Fairfax judge affirms school boundary shift

The suit, filed by the Fairfax Coalition of Advocates for Public Schools on behalf of the parents, sought to overturn a February school board vote that funneled some children in the western end of the county into South Lakes High School.

Officials argued the move was necessary to correct underpopulation at South Lakes. Opponents, who showed in droves at public meetings on the redistricting, attacked the shift as “social engineering,” an attempt to dilute the school’s problems with students from neighboring districts.

While far from poor-performing, South Lakes does post comparatively lower scores than surrounding high schools like Westfield and Oakton and has a larger population of poor and limited-English-speaking students.

Under the change, South Lakes’ enrollment would grow from 1,389 students to 1,615 students this year, according to staff estimates. Its free and reduced-price lunch population would decrease from 32.2 percent to 24.5 percent, and its limited-English population would drop from 15.1 percent to 11 percent.

The lawsuit, filed shortly after the Feb. 28 vote, argued that the school board had failed to collect enough citizen input and overstepped its authority when it considered socio-economic factors in the decision. It also argued the decision will not improve the affected schools.

“So basically, after three town meetings, probably at least five or six board meetings on this issue, hundreds and hundreds of hours of individuals, hundreds of board hours, the judge ruled in our favor that we made the appropriate decision,” said Dan Storck, chairman of the Fairfax County School Board. “There was no equivocation at all.”

No one who could speak for the Fairfax Coalition of Advocates for Public Schools could be reached Monday.

wflook@dcexaminer.com