Is "Woke" School Board Member Pat Hynes a Hypocrite?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are we leaving out Strauss, Moon, McElveen, and Keys-Gamarra?

The schools potentially at issue with respect to a Jackson redistricting are in the Hunter Mill, Providence and Mason Districts (Hynes, Palchik, and Evans). But it's certainly appropriate to look at how Strauss, Moon, McElveen and Keys-Gamarra approach this as well.

Moon, McElveen and Keys-Gamarra are the At-Large members and should also be contacted with your concerns. Good Luck!

[Anonymous]

She's a total hypocrite, am not a fan and we live in another part of her district. She's not sympathetic to people at these schools unless they are FARMs and seems to see no value in AAP.

fCPS has also increased FARMs levels at some elementary centers by giving the "level iv" label to certain schools that previously did not have it and previously fed a lot of wealthy kids to those centers, it has drastically changed some percentages, just like the poster said about Lee from in the 20s to double or triple that.

Doesn't Pat live in Vienna? Does this boundary change help her personal property values?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand what renaming JEB Stuart has to do with the rest of this.

Hypocrisy. Willing to spend money to change the name of a school because it "sends a message" but does nothing to help the students. In other words, it is money wasted-but is symbolic and gets publicity for the cause.

SB members who claim to be liberal have always done this. Kathy Smith brought in poor kids to her affluent neighborhood elementary in order to get full day K. As soon as the whole county got full day K, she kicked the poor kids out and sent them to an area that did not vote for her.

Stu Gibson--Hynes predecessor--pushed to get more affluent kids into South Lakes--but refused to move his liberal supporters from North Reston to South Lakes.

Janie Strauss, though, is the worst offender. Protect affluent neighborhoods at all cost.

[Anonymous]

Either way, it is going to hurt FCPS if they push up the poverty rates at Jackson. Jackson was 44% FARMS last year. Move Oakton ES, Marshall Road ES and/or Mosby Woods ES out of Jackson to Thoreau, and the FARMS rate could go over 50%. Then Falls Church HS will have two middle school feeders (Poe and Jackson) that are both majority FARMS, and the entire pyramid will take a big hit. Courtesy of the FCPS Facilities Staff and the local Democrats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand what renaming JEB Stuart has to do with the rest of this.

Hypocrisy. Willing to spend money to change the name of a school because it "sends a message" but does nothing to help the students. In other words, it is money wasted-but is symbolic and gets publicity for the cause.

SB members who claim to be liberal have always done this. Kathy Smith brought in poor kids to her affluent neighborhood elementary in order to get full day K. As soon as the whole county got full day K, she kicked the poor kids out and sent them to an area that did not vote for her.

Stu Gibson--Hynes predecessor--pushed to get more affluent kids into South Lakes--but refused to move his liberal supporters from North Reston to South Lakes.

Janie Strauss, though, is the worst offender. Protect affluent neighborhoods at all cost.

I have no problem with and am fine with the decision to rename JEB Stuart HS.

I just wish that School Board members displayed the same courage when it came to matters that have a more direct impact on schools in FCPS. It doesn't take much political capital to bash dead Confederates 150 years after the Civil War, but it requires real guts to adjust school boundaries in ways that displease wealthier people.

Given how outspoken Pat Hynes was about Stuart, you'd think she'd be objecting loudly to the plans to move Jackson students to Thoreau. But she's been silent as a clam, and everything suggests she and other Democrats on the SB will hide behind a staff recommendation, even when that recommendation could not be more at odds with the "One Fairfax" resolution.

[Anonymous]

Has anyone posting here contacted school board members? I think that might be good in addition to bringing attention to it here. I think all school districts should take reasonable steps to try to keep FARM rates below 50 percent when possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She's a total hypocrite, am not a fan and we live in another part of her district. She's not sympathetic to people at these schools unless they are FARMs and seems to see no value in AAP.

fCPS has also increased FARMs levels at some elementary centers by giving the "level iv" label to certain schools that previously did not have it and previously fed a lot of wealthy kids to those centers, it has drastically changed some percentages, just like the poster said about Lee from in the 20s to double or triple that.

Doesn't Pat live in Vienna? Does this boundary change help her personal property values?

She lives in Reston in a very diverse neighborhood economically and racially.

[Anonymous]

Are all the neighborhoods discussed here in Hynes district?

[Anonymous]

Her daughters went to school in Vienna though.
She has no appreciation of having her own kids in schools with higher FARMS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are all the neighborhoods discussed here in Hynes district?

Most of the Marshall Road ES attendance area is in Hynes' district.

Oakton ES, Mosby Woods ES, Jackson MS, Thoreau MS, and Oakton HS are in Palchik's district, as is Woodburn ES (which could be moved to Poe instead)

Poe MS and Falls Church HS are in Evans' district, as is Camelot ES (which could be moved to Poe instead).

The title of the thread should have mentioned Dalia Palchik rather than Hynes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand what renaming JEB Stuart has to do with the rest of this.

Hypocrisy. Willing to spend money to change the name of a school because it "sends a message" but does nothing to help the students. In other words, it is money wasted-but is symbolic and gets publicity for the cause.

SB members who claim to be liberal have always done this. Kathy Smith brought in poor kids to her affluent neighborhood elementary in order to get full day K. As soon as the whole county got full day K, she kicked the poor kids out and sent them to an area that did not vote for her.

Stu Gibson--Hynes predecessor--pushed to get more affluent kids into South Lakes--but refused to move his liberal supporters from North Reston to South Lakes.

Janie Strauss, though, is the worst offender. Protect affluent neighborhoods at all cost.

I have no problem with and am fine with the decision to rename JEB Stuart HS.

I just wish that School Board members displayed the same courage when it came to matters that have a more direct impact on schools in FCPS. It doesn't take much political capital to bash dead Confederates 150 years after the Civil War, but it requires real guts to adjust school boundaries in ways that displease wealthier people.

Given how outspoken Pat Hynes was about Stuart, you'd think she'd be objecting loudly to the plans to move Jackson students to Thoreau. But she's been silent as a clam, and everything suggests she and other Democrats on the SB will hide behind a staff recommendation, even when that recommendation could not be more at odds with the "One Fairfax" resolution.

Do all of you on this thread realize that Mosby Woods (as a whole) is 25% FARMS... and really, that's deceptively low b/c the FARMS numbers in the base school population are being masked by the AAP kids (i.e. the FARMS numbers in the AAP part of Mosby are lower -- thereby making the base school's FARMS numbers appear lower than they are). The AAP part of Mosby goes to about 6 different middle schools, so those lower-FARMS parts of Mosby will not be re-zone to Thoreau (b/c many are already zoned for Lanier, and Rocky Run and Frost).

I don't know what the exact numbers of FARMS is in the Mosby Woods base school + Mosby Woods-based AAP kids, but I would expect it is somewhere around 35% or more. Those kids would be going to Thoreau under the re-zoning plan. Marshall Road is 25% FARMS overall, and I would think the part of Marshall Rd that would be re-zoned is probably the needier part of the boundary (based on housing). This move IS bringing greater diversity to Thoreau. Currently Thoreau has about 11% FARMS. This re-zoning will bump that up significantly.

And as much as you don't want to lose the OES, MWES, and MRES students from Jackson --- Someone needs to be zoned into Thoreau. That is where the capacity is.

[Anonymous]

I just think they should do a study on whatlevels left at Falls Church and Luther Jackson after the split and do a projection out for several years based on other trends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand what renaming JEB Stuart has to do with the rest of this.

Hypocrisy. Willing to spend money to change the name of a school because it "sends a message" but does nothing to help the students. In other words, it is money wasted-but is symbolic and gets publicity for the cause.

SB members who claim to be liberal have always done this. Kathy Smith brought in poor kids to her affluent neighborhood elementary in order to get full day K. As soon as the whole county got full day K, she kicked the poor kids out and sent them to an area that did not vote for her.

Stu Gibson--Hynes predecessor--pushed to get more affluent kids into South Lakes--but refused to move his liberal supporters from North Reston to South Lakes.

Janie Strauss, though, is the worst offender. Protect affluent neighborhoods at all cost.

I have no problem with and am fine with the decision to rename JEB Stuart HS.

I just wish that School Board members displayed the same courage when it came to matters that have a more direct impact on schools in FCPS. It doesn't take much political capital to bash dead Confederates 150 years after the Civil War, but it requires real guts to adjust school boundaries in ways that displease wealthier people.

Given how outspoken Pat Hynes was about Stuart, you'd think she'd be objecting loudly to the plans to move Jackson students to Thoreau. But she's been silent as a clam, and everything suggests she and other Democrats on the SB will hide behind a staff recommendation, even when that recommendation could not be more at odds with the "One Fairfax" resolution.

Do all of you on this thread realize that Mosby Woods (as a whole) is 25% FARMS... and really, that's deceptively low b/c the FARMS numbers in the base school population are being masked by the AAP kids (i.e. the FARMS numbers in the AAP part of Mosby are lower -- thereby making the base school's FARMS numbers appear lower than they are). The AAP part of Mosby goes to about 6 different middle schools, so those lower-FARMS parts of Mosby will not be re-zone to Thoreau (b/c many are already zoned for Lanier, and Rocky Run and Frost).

I don't know what the exact numbers of FARMS is in the Mosby Woods base school + Mosby Woods-based AAP kids, but I would expect it is somewhere around 35% or more. Those kids would be going to Thoreau under the re-zoning plan. Marshall Road is 25% FARMS overall, and I would think the part of Marshall Rd that would be re-zoned is probably the needier part of the boundary (based on housing). This move IS bringing greater diversity to Thoreau. Currently Thoreau has about 11% FARMS. This re-zoning will bump that up significantly.

And as much as you don't want to lose the OES, MWES, and MRES students from Jackson --- Someone needs to be zoned into Thoreau. That is where the capacity is.

In this instance, increasing the diversity at Thoreau is less important than (1) not pushing the FARMS rates at Jackson higher - which moving out 25% FARMS schools from a school that is currently 45% FARMS would do; and (2) taking advantage of the excess capacity at Poe, which is greater than the excess capacity at Thoreau. Without boundary changes, FCPS has Thoreau at 91% capacity in 2022-23 in the latest CIP, and Poe at only 67%.

[Anonymous]

Jackson's membership will continue to rise. That Merrifield area is one of the Fairfax County zones of development (p. 121 of the CIP). The projection is for Jackson to be 100 students above capacity in 5 yrs (assuming 300 are siphoned off with re-zoning now/near term). I wouldn't be surprised if some kids need to be zoned out of Jackson and into Poe at a later date.

The percentage of FARMS being moved out of Jackson is going to be higher than 25% of the moved group. But, even if we don't know that exactly percentage....

You still haven't addressed the other half of the reason for this rezoning.... Thoreau HAS 350 extra seats. You think those should just sit idle while Poe (which already has more than it's share of needy kids) takes on MORE needy kids? That doesn't make sense.

I get it -- you want to protect the LJMS rankings (and property values). But, you're only solving half of the equation. Thoreau has 912 kids in a school that is designed for 1350. I am happy to send my kid to a school that has so much extra space (and is new-ish too!).

Seriously, though... Thoreau has space for more kids. Jackson doesn't have enough space for the kids it has. Whatever else is happening... those are the two primary issues that need to be resolved. Everything else is secondary.

So, which kids from Jackson are going to be sent to Thoreau? It makes sense that the two ES that are ALREADY split feeders to Thoreau/Jackson should be consolidated to Thoreau feeders. Then the only remaining school at issue is Mosby. If it is not re-zoned, then it becomes the only ES feeder at Jackson that goes onto Oakton. That puts those kids in an awkward position (as it also puts the OES->OHS kids and the MRES->OHS kids who move to TMS in an awkward position) b/c their MS-->HS cohorts are very small.

So, logically, it makes sense to move them all so that they create an OHS cohort at TMS.

Sometimes it's not about the racial/economic factors. Sometimes it's just about the logistics and social factors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jackson's membership will continue to rise. That Merrifield area is one of the Fairfax County zones of development (p. 121 of the CIP). The projection is for Jackson to be 100 students above capacity in 5 yrs (assuming 300 are siphoned off with re-zoning now/near term). I wouldn't be surprised if some kids need to be zoned out of Jackson and into Poe at a later date.

The percentage of FARMS being moved out of Jackson is going to be higher than 25% of the moved group. But, even if we don't know that exactly percentage....

You still haven't addressed the other half of the reason for this rezoning.... Thoreau HAS 350 extra seats. You think those should just sit idle while Poe (which already has more than it's share of needy kids) takes on MORE needy kids? That doesn't make sense.

I get it -- you want to protect the LJMS rankings (and property values). But, you're only solving half of the equation. Thoreau has 912 kids in a school that is designed for 1350. I am happy to send my kid to a school that has so much extra space (and is new-ish too!).

Seriously, though... Thoreau has space for more kids. Jackson doesn't have enough space for the kids it has. Whatever else is happening... those are the two primary issues that need to be resolved. Everything else is secondary.

So, which kids from Jackson are going to be sent to Thoreau? It makes sense that the two ES that are ALREADY split feeders to Thoreau/Jackson should be consolidated to Thoreau feeders. Then the only remaining school at issue is Mosby. If it is not re-zoned, then it becomes the only ES feeder at Jackson that goes onto Oakton. That puts those kids in an awkward position (as it also puts the OES->OHS kids and the MRES->OHS kids who move to TMS in an awkward position) b/c their MS-->HS cohorts are very small.

So, logically, it makes sense to move them all so that they create an OHS cohort at TMS.

Sometimes it's not about the racial/economic factors. Sometimes it's just about the logistics and social factors.

If you care about split feeders you ought to be aghast at the prospect of turning Thoreau into a three-way split feeders to Madison, Oakton, and Marshall. And please don’t ask us to pretend you give a rat’s ass about Poe or what FCPS’s proposal to further concentrate poverty at Jackson.

If filling seats at Thoreau while leaving even a higher percentage of empty seats at Poe is really an imperative, FCPS could move part of Kilmer to Thoreau. The plan you favor is just more opportunism by people who never pass up s chance to cry “logistics” when it will distance themselves from lower-income kids.