During the ongoing overcrowding debate, there have been a variety of questions posed about the future of AHS. Will students have to move after they’ve started at AHS? What will be the effect on the students socially? How will clubs and sports be affected by the possible boundary changes? The PTSA has released a new study called the Analysis of Participation at AHS, which gives an answer to the latter question.

The study is a breakdown of the club and sport participation from the past two years in the five neighborhoods that could be subjected to redistricting: Wakefield Chapel, North Springfield, Bren Mar Park West, Parklawn and Bren Mar Park East. The study states that the loss of such large numbers of students poses a threat to some activites and that student participation decreases the further students live from the school.

“It’s meant to illustrate the current and past dynamics and serve as a resource,” PTSA President Emily Slough said.

The statistics report that if Wakefield Chapel, part of North Springfield and the east side of Bren Mar Park were redistricted, 47% of girls lacrosse and 42% of field hockey would be lost. Girls basketball would lose 33%, while boys and girls swim and dive would lose 31%. Boys lacrosse would lose 34%, boys baseball would lose 29% and boys basketball would lose 24%. For the arts programs, band and color guard would lose 28% and chorus would lose 20%. As for academic programs, the International Baccalaureate (IB) program would lose 21% and The A-Blast would lose 43%.

“I want to take [the study] into account,” School Board member Sandy Evans said. Evans represents the Mason District of FCPS. “We don’t want to change the culture of any school negatively.”

Some of the facts from the specific neighborhoods included that 50% of the golf team comes from Wakefield Chapel alone and 41% of girls volleyball comes from North Springfield.

By 2015, AHS is projected to have 2,750 students, though FCPS would like to see a school around the size of 2,000. The capacity of AHS is 2,178 students, which means the school is already overpopulated. There are two major options to current the situation: boundary changes and non-boundary changes. Boundary changes would move students to other high schools. This is logical to some on the Ad Hoc committee because all other high schools in the area have room, with the exception of West Springfield. Non-boundary changes would utilize Poe and Holmes middle schools. In one of the proposed ideas, Holmes would become a 6 and 7 grade school, Poe would become a 8 and 9 grade school and AHS would hold 10 through 12 grade. Poe and AHS would possibly open at the same time and share buses so that students at Poe can still participate in activities.

Of the current IB Diploma candidates, 8% live outside the AHS boundary because of the 2009-2010 changes. Numbers like this are also shown in the Swim/Dive categories, in which 11% live outside the boundary and in the Choral department, where 12% live outside of the boundary.

“We have yet to feel the loss of the neighborhoods because half of the kids stayed because they declared IB diploma candidacy or they were grandfathered in,” Slough said.

Junior Andy Nguyen, like many students, opted to take the rigorous course load the diploma demands in order to remain at AHS. “I did not want to move to Fairfax because of the things I had heard from there. And from what I heard from my little brother it’s worse,” Nguyen said. “I would be doing some IB classes, but not the whole program itself.”

Tessie Wilson, the School Board member who represents the Braddock district, has coined a new term of what she wants to see happen from the redistricting, “balance diversity.” Wilson does not want to see the school become heavily balanced in one race or economic status, because she believes AHS thrives because of the diversity. “This is what the real world looks like,” Wilson said. “I understand the concern, but for lacrosse, there’s another 53% and their participation is every bit as valuable to me.”

The study has provided the board with a better view of what AHS looks like in terms of participation, but Wilson is not that easily impressed. “It gives other kids the opportunity to come and try out, who wouldn’t have for a variety of reasons,” Wilson said. “[The study] really does bother me because it’s saying that some groups of kids are better than others.”

On March 14, the school board members will meet to discuss the boundary and non-boundary proposals suggested by the Ad Hoc committee. “Every School Board member will be weighing things through their own lens,” Evans said.

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