Thirty residents of Laurel Hill gathered in their community center as the summer sun set Thursday, June 29, to discuss what they feel would be the best strategy to deal with overcrowding at South County Secondary School.
As the evening progressed, the question became not if or when a middle school would be built, but at what cost to the promise of an elementary school in their own neighborhood?
The school, which sits right across Silverbrook Road from the rows of single family homes on streets named for trees, will be more than 500 students over capacity in September, the beginning of the school's second year.
"We all know South County, which was built as a high school, should be a high school," said Peter Dickinson, a member of the Laurel Hill Civic Association.
When that deal was made, it was expected that a middle and elementary school would also be needed in Lorton, which is among the fastest growing regions of Fairfax County. However, Dean Tistadt, assistant superintended of facilities and transportation for the Fairfax County School System, said earlier this year that, given a surplus of seats at both Lake Braddock and Hayfield Secondary Schools, the South County Middle School may never be built.
Facing a boundary study in the fall to shrink South County's borders, Laurel Hill may be guaranteed a spot in the school regardless of what decisions are made, but that's no reason to remain silent, Dickinson said.
During Thursday's meeting, the Laurel Hill community discussed four possible outcomes of the boundary study, which included making South County a high school by sending middle school students to Hayfield or Lake Braddock; using money in the Capital Improvements Plan that has been set aside for the Laurel Hill Elementary School, slated to open by 2009 within the Laurel Hill community, to build the middle school instead.
In what may have been the most controversial suggestion of the night, Dickinson said he's hear "whispers" of discussions about selling the Laurel Hill elementary site to a developer and using that money to finance the construction of a middle school.
"When we moved in here, we all believed the elementary school would be built right over here," Dickinson said, pointing to a plot of land where signs indicating the future site of the school stand. "One way to get the money for a middle school is the give up the elementary school site and sell it."
Early estimates put the cost of a middle school at $50 million — twice the estimated $25 million that it would cost to build the elementary school. If the elementary site were sold, or if the $25 million set aside in the CIP were dedicated to the middle school instead, the question of the remaining $25 million needed for the school would still have to be answered, he said.
IF THE MIDDLE SCHOOL received funding from the elementary school, it would push the construction of the elementary school back as much as 10 years.
"I have a fear that plans are taking place among people, that they might be talking to developers," Dickinson said.
School board member Dan Storck (Mount Vernon) said that the property would not be sold unless it was surplussed by the School Board, at which time it would become property of Fairfax County.
Even then, if there was the possibility of the land being needed for a school at any time, the property would not be listed as surplus, Storck said.
"We're not going to let go of a property we might need in the future," Storck said.
Should the property be give up by the School Board and sold to a developer, the land would have to go through the regular zoning process and would need all the standard approvals by the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors.
Susan Musios, who brought one of her children to the meeting, asked if the community would have any voice in what a developer put on the site if it were sold.
"In order to get the maximum amount of use from the land, it would be developed with high-density housing," Dickinson said. "You don't get a park, generally."
WHEN STORCK said it was still unclear how big of an impact the addition of more than 20,000 people to Fort Belvoir might have on the Lorton area and its schools, Musios asked how it would be possible to know what the right decision might be in regards to selling the property?
"We need to make [the Army] accountable and recognize how it will impact the community," she said.
Dickinson said the School Board and the Office of Facilities Planning are dealing with more fixed numbers, like the population in Lorton and the projected enrollment at the school in the coming years.
So far, the only promise from the School Board is for a boundary study this fall, Storck said. Aided by a consultant hired by the School Board to review its enrollment projection methods, Storck said the other members of the board are hoping to regain the community's trust after underestimating the initial population at South County for its first year.
"All of these ideas are community proposals." he said. "There has been no discussions about replacing the elementary school. It is on the CIP and planned for funding. If we wanted to do something else, we'd have to have a discussion."
Storck added that he "can't imagine" the School Board would be willing to sell the Laurel Hill Elementary School site.
"I do believe you'll have to have both an elementary school and a middle school here," he said, considering that two of the three elementary schools in the area, Lorton Station and Silverbrook Elementary Schools, are overcrowded.
"This School Board member will never support losing the ability to build a middle school and an elementary school here," Storck said.
WITH THE BOUNDARY study in the fall, Laurel Hill Civic Association president Tom Husband said the best thing for the community to do "is to stay involved."
He was encouraged by the turnout for the meeting, taking into consideration the July 4 holiday weekend and other residents being out of town on vacation. "We need to get some more people involved so we understand the big picture. That way, we'll be able to ask Dan [Storck] to better represent our community."
One option that did seem to have some early community support was using the money for the elementary school to build a middle school for students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades, which would help address the overcrowding at Silverbrook and Lorton Station schools.
"Then again, that's just based on the 29 people we had here tonight," Husband said. "I don't know if that represents the other 600 homes out there."
If the School Board decides to move the middle school students out of South County, to attend Lake Braddock or Hayfield for two years before returning to South County, it would allow for the current boundary to remain, Dickinson said.
"They say that the middle schooler out option would leave this community alone, that no lines would be drawn," Dickinson said. "The thing is, if that is the vote, the line will be right in the middle of our community, with some going to Hayfield and others going to Lake Braddock. The dividing line is somewhere around this room."
Dickinson said Thursday's meeting was the first of many for Laurel Hill residents, with the possibility for a meeting each month through the end of the boundary study. He believes other communities, especially those that fear they may be drawn out of South County, are beginning to plan similar meetings of their own.