Fall 2022 Over/Under-Enrollment at FCPS High Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

Why do you keep dragging West Springfield into your discussion about overenrolled schools when WSHS is around the average enrollment capacity of the majority of fcps high schools? Why do you call WS a "white" school when it is majority minority with one of the highest percentages of African American students in all of FCPS?

It is such a bizarre fixation to have this strange focus on one school that is not over enrolled and has one of the most compact boundaries in the county. It is almost as if you are trolling.

You appear to lack the self-awareness to realize you're proving PP's point.

And there's not just one poster noting that, if the School Board was more focused, they'd pay more attention to the disparity between the enrollments at Lewis and surrounding schools, including West Springfield.

Definitely one poster obsesssed with WSHS who posts here all the time.

They constantly triies to turn a thread about schools 30% or more over enrolled into a thread about a school only 5% over enrolled, similar enrollment to the majority of FCPS high schools.

I have posted about the disparities between West Springfield and Lewis and am definitely not the only one PP ends up sparring with. So you can shelve the "one obsessed poster" because others also see the disparities.

There's a huge difference in total enrollment between West Springfield (2650) and Lewis (1685). Also, West Springfield has the second-highest number of white kids of any HS in FCPS (1289) while Lewis - with which West Springfield shares a long border - has the fewest (193).

Ask yourself if a School Board that really cares about "equity" would not be taking a harder look at Lewis, or at the boundaries in that general area. And, yes, it would include a look at whether the IB program at Lewis is helping or hurting the school. And, yes, Lewis also borders other schools besides West Springfield (Annandale, Edison, Hayfield, and South County), although none of those other schools currently has as many students or is as over-enrolled as West Springfield.

You make it extremely personal with other posters, when it's really about the huge gap between the School Board's talk about "equity" and what they really do (or don't do).

Why do you care so much?

I swear the people who constantly bring up Lewis on DCUM (and target WSHS in the process) are people who live in areas zoned for Lewis and are resentful.

People who get screwed again and again do tend to build up some resentment. Not sure why you would expect something different.

Oh, please.

So, there won't be any resentment if some WS students are rezoned to Lewis. Good to hear.

Weren't there adjustments to the Springfield magisterial district that supposedly were intended to protect Democrats if Laura Jane Cohen and her colleagues moved part of West Springfield to Lewis?

Yes.

It was a last minute backdoor deal which changed the final redistricting plan, overnight, without allowing the community to give feedback or the current supervisor any heads up until it was a done deal.

They moved the neighborhoods that are walkable to the Springfield Government center over to Lee district, and annexed neghborhoods across town somewhere near Vienna, so that everyone involved has to now drive across town to access things like early voting and their board of supervisor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking at the McLean/Langley problem.
1. these schools were redistricted in 1984 and nothing has changed since that time, despite huge numbers of houses being built in the Tysons area that are all districted to Longfellow/McLean.
2. there are multiple neighborhoods in McLean that are much closer (even walkable) to Langley that continue to be sent to McLean - send those back to Langley
3. Great Falls needs its own high school. The vast majority of kids at Langley live in GF (many drive more than 30 minutes to school). Rather than expanding other schools there needs to be a 7-12 school that serves Great Falls.

Why should great falls get its own high school when that is one of the least crowded areas in the entire county?

because that would allow the rest of McLean to be split between McLean and Langely rather than having most of McLean at McLean HS. The vast majority of students at Langley are from GF.
Right now Franklin Sherman ES (right in the center of McLean but far closer to LHS than MHS) goes almost entirely to McLean. Each 6th grade class sends approximately 5% of their students to Langley. this makes zero sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

Why do you keep dragging West Springfield into your discussion about overenrolled schools when WSHS is around the average enrollment capacity of the majority of fcps high schools? Why do you call WS a "white" school when it is majority minority with one of the highest percentages of African American students in all of FCPS?

It is such a bizarre fixation to have this strange focus on one school that is not over enrolled and has one of the most compact boundaries in the county. It is almost as if you are trolling.

You appear to lack the self-awareness to realize you're proving PP's point.

And there's not just one poster noting that, if the School Board was more focused, they'd pay more attention to the disparity between the enrollments at Lewis and surrounding schools, including West Springfield.

Definitely one poster obsesssed with WSHS who posts here all the time.

They constantly triies to turn a thread about schools 30% or more over enrolled into a thread about a school only 5% over enrolled, similar enrollment to the majority of FCPS high schools.

I have posted about the disparities between West Springfield and Lewis and am definitely not the only one PP ends up sparring with. So you can shelve the "one obsessed poster" because others also see the disparities.

There's a huge difference in total enrollment between West Springfield (2650) and Lewis (1685). Also, West Springfield has the second-highest number of white kids of any HS in FCPS (1289) while Lewis - with which West Springfield shares a long border - has the fewest (193).

Ask yourself if a School Board that really cares about "equity" would not be taking a harder look at Lewis, or at the boundaries in that general area. And, yes, it would include a look at whether the IB program at Lewis is helping or hurting the school. And, yes, Lewis also borders other schools besides West Springfield (Annandale, Edison, Hayfield, and South County), although none of those other schools currently has as many students or is as over-enrolled as West Springfield.

You make it extremely personal with other posters, when it's really about the huge gap between the School Board's talk about "equity" and what they really do (or don't do).

Why do you care so much?

I swear the people who constantly bring up Lewis on DCUM (and target WSHS in the process) are people who live in areas zoned for Lewis and are resentful.

People who get screwed again and again do tend to build up some resentment. Not sure why you would expect something different.

Oh, please.

So, there won't be any resentment if some WS students are rezoned to Lewis. Good to hear.

New poster.

Owning a house that you purchased at $100,000-$200.000 less than houses in a neighboring district knowing perfectly well that the price was lower due to a lower performing high school, is very different than paying a premium and sacrificing things like space for a house zoned for a specific school, then losing $100,000-$200,000 or more in equity, overnight, perhaps putting your house under water, if your house gets rezoned to one of the lowest rated schools in FCPS.

Especially since rezoning a neighborhood will make zero impact on Lewis' ranking, as many of those kids will find a way to not attend Lewis using the AP/IB loophole, or a language not offered at Lewis, or Catholic school.

The only thing rezoning a neighborhood out of Lewis will do is bring down the property values in a significant way for the neighborhood rezoned.

It is ridiculous to think that preservation of your home value trumps the needs of the school system at large. It’s this provincial “I’ve got mine, who cares about anyone else” attitude that is the ruination of the County, and exactly why FCPS needs to do a comprehensive County-wide school redistricting. Start from scratch. No one should feel “entitled” to a certain school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

Why do you keep dragging West Springfield into your discussion about overenrolled schools when WSHS is around the average enrollment capacity of the majority of fcps high schools? Why do you call WS a "white" school when it is majority minority with one of the highest percentages of African American students in all of FCPS?

It is such a bizarre fixation to have this strange focus on one school that is not over enrolled and has one of the most compact boundaries in the county. It is almost as if you are trolling.

You appear to lack the self-awareness to realize you're proving PP's point.

And there's not just one poster noting that, if the School Board was more focused, they'd pay more attention to the disparity between the enrollments at Lewis and surrounding schools, including West Springfield.

Definitely one poster obsesssed with WSHS who posts here all the time.

They constantly triies to turn a thread about schools 30% or more over enrolled into a thread about a school only 5% over enrolled, similar enrollment to the majority of FCPS high schools.

I have posted about the disparities between West Springfield and Lewis and am definitely not the only one PP ends up sparring with. So you can shelve the "one obsessed poster" because others also see the disparities.

There's a huge difference in total enrollment between West Springfield (2650) and Lewis (1685). Also, West Springfield has the second-highest number of white kids of any HS in FCPS (1289) while Lewis - with which West Springfield shares a long border - has the fewest (193).

Ask yourself if a School Board that really cares about "equity" would not be taking a harder look at Lewis, or at the boundaries in that general area. And, yes, it would include a look at whether the IB program at Lewis is helping or hurting the school. And, yes, Lewis also borders other schools besides West Springfield (Annandale, Edison, Hayfield, and South County), although none of those other schools currently has as many students or is as over-enrolled as West Springfield.

You make it extremely personal with other posters, when it's really about the huge gap between the School Board's talk about "equity" and what they really do (or don't do).

Why do you care so much?

I swear the people who constantly bring up Lewis on DCUM (and target WSHS in the process) are people who live in areas zoned for Lewis and are resentful.

People who get screwed again and again do tend to build up some resentment. Not sure why you would expect something different.

Oh, please.

So, there won't be any resentment if some WS students are rezoned to Lewis. Good to hear.

New poster.

Owning a house that you purchased at $100,000-$200.000 less than houses in a neighboring district knowing perfectly well that the price was lower due to a lower performing high school, is very different than paying a premium and sacrificing things like space for a house zoned for a specific school, then losing $100,000-$200,000 or more in equity, overnight, perhaps putting your house under water, if your house gets rezoned to one of the lowest rated schools in FCPS.

Especially since rezoning a neighborhood will make zero impact on Lewis' ranking, as many of those kids will find a way to not attend Lewis using the AP/IB loophole, or a language not offered at Lewis, or Catholic school.

The only thing rezoning a neighborhood out of Lewis will do is bring down the property values in a significant way for the neighborhood rezoned.

Sorry but the whole equity argument is completely invalid. By the same token, those who bought property 10-15 years ago in zones like Lewis, Annandale, and Mt. Vernon should have had the same real estate protections before the school board made decisions to deteriorate their property values. We bought in those zones at a time when there was parity and differences in schools were nowhere near as significant as they are now. We couldn't have predicted that FCPS would neglect the program development of certain pyramids to this extent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

Why do you keep dragging West Springfield into your discussion about overenrolled schools when WSHS is around the average enrollment capacity of the majority of fcps high schools? Why do you call WS a "white" school when it is majority minority with one of the highest percentages of African American students in all of FCPS?

It is such a bizarre fixation to have this strange focus on one school that is not over enrolled and has one of the most compact boundaries in the county. It is almost as if you are trolling.

You appear to lack the self-awareness to realize you're proving PP's point.

And there's not just one poster noting that, if the School Board was more focused, they'd pay more attention to the disparity between the enrollments at Lewis and surrounding schools, including West Springfield.

Definitely one poster obsesssed with WSHS who posts here all the time.

They constantly triies to turn a thread about schools 30% or more over enrolled into a thread about a school only 5% over enrolled, similar enrollment to the majority of FCPS high schools.

I have posted about the disparities between West Springfield and Lewis and am definitely not the only one PP ends up sparring with. So you can shelve the "one obsessed poster" because others also see the disparities.

There's a huge difference in total enrollment between West Springfield (2650) and Lewis (1685). Also, West Springfield has the second-highest number of white kids of any HS in FCPS (1289) while Lewis - with which West Springfield shares a long border - has the fewest (193).

Ask yourself if a School Board that really cares about "equity" would not be taking a harder look at Lewis, or at the boundaries in that general area. And, yes, it would include a look at whether the IB program at Lewis is helping or hurting the school. And, yes, Lewis also borders other schools besides West Springfield (Annandale, Edison, Hayfield, and South County), although none of those other schools currently has as many students or is as over-enrolled as West Springfield.

You make it extremely personal with other posters, when it's really about the huge gap between the School Board's talk about "equity" and what they really do (or don't do).

Why do you care so much?

I swear the people who constantly bring up Lewis on DCUM (and target WSHS in the process) are people who live in areas zoned for Lewis and are resentful.

People who get screwed again and again do tend to build up some resentment. Not sure why you would expect something different.

Oh, please.

So, there won't be any resentment if some WS students are rezoned to Lewis. Good to hear.

New poster.

Owning a house that you purchased at $100,000-$200.000 less than houses in a neighboring district knowing perfectly well that the price was lower due to a lower performing high school, is very different than paying a premium and sacrificing things like space for a house zoned for a specific school, then losing $100,000-$200,000 or more in equity, overnight, perhaps putting your house under water, if your house gets rezoned to one of the lowest rated schools in FCPS.

Especially since rezoning a neighborhood will make zero impact on Lewis' ranking, as many of those kids will find a way to not attend Lewis using the AP/IB loophole, or a language not offered at Lewis, or Catholic school.

The only thing rezoning a neighborhood out of Lewis will do is bring down the property values in a significant way for the neighborhood rezoned.

Sorry but the whole equity argument is completely invalid. By the same token, those who bought property 10-15 years ago in zones like Lewis, Annandale, and Mt. Vernon should have had the same real estate protections before the school board made decisions to deteriorate their property values. We bought in those zones at a time when there was parity and differences in schools were nowhere near as significant as they are now. We couldn't have predicted that FCPS would neglect the program development of certain pyramids to this extent.

Lewis was low ranked 10-15 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

Why do you keep dragging West Springfield into your discussion about overenrolled schools when WSHS is around the average enrollment capacity of the majority of fcps high schools? Why do you call WS a "white" school when it is majority minority with one of the highest percentages of African American students in all of FCPS?

It is such a bizarre fixation to have this strange focus on one school that is not over enrolled and has one of the most compact boundaries in the county. It is almost as if you are trolling.

You appear to lack the self-awareness to realize you're proving PP's point.

And there's not just one poster noting that, if the School Board was more focused, they'd pay more attention to the disparity between the enrollments at Lewis and surrounding schools, including West Springfield.

Definitely one poster obsesssed with WSHS who posts here all the time.

They constantly triies to turn a thread about schools 30% or more over enrolled into a thread about a school only 5% over enrolled, similar enrollment to the majority of FCPS high schools.

I have posted about the disparities between West Springfield and Lewis and am definitely not the only one PP ends up sparring with. So you can shelve the "one obsessed poster" because others also see the disparities.

There's a huge difference in total enrollment between West Springfield (2650) and Lewis (1685). Also, West Springfield has the second-highest number of white kids of any HS in FCPS (1289) while Lewis - with which West Springfield shares a long border - has the fewest (193).

Ask yourself if a School Board that really cares about "equity" would not be taking a harder look at Lewis, or at the boundaries in that general area. And, yes, it would include a look at whether the IB program at Lewis is helping or hurting the school. And, yes, Lewis also borders other schools besides West Springfield (Annandale, Edison, Hayfield, and South County), although none of those other schools currently has as many students or is as over-enrolled as West Springfield.

You make it extremely personal with other posters, when it's really about the huge gap between the School Board's talk about "equity" and what they really do (or don't do).

Why do you care so much?

I swear the people who constantly bring up Lewis on DCUM (and target WSHS in the process) are people who live in areas zoned for Lewis and are resentful.

People who get screwed again and again do tend to build up some resentment. Not sure why you would expect something different.

Oh, please.

So, there won't be any resentment if some WS students are rezoned to Lewis. Good to hear.

New poster.

Owning a house that you purchased at $100,000-$200.000 less than houses in a neighboring district knowing perfectly well that the price was lower due to a lower performing high school, is very different than paying a premium and sacrificing things like space for a house zoned for a specific school, then losing $100,000-$200,000 or more in equity, overnight, perhaps putting your house under water, if your house gets rezoned to one of the lowest rated schools in FCPS.

Especially since rezoning a neighborhood will make zero impact on Lewis' ranking, as many of those kids will find a way to not attend Lewis using the AP/IB loophole, or a language not offered at Lewis, or Catholic school.

The only thing rezoning a neighborhood out of Lewis will do is bring down the property values in a significant way for the neighborhood rezoned.

Sorry but the whole equity argument is completely invalid. By the same token, those who bought property 10-15 years ago in zones like Lewis, Annandale, and Mt. Vernon should have had the same real estate protections before the school board made decisions to deteriorate their property values. We bought in those zones at a time when there was parity and differences in schools were nowhere near as significant as they are now. We couldn't have predicted that FCPS would neglect the program development of certain pyramids to this extent.

Lewis was low ranked 10-15 years ago.

15 years ago the F/R lunch rate at Lee was half of what it is now. FCPS made it worse by taking wealthier neighborhoods out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking at the McLean/Langley problem.
1. these schools were redistricted in 1984 and nothing has changed since that time, despite huge numbers of houses being built in the Tysons area that are all districted to Longfellow/McLean.
2. there are multiple neighborhoods in McLean that are much closer (even walkable) to Langley that continue to be sent to McLean - send those back to Langley
3. Great Falls needs its own high school. The vast majority of kids at Langley live in GF (many drive more than 30 minutes to school). Rather than expanding other schools there needs to be a 7-12 school that serves Great Falls.

Why should great falls get its own high school when that is one of the least crowded areas in the entire county?

because that would allow the rest of McLean to be split between McLean and Langely rather than having most of McLean at McLean HS. The vast majority of students at Langley are from GF.
Right now Franklin Sherman ES (right in the center of McLean but far closer to LHS than MHS) goes almost entirely to McLean. Each 6th grade class sends approximately 5% of their students to Langley. this makes zero sense.

Great Falls isn’t going to get its own high school. That ship sailed a long time ago. Langley would have more kids from McLean if they weren’t sending so many kids to private schools. Franklin Sherman ES is closer to McLean HS than to Langley HS.

Agree it doesn’t make sense for only 5-10% of FS to go to Langley; they should either assign that area to a different ES like Churchill Road or reassign the area to Longfellow/McLean. However, FS is very small so if they moved kids to Churchill Road they should move some kids from Kent Gardens to FS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

Why do you keep dragging West Springfield into your discussion about overenrolled schools when WSHS is around the average enrollment capacity of the majority of fcps high schools? Why do you call WS a "white" school when it is majority minority with one of the highest percentages of African American students in all of FCPS?

It is such a bizarre fixation to have this strange focus on one school that is not over enrolled and has one of the most compact boundaries in the county. It is almost as if you are trolling.

You appear to lack the self-awareness to realize you're proving PP's point.

And there's not just one poster noting that, if the School Board was more focused, they'd pay more attention to the disparity between the enrollments at Lewis and surrounding schools, including West Springfield.

Definitely one poster obsesssed with WSHS who posts here all the time.

They constantly triies to turn a thread about schools 30% or more over enrolled into a thread about a school only 5% over enrolled, similar enrollment to the majority of FCPS high schools.

I have posted about the disparities between West Springfield and Lewis and am definitely not the only one PP ends up sparring with. So you can shelve the "one obsessed poster" because others also see the disparities.

There's a huge difference in total enrollment between West Springfield (2650) and Lewis (1685). Also, West Springfield has the second-highest number of white kids of any HS in FCPS (1289) while Lewis - with which West Springfield shares a long border - has the fewest (193).

Ask yourself if a School Board that really cares about "equity" would not be taking a harder look at Lewis, or at the boundaries in that general area. And, yes, it would include a look at whether the IB program at Lewis is helping or hurting the school. And, yes, Lewis also borders other schools besides West Springfield (Annandale, Edison, Hayfield, and South County), although none of those other schools currently has as many students or is as over-enrolled as West Springfield.

You make it extremely personal with other posters, when it's really about the huge gap between the School Board's talk about "equity" and what they really do (or don't do).

Why do you care so much?

I swear the people who constantly bring up Lewis on DCUM (and target WSHS in the process) are people who live in areas zoned for Lewis and are resentful.

People who get screwed again and again do tend to build up some resentment. Not sure why you would expect something different.

Oh, please.

So, there won't be any resentment if some WS students are rezoned to Lewis. Good to hear.

New poster.

Owning a house that you purchased at $100,000-$200.000 less than houses in a neighboring district knowing perfectly well that the price was lower due to a lower performing high school, is very different than paying a premium and sacrificing things like space for a house zoned for a specific school, then losing $100,000-$200,000 or more in equity, overnight, perhaps putting your house under water, if your house gets rezoned to one of the lowest rated schools in FCPS.

Especially since rezoning a neighborhood will make zero impact on Lewis' ranking, as many of those kids will find a way to not attend Lewis using the AP/IB loophole, or a language not offered at Lewis, or Catholic school.

The only thing rezoning a neighborhood out of Lewis will do is bring down the property values in a significant way for the neighborhood rezoned.

Sorry but the whole equity argument is completely invalid. By the same token, those who bought property 10-15 years ago in zones like Lewis, Annandale, and Mt. Vernon should have had the same real estate protections before the school board made decisions to deteriorate their property values. We bought in those zones at a time when there was parity and differences in schools were nowhere near as significant as they are now. We couldn't have predicted that FCPS would neglect the program development of certain pyramids to this extent.

Lewis was low ranked 10-15 years ago.

Many of us have been around a lot longer than that! I moved to Springfield in 2000, and Lee HS (now Lewis) was in much better shape than it is now, before FCPS policies that intentionally concentrated poverty in a few schools.

[Anonymous]

I thought Saratoga had the opportunjty to get rezoned from then Lee (Lewis) intk the brand new South County High School, but the residents successfully fought the rezoning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

Why do you keep dragging West Springfield into your discussion about overenrolled schools when WSHS is around the average enrollment capacity of the majority of fcps high schools? Why do you call WS a "white" school when it is majority minority with one of the highest percentages of African American students in all of FCPS?

It is such a bizarre fixation to have this strange focus on one school that is not over enrolled and has one of the most compact boundaries in the county. It is almost as if you are trolling.

You appear to lack the self-awareness to realize you're proving PP's point.

And there's not just one poster noting that, if the School Board was more focused, they'd pay more attention to the disparity between the enrollments at Lewis and surrounding schools, including West Springfield.

Definitely one poster obsesssed with WSHS who posts here all the time.

They constantly triies to turn a thread about schools 30% or more over enrolled into a thread about a school only 5% over enrolled, similar enrollment to the majority of FCPS high schools.

I have posted about the disparities between West Springfield and Lewis and am definitely not the only one PP ends up sparring with. So you can shelve the "one obsessed poster" because others also see the disparities.

There's a huge difference in total enrollment between West Springfield (2650) and Lewis (1685). Also, West Springfield has the second-highest number of white kids of any HS in FCPS (1289) while Lewis - with which West Springfield shares a long border - has the fewest (193).

Ask yourself if a School Board that really cares about "equity" would not be taking a harder look at Lewis, or at the boundaries in that general area. And, yes, it would include a look at whether the IB program at Lewis is helping or hurting the school. And, yes, Lewis also borders other schools besides West Springfield (Annandale, Edison, Hayfield, and South County), although none of those other schools currently has as many students or is as over-enrolled as West Springfield.

You make it extremely personal with other posters, when it's really about the huge gap between the School Board's talk about "equity" and what they really do (or don't do).

Why do you care so much?

I swear the people who constantly bring up Lewis on DCUM (and target WSHS in the process) are people who live in areas zoned for Lewis and are resentful.

People who get screwed again and again do tend to build up some resentment. Not sure why you would expect something different.

Oh, please.

So, there won't be any resentment if some WS students are rezoned to Lewis. Good to hear.

New poster.

Owning a house that you purchased at $100,000-$200.000 less than houses in a neighboring district knowing perfectly well that the price was lower due to a lower performing high school, is very different than paying a premium and sacrificing things like space for a house zoned for a specific school, then losing $100,000-$200,000 or more in equity, overnight, perhaps putting your house under water, if your house gets rezoned to one of the lowest rated schools in FCPS.

Especially since rezoning a neighborhood will make zero impact on Lewis' ranking, as many of those kids will find a way to not attend Lewis using the AP/IB loophole, or a language not offered at Lewis, or Catholic school.

The only thing rezoning a neighborhood out of Lewis will do is bring down the property values in a significant way for the neighborhood rezoned.

Sorry but the whole equity argument is completely invalid. By the same token, those who bought property 10-15 years ago in zones like Lewis, Annandale, and Mt. Vernon should have had the same real estate protections before the school board made decisions to deteriorate their property values. We bought in those zones at a time when there was parity and differences in schools were nowhere near as significant as they are now. We couldn't have predicted that FCPS would neglect the program development of certain pyramids to this extent.

Annandale is the best example of FCPS’s death by a thousand cuts.

It was built in the mid-50s, so it got a cheap renovation like McLean and Lewis, unlike the much fancier renovations of schools built later.

Then FCPS started rezoning SFH neighborhoods out of Annandale. First it was moving Columbia Pines to Justice and Falls Church. Then Ravensworth got moved to Lake Braddock. Then Wakefield Forest got moved to Woodson, and Edsall Park and Bren Mar Park got moved to Edison. Leaving most of the low-income apartments along 236 from the Beltway to Alexandria zoned to AHS (some go to Falls Church). In the process they also turned Poe MS into the poorest MS in FCPS. All these decisions were incremental, but if you own a SFH in Annandale you take a big hit compared to people living zoned for Woodson. Obviously if you bought long enough ago you wouldn’t have known FCPS would do this.

It all happens because School Board members play favorites with their own communities. Annandale didn’t have anyone looking out after it because the Mason District representative historically came from Stuart and the Braddock District representative from Woodson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You get the school district you vote for

Keep voting lockstep with teAM bLuE!11 because of some irrelevant political issues that the hacks are using to manipulate you into turning your $3.2B annual FCPS budget over to a bunch of political hacks who aren't interested in educating YOUR children or preserving YOUR property values.

Are you joking? "Team blue" so far has been a conservative's dream come true. No boundary changes along with allowing worsening conditions at the undesirable schools has catapulted property values at the "good" schools. A republican candidate who goes on about removing useless equity policies and truly taking action for equality might actually have to do something that hurts property values.

It should be apolitical but that’s not going to happen. If we could get moderates who believe in educational standards but also don’t buy into the right wing CRT craziness, they would win. We need a happy medium. Neither side have best interests of kids.

What is “CRT craziness” as opposed to having concerns about, say, the embrace of trendy left-wing pedagogy such as “equitable grading” (now being piloted at some schools)? Can one express any misgivings about the rejection of the idea of academic merit without being accused of “CRT craziness,” even if the various pilot programs seem to reflect the implementation (rather than the teaching) of CRT?

+100
Well said.
NP

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

Why do you keep dragging West Springfield into your discussion about overenrolled schools when WSHS is around the average enrollment capacity of the majority of fcps high schools? Why do you call WS a "white" school when it is majority minority with one of the highest percentages of African American students in all of FCPS?

It is such a bizarre fixation to have this strange focus on one school that is not over enrolled and has one of the most compact boundaries in the county. It is almost as if you are trolling.

What does the "average enrollment capacity of the majority" of schools mean? Like you exclude a bunch of schools and then say West Springfield is then about average?

In any event, West Springfield (2650) has the fifth largest HS enrollment in the county this year, behind only Chantilly (2917), Lake Braddock (2896), West Potomac (2725), and Oakton (2679). Lewis, with which WS shares a large border, has the smallest enrollment (1685). Does anyone think a school with 1685 kids can offer the same classes or the same number of sessions of classes as one with 2650 kids?

Lewis is IB.

Start there.

Lewis teacher here. I know we’re allegedly under capacity, but I don’t see it. The halls are overcrowded during class change, the 4 lunch periods are packed, classrooms are all utilized and I don’t know anyone not teaching an obscure elective who doesn’t have capacity enrollment in their classes. So yeah, sending a couple thousand kids over here— in a building that hasn’t been touched since 2001— is of questionable value.

The sports speak for the under-enrollment. I understand demographics play a role, but even Justice, Annandale, Herndon, and Mount Vernon have some relatively strong sports programs despite their similar demographics. On the other hand, Lewis struggles to have enough players for many of their teams.

The fact that some sports only have JV with no other option, and even the lone JV teams have bare minimum players is just plain depressing. Those kids deserve a full and rich high school experience both academically and with activities.

Lack of JV teams doesn’t mean the building isn’t crowded though.

But 78% of capacity does.

Aren't the low income schools supposed to be smaller?

Um, are you saying we are designating Lewis as low income? That's not the way this works, that's not how any of this works.

DP. Why the tone? Ever heard of Title 1? And certainly, DCUM has no issue designating certain schools the "wealthy schools."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought Saratoga had the opportunjty to get rezoned from then Lee (Lewis) intk the brand new South County High School, but the residents successfully fought the rezoning.

If I remember correctly, residents wanted to be included in South County and thought it was a done deal, but at the last minute dirty politicians threw Saratoga under the bus so that Mason Neck would be sent to the new school instead. Saratoga Elementary’s mascot is the Stallions, the same as South County’s, but it’s students are in the Lewis Pyramid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You get the school district you vote for

Keep voting lockstep with teAM bLuE!11 because of some irrelevant political issues that the hacks are using to manipulate you into turning your $3.2B annual FCPS budget over to a bunch of political hacks who aren't interested in educating YOUR children or preserving YOUR property values.

Are you joking? "Team blue" so far has been a conservative's dream come true. No boundary changes along with allowing worsening conditions at the undesirable schools has catapulted property values at the "good" schools. A republican candidate who goes on about removing useless equity policies and truly taking action for equality might actually have to do something that hurts property values.

It should be apolitical but that’s not going to happen. If we could get moderates who believe in educational standards but also don’t buy into the right wing CRT craziness, they would win. We need a happy medium. Neither side have best interests of kids.

What is “CRT craziness” as opposed to having concerns about, say, the embrace of trendy left-wing pedagogy such as “equitable grading” (now being piloted at some schools)? Can one express any misgivings about the rejection of the idea of academic merit without being accused of “CRT craziness,” even if the various pilot programs seem to reflect the implementation (rather than the teaching) of CRT?

That is not CRT. CRT isn’t being taught. I’m taking about the right wingers who use the word “left/leftie/lib” to rant about anything FCPS related. The book banners. I’m not happy with this school board and I’m not happy with lessening of standards. But I don’t think the anti public school party is the answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You get the school district you vote for

Keep voting lockstep with teAM bLuE!11 because of some irrelevant political issues that the hacks are using to manipulate you into turning your $3.2B annual FCPS budget over to a bunch of political hacks who aren't interested in educating YOUR children or preserving YOUR property values.

Are you joking? "Team blue" so far has been a conservative's dream come true. No boundary changes along with allowing worsening conditions at the undesirable schools has catapulted property values at the "good" schools. A republican candidate who goes on about removing useless equity policies and truly taking action for equality might actually have to do something that hurts property values.

It should be apolitical but that’s not going to happen. If we could get moderates who believe in educational standards but also don’t buy into the right wing CRT craziness, they would win. We need a happy medium. Neither side have best interests of kids.

What is “CRT craziness” as opposed to having concerns about, say, the embrace of trendy left-wing pedagogy such as “equitable grading” (now being piloted at some schools)? Can one express any misgivings about the rejection of the idea of academic merit without being accused of “CRT craziness,” even if the various pilot programs seem to reflect the implementation (rather than the teaching) of CRT?

That is not CRT. CRT isn’t being taught. I’m taking about the right wingers who use the word “left/leftie/lib” to rant about anything FCPS related. The book banners. I’m not happy with this school board and I’m not happy with lessening of standards. But I don’t think the anti public school party is the answer.

The left banned Dr. Seuess. The right wants books illustrating graphic sex acts to be kept out of schools or requiring parental permission to view.

Banning books is not a legit argument here.