There will be a drastic change in pupil placements options for students in the Madison pyramid and across Fairfax County beginning next year. The change will be implemented in 2018-19, but students who already participate in pupil placement programs will not be affected.

Previously, students could transfer to other schools than their base school within Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) after submitting an application and being approved for it. For the 2018-2019 school year, however, students will be required to submit a $100 processing fee for every year that they are pupil placed to offset the budget cuts in FCPS. For students in the Madison pyramid, the changes to the pupil placement policy means they will no longer be allowed in the IB program at Marshall. They will instead moving to the IB programs at Annandale or South Lakes, depending on their proximity to each school, and the schools’ ability to take more students.

“One of the major things that’s going to impact us in that process is that, traditionally, we have about 25-30 students that go to Marshall to pursue an IB Program. Starting next year with the 9th grade class, because Marshall is so full, students will have to make the choice to stay back and pursue an AP program here at Madison or make a choice between other IB programs like Annandale or, depending on where they live, South Lakes,” said Madison Principal Gregory Hood.

This change was instituted to combat the imbalance of overcrowding within FCPS high schools. According to FCPS’ proposed 2019-2023 Fiscal Year Plan, Madison is five percent over capacity for the current school year and will increase to 11 percent by the 2022 school year.

To combat this, the school board has approved an addition to Madison, a second floor from the Comprehensive Services Site to above the Art wing, all the way down to the cafeteria, according to Hood.

The construction is expected to start within the next two years.

The goal of this addition is to accommodate the additional 25 students per class in future and alleviate overcrowding at Madison.

“If we take another 25 students for the next few years, you probably won’t notice much of a change, but some students and teachers may notice that the traditional sense of a teacher having their own classroom, in times when they are not teaching, will go by the wayside. Teachers need classes every period of the day,” said Hood.

Even with possible, minor redistricting, the addition to Madison and the recent renovations to some high schools near the Madison pyramid, Hood does not believe that this policy change will solve the overpopulation crisis.

“I think that there are too many other problems that go along with that, including size of buildings, number of students assigned to base schools and that certain areas are growing unpredictably. This is a way to alleviate the problem in places, but it is not going to fix it.”

In light of the overcrowding issue, renovation, policy change and budget changes, Hood remains optimistic for the future of Madison.

“It’s always exciting as the building gets bigger and more students come,” Hood said. “Madison is a great place, so I’m excited to welcome anyone here. But at the same time, how do you keep what you have in place, as you continue to expand and make it a bigger place? We have a small town community feel, and our school is that way too. I want to maintain that culture and spirit as we continue to grow.”