Alert!

The Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) board recently voted to initiate a boundary study to relieve the future overcrowding of Fairfax High School (and Lanier Middle School), at the request of The City of Fairfax School Board.

First, a little background –

Fairfax High School serves students from FCPS as well as students from the City of Fairfax

Something that most people don’t know is that The City of Fairfax, as an incorporated city, has its own School Board.

However, the schools that belong to the City (Such as Fairfax HS and Lanier MS), are administered by Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS).

In exchange for this, Fairfax County gets to send some of its residents to these schools.

The partnership benefits both parties

The City of Fairfax benefits from having County students helping support athletics and academic programs; and Fairfax County benefits from having more space for its students.

But Fairfax High School is overcrowded

However, when The City of Fairfax realized that Fairfax HS and Lanier MS would be overcrowded in the next 3-5 years, they sent a request to FCPS, asking to take action to relieve the situation.

FCPS responded with a boundary study

The FCPS board then decided to initiate a boundary study to better distribute the student population.

The FCPS board, in their January 25th meeting, decided to include several adjoining high school boundaries the study:

• Chantilly HS
• Falls Church HS
• Oakton HS
• Robinson HS
• Woodson HS

FCPS boundary study of Fairfax HS & surrounding schools

The boundary study is now in the beginning stages

There are several community input meetings scheduled for the middle of February.  The current plan is for the FCPS board to make a decision prior to the fall of 2013, so that residents have time to act appropriately.

What does this mean to prospective homebuyers?

This means that if you were planning on buying a home in any of these 6 high school boundaries, that there is a possibility that the school assignment may change in 2014 for certain neighborhoods.

Specifically, there is a possibility that neighborhoods adjacent to other boundaries might be assigned to a new boundary.

What can you do?

For now, the only thing to do is to learn as much as possible about the study so that when the changes come, you are prepared.

Follow the links below to learn more about the study:

Here is the official FCPS page for the Fairfax HS & Lanier MS boundary study.

This is a PDF courtesy of the FCPS board outlining the FCPS boundaries included in the study.

Let us help

As always, if you have any question regarding moving to Fairfax County, please contact us.  We’ll be happy to help.

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