Prince William County School staff told the School Board on April 23 that Covington Harper Elementary School is running roughly 200 students over capacity and will remain overcrowded until the planned Potomac Shores No. 2 elementary school opens in the 2027–28 school year.

School planning staff framed the problem around housing growth in Potomac Shores and delayed site development. "If we use these yield rates for Covington Harper and multiply these by all the housing units that have been constructed since the opening of Covington Harper, you'll see that there have been about 450 students yielded from the new construction," said Dr. Matt Cartlidge, a member of the planning team, during the presentation.

The board heard that Covington Harper opened in 2017 at about 75% capacity with roughly 280 seats available; built housing since then has generated the excess enrollment and staff project about 100 additional students by 2026–27. The division said the Potomac Shores No. 2 school was upsized in the FY 2025–29 CIP by roughly 300 seats to serve the region when it opens. Staff recommended continuing the current course: evaluate program placements at Covington Harper, use portable classrooms as needed, and begin redistricting planning in fall 2025 concurrent with other area boundary work.

Why it matters: parents and teachers told the board at citizen comment that overcrowding is affecting safety, transitions, bathroom access and instructional time. "We are so overpopulated that finding space during emergency drills has been cumbersome," said Brooke Marshall, a school counselor at Covington Harper, during citizen comment. Parents and staff also described long walks from distant trailers, early lunch schedules, and limited access to playground equipment.

Board members and staff reviewed the timeline of delays the presentation attributed to land-acquisition and site-preparation problems, developer pacing, and permitting. The division outlined past Capital Improvement Plan schedule changes: an originally earlier opening pushed back first by county and land timing and later by site-preparation and permitting issues tied to the developer’s work on the town center and other infrastructure. The division said developer delays and an offer of an alternate site contributed to multi‑year slippages.

Interim measures and constraints

- Portable classrooms: Covington Harper is one of several division elementary schools with portables; staff said the school currently sits among schools allocated about eight portables and that projections could require roughly five additional portables between now and 2026–27. Staff noted portables are a temporary measure and stressed security, supervision and services must scale with student counts.

- Program placement: the division said it is "critically evaluating any new educational programs" proposed for Covington Harper and will consider alternative locations for programs not aligned with assigned students.

- Redistricting limits: staff said an updated redistricting policy adopted in October (board policy/regulation not further dated in the presentation) aims to avoid moving students into schools that would exceed 105% capacity for the first three years after a boundary change. Because neighboring elementary schools in the corridor already exceed 105% capacity and many already have portables, staff said a meaningful redistricting solution that complies with the policy is not feasible now without creating instability for families who could be moved again when Potomac Shores No. 2 opens.

Board and community reactions

Vice Chair Blake and other board members said they are sympathetic to families and raised concerns about security, lunch scheduling, bathroom access, staffing and the effects of multiple trailer clusters on daily operations. Several board members asked staff to identify additional mitigation steps for the next two school years while the division completes the larger plan. One board member suggested expanding transfer options; staff confirmed Regulation 7-21-1 (transfer for significantly overcrowded schools) is available and can be used by parents seeking alternatives.

What’s next

Staff said they will begin attendance-area planning for Potomac Shores No. 2 in fall 2025 and will run that work concurrently with redistricting for a nearby Woodbridge-area school. The division also said it will update projections after the September 30 enrollment baseline and use community town halls, focus groups and an interactive website to present draft options when redistricting proposals begin.

Ending note

Parents and board members urged clear, frequent communication and practical mitigations for the 2025–26 and 2026–27 school years. Staff emphasized that larger relief requires the new school site and more capacity, and that short-term fixes rely on portables, staffing, and targeted program adjustments.