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The Prince William County School Board approved a redistricting plan for the new Woodbridge Area and Potomac Shores elementary schools Feb. 4, solidifying the closure of Potomac View Elementary School.
Woodbridge Area elementary, set to open in the 2026-27 school year, will have a program capacity of roughly 630 students, while the new Potomac Shores elementary, set to open the following year, will accommodate just over 1,000 students.
“Woodbridge Area” and “Potomac Shores” are preliminary names for the elementary schools. Official names have yet to be determined.
The approved redistricting plan is a modified version of the division’s Scenario 6, the plan originally recommended by the school system.
Under the plan, all of the affected schools will be within capacity compliance over the next several years, with no school exceeding 105% and other schools moving away from being less than 80% utilized.
The approved plan is largely the same as Scenario 6, with two key changes, requested by Potomac District School Board Member Justin Wilk, whose district is most heavily impacted by the redistricting.
Specifically, Wilk requested students in the “Graham Park corridor” remain at their current school, which is Dumfries Elementary, and that students from the Forest Park area be moved to Covington-Harper Elementary School.
“I believe these changes will maintain attendance area contiguity to the greatest extent possible while balancing capacity utilization across the schools impacted,” Wilk said during a January board meeting when he requested those changes.
Wilk acknowledged last week the redistricting process has been difficult and not every community member will get what they want.
“This is not an easy process. Change is difficult in many ways and, in the end, there are going to be people who are not happy with these maps,” Wilk said. “There is no possible way to keep every family within their current and existing school boundaries.”
The redistricting plan maintains current boundaries for student walkers wherever possible, school system officials said, and students who attend Kilby Elementary will progress to one middle school — Fred Lynn — rather than two.
Students at Pattie Elementary School will progress to only one high school, Forest Park, and are no longer split between two middle schools. Vaughan Elementary School is reduced from three geographic progressions to two.
The plan was approved with specific parameters for implementation, including:
- Rising fifth-grade students will not be reassigned. All rising fifth graders residing in areas affected by the approved adjustments may remain at their currently-assigned elementary school for their fifth grade year.
- The attendance area for the Woodbridge Area Elementary School will take effect beginning in the 2026-27 school year.
- All remaining elementary school attendance area adjustments, including the establishment of the new Potomac Shores Elementary School attendance area, will take effect beginning in the 2027-28 school year.
- Students in grades other than rising fifth graders who reside in areas reassigned effective in the 2027-28 school year will attend the school to which they are newly-assigned beginning in that school year.
Sesalle McDaniel, president of the Pattie Elementary School parent-teacher organization, thanked Wilk Feb. 4 for the changes and for listening to the communities he represents.
The alternative proposal that was approved, she said, “directly addresses concerns our Forest Park families raised about the original Scenario 6.”
“It maintains walkability for established neighborhoods, preserves parent involvement and investment and was responsive to the majority of feedback when feasible,” McDaniel said of the plan. “It keeps more students at their current schools without cascading shifts from school to school to school.”
While a number of parents spoke in support of the approved plan, several criticized the overall process.
Megan Feaman, a parent at Pattie Elementary, said the process at times “felt rushed, lacked meaningful community engagement and created confusion that undermined transparency and trust.”
Ultimately though, Feaman said she supported the passage of the alternative plan.
