Fairfax Teens Try to Dispel Rumors, Fill Classrooms

At South Lakes High, a renovation now under way will transform a 1970s-era building that has few windows. The remodel will provide state of the art laboratories and computer labs and -- school officials hope -- serve more students. But proponents of boosting enrollment at South Lakes High face political obstacles that come with having a campus that is more diverse, economically and ethnically, than others in the surrounding area.

South Lakes Principal Bruce Butler said his student body consists of "kids who come from million-dollar homes on lakes and kids who wear the same pair of pants to school every day." The school has the largest concentration of students from poverty in the area, with one-third eligible for free and reduced-cost meals. The poverty rates for other schools in the boundary study range from 5 percent at Madison High to 19 percent at Herndon High.

At South Lakes and Herndon high schools, about 15 percent of students are taking English as a Second Language classes. Enrollment at South Lakes has gradually declined over the years as Reston's population has aged. Designed as a self-contained community in the 1960s, Reston has open space, bike paths and a mix of upper- and lower-income housing.

Many parents said they deliberately avoided the school when shopping for homes. They cited school security concerns and lower SAT scores. South Lakes reported 59 "serious incidents" of crime from fall 2003 through spring 2006, according to school system data. Of the other five schools in the boundary study, Herndon High reported the second-highest number of serious incidents, with 36.

"Overall, the educational environment is not as good as the nearby schools, so why would we want to go?" asked Dan Carney, a father in the Oakton High area. He believes he could be drawn into the South Lakes zone because that school is closer to his home.

Carney said he isn't interested in helping the county achieve socioeconomic balance.

"I don't want my children to take part in a sociological experiment," he said, "particularly when I have a known quantity, which is Oakton."

Before the next meetings on Dec. 3 and 19, Butler and the South Lakes High students said they would like people to see the school, with its new scuff-free hallways and a sunlit media center. They want to show off their mentoring program for younger students and explain the school's rigorous International Baccalaureate program.

"The perception of those that have never set foot in the building and the reality of those who live and work here is so drastically different," Butler said.

Courtnee Elliott, a senior, said she attended Monday's meeting at Chantilly High because she wanted to stick up for her school and because, as someone interested in political science, she wanted a glimpse of the democratic process.

"It didn't go as well as I thought it would," she said. "It was kind of one-sided."

She and her friends said they found themselves explaining that their school is academically challenging and socially close-knit. They tried not to take it personally when parents suggested that it should be shut down and turned into a magnet school or that their children would be "traumatized" if they had to attend there.

Throughout the night, they invited parents to come see the school for themselves. The offer, they said, still stands.