Stafford County Public Schools will host another redistricting meeting for the public Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Stafford High School.
Staff has proposed six scenarios on how to best fill the 2,150 seats at the new school, set to open in August 2026, while taking into account overcrowding. High School No. 6 is under construction off Route 17 on Truslow Road in North Stafford and is projected to be over 290,000 square feet.
After an initial community meeting held last month at Colonial Forge High School, a few common threads emerged, according to SCPS director of facilities planning Lionel White.
Citing emails, phone calls and an online feedback form from parents, White told the school board last week that the main concerns are how to keep students at their closest schools, road safety and traffic and feeder pattern alignment.
“We communicated that’s really tough given our overcrowding situation and the number of schools we have,” White said.
Parents are also concerned about having fewer buses on the roads and shortening student bus rides. The school division has stated that only seniors will be grandfathered into their current schools. There will not be a graduating class from High School No. 6 in 2027.
Parents also requested a limit on future boundary changes.
“They don’t think this is fun, and we don’t want to do this every two years,” White said. “But parents did look at the data and they see where we are.”
In response to the feedback, White added three options for the community to review beginning Tuesday night.
Ensuring high school districts are evenly distributed doesn’t just come down to numbers and geography. White said the division is also balancing the number of students that receive free and reduced lunch across the county.
The current county average for reduced lunch is 47%.
According to all the scenarios, all six county high schools will be at or near capacity by 2032, no matter how redistricting is done.
“It’s no surprise that we are envisioning the need for a new high school by 2033,” White said. “It’s going to happen in every scenario because of the growth. You can’t escape that and there’s no scenario that will fix that.”
Acting Superintendent Chris R. Fulmer cautioned the board and the public not to invest too heavily in the projected 2032 numbers.
“That’s the full construction of all those neighborhoods out there coming in that 10 years and it is assuming every student shows up,” Fulmer said. “Even this year we know we are going to fall a little short of our projections.”
A public hearing on redistricting will be held Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. in the school board chamber. Parents are invited to view the presentation and scenario maps online, where they can also provide feedback and learn more about the planned boundary adjustments.
