Mount Vernon?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I doubt anyone living in Saratoga cares if you have any sympathy. You can't fault people for advocating for their interests, and you'd probably be doing the same if you were in their shoes. Personally, I agree with the sentiment of trying to improve Lee rather figuring out how to flee - I think this AP/IB transfer nonsense should stop. But, I can also understand the perspective of some people that it's a lost cause and better to petition for change of some sort.

They picked their school zone when they bought their house.

I could see tye argument of moving Garfield Elementary (very high ESL/title 1) to another higher performing pyramid but to use the "concentration of poverty/esl) argument and try to apply it to Saratoga is completely wrong.

Saratoga Elementary is also a Title 1 school, FYI. The effort to change district is not about high SES parents wanting to flee. It's about wanting geographic boundaries and political representation that makes sense for residents. Sure Saratoga Elementary includes the single-family "Saratoga" neighborhood, but it also includes a lot of townhouses and rental apartments, too.

Has Saratoga always been zoned Lee or is it due to a boundary change?

Before South County opened, the Lee boundary was huge, and the school was mostly middle to upper middle class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I doubt anyone living in Saratoga cares if you have any sympathy. You can't fault people for advocating for their interests, and you'd probably be doing the same if you were in their shoes. Personally, I agree with the sentiment of trying to improve Lee rather figuring out how to flee - I think this AP/IB transfer nonsense should stop. But, I can also understand the perspective of some people that it's a lost cause and better to petition for change of some sort.

They picked their school zone when they bought their house.

I could see tye argument of moving Garfield Elementary (very high ESL/title 1) to another higher performing pyramid but to use the "concentration of poverty/esl) argument and try to apply it to Saratoga is completely wrong.

Saratoga Elementary is also a Title 1 school, FYI. The effort to change district is not about high SES parents wanting to flee. It's about wanting geographic boundaries and political representation that makes sense for residents. Sure Saratoga Elementary includes the single-family "Saratoga" neighborhood, but it also includes a lot of townhouses and rental apartments, too.

Has Saratoga always been zoned Lee or is it due to a boundary change?

Before South County opened, the Lee boundary was huge, and the school was mostly middle to upper middle class.

So the real issue for Saratoga parents is why wasn't Saratoga moved to South County when Lee was rezoned, NOT why can't Saratoga be moved to West Springfield (or for that matter, Lake Braddock).

West Springfield should not figure into the Saratoga folks's discussion at all.

Saratoga was never zoned for WSHS, was not moved from WSHS, and the other schools rezoned out of Lee did not go to WSHS.

Their discussion hould be about Lee and South County, and should not involve any movement into West Springfield.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I doubt anyone living in Saratoga cares if you have any sympathy. You can't fault people for advocating for their interests, and you'd probably be doing the same if you were in their shoes. Personally, I agree with the sentiment of trying to improve Lee rather figuring out how to flee - I think this AP/IB transfer nonsense should stop. But, I can also understand the perspective of some people that it's a lost cause and better to petition for change of some sort.

They picked their school zone when they bought their house.

I could see tye argument of moving Garfield Elementary (very high ESL/title 1) to another higher performing pyramid but to use the "concentration of poverty/esl) argument and try to apply it to Saratoga is completely wrong.

Saratoga Elementary is also a Title 1 school, FYI. The effort to change district is not about high SES parents wanting to flee. It's about wanting geographic boundaries and political representation that makes sense for residents. Sure Saratoga Elementary includes the single-family "Saratoga" neighborhood, but it also includes a lot of townhouses and rental apartments, too.

Has Saratoga always been zoned Lee or is it due to a boundary change?

Before South County opened, the Lee boundary was huge, and the school was mostly middle to upper middle class.

Most of South County came from Hayfield, not Lee (or Lake Braddock), and the FARMS rate at Lee actually went down for a while after South County opened. It was in the upper 20s @ 2005 and gradually increased over the course of the last decade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I doubt anyone living in Saratoga cares if you have any sympathy. You can't fault people for advocating for their interests, and you'd probably be doing the same if you were in their shoes. Personally, I agree with the sentiment of trying to improve Lee rather figuring out how to flee - I think this AP/IB transfer nonsense should stop. But, I can also understand the perspective of some people that it's a lost cause and better to petition for change of some sort.

They picked their school zone when they bought their house.

I could see tye argument of moving Garfield Elementary (very high ESL/title 1) to another higher performing pyramid but to use the "concentration of poverty/esl) argument and try to apply it to Saratoga is completely wrong.

Saratoga Elementary is also a Title 1 school, FYI. The effort to change district is not about high SES parents wanting to flee. It's about wanting geographic boundaries and political representation that makes sense for residents. Sure Saratoga Elementary includes the single-family "Saratoga" neighborhood, but it also includes a lot of townhouses and rental apartments, too.

Has Saratoga always been zoned Lee or is it due to a boundary change?

Before South County opened, the Lee boundary was huge, and the school was mostly middle to upper middle class.

So the real issue for Saratoga parents is why wasn't Saratoga moved to South County when Lee was rezoned, NOT why can't Saratoga be moved to West Springfield (or for that matter, Lake Braddock).

West Springfield should not figure into the Saratoga folks's discussion at all.

Saratoga was never zoned for WSHS, was not moved from WSHS, and the other schools rezoned out of Lee did not go to WSHS.

Their discussion hould be about Lee and South County, and should not involve any movement into West Springfield.

I live on the other side of Pohick Road in Newington Forest and we're zoned for South County. It seems weird to me that Saratoga isn't. Seems like it would be an easier drive to SCMS/SCHS from there than it would be to drive up to Lee and Key MS.

[Anonymous]

The kids from Lorton Station should be going to South County -- the zone for Hayfield is really reaching down to get them. They belong with South County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I doubt anyone living in Saratoga cares if you have any sympathy. You can't fault people for advocating for their interests, and you'd probably be doing the same if you were in their shoes. Personally, I agree with the sentiment of trying to improve Lee rather figuring out how to flee - I think this AP/IB transfer nonsense should stop. But, I can also understand the perspective of some people that it's a lost cause and better to petition for change of some sort.

They picked their school zone when they bought their house.

I could see tye argument of moving Garfield Elementary (very high ESL/title 1) to another higher performing pyramid but to use the "concentration of poverty/esl) argument and try to apply it to Saratoga is completely wrong.

Saratoga Elementary is also a Title 1 school, FYI. The effort to change district is not about high SES parents wanting to flee. It's about wanting geographic boundaries and political representation that makes sense for residents. Sure Saratoga Elementary includes the single-family "Saratoga" neighborhood, but it also includes a lot of townhouses and rental apartments, too.

Has Saratoga always been zoned Lee or is it due to a boundary change?

Before South County opened, the Lee boundary was huge, and the school was mostly middle to upper middle class.

Most of South County came from Hayfield, not Lee (or Lake Braddock), and the FARMS rate at Lee actually went down for a while after South County opened. It was in the upper 20s @ 2005 and gradually increased over the course of the last decade.

So Saratoga has always been zoned for Lee then? And most of the rezoning into South County did not come from Lee but Hayfield?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I doubt anyone living in Saratoga cares if you have any sympathy. You can't fault people for advocating for their interests, and you'd probably be doing the same if you were in their shoes. Personally, I agree with the sentiment of trying to improve Lee rather figuring out how to flee - I think this AP/IB transfer nonsense should stop. But, I can also understand the perspective of some people that it's a lost cause and better to petition for change of some sort.

They picked their school zone when they bought their house.

I could see tye argument of moving Garfield Elementary (very high ESL/title 1) to another higher performing pyramid but to use the "concentration of poverty/esl) argument and try to apply it to Saratoga is completely wrong.

Saratoga Elementary is also a Title 1 school, FYI. The effort to change district is not about high SES parents wanting to flee. It's about wanting geographic boundaries and political representation that makes sense for residents. Sure Saratoga Elementary includes the single-family "Saratoga" neighborhood, but it also includes a lot of townhouses and rental apartments, too.

Has Saratoga always been zoned Lee or is it due to a boundary change?

Before South County opened, the Lee boundary was huge, and the school was mostly middle to upper middle class.

So the real issue for Saratoga parents is why wasn't Saratoga moved to South County when Lee was rezoned, NOT why can't Saratoga be moved to West Springfield (or for that matter, Lake Braddock).

West Springfield should not figure into the Saratoga folks's discussion at all.

Saratoga was never zoned for WSHS, was not moved from WSHS, and the other schools rezoned out of Lee did not go to WSHS.

Their discussion hould be about Lee and South County, and should not involve any movement into West Springfield.

I live on the other side of Pohick Road in Newington Forest and we're zoned for South County. It seems weird to me that Saratoga isn't. Seems like it would be an easier drive to SCMS/SCHS from there than it would be to drive up to Lee and Key MS.

That may be the case, but FCPS has to make use of its school buildings where they are located, recognizing that the boundaries may not be everyone's first choice or may result in some kids attending schools that aren't the closest to their homes.

There are people going to Oakton who are much closer to Chantilly, people going to Marshall who are closer to Madison and Oakton, people going to McLean who are closer to Falls Church and Marshall, people going to Fairfax who are closer to Centreville, and so on. Saratoga is not uniquely burdened in this regard at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The kids from Lorton Station should be going to South County -- the zone for Hayfield is really reaching down to get them. They belong with South County.

True.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I doubt anyone living in Saratoga cares if you have any sympathy. You can't fault people for advocating for their interests, and you'd probably be doing the same if you were in their shoes. Personally, I agree with the sentiment of trying to improve Lee rather figuring out how to flee - I think this AP/IB transfer nonsense should stop. But, I can also understand the perspective of some people that it's a lost cause and better to petition for change of some sort.

They picked their school zone when they bought their house.

I could see tye argument of moving Garfield Elementary (very high ESL/title 1) to another higher performing pyramid but to use the "concentration of poverty/esl) argument and try to apply it to Saratoga is completely wrong.

Saratoga Elementary is also a Title 1 school, FYI. The effort to change district is not about high SES parents wanting to flee. It's about wanting geographic boundaries and political representation that makes sense for residents. Sure Saratoga Elementary includes the single-family "Saratoga" neighborhood, but it also includes a lot of townhouses and rental apartments, too.

Has Saratoga always been zoned Lee or is it due to a boundary change?

Before South County opened, the Lee boundary was huge, and the school was mostly middle to upper middle class.

Most of South County came from Hayfield, not Lee (or Lake Braddock), and the FARMS rate at Lee actually went down for a while after South County opened. It was in the upper 20s @ 2005 and gradually increased over the course of the last decade.

So Saratoga has always been zoned for Lee then? And most of the rezoning into South County did not come from Lee but Hayfield?

I don't know if Saratoga has always been zoned for Lee. I do know that the bulk of kids moved to South County came from Hayfield. Hayfield's high school enrollment went down from 2628 to 1700 the year South County opened (and seniors were grandfathered that year) and 1486 the next year. They had to admit they'd made a mistake and send some of the kids back to Hayfield.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The kids from Lorton Station should be going to South County -- the zone for Hayfield is really reaching down to get them. They belong with South County.

True.

Someone has to go to Hayfield. Its attendance area is squeezed from every direction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I doubt anyone living in Saratoga cares if you have any sympathy. You can't fault people for advocating for their interests, and you'd probably be doing the same if you were in their shoes. Personally, I agree with the sentiment of trying to improve Lee rather figuring out how to flee - I think this AP/IB transfer nonsense should stop. But, I can also understand the perspective of some people that it's a lost cause and better to petition for change of some sort.

They picked their school zone when they bought their house.

I could see tye argument of moving Garfield Elementary (very high ESL/title 1) to another higher performing pyramid but to use the "concentration of poverty/esl) argument and try to apply it to Saratoga is completely wrong.

Saratoga Elementary is also a Title 1 school, FYI. The effort to change district is not about high SES parents wanting to flee. It's about wanting geographic boundaries and political representation that makes sense for residents. Sure Saratoga Elementary includes the single-family "Saratoga" neighborhood, but it also includes a lot of townhouses and rental apartments, too.

Has Saratoga always been zoned Lee or is it due to a boundary change?

Before South County opened, the Lee boundary was huge, and the school was mostly middle to upper middle class.

Most of South County came from Hayfield, not Lee (or Lake Braddock), and the FARMS rate at Lee actually went down for a while after South County opened. It was in the upper 20s @ 2005 and gradually increased over the course of the last decade.

If that's the case, that also cuts against this whole argument of "you bought your house knowing the schools were bad." Many people may have bought in the Lee pyramid when the schools had better reputations.

Regardless, I think it's in everyone's interests to improve schools like Lee. It is not good to have concentrated clusters of poor performing schools, and that is clearly what has happened in the Lee pyramid. For FCPS wants to change that, multiple options need to be on the table including rezoning and elimination/consolidation of IB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I doubt anyone living in Saratoga cares if you have any sympathy. You can't fault people for advocating for their interests, and you'd probably be doing the same if you were in their shoes. Personally, I agree with the sentiment of trying to improve Lee rather figuring out how to flee - I think this AP/IB transfer nonsense should stop. But, I can also understand the perspective of some people that it's a lost cause and better to petition for change of some sort.

They picked their school zone when they bought their house.

I could see tye argument of moving Garfield Elementary (very high ESL/title 1) to another higher performing pyramid but to use the "concentration of poverty/esl) argument and try to apply it to Saratoga is completely wrong.

Saratoga Elementary is also a Title 1 school, FYI. The effort to change district is not about high SES parents wanting to flee. It's about wanting geographic boundaries and political representation that makes sense for residents. Sure Saratoga Elementary includes the single-family "Saratoga" neighborhood, but it also includes a lot of townhouses and rental apartments, too.

Has Saratoga always been zoned Lee or is it due to a boundary change?

Before South County opened, the Lee boundary was huge, and the school was mostly middle to upper middle class.

Most of South County came from Hayfield, not Lee (or Lake Braddock), and the FARMS rate at Lee actually went down for a while after South County opened. It was in the upper 20s @ 2005 and gradually increased over the course of the last decade.

If that's the case, that also cuts against this whole argument of "you bought your house knowing the schools were bad." Many people may have bought in the Lee pyramid when the schools had better reputations.

Regardless, I think it's in everyone's interests to improve schools like Lee. It is not good to have concentrated clusters of poor performing schools, and that is clearly what has happened in the Lee pyramid. For FCPS wants to change that, multiple options need to be on the table including rezoning and elimination/consolidation of IB.

Yeah, everything on that side of the county except Hayfield (and I guess South County if you want to group it in with the kind of "east side" of Fairfax County) is all IB schools. I wonder if you switched some of them to AP if they'd improve. It is weird to have so many IB schools so close to one another. I mean, you can walk from Edison to Lee. And West Potomac and Mount Vernon are pretty close to each other too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I doubt anyone living in Saratoga cares if you have any sympathy. You can't fault people for advocating for their interests, and you'd probably be doing the same if you were in their shoes. Personally, I agree with the sentiment of trying to improve Lee rather figuring out how to flee - I think this AP/IB transfer nonsense should stop. But, I can also understand the perspective of some people that it's a lost cause and better to petition for change of some sort.

They picked their school zone when they bought their house.

I could see tye argument of moving Garfield Elementary (very high ESL/title 1) to another higher performing pyramid but to use the "concentration of poverty/esl) argument and try to apply it to Saratoga is completely wrong.

Saratoga Elementary is also a Title 1 school, FYI. The effort to change district is not about high SES parents wanting to flee. It's about wanting geographic boundaries and political representation that makes sense for residents. Sure Saratoga Elementary includes the single-family "Saratoga" neighborhood, but it also includes a lot of townhouses and rental apartments, too.

Has Saratoga always been zoned Lee or is it due to a boundary change?

Before South County opened, the Lee boundary was huge, and the school was mostly middle to upper middle class.

Most of South County came from Hayfield, not Lee (or Lake Braddock), and the FARMS rate at Lee actually went down for a while after South County opened. It was in the upper 20s @ 2005 and gradually increased over the course of the last decade.

If that's the case, that also cuts against this whole argument of "you bought your house knowing the schools were bad." Many people may have bought in the Lee pyramid when the schools had better reputations.

Regardless, I think it's in everyone's interests to improve schools like Lee. It is not good to have concentrated clusters of poor performing schools, and that is clearly what has happened in the Lee pyramid. For FCPS wants to change that, multiple options need to be on the table including rezoning and elimination/consolidation of IB.

Yeah, everything on that side of the county except Hayfield (and I guess South County if you want to group it in with the kind of "east side" of Fairfax County) is all IB schools. I wonder if you switched some of them to AP if they'd improve. It is weird to have so many IB schools so close to one another. I mean, you can walk from Edison to Lee. And West Potomac and Mount Vernon are pretty close to each other too.

West Potomac is AP, too. The cluster**** of IB schools consists of Stuart, which is next to Annandale, which borders Lee and Edison, the latter of which isn't too far from Mount Vernon.

[Anonymous]

I'm guessing whatever jerks that are spouting this holier than thou, sanctimonious crap about how they made sacrifices to buy an ever so slightly older home, with an inconsequentially smaller amount of square footage, are relatively new to the area.
Lee wasn't that bad. I went to one of the "good" ffx HS's and had lots of friends ( due to outside extra curriculars) that attended Lee. The school seemed a little bit more of a mix, but not in a bad way. All of those kids were middle class and went to great colleges. That was in the 90's.
Saratoga actually voted to stay in the Lee pyramid. They had the option to move to South County. They didn't.
There are people that bought into that area and it has since deteriorated. They have a right to want it to be built back up to par.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm guessing whatever jerks that are spouting this holier than thou, sanctimonious crap about how they made sacrifices to buy an ever so slightly older home, with an inconsequentially smaller amount of square footage, are relatively new to the area.
Lee wasn't that bad. I went to one of the "good" ffx HS's and had lots of friends ( due to outside extra curriculars) that attended Lee. The school seemed a little bit more of a mix, but not in a bad way. All of those kids were middle class and went to great colleges. That was in the 90's.
Saratoga actually voted to stay in the Lee pyramid. They had the option to move to South County. They didn't.
There are people that bought into that area and it has since deteriorated. They have a right to want it to be built back up to par.

The 90s are almost 20 years ago.

Those who bought during the 90s would not likely have school aged children now.