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Clifton Parents Sue School Board Over School Closure Decision

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By Jonathan Wilson

In Virginia, residents in the town of Clifton were outraged by the recent decision to close their local elementary school. Now a group of parents from the town have filed a lawsuit against the Fairfax County Public School Board over the decision.

The Clifton parents claim the school board's reasons for closing the school - declining enrollment numbers and a supposedly deteriorating building - are bogus. They also claim the board ignored viable and rational alternatives to closure, as well as overwhelming community support for the school.

The D.C.-based law firm Patton Boggs, LLP will represent the parents and says the board "exceeded its authority, acted arbitrarily and capriciously, and abused its discretion" in making the decision to close Clifton.

School board members say school closure and boundary decisions are always controversial, and lawsuits challenging such decisions in Fairfax are nothing new.

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