Stafford seeks public input on school redistricting (2024)

On the heels of a transportation debacle that left up to 3,500 students without bus rides the first days of school, Stafford County officials face another task that may produce as much anxiety and distress: changing school boundaries.

Stafford must redistrict school zones because it plans to open three new schools by August 2026.

On Tuesday, the School Board looked at three possible scenarios to incorporate the changes when High School #6 opens in less than two years. It’s being built off Truslow Road in the Hartwood District along with Elementary School #18.

Stafford’s 19th elementary school will open at the same time, on the campus of Brooke Point High School off Courthouse Road.

None of the redistricting options was discussed at length or approved, and community members will get their chance to weigh in on them during upcoming community meetings:

The School Board also plans a public hearing on the proposals at its Nov. 12 meeting and is scheduled to adopt the new high school boundaries Dec. 10. Both meetings begin at 7 p.m. and will be held at the Bandy Administrative Complex, 31 Stafford Ave., Stafford.

Lionel White, the school system’s director of facilities, planning and GIS, also encouraged parents to use the Find Your School tool to see the proposals for themselves. (Search online for Stafford County Find Your School.)

With the tool, they can plug in their street address, add layers of subdivisions and see the impact each proposal has on their home or neighborhood. The site also shows current boundaries and each redistricting option.

School Board Chair Maureen Siegmund implored residents to look over the plans and offer their input.

“Please, go to the meetings, email us, call us, stop (me) at a grocery store or a soccer game,” she said. “We really, really would like to know what you think on all of this.”

As White explained, redistricting isn’t as simple as cutting up the county into six attendance zones. Officials look at school feeder patterns and neighborhoods, length of bus rides and associated costs, socioeconomic characteristics and other factors.

They attempt to draw contiguous boundaries and not leave an “island,” a zone for one school in the middle of another, but that’s always possible.

A pocket of students in the Berea and Chapel View area are assigned to Colonial Forge High School while those around them go to Mountain View High School or Stafford High School.

“Clearly, the efficiency of our bus routes has got to be more efficient,” said School Board member Elizabeth Warner.

Officials also consider planned development around schools while they try to keep projected enrollment at similar levels. What makes high school redistricting even trickier is the assumption that rising seniors will stay in their home school for the 2026-27 school year and graduate with their peers.

Stafford plans to open High School #7 in 2033, probably in the north or northeast section of the county, White said. That’s why all the proposals call for North Stafford and Brooke Point — schools in that vicinity — to have higher enrollments as 2033 nears.

That will result in fewer students having to move from other ends of the county when the next high school redistricting is done, he said.

Officials look at blocks, called planning units, that typically follow geographic boundaries or neighborhoods when drawing attendance zones. There are 416 planning units for Stafford high schools.

With each redistricting scenario, 80% of the county’s planning units stay in their same attendance zone, White said. That made board members happy especially since high school students tend to be “invested,” as School Board member Susan Randall said, in sports teams and coaches, teachers and counselors.

“In high school, it’s super hard” to change schools for those reasons, Randall said. “I’m really excited about the amount of planning units not being reassigned because I was thinking this was going to be a lot more for some of our families.”

Information about the new school zones is available on the Find Your School site and will be posted on the Stafford County Public Schools website at staffordschools.net.

The proposals presented Tuesday also can be found online. Search for Stafford County Board meetings, click on board meetings, then agendas and minutes, then the Aug. 27 meeting. Under “view the agenda” is topic 3.02 High School Redistricting and its various attachments.

New boundaries for elementary schools will be discussed at a later time.