PETITION AGAINST PWCS BOUNDARY PROPOSALS 1 & 3 Affecting Lake Manassas and Buckland Mills Elementary School

PETITION AGAINST PWCS BOUNDARY PROPOSALS 1 & 3

TO: Boundary Planning Committee for Linton Hall Road
and T. Clay Wood Elementary Schools

The families of Buckland Mills Elementary School (BMES) students that reside in the Lake Manassas subdivision, petition against any boundary revision that would require students of Lake Manassas to attend the new Linton Hall Road Elementary School (LHRES) effective Fall 2011.
For several reasons, the Boundary Proposals are contrary to the best interests of the Lake Manassas students and the BMES community as a whole:

Increased Bus Time: If required to attend LHRES, Lake Manassas students will be on the bus in excess of hour each way. Currently, the afternoon bus ride from Gainesville Middle School, which is located near the new LHRES, to Lake Manassas is 25 minutes with a 2:50 p.m. dismissal. Add to that the increased traffic at 4:00 p.m. and the increased congestion from the planned construction at the Rt. 29/Linton Hall Road interchange and the bus ride will easily increase to 45 minutes. This will have a substantial impact on student behavior (most conduct infractions occur on the bus, not in school), and it will substantially affect after school activities, as students will not return to the neighborhood until roughly 4:45 p.m.

Safety Concerns: The Boundary Proposals present an unnecessary and substantial risk to the students due to the significantly greater distance to LHRES and the significant traffic and detours that will be necessitated through 2014 in connection with the improvements at the Rt. 29/Linton Hall Road interchange.

Social Concerns: Since 2001, the students of Lake Manassas have changed elementary schools four times. This has substantially affected the students and their families ability to bond with educators, school administrators and friends. At present, the families of Lake Manassas students are a dominant presence at BMES, with parents making substantial contributions in the classrooms, PTO, Advisory Council, and after-school activities. Removing the Lake Manassas students and their families from BMES will be detrimental to both the Lake Manassas students and the BMES community as a whole.

Future Additional Disruption: The county has just approved another new elementary school in Haymarket. If required to move to LHRES in 2011, what guarantee is there that Lake Manassas students will not again be moved after the Haymarket school opens in 2014? Doing so would be the sixth move for our neighborhood. Even worse, the new school in Haymarket may result in Lake Manassas students being returned to BMES, causing even further disruption and making all of this unnecessary in the end.
Please help preserve the Buckland Mills community and the Wildcat Way that we have all worked so hard to create.

Please sign this Petition and pass it along to all who might share your concerns.
Thank you.