won’t be 60 kids coming out of established neighborhoods [like Augustine North].”
Subdivisions Poplar Hills and Brooksmill were brought to attention during the work session. Both neighborhoods are fully built out that have a projected 60 students each coming from each neighborhood. Some board members think that the number is a stretch because those are established neighborhoods.
A new apartment complex, Abberly Waterstone Apartments has 282 new three-bedroom apartments.
“I don’t see how 60 kids are coming from established neighborhoods likes Brooks Mill and Poplar Hills and there are only 20 projected to come out of 282 apartments,” Aquia School Board Member Irene Egan said.
The School Board plans to go to the public hearings with two plans. The board doesn’t plan on making significant changes to either plan after the public hearings. The board will hold two public hearings, one for each side of the county.
The first public hearing will take place at North Stafford High School on March 14. The second hearing will take place at Stafford High School on March 15. Both hearings will start at 6 p.m.
The School Board also plans to hold another work session on March 7 at 6 p.m. at the Professional Development Center in room 16.
Hartwood School Board member Holly Hazard, George Washington School Board member Dwyane McOsker and Chase public support plans C and E. Yueng, Healy and Egan all publicly support Plan E. Decatur did not make it known which plan she supports.
Plans D was a revision of the original plan A. Plan D affects 3,259 students and splits 12 of the county’s neighborhoods.
The School Board eliminated plan D because six out of the seven board members had concerns about the number of neighborhoods it split. Garrisonville School Board member Pamela Yueng was the only board member to support plan D. Yueng has pushed for keeping Hampton Oaks and Embery Mill to stay together throughout the whole redistricting process.
“I support plan D because students at Hampton Oaks and Embery Mill stay together,” Yueng said.
The School Board also eliminated both of the original plans, A and B, ARCBridge presented to the board back in January. The original plans were thrown out because of public disapproval during the January town hall meetings.
After the public hearings, one final work session will be held on March 21 with the final decision and vote expected March 26.
The elementary school redistricting process which began with the School Board’s request to purchase the old Fredericksburg Christian School to house the county’s Northstar campus in June.
