Parents find loophole to redistricting mandate

In February, the Fairfax County School Board voted 10-2 to approve boundary adjustments for South Lakes, Oakton, Chantilly, Madison, and Westfield high schools, Thoreau and Hughes middle schools, and Wolftrap and Sunrise Valley elementary schools.

The immediate plan, which was upheld by a Fairfax County judge late last month, redistricts incoming freshmen from attending overcrowded Westfield, Oakton and Madison high schools, to instead attend Reston's under-enrolled South Lakes High School. Also, some students who would have gone to Chantilly High School will attend Oakton.

But according to Fairfax County school records, about a third of the 225 students affected by the redistricting have instead transferred to schools other than South Lakes, stating academic reasons.

The primarily stated impetus is that South Lakes High School does not participate in the Advanced Placement (AP) program. Instead, it offers the International Baccalaureate (IB), a relatively new advanced studies program that began in Europe and took hold in the United States in the 1980s.

Of Fairfax County's 24 high schools, eight, including South Lakes, offer the International Baccalaureate. The remainder offer the more familiar Advanced Placement program, which has been run by the College Board since 1955.

Opponents of the IB program have claimed that colleges simply don't offer the same credits for IB classes as they do for AP courses.

"One can accrue more credits in AP, but the universities really respect the qualities that IB students bring to their universities," said South Lakes High School Principal Bruce Butler, adding that 20 students have transferred into South Lakes specifically for its IB program.

FCPS Superintendent Dr. Jack Dale, in a letter to FairfaxCAPS, the advocacy group that funded the redistricting suit against the school board, said it is a longstanding policy to let students attend the closest AP or IB high school.

"This ensures we don't force anyone into either program, but allow students/families the choice of what best fits their needs," he wrote.