Clifton Elementary School Case Heads to State Supreme Court

The case regarding the Fairfax County School Board's closure of Clifton Elementary School, Armendaris et al v. Fairfax County School Board, is moving on to the Supreme Court of Virginia, according to a press release from Friends of Community School.

On Wednesday, Patton Boggs, LLP, counsel for the plaintiffs, filed a Notice of Appeal in Fairfax County Circuit Court, which states the "Clifton Parents" intend to appeal to the Supreme Court of Virginia.

On Dec. 1, Judge Dennis J. Smith found that plaintiffs and similarly situated parents in the community were aggrieved by the School Board's decision to close Clifton Elementary School and therefore, had "standing," meaning they have the legal right to sue the School Board. The decision effectively reversed an earlier lawsuit against the School Board in the closure of Graham Road Elementary, which denied parents in that case standing to sue.

Smith stated that the School Board's decision to close Clifton Elementary School, although contradicted by "substantial evidence" and "very likely wrong for the Clifton community," was not arbitrary and capricious.  Smith also held there was evidence of notice for the public hearing regarding the future of Clifton Elementary as required by statute and by the Board's own regulations, though he acknowledged closure of the school was not specifically indicated in the notice.

The challenge for the Clifton Parents' attorneys will be to clarify both of the arguments regarding this portion of the decision and identify relevant case law.

In their appeal, the Clifton Parents intend to bring additional information to light, including communications by the School Board detailed in responses to Freedom of Information Act requests submitted by Fairfax County residents. "The FOIA responses," said Benjamin Chew, Patton Boggs' lead counsel for the Clifton Parents, "amount to just some of the information which supports the arbitrary and capricious argument as part of the administrative record not considered in the lower court's decision."

The appeal has serious ramifications, not only for the 370 students and their families at Clifton Elementary, but also more than 17,500 students who will be impacted by the current Southwestern County boundary study, the largest ever attempted in the history of Fairfax County Public Schools.

"The plaintiffs have yet to have their day in court; they have the right to discovery and to introduce ALL of the evidence to show that the School Board's effort to close Clifton Elementary School was arbitrary and capricious and causes real harm to innocent children and families." said Kim Farrell, an executive board member of the Friends of Community Schools, a non-profit organization actively engaged with helping preserve the community school. "No child in this county, nor any stakeholder, benefits from the closing of this school," Farrell emphasized.