FCPS comprehensive boundary review

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have no dog in the Langley fight, but if Langley is UNDER capacity, why would you be moving kids out of it? PP"s idea of adding a special ed center to use up some of Langley's empty seats should be looked into. Special ed parents don't object to long bus rides.

If Herndon has extra seats, and Chantilly is bursting at the seams, send some Chantilly kids to Herndon.

These seem like very logical solutions. What am I missing?

There is no room at Herndon, especially at Herndon Middle given the development in that pyramid.

I think PP is getting so animated because all of her justifications for sticking it to her neighbors are falling by the wayside.

[Anonymous]

I thought there were hundreds of open seats at Herndon HS.

[Anonymous]

Create middle school split feeders to alleviate the Chantilly overcrowding. It sucks, but FCPS has them all over the county. Keep the MS assignments the same and change the HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Create middle school split feeders to alleviate the Chantilly overcrowding. It sucks, but FCPS has them all over the county. Keep the MS assignments the same and change the HS.

Have you seen the way middle schools feed into Westfield, Chantilly, and Oakton? It’s a disaster that can’t be fixed because Oakton doesn’t have a collocated middle school.

[Anonymous]

Regardless of whether Langley ends up at full capacity if there is now an opportunity to move Great Falls kids to a closer school that now also has capacity then they are going to consider it.

Also, Chantilly doesn’t have any current border with Herndon. Langley does. You have to go through Westfield neighborhoods to get from Chantilly to Herndon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Create middle school split feeders to alleviate the Chantilly overcrowding. It sucks, but FCPS has them all over the county. Keep the MS assignments the same and change the HS.

Have you seen the way middle schools feed into Westfield, Chantilly, and Oakton? It’s a disaster that can’t be fixed because Oakton doesn’t have a collocated middle school.

And South Lakes, in the case of Carson (in addition to Westfield and Oakton).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Regardless of whether Langley ends up at full capacity if there is now an opportunity to move Great Falls kids to a closer school that now also has capacity then they are going to consider it.

Also, Chantilly doesn’t have any current border with Herndon. Langley does. You have to go through Westfield neighborhoods to get from Chantilly to Herndon.

But again, centreville and chantilly are the two most overcrowded high schools.

[Anonymous]

Are
Contigous borders a top priority?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So to summarize:

Herndon/Great Falls parents zoned for Langley want to make sure they stay at Langley by filling up Herndon HS with kids from outside of Herndon.

Chantilly HS is overcrowded and can't be expanded but Chantilly HS parents do not want to be moved to any other HS.

Centreville HS is overcrowded and due for a renovation that hasn't begun yet.

Westfield HS is mediocre and no one wants their kids moved there, but the Westfield parents also don't want to add even more kids b/c it is already enormous (and I agree, 2700+ is beyond the size of a reasonable HS).

There are hundreds of extra seats at Langley (2100) and at Herndon HS (2300), but these schools are full to overcrowded: South Lakes (2450), Oakton (2600), Chantilly (3000), Centreville (2400), Westfield (2700).

Questions: Why does Langley have so few students? Is the building incredibly small?

Langley has almost 2200 students, not 2100. The building was recently expanded and has a program capacity of 2338.

It has a huge catchment area because the residential neighborhoods generally have large lots, the population trends older, and many people who do have school-age kids send them to privates.

Given its location in the northeastern corner of the county, it probably should be one of the smallest schools in the county, but it is not. When Jeff Platenberg was the head of facilities, he tried to expand every school coming up for renovation, including Langley. The benefit is that some schools got expanded when construction costs were lower. The downside is that filing up a school like Langley requires redistricting, kids commuting long distances and/or reliance on pupil placements.

They will probably move more of McLean there and then send Forestville to Herndon. That might not be required based simply on capacity, but they also seem committed to reducing commuting times and Forestville is much closer to Herndon than to Langley. Plus, redistricting part of Langley would underscore that every pyramid is being affected.

I really don’t think they’ll move all of Forestville to Herndon. At best, they’ll move those with Herndon and Reston addresses to Herndon and South Lakes to reduce redundant bus routes and put a big sticker on fulfilling their cause.

McLean and Marshall both have immediate neighbors to offload students, whereas the western half of the county can use all the high school seats they can get.

If Langley looses Forestville, it’ll need to pick up another elementary school. And I don’t see that happening until Tysons ES is built someday.

I guess parents should hope Tysons gets its casino so more families don’t move in McLean HS pyramid and cause a domino effect?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So to summarize:

Herndon/Great Falls parents zoned for Langley want to make sure they stay at Langley by filling up Herndon HS with kids from outside of Herndon.

Chantilly HS is overcrowded and can't be expanded but Chantilly HS parents do not want to be moved to any other HS.

Centreville HS is overcrowded and due for a renovation that hasn't begun yet.

Westfield HS is mediocre and no one wants their kids moved there, but the Westfield parents also don't want to add even more kids b/c it is already enormous (and I agree, 2700+ is beyond the size of a reasonable HS).

There are hundreds of extra seats at Langley (2100) and at Herndon HS (2300), but these schools are full to overcrowded: South Lakes (2450), Oakton (2600), Chantilly (3000), Centreville (2400), Westfield (2700).

Questions: Why does Langley have so few students? Is the building incredibly small?

Langley has almost 2200 students, not 2100. The building was recently expanded and has a program capacity of 2338.

It has a huge catchment area because the residential neighborhoods generally have large lots, the population trends older, and many people who do have school-age kids send them to privates.

Given its location in the northeastern corner of the county, it probably should be one of the smallest schools in the county, but it is not. When Jeff Platenberg was the head of facilities, he tried to expand every school coming up for renovation, including Langley. The benefit is that some schools got expanded when construction costs were lower. The downside is that filing up a school like Langley requires redistricting, kids commuting long distances and/or reliance on pupil placements.

They will probably move more of McLean there and then send Forestville to Herndon. That might not be required based simply on capacity, but they also seem committed to reducing commuting times and Forestville is much closer to Herndon than to Langley. Plus, redistricting part of Langley would underscore that every pyramid is being affected.

I really don’t think they’ll move all of Forestville to Herndon. At best, they’ll move those with Herndon and Reston addresses to Herndon and South Lakes to reduce redundant bus routes and put a big sticker on fulfilling their cause.

McLean and Marshall both have immediate neighbors to offload students, whereas the western half of the county can use all the high school seats they can get.

If Langley looses Forestville, it’ll need to pick up another elementary school. And I don’t see that happening until Tysons ES is built someday.

I guess parents should hope Tysons gets its casino so more families don’t move in McLean HS pyramid and cause a domino effect?

That’s so far in the future as to not worry about in the current boundary review

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was more focus on "equity," whatever that means, in the community comments tonight than there is in revised Policy 8130, maybe because this meeting was at Glasgow MS in the Justice HS pyramid.

Equity, the ultimate Rorschach test. For some it’s let’s ask the naacp’s opinion (someone actually suggested that tonight) for others, it’s making sure that there are no aap centers and languages are standardized.

One of those approaches is likely illegal, btw.

These community engagements are prime opportunities to shine a negative spotlight on this boundary review. Are they recorded? Would love for a fairfax times journalist to hear crazy questions like “let’s ask the naacp,” “how do we take away programs that benefit schools with a >40% white population?,” “can you try bussing more wealthy kids farther to benefit high FARMS schools?” “My child is non-binary at Chantilly and feels isolated, will Karl Frisch make sure we balance out lgbtq student populations during this equity experiment?”

Blend in absurd but tangential questions that shine light on this circus and let the media see it for what it is.

Maybe the Langley crowd can show up en masse at one of the meetings and try and stage a mini-revolt.

Compared to a lot of FCPS community meetings, these sessions are fairly tightly organized. People are encouraged to pre-register. If you pre-register you are assigned a table. Police are present. Reid and Thru Consulting made presentations where they extol the benefits of boundary changes. Then there are breakout sections where people are marched through four times questions, all of which start from the premise that boundary changes are both necessary and inevitable. People find themselves advocating at the margins, but feeling largely powerless to object to the premise or likely outcomes. You will be told repeatedly that Thru Consulting is just in the data gathering phase, that no work on actual recommendations will begin for months, and that you will have endless opportunities to provide feedback. It is all being very carefully orchestrated.

Why would there be police present?

There were two police present when Reid spoke at Rocky Run Middle School a few weeks ago, and it was a very friendly audience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So to summarize:

Herndon/Great Falls parents zoned for Langley want to make sure they stay at Langley by filling up Herndon HS with kids from outside of Herndon.

Chantilly HS is overcrowded and can't be expanded but Chantilly HS parents do not want to be moved to any other HS.

Centreville HS is overcrowded and due for a renovation that hasn't begun yet.

Westfield HS is mediocre and no one wants their kids moved there, but the Westfield parents also don't want to add even more kids b/c it is already enormous (and I agree, 2700+ is beyond the size of a reasonable HS).

There are hundreds of extra seats at Langley (2100) and at Herndon HS (2300), but these schools are full to overcrowded: South Lakes (2450), Oakton (2600), Chantilly (3000), Centreville (2400), Westfield (2700).

Questions: Why does Langley have so few students? Is the building incredibly small?

Langley has almost 2200 students, not 2100. The building was recently expanded and has a program capacity of 2338.

It has a huge catchment area because the residential neighborhoods generally have large lots, the population trends older, and many people who do have school-age kids send them to privates.

Given its location in the northeastern corner of the county, it probably should be one of the smallest schools in the county, but it is not. When Jeff Platenberg was the head of facilities, he tried to expand every school coming up for renovation, including Langley. The benefit is that some schools got expanded when construction costs were lower. The downside is that filing up a school like Langley requires redistricting, kids commuting long distances and/or reliance on pupil placements.

They will probably move more of McLean there and then send Forestville to Herndon. That might not be required based simply on capacity, but they also seem committed to reducing commuting times and Forestville is much closer to Herndon than to Langley. Plus, redistricting part of Langley would underscore that every pyramid is being affected.

I really don’t think they’ll move all of Forestville to Herndon. At best, they’ll move those with Herndon and Reston addresses to Herndon and South Lakes to reduce redundant bus routes and put a big sticker on fulfilling their cause.

McLean and Marshall both have immediate neighbors to offload students, whereas the western half of the county can use all the high school seats they can get.

If Langley looses Forestville, it’ll need to pick up another elementary school. And I don’t see that happening until Tysons ES is built someday.

I guess parents should hope Tysons gets its casino so more families don’t move in McLean HS pyramid and cause a domino effect?

There already lots of development taking place and planned in both the McLean and Marshall pyramids, regardless of what might happen with a casino later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't even live in that area but I can read a map.

The Virginia Run school zone is the closest residenial area to Westfield, which is located in a mostly non-walkable industrial area. It seems to be one of the only residential areas anywhere close to Westfield.

The Poplar Tree zone is literally walkable to Rocky Run Ms and Chantilly HS.

Why on earth would the SB move either of these areas?

Are some of you this dumb or do you have some ulterior motive in making these bizzare suggestions? Look at a map.

That came from a boundary adjustment. They added all those "transient" homes to Virginia Run not too long ago. It wasn't always like that. Maybe shift Virginia Run's boundaries and send them to Centreville. That would allow room at Westfield for Chantilly kids.

What MS are you moving to Westfields? Franklin or Rocky Run? Both are full of kids who literally walk to school. Why would the school start busing them elsewhere when there's a huge bus shortage? That makes zero sense. Use the existing buses and to move the kids who already bus, just drive 'em in the other direction. How is this hard?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are
Contigous borders a top priority?

If you don’t have contiguous boundaries you have attendance islands, which they have said they want to eliminate where possible. So that means either reassigning the islands or bridging them.

Case in point is the Tysons island now at McLean. If it’s reassigned to Langley it’s contiguous to the rest of the Langley boundary. However, it could also be bridged to the McLean boundary by reassigning a small area now at Marshall to McLean.

Since McLean is still overcrowded the odds are it will get moved to Langley but they could bridge that island while reassigning the other McLean island to Falls Church or Marshall. The other island (Timber Lane) is contiguous to both Falls Church and Marshall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regardless of whether Langley ends up at full capacity if there is now an opportunity to move Great Falls kids to a closer school that now also has capacity then they are going to consider it.

Also, Chantilly doesn’t have any current border with Herndon. Langley does. You have to go through Westfield neighborhoods to get from Chantilly to Herndon.

But again, centreville and chantilly are the two most overcrowded high schools.

And, again, there is already a specific plan to expand Centreville during its upcoming renovation. We are already spending money on the planning and soon permitting for that renovation and expansion.

You were more than happy to see Langley expanded, but apparently you want to nickel and dime Centreville now.