In fast-growing Loudoun County, parents say their children's old school building is unsafe because it has no sprinkler system and has never been renovated.
More than 300 people have signed a change.org petition demanding action for Meadowland School.
Meadowland Elementary was built in the 1979. The parents who started the petition say they love the staff and teachers here, but the building they say, does not meet safety standards.
They accuse the Loudoun County School Board of ignoring their older school in favor of new schools and turf fields, where they've allocated new funds.
"I feel that our school has been pushed away and forgotten, said Heidi Matchett, Meadowland's PTO secretary.
The school has narrow hallways, small, narrow windows, and no sprinkler system.
"We have a limited amount of doors that our children can get out. If there is a fire, there is no suppression system that going to be able to take that fire out. We worry about our children getting out," said Heidi Matchett. She and her husband Jason Matchett have a fourth grader at Meadowland.
"We don't have windows that open, so if the doorway is blocked, we have to find an alternate means. A fire suppression system is going to extend the amount of time you have to egress" said Jason Matchett.
The school practices fire drills once a month and had one this morning.
"All the classrooms are located very close to an exit. And the students just proceed to the closest exit. We also have secondary exits ready just in case there's ever an exit that's blocked," Assistant Principal Anna Purdy.
Meadowland is one of 11 schools out of the 89 in LCPS that does not have sprinklers, according to Loudoun School Spokesman Wayde Byard.
"Now we have renovated the mechanical system here and everything else, so it's up to grade. It has firewalls, it has fire safety devices, it has fire brakes, has extinguishers," said Byard. "So the majority of schools in the country are just like this. And the bottom line is, if the school wasn't safe, we wouldn't be open. The school board would not put children in danger."
But the parents have other issues. One concern is the bathrooms at Meadowland.
"Out of the three bathrooms stalls in my little girl's hallway, none of them are fully functioning," said Stephanie Fulbright who had a daughter in first grade at Meadowland.
The doorways in the school are not ADA compliment.
"The doorways are so small that a student with crutches can't get through without taking the crutches off and handing them through," said Jason Matchett said.
He said there's no way a wheelchair can get through the doorways. Matchett said the school board has it's priorities wrong.
"If the school board can decide to spend $15 million on press boxes and turf fields for other schools, then really they should be able to find some money to do the basic things that we need at our school," said Matchett.
"My little girl doesn't feel comfortable going to the restroom in her old school but yet, they will expedite funding to the tune of $8 million for fake grass," said Fulbright.
The parents said they were told by the outgoing principal that Meadowland had been listed for a capital improvement project, but was taken off the list.
"In 2006, we were approved for renovations, and that was taken away from us," said Hiedi Matchett.
But the LCPS communications director Wayde Byard says Meadowland was never listed for a CIP. He said no school is up for a CIP right now.
Addressing the turf field issue, Byard says the money for turf fields comes from surplus funds and is a fraction of the multi-million dollar cost of a major renovation.
