Baileys & Sleepy Hollow Parents - Proposed Vertical School Meetings This Week!
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Anonymous
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Hi there -
I hadn't seen any traffic about this on the forum today so I wanted to make sure concerned parents knew about the meetings tonight and Thursday which will affect Bailey's and Sleepy Hollow Elementary students and parents. This is regarding the verticle school proposal to alleviate crowding at Bailey's. Very controversial and FCPS has demonstrated poor planning up to this point with regards to an elementary school being opened in Sept 2014 in an existing office building off Seven Corners. FAIRFAX COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION - the new school is on the agenda. Wednesday, December 4, 2013 beginning at 8:15 PM Board Auditorium of the Fairfax County Government Center 12000 Government Center Parkway Fairfax, VA 22035 FCPS BOARD MEETING Thursday, December 5, 2013 beginning at 7:00PM Public Hearing on the Acquisition of 6245 Leesburg Pike by Condemnation or Other Means Jackson Middle School, 3020 Gallows Road, Falls Church |
Anonymous
| Why is the vertical school proposal controversial? I don't know anything about it, but it seems practical for a built-up area. |
Anonymous
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FCPS has been stating for some time that it plans to build another ES in the Bailey's area, and there's been confusion as to whether the office building acquisition to deal with the overcrowding at Bailey's is in lieu of, or in addition to, those plans. The communication could be better.
But I don't think FCPS deserves the lion's share of the criticism here. That belongs to the Board of Supervisors and to Penny Gross in particular. The BOS has tolerated the conditions that lead to overcrowding in the area, and Gross objected to other options FCPS had identified to add seats in the area. |
Anonymous
OP here and neighbor to the new school proposal. Our neighborhood was invited to a meeting before Thanksgiving and it's becoming more clear that the lack of planning and communication may lead to poor execution. They haven't done a traffic study yet for starters - Seven Corners is one of the worst intersections of Falls Church, parking will be an issue, the have lofty "future" plans for an outdoor space for the kids. Whatever your opinion of the BOS - these meetings are important and a way to hear first hand what the issues facing our children's education may be. |
Anonymous
| I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with a vertical school. The issue here is the poor planning and lack of vision. FCPS plans to put kids in the school without a site plan, which means no alterations to the site, which means no playground, no gym, no playing field, no safety measures taken for pedestrian and vehicle access to a commercial site that will be accessed by school buses and kiss and ride parents on a busy 6-lane road. |
Anonymous
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what is a vertical school?
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Anonymous
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Sleepy Hollow people crack me up. First you complain about the overcrowding and issues at Baileys and now you're complaining that the attempted solution will be inconvenient for your neighborhood. You really take the cake! Somehow the redistricting over the last few years left you untouched and now you're making a stink about something that won't affect your elementary school.
OP might not be doing this, and probably has some legit concerns, but I heard about what happened at the Sleepy Hollow meeting and there seem to be a lot of snobs around Lake Barcroft. |
Anonymous
What are you talking about? Part of Lake Barcroft goes to Bailey's, and school snobs don't live in the JEB Stuart HS district. Seems to me anyone in the pyramid has a valid interest in what's done to address the overcrowding at Bailey's (and, for that matter, Glen Forest). |
Anonymous
No one is saying that this proposed school is INCONVENIENT. What happened at the FCPS meeting at Bailey's on 11/26 is that FCPS invited a small group of the Sleepy Hollow Manor community and the Buffalo Hills community, not the whole Sleepy Hollow Manor community, and had a disjointed and incoherent message. They didn't even have a presentation. The Sleepy Hollow ES community was never contacted by FCPS to discuss this proposed school. The SHES PTA and principal have not been included in the dialog at all. I think if you're putting a school in the SHES boundary, you should include the SHES community in the discussion. But FCPS hasn't done this. It's nuts. |
Anonymous
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I am a parent who had a child at Clifton elementary. FCPS closed our local school and lied to us every step of the way. I would not trust a word they tell you.
Good luck! |
Anonymous
| Not those Clifton whiners again. Get over it already. Making all of us pay for FCPS to fight their silly lawsuit. |
Anonymous
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They are so far above capacity at Baileys that this new school won't take any kids away from Sleepy Hollow ES so why should the Sleepy Hollow principal or PTA be invited? PTA people have delusions of grandeur.
I understand parents need to represented but PTAs shouldn't just expect to always get a seat at the table. Get real. (I say that even though I'm one of them.) |
Anonymous
OP here again - gotta love an anonymous forum, right where everyone assumes they know your situation. My point of posting here was to make concerned parents aware of these meetings so they could hear first hand what is going on. The lack of communication on this issue from our community leaders is concerning and I simply wanted all those who might have an interest to know these meetings were taking place. As one poster put it - yes only select groups have been invited to some of the discussion so here's your chance to attend a few open meetings. This decision has safety, educational, traffic, and redistricting issues to name just a few. These are just some of the issues that our leaders have failed to take into account and concerned citizens would like to make sure the school is built right - maybe not right away but that the people leading this development have thought about issues that could affect the school 3, 5, 10 years down the road. As of now, it's apparent they have not thought that far in advance. |
Anonymous
| If my kindergartener was zoned for a school with 1300+ kids and 19 trailers, I wouldn't care what the neighbors thought about the traffic.... the priority is getting kids in a school that is appropriate ASAP. |
Anonymous
Your concerns are valid - as are those of the people who live and work in the area and parents of future students. We live in a COMMUNITY where we all have a voice, so attend the meetings...speak up where it counts...for whatever your interests are. |