Media Releases
We will post relevant media releases as soon as possible.
July 17, 2009 Link for article dated 7/16/09 in the Fairfax Connection entitled, "School Board Targets 23 Schools for Over-Enrollment":
July 21, 2009 Article dated 7/21/09 in the Fairfax Times, "Southwestern Schools Face Challenges"
Home of the Clifton Cardinals
September 4, 2009 Article dated 9/4/09 in the Connection, "Big RED Machine Aims to Save School"http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=332292&paper=81&cat=104
Charlie Rau, formerly of the Clifton RED Leadership Team, sent the following letter to the Editor of "Fairfax Station-Clifton Connection" in regards to the article, "Big RED Machine Aims to Save School", published on September 4, 2009.
Letters to the Editor, Mike O'Connell
September 6, 2009
September 6, 2009"Fairfax Station - Clifton Connection"
1606 King Street, Alexandria, VA. 22314
moconnell@connectionnewpapers.com
703-778-9416
Dear Editor O'Connell,
Justin Fanizzi did a commendable job in summarizing the first public meeting of Clifton RED, the community organization recently created to help keep Clifton Elementary School open. ("The Big Red Machine, September 4 issue) However, there are two items that I would like to clarify for your readers. First, in an understandable attempt to condense my lengthy personal remarks, I was quoted as saying, "School Board members...don't have the time to investigate the weighty decisions (that) they have to make...(and often) rubber stamp what their staff says." This characterization of my broader remarks is not accurate. I did not imply that School Board members fail to take their positions seriously or fail to thoroughly contemplate their decisions. I stated that, because School Board members may serve part-time while holding full-time jobs, they cannot reasonably be expected to personally investigate each and every detail of the many weighty issues that they must decide. Thus, for some decisions, they can and do rely heavily on the advice of the school system Staff. This may seem like a subtle difference from the generalized quotation attributed to me, but it is an important one. Second, the article stated that "Clifton residents are seeking a full-scale renovation (of Clifton Elementary School)." Actually, Dwayne Nitz of Clifton RED indicated in his presentation at the August 27th event that the community may very well be willing to accept adjustments in the scope of renovations in order to ensure continued operation of Clifton Elementary School.Again, thank you for your article on Clifton RED's efforts, and for publishing this clarifying letter. Sincerely,
Charlie Rau,
Leadership Team of Clifton RED
The following article was sent to the Clifton Clatter on November 30th for release to the Clifton Community:
Clifton Community Fights to Save Its School
The effort to save Clifton Elementary School is continuing in earnest. Clifton Elementary School PTA President, Patti Hopkins, along with the PTA Board, selected area residents, Ina Patton and Charlie Rau, to represent the Clifton Community on the Southwestern Regional Planning Study Committee. This committee was developed by the Fairfax County School Board to increase community participation in the development of options to relieve forecasted overcrowding in several schools and to address concerns about the costs and feasibility to renovate our school.
The Committee selected Kelly Hutter of Greenbriar East and Andrew Flagel of Bonnie Brae Elementary Schools as co-chairs at its first meeting held on Thursday, October 29, at Liberty Middle School. The 40+ members of the Committee will be responsible for incorporating input and ideas about the Clifton Elementary renovation and projected overcrowding from members of their communities into a document to be presented to the School Board in the first quarter of 2010. This document will provide the School Board with a set of community-based solutions to the issues raised in the draft Feasibility Studies completed by FCPS staff in July.
The School Board is not obligated to incorporate any of the input in the Committee's document when it takes action on the issues raised in the draft Feasibility Studies. However, the guidelines for the community engagement process state that, “The committee can recommend changes to the draft Feasibility Studies prepared by staff based upon findings during this process. These studies should ultimately reflect the input of both staff and the committee.”
The Committee met for a second time on November 5, at Fairfax High School. Clifton ES representative, Charlie Rau, was given five minutes to address the Committee. Mr. Rau presented a brief overview of the issues from the perspective of a Clifton resident and parent. He highlighted the fact that closing Clifton Elementary would effectively quadruple the overcrowding problem detailed in the draft Feasibility Studies. He also indicated that renovation costs for Clifton Elementary could very well be substantially less than the draft feasibility studies indicate, and that, when schools in neighboring Loudoun and Prince William counties are taken into consideration, Clifton Elementary is far from the only public school in the area using well water.
The Committee established six subcommittees, which will study: data/cost effectiveness; schools/scope/boundaries; Clifton Elementary; expansion/renovation of existing schools; programs/centers; and Liberty/other potential new school sites. Charlie Rau will serve on the Clifton Elementary subcommittee and Ina Patton will serve on the Liberty/other site subcommittee. These subcommittees will work over the next few weeks before the full the Southwestern Regional Planning Study Committee meets again on Thursday, December 3, at 7pm in the Liberty Middle School cafeteria.
Meetings of the Community Engagement Committee for the Southwestern Regional Planning Process are open to the public, although no public comments are scheduled to be taken at this time. Community members who wish to submit comments and ideas about the issues are encouraged to contact their community's representatives directly.
Clifton RED will be hosting a community meeting on December 14, 2009 at 7pm in the Clifton Town Hall. Charlie Rau and Ina Patton will be there in person to listen to your concerns and hear your suggestions. They will also discuss, in concept, which renovation design plans the Clifton Community may be willing to agree to compromise on, in order to reduce the projected cost of the school renovation project and potentially save our school.
Community members can also submit their ideas and questions directly to Charlie and Ina via email at: repsforclifton@gmail.com.
Clifton RED is the Clifton area's campaign to address the two draft Feasibility Studies conducted by Fairfax County Public Schools staff in July 2009. The studies raise concerns about whether Clifton Elementary School can be renovated and how to relieve forecasted over-crowding in the southwestern portion of the county. In addition to highlighting potential obstacles to renovation, the studies discuss the option of closing Clifton Elementary and relocating its students to a new 900+ student school to be built on land adjacent to Liberty Middle School, at a proposed cost of $26.8 million. Clifton RED is working to provide cost-effective solutions for the renovation of Clifton Elementary and forecasted overcrowding which would enable students to continue to attend their community-based schools.
For Inquiries:
Lisa M. Ide,
Clifton RED Media Relations Committee Chair
Rob Jones,
Clifton RED Leadership Committee Chair
The following article was sent to several media outlets in the greater Metropolitan Area for immediate release on November 30
Fairfax County School Board's Community Engagement Process Is Off and Running
Clifton, Virginia - The Fairfax County School Board has received a lot of criticism over the past few years. Citizen groups have accused the Board of not being responsive to their constituents, arriving at public hearings with their votes already decided, and not significantly involving the community in the development of solutions to issues such as transportation, school boundaries, and location of special services. On Thursday, October 29, the School Board began an initiative that it hopes will improve community engagement and silence the critics.
That night, the Southwestern Regional Planning Study Committee held its initial meeting in the Liberty Middle School cafeteria. At issue are concerns over the previously planned renovation of Clifton Elementary School and projected overcrowding at several schools in the region.
Although the School Board's new Community Engagement Process is still in the design stages, the Board decided to test out its proposed process on these issues, which were described in draft Feasibility Studies published in July, 2009. One of the possible solutions suggested in the studies is closing Clifton Elementary and building a new, 900-student elementary school on property adjacent to Liberty Middle School. Such a solution, the study argued, would avoid the need to confront certain renovation challenges at Clifton Elementary and would provide additional facilities to relocate students from overcrowded area schools, including Colin Powell, Eagle View, Greenbriar East and Greenbriar West Elementary Schools.
The School Board sent a letter to the PTA Presidents of the 23 elementary schools identified in the draft Feasibility Studies on September 22, 2009. The identified schools are located in the communities of Burke, Centreville, Chantilly, Fairfax, Fairfax Station, and Clifton. This letter invited them to participate in a new Community Engagement Process and appoint two representatives from their community to represent their interests on the Southwestern Regional Planning Study Committee. All schools identified in the draft Feasibility Study appointed at least one community member to serve on the Committee. However, a few schools had no representatives present at the Committee's first meeting.
The business of the meeting proceeded smoothly. Committee members received an overview of the new Comprehensive Planning and Community Engagement Process from Springfield District School Board Member, Liz Bradsher, and FCPS Chief Operating Officer, Dean Tistadt. Committee members received a binder of reference material, including copies of the Capital Improvement Program for 2010-2014, the draft Feasibility Studies, and updated 2014-2015 projected enrollment maps for the study area. The projected enrollment figures for some individual schools in this updated map, dated 10/23/09, vary significantly from the original projection map included in the July 13 draft Feasibility Studies.
The Committee selected Kelly Hutter of Greenbriar East and Andrew Flagel of Bonnie Brae Elementary schools as co-chairs. The 40+ members of the Committee will be responsible for incorporating input and ideas about the Clifton Elementary renovation and projected overcrowding from members of their communities into a document to be presented to the School Board in the first quarter of 2010. This document will, in theory, provide the School Board with a set of community-based solutions to the issues raised in the studies.
The School Board is not obligated to respond to any of the input in the Committee's document when it takes action on the issues raised in the draft Feasibility Studies. However, the guidelines for the community engagement process state that, “The committee can recommend changes to the draft Feasibility Studies prepared by staff based upon findings during this process. These studies should ultimately reflect the input of both staff and the committee.”
The Committee met for a second time, just a week later on November 5, 2009, at Fairfax High School. Committee members received additional background information from Fairfax County Public Schools staff, and continued to organize the structure of their activities. Clifton ES representative, Charlie Rau, was given five minutes to address the Committee. Mr. Rau presented a brief overview of the issues from the perspective of a Clifton resident and parent. He highlighted the fact that closing Clifton Elementary would effectively quadruple the overcrowding problem detailed in the draft Feasibility Studies. He also indicated that renovation costs for Clifton Elementary could very well be substantially less than the draft feasibility studies indicate, and that, when schools in neighboring Loudoun and Prince William counties are taken into consideration, Clifton Elementary is far from the only public school in the area using well water.
The Committee established six subcommittees, which will study: data/cost effectiveness; schools/scope/boundaries; Clifton Elementary; expansion/renovation of existing schools; programs/centers; and Liberty/other potential new school sites. Charlie Rau will serve on the Clifton Elementary subcommittee and Ina Patton will serve on the Liberty/other site subcommittee. These subcommittees will work over the next few weeks before the full the Southwestern Regional Planning Study Committee meets again on Thursday, December 3, at 7pm in the Liberty Middle School cafeteria.
Meetings of the Community Engagement Committee for the Southwestern Regional Planning Process are open to the public, although no public comments are scheduled to be taken at this time. Community members who wish to submit comments and ideas about the issues are encouraged to contact their community's representatives directly. A list of Committee representatives can be found on the Fairfax County Public Schools website.
Clifton RED is the Clifton area's campaign to address the two draft Feasibility Studies conducted by Fairfax County Public Schools staff in July 2009. The studies raise concerns about whether Clifton Elementary School can be renovated and how to relieve forecasted over-crowding in the southwestern portion of the county. In addition to highlighting potential obstacles to renovation, the studies discuss the option of closing Clifton Elementary and relocating its students to a new 900+ student school to be built on land adjacent to Liberty Middle School, at a proposed cost of $26.8 million. Clifton RED is working to provide cost-effective solutions for the renovation of Clifton Elementary and forecasted overcrowding which would enable students to continue to attend their community-based schools.
For Inquiries:
Lisa M. Ide,
Clifton RED Media Relations Committee Chair
Rob Jones,
Clifton RED Leadership Committee Chair
December 10, 2009 Article dated 12/10/09 in the Centre View Newspaper, "Parents Examine Boundaries http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=335854&paper=62&cat=104
December 18, 2009 Article dated 12/18/09 in the Fairfax Station/Clifton Connection, "Clifton Community Says Renovation Do-able"
