FCPS Boundary Review Updates

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:How are people finding out specifically what schools are up for grabs? Is if conjecture or is there info somewhere?

Conjecture. An educated guess based on the School Boards comments. I can fully see some of the border shifts that are being discussed, they fit with what the school board has laid out as their reasoning for redistricting.

But there is a lot of fear mongering with the hope that if the groups raise the alarm and FOIAing documents and pointing out how awful the school board is people will place pressure on the school board. This is coming from the same schools with the same posters. I would love to see an analysis of what percent of posters are responsible for the conversation in this topic. I suspect that a relativly small number of posters are responsible for the lions share of the posts.

Anyone who sees pros, to go along with the cons, is shouted down by the people who are violently opposed to any changes that moves their kids. There have been some good suggestions made in the topics, but they are hard to find.

I fully expect there to be large shifts in the Herndon, Centerville, Chantilly, South Lakes, Oakton, Westfield area because of the issues with over crowding and space available in some of the schools. The ES situation is problematic, and those shifts will affect MS and HS. That has been touched on a bit but for the most part the loudest voices have been the Great Falls and WSHS families.

FCPS is too big and really should be broken into smaller districts, but I doubt that is going to happen.

I think the opposition is fanning this flame - they keep bringing up Langley and Herndon all the time. It just creates a response. No where was that discussed in any meeting. But - there they are saying it will happen because of equity. The county, in their view, will pay extra, drive longer distances, just to bus people from GF Village all the way to HHS. Going after trans was the last election, CRT the one before, now it's equity driven boundary change.

From Forestville, 2 minutes longer to cooper than HMS. From Forestville, 9 minutes longer to Langley than HHS. Don’t take my word for it. Check on maps at relevant times of the day.

The narrative about transportation savings is a chimera.

That 9 minutes is significant if they are trying to save costs via bus. It’s not just traveling TO Langley, but also the time it takes to get to those neighborhoods potentially out of route.

DP. You know what's a lot more significant? The wasted almost empty buses that traverse the county to take AAP kids to centers - when they already have AAP in their base school. THAT'S not only grossly wasteful and redundant, but also the very definition of INequity. I certainly hope the SB gets rid of centers and their associated busing before moving a single child to a new school.

Agreed! AAP centers should be the first thing to cut when there is a budget shortfall. That includes the elementary school specialists who work with 3 kids a day and give a lesson once a month.

The AART at our ES was part time. She provided classes for all the kids, plus the LIII pull out, plus a LIV pull out because our school uses the cluster method. DS brought home projects in K-2 that were completed with the AART and enjoyed the LIII pull outs. She was busy, her time was not wasted.

DP. I’m sorry, but this Level 1-3 nonsense is BS. Pull out here, pull out there - it all adds up to a big waste of time. There simply needs to be an AAP grouping for all four core classes that ALL kids have an opportunity to do. Those who need to fall back a level could easily do so if there were flexible groupings. Whoever came up with the current convoluted system was an idiot.

That isn’t what happens with flexible groupings thought. The reality (as parent and a teacher) is that admin then tells you never to meet with the AAP kids because they don’t need it and to focus on the regular kids who need regular instruction and the “bubble’ kids who can pass assessments with lots of extra help.

The AAP kids get sidelined (which I suppose makes you happy) and never get to have small group time with the teacher.

In AAP, those kids aleast can move a little faster.

Baloney. As another teacher and a parent. They already have 2E kids in AAP. Do you think those kids move as fast as the other AAP?

+1
Not to mention, the SPED kids with all kinds of learning disabilities are grouped in the Gen Ed classes, making those kids unable to move as fast as they could otherwise. But somehow, I bet that's ok with the PP. As long as AAP kids get to be separate.

Do NOT dump your ignorance and nastiness on disabled kids. Disabled kids are not a monolith, and many compete with and exceed AAP kids.
Disgusting.

Look - you've posted several times about this. This has nothing to do with "disabled kids," and everything to do with the fact the people like YOU seem to think AAP kids should be insulated from any of the distractions that Gen Ed kids have to put up with on a daily basis. As long as your AAP kid gets to learn in peace, who cares what kind of experience Gen Ed kids have?

I bet you have no problem claiming, "some Gen Ed kids couldn't possibly keep up with AAP kids!" (there are very few who couldn't, btw). So just be honest and admit that many students with disabilities ALSO aren't able to keep up with the Gen Ed students. It works both ways, whether you find it "disgusting" to speak the truth or not.

Gen Ed kids deserve a learning environment where they are free from distractions too.

There must be a bunch of us then, because this is the first time I posted in response to a nasty comment about disabled kids.
I find the comments about Gen Ed and AAP kids to be disgusting too, but your nastiness toward special Ed was a bridge too far.
Stop demeaning kids. You clearly know nothing and are happy to let us all know that fact.

What is demeaning is insisting one group of kids (AAP) deserves a separate learning environment, while the other group (Gen Ed) doesn't. That's the very definition of INequality and you know it, as much as you are trying to make this about non-existent "nasty comments about disabled kids."

[Anonymous]

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Well-funded is FairFACTS matters who raised over 40 grand in a couple of months. They are less well funded because the GFCA realized how toxic they are.

Not a member of FairFacts. I've no idea who is running it. But, if you think 40 grand will compete with FCPS who spends millions and millions every day with no thought, 40 grand is miniscule. David vs Goliath.

1.$500K along on a "consultant" that is providing cover for the School board. And, I seriously doubt that the $$$ to Thru will stop at $500K--on a no bid contract.

2. Do you think all these meetings with communities are free? Custodians, staffing, etc? Do you think staff is not being paid for this?

3. A "lottery" with witnesses and video proving that something smells--and no serious response from FCPS.

4. Committee members who are known activists that will support the School Board. (Irony alert--one of the proponents of the SB and "equity warrior" does not want her own neighborhood moved. Talk about hypocrite.)

5. Using overcrowding as an excuse when the most overcrowded schools are functioning well. And, one of them will rapidly lose population over the next years.

6. No discussion on the School Board about eliminating IB which would limit pupil placement and likely bring "more affluent" students back to less affluent schools--and, incidentally bring great savings to FCPS--by eliminating need for high school redistricting and keeping the community happy.

7. Going through with this when so many citizens and families are worried about careers and future.

This is the last thing Fairfax County needs right now.

What idiotic comments.
The district needs the solve over and under crowding of our schools, but some people just need to keep making it about them and their "house values" which we all know is code for redlining and keeping "the poors" out.
FCPS taped the lottery with a lawyer and the Fairfax PTSA President. If that isn't good enough for you, nothing will be
Stop going after parents and volunteers on the committee because it just makes you look like a bigger liar than you already are.

1. When you don't have a good argument, crying racism is your fallback. If schools are overcrowded, then fix them. Right now, it appears that is not a problem with the high schools. We know that population is falling in some of them and those schools seem to be working. And, there are many schools that are working fine, but will be dominoed into this process.
2. Yes, the lottery was taped. That is a good thing, but we still do not know what happened. It has been reported that there were other issues aside from #35. Why hasn't there been a decent explanation?
3. What makes me a liar? Did not one of the BRAC committee members claim that her neighborhood should not be moved?

Amen. She and her other compatriot love to cry racism and staying away from poor people, when in reality, they’re more racist and classist than anyone they attack.

Pathetic school board lapdogs, and as been said before, very clearly gatehouse.

I think they are parents who want to move other kids into their schools.

In some instances, they just want to see successful schools brought down a notch. You can't spend any time watching some of the School Board members or partisans in groups like "4 Public Education" without very quickly noticing how much they resent certain schools.

+1000

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I hate how people on this thread keep saying “no one wants boundary changes” when there are posts supportive of a comprehensive review and explaining the reasons. More bullying and dismissiveness by the well-funded, self-interested, entitled opponents.

I am a teacher and I think this is absolutely needed. Not necessarily on an equity stand point but due to operational. There are many kids going to schools that are farther away when other schools are closer. That should be fixed. Some of the boundaries truly make no sense. The piece meal boundary solutions are a quick fix approach but then another school becomes over capacity. The whole system needs an overhaul. I hope also get rid of split feeders. It should be these 8 ES go to this middle school and this high school. I think AP should be offered at all high schools and more languages should be offered at base schools. AAP centers should go away and everyone shoukd be educated at their base schools. There should be specific SPED programming in all pyramids so those kids don’t need crazy long bus rides.

I think most parents on here not wanting this are at risk of moving to a less desirable school.

Adding on.. I do think 6th, 8th, 11th and 12th should be grandfathered to whatever decisions.

How do you feel about residency checks for high school and middle school?

That, and eliminating IB should be the first step in this process

And eliminating AAP centers.
DP

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:More than $50,000 is extremely well funded opposition. It’s weird that PP can’t admit that.

Wait, there’s a 50k[b] oppo campaign?

Yes. The great falls community has funded fairfacts matter at 50K or more. They know they’re vulnerable to redistricting because they’ve looked at a map. They have historically fought any change to their area and succeeded because of wealth, influence and very loud voices.

Very loud and uniquely nasty. Especially this time around because they sense the dynamics on the SB have changed.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:More than $50,000 is extremely well funded opposition. It’s weird that PP can’t admit that.

Wait, there’s a 50k[b] oppo campaign?

Yes. The great falls community has funded fairfacts matter at 50K or more. They know they’re vulnerable to redistricting because they’ve looked at a map. They have historically fought any change to their area and succeeded because of wealth, influence and very loud voices.

Very loud and uniquely nasty. Especially this time around because they sense the dynamics on the SB have changed.

What school are your kids zoned for?

[Anonymous]

Since the BRAC meeting was canceled this week, do we know the next date yet?

[Anonymous]

My child’s middle school currently feeds three high schools - per pp it is not as simple as a thru line from es-Ms-hs. Agree better answer is residency checks and looking at IB and AAP centers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child’s middle school currently feeds three high schools - per pp it is not as simple as a thru line from es-Ms-hs. Agree better answer is residency checks and looking at IB and AAP centers.

It’s crazy that they can’t be bothered to explore these common-sense things but are enamored of big changes that are either highly disruptive, totally impractical, or both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since the BRAC meeting was canceled this week, do we know the next date yet?

People keep asking but they are secret and closed and subject to NDAs. Just like any good public, transparent process.

[Anonymous]

Why do you assume those of us with a special ed student don’t also have neurotypical and non-disabled children? My senior is intellectually disabled and autistic; my sophomore is in an all honors classes straight A student. We need voices representing special ed children, but I’m also interested and well versed in issues for non-disabled children too.

Imagine feeling slighted by disabled special ed children being represented. Also, a large percentage of special ed students in FCPS are in fact in general ed classrooms. Maybe learn something about the subject matter before lighting the torch at your oppression olympics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child’s middle school currently feeds three high schools - per pp it is not as simple as a thru line from es-Ms-hs. Agree better answer is residency checks and looking at IB and AAP centers.

Okay, but if you get rid of AAP in favor of tracking within a school know that if you have a complaint about another child in your child’s class there is NO OTHER CLASS for your kid or that kid to switch to.

They are stuck with those same peers OR will be working below their current levels. If we do away with having multiple levels within a class, (know as heterogeneous grouping) those kids you all complain about can’t be easily switched to another teacher nor can your kid.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My child’s middle school currently feeds three high schools - per pp it is not as simple as a thru line from es-Ms-hs. Agree better answer is residency checks and looking at IB and AAP centers.

It’s crazy that they can’t be bothered to explore these common-sense things but are enamored of big changes that are either highly disruptive, totally impractical, or both.

Isn’t the “everyone stays at their home school” scenario exactly this?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My child’s middle school currently feeds three high schools - per pp it is not as simple as a thru line from es-Ms-hs. Agree better answer is residency checks and looking at IB and AAP centers.

It’s crazy that they can’t be bothered to explore these common-sense things but are enamored of big changes that are either highly disruptive, totally impractical, or both.

Isn’t the “everyone stays at their home school” scenario exactly this?

Would be amazing if the BRAC was like, yep, that’s the solution.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My child’s middle school currently feeds three high schools - per pp it is not as simple as a thru line from es-Ms-hs. Agree better answer is residency checks and looking at IB and AAP centers.

It’s crazy that they can’t be bothered to explore these common-sense things but are enamored of big changes that are either highly disruptive, totally impractical, or both.

Isn’t the “everyone stays at their home school” scenario exactly this?

No. It is a common sense solution that saves money and affects far fewer students and families.

It should include getting rid of IB.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My child’s middle school currently feeds three high schools - per pp it is not as simple as a thru line from es-Ms-hs. Agree better answer is residency checks and looking at IB and AAP centers.

Okay, but if you get rid of AAP in favor of tracking within a school know that if you have a complaint about another child in your child’s class there is NO OTHER CLASS for your kid or that kid to switch to.

They are stuck with those same peers OR will be working below their current levels. If we do away with having multiple levels within a class, (know as heterogeneous grouping) those kids you all complain about can’t be easily switched to another teacher nor can your kid.

Wow! I was a teacher for quite some time and never had a child removed from my class because of another child. I don't recall this happening in any of my kids' classes either.

How often have you done this with your child?