Snow postponed the Fairfax County School Board meeting on Feb. 24 at which board members were to vote on a new name for the new secondary school in Lorton. The snow date, Monday, Feb. 28, was also a snow-out, so now the School Board will choose the name at its regular meeting on Thursday, March 10.
School Board member Cathy Belter (Springfield), whose district includes some students who will attend the new school when it opens in September, said she has decided to vote in support of "Lewis and Clark Secondary School," and she believes that her colleagues on the Board, including Daniel Storck (Mount Vernon), whose district includes the school, will also support this name.
"My feeling was that 'South County' was kind of boring. It didn’t give you anything to really hang onto," said Belter. "I know some people really like it, but I talked to some people in that area, and I was getting a lot of people who liked ‘Lewis and Clark,’" she said.
Belter said she has received numerous e-mails from parents and students in the past two weeks, and gradually she noticed the tide of support shifting from "South County."
"I’ve gotten more responses from people with regard to 'Lewis and Clark' than for 'South County.' Some that had thought they originally liked 'South County' now are saying, ‘We’ve talked about it, and asked out kids,’ and now they’re looking at 'Lewis and Clark,'" she said.
Other members of the Board have indicated they will support the name supported by Storck and Belter, whose districts contain the families who will populate the new school.
<1b>— Glenn McCarty