Clifton will close June 21, and the decision has stirred such rancor that parents have asked the Virginia Supreme Court to step in. It has also become a rallying cry in coming School Board elections among those who think board members decided to close the school well before consulting with the public.
But even those who think the decision was for the best also acknowledge that closing Clifton has eroded the social bedrock of one of the few rural areas left in Northern Virginia’s most populous suburb. While much of Fairfax has filled up with townhouses and malls, and Tysons Corner is becoming more urbanized, Clifton has kept a touch of country because of conservation laws that protected its open space but now threaten its ability to support a school.
The town’s Main Street seems timeless, with a general store, a popular ice cream stand, antiques shops and plenty of charm. But, without a modern community center or public pool, Clifton’s social life has centered around the elementary school.
“Everybody here is devastated, because the school was the hub. It was the one thing that brought everybody together,” said Tom Peterson, 57, who owns Peterson’s Ice Cream Depot and served as the town’s mayor from 2006 until last year. “Taking Clifton Elementary away destroys the cohesiveness of this community. I don’t think the people in this area will know each other anymore.”
Clifton, which built its first schoolhouse in 1871, has had a school on the hilltop overlooking the town since 1912. But it might as well be on Main Street, because the school, whose current building opened in 1953, has been the only public institution to draw people together from across a sprawling geographic area that takes in about a tenth of the county. Clifton’s fate can be traced to a government decision almost three decades ago.
To protect the Occoquan River watershed, the Board of Supervisors voted in July 1982 to require that new houses be built on at least five acres of land, preserving the countryside. The school became the center of activity for the far-flung community, and the devotion showed.
Few schools in the Washington region have as high a percentage of Girl Scouts, said Lisa M. Ide, a Scout leader and parent at the school. With parents’ help, students mounted “Operation Sandwich,” assembling hundreds of sandwiches a week for a homeless shelter. For another project, “Kitchens in a Box,” the school gathered toasters, dish towels and other items for another homeless program. Even in summer, parents and children visited the school to tend to the courtyard’s learning gardens.
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