FCPS HS Boundary

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have the McDaniels email to share?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the email that Kyle McDaniel just sent out, he says that the boundary changes are coming and will likely be implemented fall 2025 or fall 2026.

I just read that too.

We’re a Hunt Valley family. My kids are currently 8th and 10th graders and I have questions.

We live close to the school, not not in the Gambrills neighborhood, so maybe this won’t impact us, but if they make Gambrills kids go to Lewis, wouldn’t that make for a longer bus ride than what they currently have to WSHS and wouldn’t that be making HVES a split feeder school? Which both go against what McDaniels is saying they’re trying to reduce or eliminate…

Don’t just complain here. Now is the time to let your rep And at large members know your true feelings on this. Time is ticking and they’re not hiding their plans.

They are just putting it back to the way it was. It is not a longer bus ride. They used to pick up and shoot straight down the parkway. They are going to shift that boundary and those Gambrill kids might end up going to Saratoga/Key/Lewis. It's one neighborhood on that side of the parkway. It makes no sense. Look at the old maps. And think about the townhomes next to Linden Tree - Lewis.

It's not one neighborhood. It's like four or five neighborhoods on that side of the parkway (one of which is mine). If the goal is to have kids stay at local schools with shorter bus rides, it makes no sense to send those kids to Lewis. South County would be a lot closer and take less time as you wouldn't get stuck in traffic around the mall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have the McDaniels email to share?

+1, I’d love to send her some words of encouragement for this shitshow she’s about to take on.

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have the McDaniels email to share?

+1, I’d love to send her some words of encouragement for this shitshow she’s about to take on.

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

She is a he

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have the McDaniels email to share?

+1, I’d love to send her some words of encouragement for this shitshow she’s about to take on.

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

She is a he

K, thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the email that Kyle McDaniel just sent out, he says that the boundary changes are coming and will likely be implemented fall 2025 or fall 2026.

I just read that too.

We’re a Hunt Valley family. My kids are currently 8th and 10th graders and I have questions.

We live close to the school, not not in the Gambrills neighborhood, so maybe this won’t impact us, but if they make Gambrills kids go to Lewis, wouldn’t that make for a longer bus ride than what they currently have to WSHS and wouldn’t that be making HVES a split feeder school? Which both go against what McDaniels is saying they’re trying to reduce or eliminate…

Don’t just complain here. Now is the time to let your rep And at large members know your true feelings on this. Time is ticking and they’re not hiding their plans.

They are just putting it back to the way it was. It is not a longer bus ride. They used to pick up and shoot straight down the parkway. They are going to shift that boundary and those Gambrill kids might end up going to Saratoga/Key/Lewis. It's one neighborhood on that side of the parkway. It makes no sense. Look at the old maps. And think about the townhomes next to Linden Tree - Lewis.

It's not one neighborhood. It's like four or five neighborhoods on that side of the parkway (one of which is mine). If the goal is to have kids stay at local schools with shorter bus rides, it makes no sense to send those kids to Lewis. South County would be a lot closer and take less time as you wouldn't get stuck in traffic around the mall.

Nah, it's like one neighborhood. Or you can go to Newington Forest and South County, sure. That's where everyone else who lives over there goes.....or Saratoga. Should have done your research before buying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have the McDaniels email to share?

+1, I’d love to send her some words of encouragement for this shitshow she’s about to take on.

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

Right is subjective. He’s ideas don’t benefit benefit me but they do you. So you call it right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are no 1 hour bus rides anywhere. When your position rests on a false premise it is pretty easy to conclude there is some other agenda.

And you know this how? My kid has a 45min bus ride and the school is only 6 miles away.

I’m guessing you also overlooked the other important reasons listed in the email, like imbalanced academic programming and overcrowded schools.

You think a boundary change fixes imbalanced programming? Another false premise. Only offering the same programming at all schools fixes that - not shuffling kids around.

I do think a boundary change would help, actually.
And apparently I’m not alone.

Does anyone know how many kids from the Gambrills neighborhood would go to Lewis?

Probably most of the bus riders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have the McDaniels email to share?

McDaniel is too afraid to provide it. You need to go through the online submission form.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What schools are being considered to rezone?

Lewis
West Springfield
Herndon
Langley

I’m about 99% positive they’re going to do some stuff with West Potomac and Mount Vernon, which is probably the most egregious example of a huge school down the road from an under enrolled one, where the huge school is getting all kinds of expansions and sucking up more and more neighborhoods. Wasn’t Karen Corbett Sanders the main driver of all of that? And she’s not on the Board anymore.

The WS-Lewis and Herndon-Langley stuff is more complicated. If they are concerned about crowding at WSHS, there are other easier and less controversial moves that could be made. The Western GF neighborhoods could be moved back to Herndon for a somewhat shorter bus ride (to a point - that area is way out there and there’s only so much you can do in the sparsely populated areas of GF and Clifton etc.) but that would leave Langley even more under enrolled.

What are the easier and less controversial ideas for overcrowding at WS and underutilization/imbalance at Lewis? Please do share!

So many. I live in the area so I’m familiar with it. Orange Hunt elementary is gigantic and way over capacity. They could do a few things with it. lower the number of kids who get in for German immersion is one. Another is cut off nearby (ie right down the road) Hunt Valley’s southern border and stop it at the Parkway. All the kids at HV south of the Parkway could go to Newington Forest and South County, and then the OH/HV borders could be tweaked to send more of the OH kids to HV. That is a very small geographic area and shouldn’t increase bus times at all. There’s also the Sangster split feeder, all of those kids could go to LB instead. Sangster does pick up a big geographic area from parts of Fairfax Station/Clifton but those kids are going to have a long bus ride anywhere regardless. If they’re just coldly looking at capacity I think there’s work to be done around the edges possibly sending some of the most far flung kids to Silverbrook or Halley and SC instead of Sangster/WSHS or LB, but honestly I’m not sure how many kids would even be affected by that anyway as it’s a big geographic area but with low population density.

In terms of Lewis, they have to start with tightening up the transfers. Which was part of his message anyway. Lewis is under-enrolled, yes, but there’s no clear cut way, in that area, to prop up the enrollment, as I don’t think any of the nearby schools are over capacity either. I’m talking about Edison, Hayfield, Annandale, etc. In all honesty I don’t know if it’s worth propping up Lewis in the long term - perhaps it should just close if the enrollment keeps falling and its current feeders should just be distributed elsewhere. Like I doubt Edison and Lewis put together have the same enrollment as one of the gigantic HS’s, so perhaps there’s no need for both of them. Especially as you can walk between the two on the same road! Give one or the other a big expansion (would probably have to be Lewis as it sits on a bigger plot of land) and close the other one. And the county can buy the plot of land and sell it to a developer who will put up some cardboard TH’s that will sell for $1 million+.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have the McDaniels email to share?

+1, I’d love to send her some words of encouragement for this shitshow she’s about to take on.

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

Right is subjective. He’s ideas don’t benefit benefit me but they do you. So you call it right.

Trying to fix a problem is the right thing to do. Doing nothing or not addressing the real issues because it will piss some off is not the right thing to do.

Sounds to me like it’s all good as long as it benefits YOU.
But go off!

[Anonymous]

I just checked and Lewis and Edison together have 3889 students. Chantilly alone has 2992. Isn’t that the biggest 9-12 school? So a combined HS would be the biggest but … a large combined HS would be able to offer all the AP, vocational, language etc. classes anyone could want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What schools are being considered to rezone?

Lewis
West Springfield
Herndon
Langley

I’m about 99% positive they’re going to do some stuff with West Potomac and Mount Vernon, which is probably the most egregious example of a huge school down the road from an under enrolled one, where the huge school is getting all kinds of expansions and sucking up more and more neighborhoods. Wasn’t Karen Corbett Sanders the main driver of all of that? And she’s not on the Board anymore.

The WS-Lewis and Herndon-Langley stuff is more complicated. If they are concerned about crowding at WSHS, there are other easier and less controversial moves that could be made. The Western GF neighborhoods could be moved back to Herndon for a somewhat shorter bus ride (to a point - that area is way out there and there’s only so much you can do in the sparsely populated areas of GF and Clifton etc.) but that would leave Langley even more under enrolled.

What are the easier and less controversial ideas for overcrowding at WS and underutilization/imbalance at Lewis? Please do share!

So many. I live in the area so I’m familiar with it. Orange Hunt elementary is gigantic and way over capacity. They could do a few things with it. lower the number of kids who get in for German immersion is one. Another is cut off nearby (ie right down the road) Hunt Valley’s southern border and stop it at the Parkway. All the kids at HV south of the Parkway could go to Newington Forest and South County, and then the OH/HV borders could be tweaked to send more of the OH kids to HV. That is a very small geographic area and shouldn’t increase bus times at all. There’s also the Sangster split feeder, all of those kids could go to LB instead. Sangster does pick up a big geographic area from parts of Fairfax Station/Clifton but those kids are going to have a long bus ride anywhere regardless. If they’re just coldly looking at capacity I think there’s work to be done around the edges possibly sending some of the most far flung kids to Silverbrook or Halley and SC instead of Sangster/WSHS or LB, but honestly I’m not sure how many kids would even be affected by that anyway as it’s a big geographic area but with low population density.

In terms of Lewis, they have to start with tightening up the transfers. Which was part of his message anyway. Lewis is under-enrolled, yes, but there’s no clear cut way, in that area, to prop up the enrollment, as I don’t think any of the nearby schools are over capacity either. I’m talking about Edison, Hayfield, Annandale, etc. In all honesty I don’t know if it’s worth propping up Lewis in the long term - perhaps it should just close if the enrollment keeps falling and its current feeders should just be distributed elsewhere. Like I doubt Edison and Lewis put together have the same enrollment as one of the gigantic HS’s, so perhaps there’s no need for both of them. Especially as you can walk between the two on the same road! Give one or the other a big expansion (would probably have to be Lewis as it sits on a bigger plot of land) and close the other one. And the county can buy the plot of land and sell it to a developer who will put up some cardboard TH’s that will sell for $1 million+.

Thank you. But these sure sound a lot more complicated then moving kids from one overcrowded school to an under enrolled one close-by.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What schools are being considered to rezone?

Lewis
West Springfield
Herndon
Langley

I’m about 99% positive they’re going to do some stuff with West Potomac and Mount Vernon, which is probably the most egregious example of a huge school down the road from an under enrolled one, where the huge school is getting all kinds of expansions and sucking up more and more neighborhoods. Wasn’t Karen Corbett Sanders the main driver of all of that? And she’s not on the Board anymore.

The WS-Lewis and Herndon-Langley stuff is more complicated. If they are concerned about crowding at WSHS, there are other easier and less controversial moves that could be made. The Western GF neighborhoods could be moved back to Herndon for a somewhat shorter bus ride (to a point - that area is way out there and there’s only so much you can do in the sparsely populated areas of GF and Clifton etc.) but that would leave Langley even more under enrolled.

What are the easier and less controversial ideas for overcrowding at WS and underutilization/imbalance at Lewis? Please do share!

So many. I live in the area so I’m familiar with it. Orange Hunt elementary is gigantic and way over capacity. They could do a few things with it. lower the number of kids who get in for German immersion is one. Another is cut off nearby (ie right down the road) Hunt Valley’s southern border and stop it at the Parkway. All the kids at HV south of the Parkway could go to Newington Forest and South County, and then the OH/HV borders could be tweaked to send more of the OH kids to HV. That is a very small geographic area and shouldn’t increase bus times at all. There’s also the Sangster split feeder, all of those kids could go to LB instead. Sangster does pick up a big geographic area from parts of Fairfax Station/Clifton but those kids are going to have a long bus ride anywhere regardless. If they’re just coldly looking at capacity I think there’s work to be done around the edges possibly sending some of the most far flung kids to Silverbrook or Halley and SC instead of Sangster/WSHS or LB, but honestly I’m not sure how many kids would even be affected by that anyway as it’s a big geographic area but with low population density.

In terms of Lewis, they have to start with tightening up the transfers. Which was part of his message anyway. Lewis is under-enrolled, yes, but there’s no clear cut way, in that area, to prop up the enrollment, as I don’t think any of the nearby schools are over capacity either. I’m talking about Edison, Hayfield, Annandale, etc. In all honesty I don’t know if it’s worth propping up Lewis in the long term - perhaps it should just close if the enrollment keeps falling and its current feeders should just be distributed elsewhere. Like I doubt Edison and Lewis put together have the same enrollment as one of the gigantic HS’s, so perhaps there’s no need for both of them. Especially as you can walk between the two on the same road! Give one or the other a big expansion (would probably have to be Lewis as it sits on a bigger plot of land) and close the other one. And the county can buy the plot of land and sell it to a developer who will put up some cardboard TH’s that will sell for $1 million+.

Thank you. But these sure sound a lot more complicated then moving kids from one overcrowded school to an under enrolled one close-by.

Not really if you’re familiar with the area. And honestly the neighborhoods that seem to be on the chopping block to move from WS boundaries to Lewis aren’t all that close to Lewis, it would give places like, I’m assuming, Daventry, a fairly substantial ride down the parkway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have the McDaniels email to share?

+1, I’d love to send her some words of encouragement for this shitshow she’s about to take on.

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

Right is subjective. He’s ideas don’t benefit benefit me but they do you. So you call it right.

Trying to fix a problem is the right thing to do. Doing nothing or not addressing the real issues because it will piss some off is not the right thing to do.

Sounds to me like it’s all good as long as it benefits YOU.
But go off!

So you get my point.