At Western Fairfax Schools, New Boundaries Bring New Faces

For the tightknit South Lakes High School community, the start of the academic year has brought a jolt of new students, in part because of a shake-up of western Fairfax County's school boundaries.

The student population on the Reston campus, once 1,440, is now about 1,650.

Grace Bauer, 16, a senior, said she can feel the difference in the hallways and the cafeteria. "You can see all these new faces," she said. "It definitely feels more crowded."

The much-debated boundary changes approved by the School Board will affect thousands of western Fairfax students for years. The changes were meant to increase enrollment at South Lakes High and decrease projected enrollment at nearby Westfield and Oakton high schools. South Lakes High serves a higher proportion of students from low-income families than do the other two schools.

At South Lakes High, the freshman class has 510 students. That's about the target class size for the school. The total enrollment exceeds projections for the first year of the new boundaries.

The school's population spike occurred even though more than 80 students who would have been freshmen at South Lakes High transferred out, most of them to pursue Advanced Placement classes or others not offered at the school. Those transfers were seen as a consequence of the opposition of some parents to the boundary changes.

But South Lakes Principal Bruce Butler said that about 25 freshmen transferred into the school to take advantage of its International Baccalaureate program, and about a dozen others came from private schools. Still others enrolled at the school after moving to the area.

Enrollment is also growing countywide. Dean Tistadt, chief operating officer for the school system, said the student population, already the largest in the region, is continuing an upward trajectory that began in the previous school year after some years of stability. Tistadt said he expects that enrollment will near 170,000 by the end of the month, an increase of more than 4,000 students from a year ago.

School officials are analyzing the cause of the growth; there are easily enough new students to fill a high school and a middle school. They said they suspect the depressed housing market is causing more families to stay put rather than sell their homes and move away.

The growth is being felt in unexpected places, including Oakton High, a large school near South Lakes High that was supposed to get some relief from crowding after the boundary change.

Oakton Principal John Banbury said the school's enrollment is higher than last year's. His first-day roster shows 2,343 students, up slightly from last year. The freshman class of 618 is larger than the sophomore class. "I'm wedging kids in," he said.

Banbury and Butler said they plan to request additional teachers to help keep class sizes down.

At Westfield High, also affected by the boundary changes, Principal Tim Thomas said enrollment dipped below 3,000 for the first time in several years. He attributed the shift in part to the boundary change, which slightly lowered the size of the freshman class, and in part to the graduation of the large Class of 2008, which had almost 800 students.

South Lakes has plenty of room and enthusiasm for the extra students and families. The Parent Teacher Student Association hosted a meeting for parents who are new to the school, and about 60 families came to offer ideas and buy South Lakes Seahawks T-shirts and sweat shirts, said former PTSA president Elizabeth Vandenburg.

Butler said he has enjoyed watching the new and returning students get to know each other during band practice and on the field hockey and volleyball teams. "They are playing hard and making great friends and off to a wonderful start," he said.