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School Board backs new middle school
After hours of discussion last Thursday evening, the Fairfax County School Board bypassed a staff recommendation to build an addition onto the overcrowded South County Secondary School, and instead directed the superintendent to use the $10 million the school system received from the Board of Supervisors to leverage construction of a South County middle school, to be completed by 2012.
“The community doesn't want a wing ... [and has] made it clear that they believe a middle school is the right solution” to the overcrowding, said School Board Chairman Dan Storck (Mount Vernon).
When it opened in September 2005, South County Secondary was built to hold 2,500 students but has a current enrollment of 2,960. The model the county envisions for the middle school would hold about 900 students and cost $53 million.
Because Fairfax County Public Schools has $2 billion in unfunded capital improvement projects, some members of the School Board are opposed to what appears to be the only option for construction of a middle school: soliciting a public-private partnership.
The board also approved a stipulation that the middle school construction will not be financed in any way with School Board operating funds to pay interest on anticipated bond funding and that the building of the middle school will not displace any other projects on the CIP.
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