Chairman Tim Hannigan Calls for Pragmatism, Not Ideology

Fairfax GOP Chairman Tim Hannigan strongly condemned a draft policy that, if enacted, would redraw the county schools’ attendance zones based on students’ race, ethnicity or family income. “Board members should refocus on delivering a first-rate education to all students in every school, instead of just reshuffling them around the county,” Mr. Hannigan said today.  

“Redrawing school boundaries can have a tremendous impact on student transit times, property values, and community relations,” Mr. Hannigan noted. “Attendance zone tweaks are necessary from time to time, but changes should be informed by school capacity and bus routing – not on the race, ethnicity, or family income of individual students.”

Mr. Hannigan’s remarks come on the heels of Monday’s school board work session, where Draft Policy 8130.8 was discussed. The proposal calls for attendance zones to be informed by the “socioeconomic and/or racial composition of students in affected schools.”

More than 100 citizens attended Monday’s session, demanding that board members focus on core educational issues, not “social engineering.” The board will meet again on Thursday, July 25 at 7:00 PM, inside the auditorium of Jackson Middle School (3020 Gallows Road, Falls Church, VA).

To date, Democrats on the school board have refused to discuss which school boundaries are targeted for change. “The Democrats’ call to hire an outside firm to ‘study the issue’ is just another stalling tactic, designed to confirm their preconceived notions while avoiding responsibility for their decisions,” Mr. Hannigan said. “Democrats on the board need to level with Fairfax County parents and taxpayers. And they need to fully engage the public in the process.”