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Boundary debate spurs new group
Following the final high school boundary scenario presentation to the Fairfax County School Board, a group of citizens have formed a coalition that has as its first act condemned the west county boundary study.
The Fairfax Coalition of Advocates for Public Schools (FairfaxCAPS) has declared as its short-term goal the examination, development and promotion of an alternative to the boundary study, which was commissioned in July 2007 and finished in January 2008.
Founding member Jay Frost said the group was created earlier this month to bring together the myriad groups that organized during the boundary study process, including stoprd.org, keepoakton.org, Friends of Madison and several homeowner associations.
“I suspect that we're actually representing more people than we realize because some HOAs and all PTAs are barred by bylaws from taking an active role in these discussions,” Frost said.
Its initial goal is to examine and promote an alternative to the west county boundary study, but that won't be its only purpose. Long term, the group aims to act as a sort of watchdog and “monitor, review and debate FCPS long-term facility, program and financial plans,” according to the mission statement on fairfaxcaps.org.
Frost denied that FairfaxCAPS is considering any sort of legal action against the county. Rumors of various organizations filing lawsuit against the county have come and gone in the wake of the study.
“Even if we wanted to we wouldn't need to,” he said. “We hope all those things would go away when we're finally able to talk to the board.”
Frost said FairfaxCAPS hopes to have a more engaged, if less vitriolic, discussion with school board members and FCPS staff. Frost called the tone of discussions until this point “acidic.”
“I'm hoping we're going to take that tone and turn it around; if it doesn't, something terrible is going to happen,” he said.
The group has organized itself in advance of three public hearings on the boundary study, to be held Jan. 30 and 31 and Feb. 9.
“They've awoken a sleeping giant,” he said.
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