Story from WincStar back in Februrary of 2010 when 60 kids where moved from Sherando to James Wood to remain in AA vs. getting bumped to AAA.
They want to stay
Sherando students unhappy over possible rezoning
By Danielle Nadler
The Winchester Star
Stephens City — After a 45-minute bus ride Wednesday, about a dozen Sherando High School students hung around their stop in Mountain Falls Park, chatting about the day.
The conversation turned to the possibility that the Frederick County School Board may rezone their rural neighborhood.
This would require the transfer of about 60 Sherando students who live there to James Wood High School as early as next fall.
The students rattled off reasons why they oppose a change in schools in the middle of their teen years. The feeling, they say, is nearly unanimous among those who would be affected by the rezoning.
“I feel like they’re ruining my life, in a way,” said Sherando freshman Cynthia Thomas, who has started a petition opposing the rezoning. “I love my teachers and my friends atSherando.”
The School Board is considering rezoning the Mountain Falls Park and Wardensville Grade areas in the western section of the county.
Board members will hear comments about the issue during a public hearing at 7 p.m. Thursday in the school district’s administration building, and many of the students from the affected areas say they plan to attend.
One of the reasons the board is considering the option: To reduce Sherando’s student population so the school can remain in the Group AA Northwestern District for athletics.
Its current enrollment of 1,569 students puts it over the threshold — meaning a move into Group AAA beginning in fall 2011.
That would mean more expenses for the school district to transport teams to schools farther away — along with the disruption of some local sports rivalries.
The division got a bit of bad news Tuesday, when the Virginia High School League’s Redistricting and Reclassification Committee ruled that it did not have enough information to approve Sherando’s initial request to remain in Group AA.
The school system can appeal the decision before the organization presents its final plan in May.
Regardless of how the bid to remain in Group AA turns out, the county School Board may rezone Sherando’s attendance area anyway.
“The rezoning is about more than VHSL competition. It’s about overcrowding at our school and better distributing students,” Sherando Principal John H. Nelson said, adding that the school is about 11 percent over its 1,400-student capacity.
The School Board will consider allowing current Sherando juniors to finish their senior year at the school.
But those students may have to provide their own transportation, if the board follows its procedures from similar past situations, according to board Chairman John Lamanna.
That will make it tough for Sherando junior Haley James, who does not have a car.
“I have a feeling I’ll be wearing yellow and blue my senior year,” the 17-year-old said, referring to James Wood’s colors. “A lot of us don’t have our own transportation.”
Haley added that she understands the School Board’s motives.
After all, Frederick County is facing its third consecutive year of budget cuts, pushing plans for a fourth high school farther away.
The division’s Comprehensive Improvement Plan — a tentative schedule — calls for the construction of a fourth high school to start in 2012, with a 2014 opening.
School Board Vice-Chairman Stuart Wolk compared the possibility of rezoning the district to putting a Band-Aid on something that needs surgery. But he believes it is the best choice in this case.
“What we need is a new high school, but with this economy, that’s not going to happen right away,” he said.
Schools Superintendent Patricia Taylor agreed that the rezoning is needed, because it would allow all county middle school students to attend James Wood High School — reducing the number of middle schools feeding into Sherando from four to three.
Haley, who was separated from most of her friends and classmates at Frederick County Middle School to attend Sherando, said she spent her freshman year working to make new friends.
And she plans to do the same thing during her senior year if she is transferred again.
“I’d miss art club, my friends, and my teachers, but there are bigger things out there than my needs,” Haley said. “We’re just going to have to build ourselves back up again.”
Sherando opened in 1993 with 1,150 students to relieve James Wood from overcrowding.
It’s since become the county’s largest high school.
Millbrook High, which opened in 2003, has 1,270 students; James Wood, which opened in 1950, has 1,294 students.
