Va. schools near enrollment record, discuss challenges

WASHINGTON – Surging towards an enrollment record, Northern Virginia school
systems are sharing the challenges they face.

School representatives across Northern Virginia are not surprised at the numbers
from a new University of Virginia study that found the area will soon hold 40
percent of the state’s public school students.

“To us, we live with these numbers everyday,” says Wayde Byard with Loudoun
County schools.

“This year we opened an elementary, middle and high school and the elementary
and middle school opened at very near capacity,” he says.

The school has added 58,000 students in the last 25 years.

Demands for full day kindergarten, specialized programs and meeting increasing
population diversity needs puts a strain on resources not just in Loudoun
County, but in Fairfax, too.

In the next few years, Fairfax County enrollment is expected to hit 200,000.

“We are now the 10th largest public school system in the United States,” says
Jerry Gordon, president and CEO of the county’s economic development authority.

“So the numbers aren’t only growing, but growing pretty fast,” he says.

Growth is so rampant in some parts of the region that the traditional school
environments are beginning to adapt. At the start of this school year, Fairfax
County was rushing to put the final touches on its first high-rise elementary school.

It was the only space available and had to be modified since the class sizes at
Bailey’s Elementary were too high. The school, located in Falls Church, was
supporting 1,300 students in one building who were encroaching on every space in
the school, including a repurposed library and 19 trailers.

Loudoun County has built more than 50 schools in the last couple decades and
while Byard says construction is tapering off, getting the land where it was
needed was a challenge.

“We have to acquire land in competition with commercial and developers who are
trying to develop more homes, because obviously very popular sites are hard to
come by,” he says.

Both counties thank their executives who make education a priority.

Growth isn’t only being felt in lower education, but also at Northern Virginia
Community College
where the guaranteed acceptance program could be luring
even
more people to the area seeking an opportunity for higher education.

“While it holds around the state, these guaranteed admission agreements,
at
NOVA, students looking for careers in cyber security and IT are taking advantage
of the NOVA to George Mason path,” says Dana Kauffman, director of the school’s
government affairs and a former Fairfax County supervisor.

The community college is challenged by growth in its Prince William and
Loudoun County locations, something Kauffman regards as positive.

“But if we’re expected to meet the capacities without the additional funding
sources, it’s going to be a huge challenge if not a bridge too far,” Kauffman
says.

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