FCPS comprehensive boundary review

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

They’re also attempting to minimize split feeders, which is why the McLean attendance islands are often assigned to Langley and FCHS, since the islands come from split feeders assigned to those schools.

The high school attendance islands are the ones discussed most, but they’re a much bigger problem at the elementary school level, which is why Reid has mentioned the biggest boundary adjustments will happen at that level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

They’re also attempting to minimize split feeders, which is why the McLean attendance islands are often assigned to Langley and FCHS, since the islands come from split feeders assigned to those schools.

The high school attendance islands are the ones discussed most, but they’re a much bigger problem at the elementary school level, which is why Reid has mentioned the biggest boundary adjustments will happen at that level.

According to the last CIP there are 16 ES with attendance islands, compared with 3 MS and 3 HS.

[Anonymous]

It strikes me that if things really get hot and heavy later they can clean up the ES attendance islands (and maybe send those islands to different MS and HS in some cases), declare victory, and call it a day for the next five years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Wtf are you talking about? I never had an opinion on a Langley expansion one way or another.

Notice that you call it an upcoming renovation, not a complete renovation. That conversation would be different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It strikes me that if things really get hot and heavy later they can clean up the ES attendance islands (and maybe send those islands to different MS and HS in some cases), declare victory, and call it a day for the next five years.

That’s ultimately what I feel like will end up happening. Clean up some of the weirdest borders (which should probably happen anyway) and that’s that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Wtf are you talking about? I never had an opinion on a Langley expansion one way or another.

Notice that you call it an upcoming renovation, not a complete renovation. That conversation would be different.

Dude, get real. If Langley hadn’t been expanded by hundreds of seats in 2018 you would already be at Herndon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Wtf are you talking about? I never had an opinion on a Langley expansion one way or another.

Notice that you call it an upcoming renovation, not a complete renovation. That conversation would be different.

Dude, get real. If Langley hadn’t been expanded by hundreds of seats in 2018 you would already be at Herndon.

🙄 I don’t even know how to communicate with someone like you. It’s like talking to a dog. I assure you, just to repeat, that I had absolutely no opinion or role in a Langley expansion. That’s real, dude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+1. The only way Forestville gets moved is if the board wants to punish certain residents for living in a particular zip code. There is room at Langley for the attendance island

I don’t think they see it as punishment to reassign kids to schools closer to their homes. Reid said these boundary changes will be “transformational” so prepare to be transformed.

What a bizarre thing to say.

When you say closer to home, you mean as the crow flies, not commute time, in which there is a negligible difference between the two schools.

No one buys your BS any longer, and the only thing that’s negligible is the impact it will have on FCPS’s decisions.

Such hatred for your neighbors. I understand you’re grasping at straws, but the commute time argument just isn’t compelling. For instance, at the Glasgow meeting yesterday, multiple tables said that it isn’t just commute time it’s also large roads that divide communities- rte 50 in their instance, 7 in the case of Forestville.

What pyramid are you in and why do you seethe about this and focus do much on moving other people’s kids?

Pretty gross.

+1
Notice, the PP (and others) will never, ever tell you where their own kids go to school. So transparent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It strikes me that if things really get hot and heavy later they can clean up the ES attendance islands (and maybe send those islands to different MS and HS in some cases), declare victory, and call it a day for the next five years.

That’s ultimately what I feel like will end up happening. Clean up some of the weirdest borders (which should probably happen anyway) and that’s that.

That’s what should happen. You have to convince Sandy Anderson first. She will snivel at you at the thought.

[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?

You are missing nothing. While my kids attend Langley, we’re not in danger of rezoning so also have no dog in this fight. But reading through the almost rabid insistence by people demanding Forestville be sent to Hendon (who will never disclose where their *own* kids attend school), it’s pretty clear that some of these posters merely want to stick it to this community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Wtf are you talking about? I never had an opinion on a Langley expansion one way or another.

Notice that you call it an upcoming renovation, not a complete renovation. That conversation would be different.

Dude, get real. If Langley hadn’t been expanded by hundreds of seats in 2018 you would already be at Herndon.

🙄 I don’t even know how to communicate with someone like you. It’s like talking to a dog. I assure you, just to repeat, that I had absolutely no opinion or role in a Langley expansion. That’s real, dude.

+1
PP is the perfect example of the “rabid” poster.

[Anonymous]

The Langley parents tag team on anyone who suggests they might ever be redistricted. It's funny they bring up dogs, since they are worried now that their lapdog from Great Falls - Elaine Tholen - is no longer on the School Board and Robyn Lady is from Herndon and has a different perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

You are missing nothing. While my kids attend Langley, we’re not in danger of rezoning so also have no dog in this fight. But reading through the almost rabid insistence by people demanding Forestville be sent to Hendon (who will never disclose where their *own* kids attend school), it’s pretty clear that some of these posters merely want to stick it to this community.

See revised policy 8130:

"Transportation: Provide for walking and bussing safety and limit transportation times and ensure efficient transportation routes with attendance areas.

Forestville to Langley ain't it, that's just a fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Langley parents tag team on anyone who suggests they might ever be redistricted. It's funny they bring up dogs, since they are worried now that their lapdog from Great Falls - Elaine Tholen - is no longer on the School Board and Robyn Lady is from Herndon and has a different perspective.

You seem to be spiraling. Seriously consider taking a beat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Langley parents tag team on anyone who suggests they might ever be redistricted. It's funny they bring up dogs, since they are worried now that their lapdog from Great Falls - Elaine Tholen - is no longer on the School Board and Robyn Lady is from Herndon and has a different perspective.

You seem to be spiraling. Seriously consider taking a beat.

Do you mean a break? That's funny, since the Langley posters get up every morning and come on here promoting boundary changes that affect other pyramids but not Langley.