Stafford School Board Approves Elementary Redistricting Plan
Plan will go into effect for the 2026-27 school year, when two new elementary schools are slated to open.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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The Stafford School Board this week approved a redistricting plan for all soon-to-be 19 county elementary schools.
The board approved the plan known as “Scenario Lime” by a unanimous vote on Tuesday.
Board members Sarah Chase, Falmouth representative, and Elizabeth Warner, Griffis-Widewater representatives, supported a substitute motion to approve “Scenario Purple,” but when that motion failed, they both supported the original motion.
County-wide redistricting is necessary because the division will be opening two new elementary schools, which are yet to be named, in August of 2026.
Elementary school #18, which is being built in the Hartwood district in the southwestern part of Stafford, will draw 155 students from Falmouth Elementary, 192 from Hartwood, and 633 from Rocky Run. It will open at 92% capacity, leaving room to accomodate future students from the Westlake development, according to a presentation given to the School Board on Tuesday.
Elementary school #19, which is being built on the campus of Brooke Point High School in the Aquia district in the northeast, will pull 488 students from Anthony Burns Elementary, 192 from Winding Creek, 332 from Stafford, and 1 from Grafton Village.
Both new schools are projected to have 51% of students qualifying for free and reduced lunch and 15% receiving special education services. English language learners will make up 24% of Elementary #19’s student population and 17% of Elementary #18’s.
After the redistricting, most of the elementary schools are projected to stay under capacity through 2030. The exceptions will be Moncure Elementary, which will be at 103% capacity; Anthony Burns, at 102%; and Hampton Oaks, at 101%. These three schools are all located in the north Stafford.
Hartwood Elementary is projected to be at 100% capacity in 2030.
School division staff at a work session on Tuesday recommended against providing exemptions to rising 5th grade students wishing to stay at their current school.
Superintendent Daniel Smith said this exemption has been offered during past redistrictings.
The current situation, however, “is different and it’s applying to students across the district,” he said during the work session. “We’re talking about all of our elementary schools being impacted. We’re looking at that and thinking about transportation, along with considering the transition that is already taking place.”
School Board Vice Chair Maya Guy, along with members Patricia Healy and Chase, supported a motion to give 5th graders the option to stay if their families can provide transportation, but the majority voted to accept the staff’s recommendation.
“I have concerns about allowing 5th graders to stay,” said Chair and Garrisonville district representative Maureen Siegmund. “In my district, which is really small and in the middle of the county, all the schools are close together and we cannot afford car lines to get longer.”
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