Freedom Hill Elementary in Vienna

[Anonymous]

Ms.Price was my teacher in 5th grade and Mr. S

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Compare for yourself by looking at http://www.fcps.edu/fts/dashboard/enrollment/esenroll14-15.html then select to two schools:

In summary Vienna ES is right at capacity +/- 5-6 students for the next 5 years; Freedom Hill ES will be become ~60-65 over capacity over the next 5 years. Also because Freedom Hill has 2 Early Childhood and 2 Intellectual Disability classrooms, those classrooms have a number limitation and cannot be counted as full classrooms.

Cunningham Park interestingly is under capacity and will remain so over the next 5 years...maybe that is a better location to move kids from either of these two areas?

HA that would scare off the PPs- they are just trying to move to Madison (you know, if you move all Vienna- not only town of Vienna- houses from Freedom Hill- they are happy. I do think the Cunningham Park might help since Freedom Hill is forecaster to overcapacity.

As an non-Town of Vienna resident whose school is Vienna Elementary, I would be THRILLED to be re-districted to Cunningham Park. That would be a better fit for us. I hope they consider that in the near future.

Why is that? I thought Vienna had a better reputation than Cunningham Park..?

Not sure about this poster, but two people have said Vienna Elementary has changed and become a little too wealthy for them.

Now THAT is a a huge problem, more money for the school, tsk, tsk.

[Anonymous]

A message from FAIRFAX COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS


Dear Parents/Guardians:

Thank you to everyone in the community for the valuable feedback you provided during the community engagement meetings in June.

At the meetings, we discussed four options for changing the attendance boundary for students who live in the impacted catchment area noted in the following link and currently attend Freedom Hill Elementary School. http://www.fcps.edu/fts/planning/freedomhillviennamap.pdf

Based on the feedback we received, no changes will be made to the attendance boundaries for Freedom Hill ES and Vienna ES for the 2015-16 school year.

The School Board will vote in September on a proposed boundary change that would include a phased-in approach. The following summarizes the proposal that will be considered by the Board:

Effective September 2016, kindergarten and 1st-4th graders who live in the catchment area will be reassigned from Freedom Hill Elementary School to Vienna Elementary School. Transportation will be provided for these students. Students who are found eligible for AAP Center Services will be assigned to Louise Archer ES for this program. Transportation will be provided for these students.

Effective September 2016, students who are in 5th and 6th grade, along with their siblings, from this catchment area will be allowed to remain at Freedom Hill ES. Siblings of these students may remain at their current school through 2017-18. After that time, they will be assigned to Vienna ES.

To assist with this transition, FCPS will provide transportation from the catchment area to both schools during the 2016-17 school year and during the 2017-18 school year.

Beginning in 2016-17, FCPS will provide AAP bus transportation from the impacted catchment area to Louise Archer ES only.

Effective September 2018, transportation of students from this catchment area will only be to Vienna Elementary School and AAP students will be transported to Louise Archer ES.

We have taken note of other issues raised during the community engagement process. One of these issues was the demographics of the schools should this change be implemented. We have conducted an analysis and found that this change will have little to no effect on student demographics at either school.

We will also consider the recommendation that we conduct a more comprehensive study of school boundaries in this area of the county. This recommendation will be considered for inclusion in the next iteration of the Capital Improvement Program. Finally, please note that, in accordance with our policy, we will continue to provide the opportunity for parents to apply for pupil placement where applicable.

If you have any questions about how the proposed change will impact your student, please feel free to contact us. Thank you again for participating in the process. We will continue to update you as we move forward.


Sincerely,

Douglas Tyson
Assistant Superintendent, Region 1
[e-mail]



Fabio Zuluaga
Assistant Superintendent, Region 2
[e-mail]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A message from FAIRFAX COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

... Effective September 2016, kindergarten and 1st-4th graders who live in the catchment area will be reassigned from Freedom Hill Elementary School to Vienna Elementary School. Transportation will be provided for these students. Students who are found eligible for AAP Center Services will be assigned to Louise Archer ES for this program. Transportation will be provided for these students.

Effective September 2016, students who are in 5th and 6th grade, along with their siblings, from this catchment area will be allowed to remain at Freedom Hill ES. Siblings of these students may remain at their current school through 2017-18. After that time, they will be assigned to Vienna ES.

So if this boundary change will impact you and you will need SACC at VES, you should get on the SACC waitlist NOW for the 2016/17 and/or the 2017/18 school year. It WILL take that long to get in.

[Anonymous]

Yeah...good luck with that...that wait list moves like maple syrup on a cold winter's day in Quebec!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah...good luck with that...that wait list moves like maple syrup on a cold winter's day in Quebec!

The good news is that the SACC waiting list at Vienna Elementary isn't as long as some of the other schools. We were #80 when we got on the list and got a spot in about 18 months.

[Anonymous]

Your opinion of good news is odd considering you can get into Freedom Hill SACC within 6 months...been there done that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your opinion of good news is odd considering you can get into Freedom Hill SACC within 6 months...been there done that.

I guess everything is relative. I have friends in other FCPS schools whose children have been on the waiting list since the year before kindergarten-one child is in 2nd grade and other in 3rd grade (different schools) and still don't have a SACC spot.

[Anonymous]

Nothing about the boundaries really makes any sense. Louise Archer is very over crowded. Half of Madison lives in the hills next to Dulles toll road ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your opinion of good news is odd considering you can get into Freedom Hill SACC within 6 months...been there done that.

I guess everything is relative. I have friends in other FCPS schools whose children have been on the waiting list since the year before kindergarten-one child is in 2nd grade and other in 3rd grade (different schools) and still don't have a SACC spot.

Yes, but if you currently have a spot in SACC at FHES, and you are impacted by the boundary change, FCPS cannot guarantee you a spot in VES SACC. They will say they will "make every effort" to do so, but they cannot guarantee you the new spot. So, if you have already "done your time" on a wait list to get into SACC at FHES and they re-boundary you, you may not have SACC at VES for another 18+ months. So again, it would be in your best interest if you need SACC and will be directly impacted by the boundary change, to get on the VES wait list as soon as practicable.

[Anonymous]

It really does not speak well of Freedom Hill if they spent all that time meeting with people and the net result is that the people at Freedom Hill who want to move to Vienna get to do so, and none of the Marshall families at Vienna want to move to Freedom Hill.

[Anonymous]

None of the Marshall/Vienna families were part of the expedited boundary process request to begin with...so there was no option provided by staff that would have included them.

Has nothing to do with "speaking well"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None of the Marshall/Vienna families were part of the expedited boundary process request to begin with...so there was no option provided by staff that would have included them.

Has nothing to do with "speaking well"

There were meetings held at both schools and this has been discussed for months. Obviously, if the Marshall families at Vienna wanted to move to Freedom Hill, that would have surfaced by now and they'd be moving as well.

[Anonymous]

Again, since you are hard of hearing...

Whether they were at the public meetings or not; they were not part of the original request and no option was provided by staff that would have included them. Staff solely addressed the original request from some Town of Vienna families within the Freedom Hill boundary.

[Anonymous]

My understanding is that some of the town of Vienna freedom hill parents do not want to move because Vienna ES does not have a local level 4, so the level 3 kids will not be placed in level 4. Plus, those that are currently freedom hill aap get Kilmer, not Jackson as their middle school. They prefer Kilmer to jackson for obvious reasons.