If you drive by the middle school construction site on Laurel Crest Drive, you’ll see construction of the middle school is moving forward with brick and mortar.  The school will have the same footprint as Glasgow Middle School and will have an open courtyard at the center.  Construction of the school is expected to be complete by the end of this year, however after hearing from faculty, staff, and the community, the School Board has agreed with all parties for a September 2012 opening.   There was considerable discussion, at a community meeting in November, of the pros and cons of opening a school mid-year versus in September.  Faculty and staff cited many reasons the school should not open mid-year, including considerable loss of instruction time, a consequential interruption of routine, loss of continuity in the school year, and complications in boundaries for those students coming from another middle school.  While there were some parents that voiced support for a midyear opening, the majority of attendees supported a September opening date.
 
So what happens now?  According to FCPS, here is a timeline:

Spring 2011         Boundary planning process
Fall 2011              Program discussions & decisions & Principal selection

Spring 2012         School naming
Sept 2012            School opening

There have been some initial discussions regarding a boundary study.  School Board representatives Dan Storck and Liz Bradsher have indicated that everyone in the current boundary will remain in the current boundary.  There has been discussion to allow for an easy transition to the new school which would prevent a full blown boundary study.  A simple administrative boundary adjustment could occur to add the Lorton Valley community to the boundary.  An administrative boundary adjustment can occur at the discretion of a School Board member if 5% or less of the school population is affected; for South County this would allow for an additional 150 students to be moved to the new school without a traditional boundary study.  FCPS has cited that this would give the school an opportunity to see the impacts of BRAC and “flight” to the new school before making any significant boundary changes.  It would also allow the newly formed Citizen Advisory Boundary Task Force an opportunity to truly look at the long term implications on enrollment in the Southern part of Fairfax County.

The new middle school capacity is 1,350 supporting 10 middle school teams.

If you’d like additional information, updates are posted on
www.fcps.edu/cluster5/southcountymiddleschool