The south county high school took another step toward becoming reality when the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors announced on Monday, Oct. 7 that they would begin contract negotiations with Clarke Contracting and KSI to build the high school under a public/private partnership.
Silverbrooke parent Liz Bradshear has been on top of the new school situation from the beginning. She has children that will be riding a bus to Hayfield Secondary, over 10 miles from her home.
"They found a contractor, they are now entering a negotiating period. It is going to save the county in the long run," she said.
Tom Brady, Fairfax County Public Schools chief operating officer, looks at the developments as a move in the right direction.
"We're in the middle of negotiations, it's a tremendous step forward," he said.
ORIGINALLY, under the current county system for building schools, it was estimated that the new school would be built in 2008. Now a new high school could be open in 2005 according to Bradshear.
"You shouldn't have to wait 10 years to build a school that we need now. There's no negotiation on that date," she said.
Bradshear has been through the political wringer to get this far, including discussions with U.S. Rep. Tom Davis (R-11), Del. Dave Albo (R-42), Supervisor Elaine McConnell (R-Springfield), Supervisor Dana Kauffman (D-Lee) and Supervisor Gerry Hyland (D-Mount Vernon) to name a few. She was an integral part of the Hayfield Pyramid Solutions group, whose main point was to push for the school. With the school construction in sight, the group's future is now in limbo.
"It's sort of dormant now," Bradshear said of the group.
Supervisor McConnell was involved with the new school situation for years. She is going try to expedite the process.
"I made a motion to our staff to look at this immediately. We need to move on this," she said. McConnell is not going to give up.
"I'm certainly going to request it again. Our people are anxious about this high school," she said.
Norm Beyer is chief of staff in McConnell's office. With the current budget restraints and transportation needs, they were glad to see the school plans going through.
"The intent is it would be done much sooner and at a lower cost. The more efficiencies we can have in terms of building schools, the better off we are," he said.
ALTHOUGH THE SCHOOL is going to be on former Lorton prison property, it will be in Hyland's district and draw some children from the Springfield District. Bradshear's children would be included with this group.
"There would be children pulled from the Springfield District going to that school. It's more of a neighborhood school than to be bused," Beyer said.
Bradshear would like to see bulldozers on the land by next spring, but she knows that is wishful thinking. Her personal experience with the situation was a lesson in local politics.
"It's a true learning experience, it has enlightened me to the political process. An individual does have some clout, sometimes we have to scream very, very loud," she said.