Sandy Anderson email

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you would like to contact Sandy Evans to comment about HVES/WSHS students being moved to Lewis HS, https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fcps.edu%2Fstaff%2Fsandy-anderson%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0Gr3cAoZnJjBsEbcH17W9nrzCATjQz1jkd4738QQIv6J2czoJJsOakSrc_aem_5LAlboGhtWlnyzOk6TmejA&h=AT1upZxnEvMyjYUIbWPZqa_42yfaQYrNgXcsxeysrCfF7TeaC62598bH5-c7HFm_rHGi9RQ68PeO2FS6iXXZVByTgOMhstF3NfvpH3Cf3fgDO8y6zDaNrXhceGozfM8u5g&__tn__=R]-R&c[0]=AT0eMXYcxKKCnoAV3K2xTOke30P9EWcS-jOEOa-esEHravjz14pJp56bkaFOfaJbTP7G0gJw01i3_Ul4-znX7FYoSxsZZcoEH3vWQRERu79Oc6ycXXNOtifzJOiEx4WR8qfQ61HtixWJE_rz4XkHdNz9VqTgcSpA7rwDujkDOylf2yoHz9qqwl5zQxis9E8

Lewis is a failed HS and a lot of time, money, and resources has been poured into Lewis over the past 5 years, with no improvement. Now they want to move high SES, non-FARMS students to come in to help fix the school? Lewis is an FCPS problem, expecting good students from stable families to come in save the school is an interesting Hail Mary by Dr Reid. No way that people who paid almost a million dollars for a 50 y.o. split level in West Springfield are going to go for that nonsense.

No dog in this fight, but that attitude needs to go. It's absolutely not FCPS's nor the taxpayer's responsibility to remove all risk from overbidding for real estate. Do you always support government intervention, or only when the government will save your bottom line?

No one overbid for a house in West Springfield, we bought in a stable district with great schools. Lewis has been mismanaged by years, including appointing a Principal and nominating him as Principal of the Year, for no accomplishment. Why was that? Enormous amounts of money, resources, staff, and trial programs have been poured into Lewis, with no results. Nearby Hayfield HS and Edison HS have a number of out of state and out of district students, no one is focused on that issue either. There are 4 other HS's closer to West Springfield, but somehow bussing West Springfield students through the Mixing Bowl during morning and evening rush hours and requiring parents and student drivers to move through that same traffic nightmare is going to help solve what issue? The traffic and bussing issue should have made this a nonstarter from the get go. WS students will now spend 1+hour commuting each way for Dr Reid's equity experiment.

No dog in the fight? Are you a taxpayer? Are you concerned about FCPS waste and abuse? Are you a county resident and tax payer? Which school district do you live in?

Actually I do not support government intervention. At all. The government is seldom concerned about the bottom line or doing what is best for the majority of citizens. The school district is spending millions to build the Dunn Loring ES, where it is not needed; spent millions to expand WestPo, when it was not needed.

Can you substantiate that first bold claim? ESL and high FARMS heavy schools typically do get more funding, but 'enormous' amounts? And no results? The results are different because many of the students are starting at a much different place.

Second bold statement - the only high school closer to West Springfield than Lewis is Lake Braddock. The drive to Lewis is either straight down Old Keene Mill / Franconia to Frontier or you can use the elevated section of Franconia to bypass the mall area and then go in through the Springfield Estates neighborhood. Or other students would go straight down the parkway to Frontier. This is not a terrible commute. But you know that.

Third bold statement - just a bit of exaggeration in that commute timeline...

You know it is a terrible commute.

Or you are not from the area and have no idea what you are talking about.

Only a terrible commute because everyone works on post and wanted to buy a home near work. So if it is close enough for your work commute, should be ok for your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you would like to contact Sandy Evans to comment about HVES/WSHS students being moved to Lewis HS, https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fcps.edu%2Fstaff%2Fsandy-anderson%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0Gr3cAoZnJjBsEbcH17W9nrzCATjQz1jkd4738QQIv6J2czoJJsOakSrc_aem_5LAlboGhtWlnyzOk6TmejA&h=AT1upZxnEvMyjYUIbWPZqa_42yfaQYrNgXcsxeysrCfF7TeaC62598bH5-c7HFm_rHGi9RQ68PeO2FS6iXXZVByTgOMhstF3NfvpH3Cf3fgDO8y6zDaNrXhceGozfM8u5g&__tn__=R]-R&c[0]=AT0eMXYcxKKCnoAV3K2xTOke30P9EWcS-jOEOa-esEHravjz14pJp56bkaFOfaJbTP7G0gJw01i3_Ul4-znX7FYoSxsZZcoEH3vWQRERu79Oc6ycXXNOtifzJOiEx4WR8qfQ61HtixWJE_rz4XkHdNz9VqTgcSpA7rwDujkDOylf2yoHz9qqwl5zQxis9E8

Lewis is a failed HS and a lot of time, money, and resources has been poured into Lewis over the past 5 years, with no improvement. Now they want to move high SES, non-FARMS students to come in to help fix the school? Lewis is an FCPS problem, expecting good students from stable families to come in save the school is an interesting Hail Mary by Dr Reid. No way that people who paid almost a million dollars for a 50 y.o. split level in West Springfield are going to go for that nonsense.

No dog in this fight, but that attitude needs to go. It's absolutely not FCPS's nor the taxpayer's responsibility to remove all risk from overbidding for real estate. Do you always support government intervention, or only when the government will save your bottom line?

No one overbid for a house in West Springfield, we bought in a stable district with great schools. Lewis has been mismanaged by years, including appointing a Principal and nominating him as Principal of the Year, for no accomplishment. Why was that? Enormous amounts of money, resources, staff, and trial programs have been poured into Lewis, with no results. Nearby Hayfield HS and Edison HS have a number of out of state and out of district students, no one is focused on that issue either. There are 4 other HS's closer to West Springfield, but somehow bussing West Springfield students through the Mixing Bowl during morning and evening rush hours and requiring parents and student drivers to move through that same traffic nightmare is going to help solve what issue? The traffic and bussing issue should have made this a nonstarter from the get go. WS students will now spend 1+hour commuting each way for Dr Reid's equity experiment.

No dog in the fight? Are you a taxpayer? Are you concerned about FCPS waste and abuse? Are you a county resident and tax payer? Which school district do you live in?

Actually I do not support government intervention. At all. The government is seldom concerned about the bottom line or doing what is best for the majority of citizens. The school district is spending millions to build the Dunn Loring ES, where it is not needed; spent millions to expand WestPo, when it was not needed.

Can you substantiate that first bold claim? ESL and high FARMS heavy schools typically do get more funding, but 'enormous' amounts? And no results? The results are different because many of the students are starting at a much different place.

Second bold statement - the only high school closer to West Springfield than Lewis is Lake Braddock. The drive to Lewis is either straight down Old Keene Mill / Franconia to Frontier or you can use the elevated section of Franconia to bypass the mall area and then go in through the Springfield Estates neighborhood. Or other students would go straight down the parkway to Frontier. This is not a terrible commute. But you know that.

Third bold statement - just a bit of exaggeration in that commute timeline...

The mental gymnastics people attempt to justify the commute is insane. It doesn't make any sense on any level for any reason to do this.

Why is the debate surrounding Hunt Valley elementary? It’s a slow day at work so I just looked at the maps since I live in the area. West Springfield elementary is closer to Lewis than Hunt Valley. Saratoga zoned for Lewis makes sense and I can see why that was done when South County was built. It’s cut off from the other areas due to Pohick Creek. Hunt Valley doesn’t make sense. However, the boundaries of West Springfield are compact and it doesn’t make sense to transfer kids from a successful school closer to their home to help improve a poorly performing school.

Hahaha, you so new.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once again, FCPS is looking thru their equity lens; this a part of the great plan to boost achievement and of course lessen the FARMS numbers. I hope parents refuse to accept this arrangement.

The new policy doesn’t even have the word equity and it puts a priority on building capacity and transportation efficiency.

You really need to do your homework if you’re going to comment on things.

Um, 2019 called. This if the EXACT playbook that they had back then, except that they can’t call it equity now. That’s why you get the democrats grasping at weird straws to justify the equity play (eg theoretical transportation cost savings).

It’s very transparent, and if you can’t see that perhaps you should be doing your homework.

DP btw.

Repeating it since you seem to be operating on tin foil hat conspiracies and gossip:

The new policy doesn’t even have the word equity and it puts a priority on building capacity and transportation efficiency.

You really need to do your homework if you’re going to comment on things.

It doesn’t have the word equity because drawing boundaries to balance out the schools in terms of the race/ethnicity is illegal. I’m not sure if it’s illegal to base it on income/FARMS rate. So of course they’re not going to literally come out and say they’re redrawing boundaries for equity because that would open them up to an immediate lawsuit and a smack down from the state.

But during one of the SB meetings about the boundary policy, one of the SB’s teacher lackeys who actually does teach at HVES, praised the board for considering equity. So which is it? Purely transportation savings, cleaning up the attendance islands and split feeders, and better using available space vs. spending more money on construction projects? (That particular ship sailed a long time ago with the WP expansion …) Or is it going to be “equity” in all but the actual word, trying to balance out the FARMS rate at all the schools, and trying to prop up enrollment at under enrolled schools by any means possible? We don’t know and that’s why people are concerned.

So you must live in the Hunt Valley zone. Don't name-call. That's childish. Accept the things you can't change.

Nobody should just blindly accept bad policy. That’s ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Genuine question- what is the number of kids that justifies offering an AP class? Why can't Lewis offer whatever AP class as long as they have any number of kids who want to take it? Or is teaching AP so specialized that a teacher would teach AP all day long?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once again, FCPS is looking thru their equity lens; this a part of the great plan to boost achievement and of course lessen the FARMS numbers. I hope parents refuse to accept this arrangement.

They will. I think sandy has gotten hundreds of emails and there are parent FB groups to band together.

This is going to get very messy and very ugly.

No it isn't. If you watched the meeting, there were about 100 viewing and a room full of Langley parents not wanting to get shifted to Herndon. They all had the same signs and reactions. Nobody cares about any of this except Hunt Valley families. In fact, Forestville folks can almost breathe a little easier because there is no way they would move them if they don't move Hunt Valley.

If maps are drawn that places HV or any West Springfield elementary at Lewis, you don’t think it’s going to get ugly from those parents. It’s not just HV that cares. WS and Keene Mill parents are also watching closely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once again, FCPS is looking thru their equity lens; this a part of the great plan to boost achievement and of course lessen the FARMS numbers. I hope parents refuse to accept this arrangement.

They will. I think sandy has gotten hundreds of emails and there are parent FB groups to band together.

This is going to get very messy and very ugly.

No it isn't. If you watched the meeting, there were about 100 viewing and a room full of Langley parents not wanting to get shifted to Herndon. They all had the same signs and reactions. Nobody cares about any of this except Hunt Valley families. In fact, Forestville folks can almost breathe a little easier because there is no way they would move them if they don't move Hunt Valley.

If maps are drawn that places HV or any West Springfield elementary at Lewis, you don’t think it’s going to get ugly from those parents. It’s not just HV that cares. WS and Keene Mill parents are also watching closely.

Just wait until the school year starts and the other 75% who haven't even heard about boundary changes are brought in the know and parents begin organizing and raising awareness. The SB nefariously pushed the boundary policy update to the meeting during the first week of Summer break instead of its originally scheduled time during the 2nd to last week of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you would like to contact Sandy Evans to comment about HVES/WSHS students being moved to Lewis HS, https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fcps.edu%2Fstaff%2Fsandy-anderson%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0Gr3cAoZnJjBsEbcH17W9nrzCATjQz1jkd4738QQIv6J2czoJJsOakSrc_aem_5LAlboGhtWlnyzOk6TmejA&h=AT1upZxnEvMyjYUIbWPZqa_42yfaQYrNgXcsxeysrCfF7TeaC62598bH5-c7HFm_rHGi9RQ68PeO2FS6iXXZVByTgOMhstF3NfvpH3Cf3fgDO8y6zDaNrXhceGozfM8u5g&__tn__=R]-R&c[0]=AT0eMXYcxKKCnoAV3K2xTOke30P9EWcS-jOEOa-esEHravjz14pJp56bkaFOfaJbTP7G0gJw01i3_Ul4-znX7FYoSxsZZcoEH3vWQRERu79Oc6ycXXNOtifzJOiEx4WR8qfQ61HtixWJE_rz4XkHdNz9VqTgcSpA7rwDujkDOylf2yoHz9qqwl5zQxis9E8

Lewis is a failed HS and a lot of time, money, and resources has been poured into Lewis over the past 5 years, with no improvement. Now they want to move high SES, non-FARMS students to come in to help fix the school? Lewis is an FCPS problem, expecting good students from stable families to come in save the school is an interesting Hail Mary by Dr Reid. No way that people who paid almost a million dollars for a 50 y.o. split level in West Springfield are going to go for that nonsense.

No dog in this fight, but that attitude needs to go. It's absolutely not FCPS's nor the taxpayer's responsibility to remove all risk from overbidding for real estate. Do you always support government intervention, or only when the government will save your bottom line?

No one overbid for a house in West Springfield, we bought in a stable district with great schools. Lewis has been mismanaged by years, including appointing a Principal and nominating him as Principal of the Year, for no accomplishment. Why was that? Enormous amounts of money, resources, staff, and trial programs have been poured into Lewis, with no results. Nearby Hayfield HS and Edison HS have a number of out of state and out of district students, no one is focused on that issue either. There are 4 other HS's closer to West Springfield, but somehow bussing West Springfield students through the Mixing Bowl during morning and evening rush hours and requiring parents and student drivers to move through that same traffic nightmare is going to help solve what issue? The traffic and bussing issue should have made this a nonstarter from the get go. WS students will now spend 1+hour commuting each way for Dr Reid's equity experiment.

No dog in the fight? Are you a taxpayer? Are you concerned about FCPS waste and abuse? Are you a county resident and tax payer? Which school district do you live in?

Actually I do not support government intervention. At all. The government is seldom concerned about the bottom line or doing what is best for the majority of citizens. The school district is spending millions to build the Dunn Loring ES, where it is not needed; spent millions to expand WestPo, when it was not needed.

Can you substantiate that first bold claim? ESL and high FARMS heavy schools typically do get more funding, but 'enormous' amounts? And no results? The results are different because many of the students are starting at a much different place.

Second bold statement - the only high school closer to West Springfield than Lewis is Lake Braddock. The drive to Lewis is either straight down Old Keene Mill / Franconia to Frontier or you can use the elevated section of Franconia to bypass the mall area and then go in through the Springfield Estates neighborhood. Or other students would go straight down the parkway to Frontier. This is not a terrible commute. But you know that.

Third bold statement - just a bit of exaggeration in that commute timeline...

The mental gymnastics people attempt to justify the commute is insane. It doesn't make any sense on any level for any reason to do this.

Why is the debate surrounding Hunt Valley elementary? It’s a slow day at work so I just looked at the maps since I live in the area. West Springfield elementary is closer to Lewis than Hunt Valley. Saratoga zoned for Lewis makes sense and I can see why that was done when South County was built. It’s cut off from the other areas due to Pohick Creek. Hunt Valley doesn’t make sense. However, the boundaries of West Springfield are compact and it doesn’t make sense to transfer kids from a successful school closer to their home to help improve a poorly performing school.

I think the issue is that rolling valley, Keane mill , cardinal forest, and WSES are so close including walkers I believe to at least Irving and WSHS. Orange Hunt would create an island.

WSES seems like the only alternative if you have to pick one and could work but they are right next to Irving and then there’s the name.

HV shares boundaries with Lewis and are already on a bus. Not that I agree with it but I think that’s the logic. And yes I understand that a longer commute goes against statements about boundary change purpose. That same argument works for WSES as well wrt to Key and Lewis.

The compact boundaries make it really hard to move any school without feeling like it doesn’t make sense.

It is a true exercise in Olympic level contortions to produce an argument for rezoning Hunt Valley to Lewis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you would like to contact Sandy Evans to comment about HVES/WSHS students being moved to Lewis HS, https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fcps.edu%2Fstaff%2Fsandy-anderson%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0Gr3cAoZnJjBsEbcH17W9nrzCATjQz1jkd4738QQIv6J2czoJJsOakSrc_aem_5LAlboGhtWlnyzOk6TmejA&h=AT1upZxnEvMyjYUIbWPZqa_42yfaQYrNgXcsxeysrCfF7TeaC62598bH5-c7HFm_rHGi9RQ68PeO2FS6iXXZVByTgOMhstF3NfvpH3Cf3fgDO8y6zDaNrXhceGozfM8u5g&__tn__=R]-R&c[0]=AT0eMXYcxKKCnoAV3K2xTOke30P9EWcS-jOEOa-esEHravjz14pJp56bkaFOfaJbTP7G0gJw01i3_Ul4-znX7FYoSxsZZcoEH3vWQRERu79Oc6ycXXNOtifzJOiEx4WR8qfQ61HtixWJE_rz4XkHdNz9VqTgcSpA7rwDujkDOylf2yoHz9qqwl5zQxis9E8

Lewis is a failed HS and a lot of time, money, and resources has been poured into Lewis over the past 5 years, with no improvement. Now they want to move high SES, non-FARMS students to come in to help fix the school? Lewis is an FCPS problem, expecting good students from stable families to come in save the school is an interesting Hail Mary by Dr Reid. No way that people who paid almost a million dollars for a 50 y.o. split level in West Springfield are going to go for that nonsense.

No dog in this fight, but that attitude needs to go. It's absolutely not FCPS's nor the taxpayer's responsibility to remove all risk from overbidding for real estate. Do you always support government intervention, or only when the government will save your bottom line?

No one overbid for a house in West Springfield, we bought in a stable district with great schools. Lewis has been mismanaged by years, including appointing a Principal and nominating him as Principal of the Year, for no accomplishment. Why was that? Enormous amounts of money, resources, staff, and trial programs have been poured into Lewis, with no results. Nearby Hayfield HS and Edison HS have a number of out of state and out of district students, no one is focused on that issue either. There are 4 other HS's closer to West Springfield, but somehow bussing West Springfield students through the Mixing Bowl during morning and evening rush hours and requiring parents and student drivers to move through that same traffic nightmare is going to help solve what issue? The traffic and bussing issue should have made this a nonstarter from the get go. WS students will now spend 1+hour commuting each way for Dr Reid's equity experiment.

No dog in the fight? Are you a taxpayer? Are you concerned about FCPS waste and abuse? Are you a county resident and tax payer? Which school district do you live in?

Actually I do not support government intervention. At all. The government is seldom concerned about the bottom line or doing what is best for the majority of citizens. The school district is spending millions to build the Dunn Loring ES, where it is not needed; spent millions to expand WestPo, when it was not needed.

Can you substantiate that first bold claim? ESL and high FARMS heavy schools typically do get more funding, but 'enormous' amounts? And no results? The results are different because many of the students are starting at a much different place.

Second bold statement - the only high school closer to West Springfield than Lewis is Lake Braddock. The drive to Lewis is either straight down Old Keene Mill / Franconia to Frontier or you can use the elevated section of Franconia to bypass the mall area and then go in through the Springfield Estates neighborhood. Or other students would go straight down the parkway to Frontier. This is not a terrible commute. But you know that.

Third bold statement - just a bit of exaggeration in that commute timeline...

The mental gymnastics people attempt to justify the commute is insane. It doesn't make any sense on any level for any reason to do this.

Why is the debate surrounding Hunt Valley elementary? It’s a slow day at work so I just looked at the maps since I live in the area. West Springfield elementary is closer to Lewis than Hunt Valley. Saratoga zoned for Lewis makes sense and I can see why that was done when South County was built. It’s cut off from the other areas due to Pohick Creek. Hunt Valley doesn’t make sense. However, the boundaries of West Springfield are compact and it doesn’t make sense to transfer kids from a successful school closer to their home to help improve a poorly performing school.

I think the issue is that rolling valley, Keane mill , cardinal forest, and WSES are so close including walkers I believe to at least Irving and WSHS. Orange Hunt would create an island.

WSES seems like the only alternative if you have to pick one and could work but they are right next to Irving and then there’s the name.

HV shares boundaries with Lewis and are already on a bus. Not that I agree with it but I think that’s the logic. And yes I understand that a longer commute goes against statements about boundary change purpose. That same argument works for WSES as well wrt to Key and Lewis.

The compact boundaries make it really hard to move any school without feeling like it doesn’t make sense.

+1 there’s no current gerrymandering in WSHS boundaries. There IS some weirdness they could clean up at the ES level, but that would be just within the pyramid and would not affect the high school.

At the meeting Reid said she saw more changes happening at the elementary level than other levels.

Changing the elementary schools changes the high school zoning without actually announcing that Reid and the school board are rezoning high schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once again, FCPS is looking thru their equity lens; this a part of the great plan to boost achievement and of course lessen the FARMS numbers. I hope parents refuse to accept this arrangement.

These equity moves only reduce the % of FARMS within the school's population, the moves do not lessen the FARMS numbers or help the existing FARMS population. One of two things will happen when high SES kids are cut over to Lewis as tribute: 1) They will immediately start taking opportunities that existing Lewis kids previously had like leadership/sports/club positions, to the detriment of the current Lewis population, or 2) Non-assimilation of the new 'rich kids', the face of which will be the white population. Lewis had 196 white students in 2023. The equity move will increase this number to 396, assuming an entire ES is moved over (4 HS grades, 100 students per grade, 50% white). It will be no secret to the entire student body, and particularly a 63% FARMS population that 'rich kids' were imported to make the failing school better, and the face of the imported 'rich kids' will be the white population that doubles in size from 10% to 20%. And yes, WSHS area is not Vienna/McLean/Tysons 'rich', but even small things like driving a car to school and having premium sports equipment makes one a target of resent. If I was a non-white and/or FARMS student I would resent these new kids and treat them differently, and with good reason. The message that the SB is unintentionally sending to these Lewis students (88% non-white) is that they are not good enough, so bring in the rich kids to make things better. And because of the existing Lewis population and the population that's projected to move over, the white kids will be seen as the 'rich kids'.

Just wow. Flabbergasted that you actually posted that. Just because you have insecurities and prejudices against those who are wealthier and/or culturally different from you doesn't mean that all kids do. Especially Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids who see much less "color" than you do.

I am PP and could have left "non-white" out of the bolded statement, because this is haves vs have nots. I am non-white person who grew up poor in a Richmond school much like Lewis, so was speaking for myself and from my own experience. It is simply human nature to have feelings when you see your peers with things you don't have and wonder why the world is unfair. My point is that the move is going to amplify the faces of the haves at Lewis as mainly white students, and the message I would receive as a non-white student at Lewis is "your kind aren't good enough so we are sending white people in to fix a problem". There will certainly be asian, black, and hispanic students moved as well, but because of existing demographics none of their populations will double, while the white population will. Again this is a social experiment. Although Gen Z and A kids see less color this could actually cause them to see things more in terms of color.

Gen Z and Asee color far more than an ecrnt generation since the civil rights era, because school, media, social media and politicians tell them they are defined by their color.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once again, FCPS is looking thru their equity lens; this a part of the great plan to boost achievement and of course lessen the FARMS numbers. I hope parents refuse to accept this arrangement.

They will. I think sandy has gotten hundreds of emails and there are parent FB groups to band together.

This is going to get very messy and very ugly.

No it isn't. If you watched the meeting, there were about 100 viewing and a room full of Langley parents not wanting to get shifted to Herndon. They all had the same signs and reactions. Nobody cares about any of this except Hunt Valley families. In fact, Forestville folks can almost breathe a little easier because there is no way they would move them if they don't move Hunt Valley.

If maps are drawn that places HV or any West Springfield elementary at Lewis, you don’t think it’s going to get ugly from those parents. It’s not just HV that cares. WS and Keene Mill parents are also watching closely.

Just wait until the school year starts and the other 75% who haven't even heard about boundary changes are brought in the know and parents begin organizing and raising awareness. The SB nefariously pushed the boundary policy update to the meeting during the first week of Summer break instead of its originally scheduled time during the 2nd to last week of school.

And WSHS and its feeders are the perfect place to sneak in a SES equity move because WS has a more transient and military population with lots of new families moving in all the time and they aren’t always aware of all the board’s machinations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can't have a county-wide school and tolerate the disparities that exist between West Springfield and Lewis. It's about time they do something about it.

Past School Boards and FCPS staff have absolutely played favorites. That's how West Springfield got renovated ahead of schedule (trade-off that involved closing Clifton ES) and then got a major expansion courtesy of a former facilities head who went to WSHS. It's also why schools like Lewis, in contrast, ended up with a poor reputation. They need to start making amends.

WSHS was a safety hazard before the renovation. It had walls separating from floors to the point that in sone rooms, you could see the classroom below.

You can try to twist this pretzel any way you want, but you are not going to convince anyone that the WSHS renovation was unnecessary, too early or some sort of exercise in segregation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can't have a county-wide school and tolerate the disparities that exist between West Springfield and Lewis. It's about time they do something about it.

Past School Boards and FCPS staff have absolutely played favorites. That's how West Springfield got renovated ahead of schedule (trade-off that involved closing Clifton ES) and then got a major expansion courtesy of a former facilities head who went to WSHS. It's also why schools like Lewis, in contrast, ended up with a poor reputation. They need to start making amends.

Lewis ended up in this situation because of the decade long Mixing Bowl construction project.

Lewis (then Lee) sits directly inside.

For years, the high school and surrounding neighborhoods were directly under all the noise, mess, traffic problems and toxic dust of that gigantic, drawn our construction project.

Any family that could afford to move elsewhere did.

They were replaced by recent immigrant families that were happy to have a nice home in a neighborhood with manicured lawns, nice sidewalks, and things like grocery stores, restaurants, jobs, malls, schools and public transit within walking distance.

As the number of non English speaking working class and lower class families increased, Lewis's test scores decreased, making it increasingly undesirable to families with kids, even after the Mixing Bowl construction ended.

That construction project sent Lewis on its downfall.

To claim otherwise and blaming the neighboring school's families is complete ignorance and ignores the true catalyst of Lewis/Lee's decline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can't have a county-wide school and tolerate the disparities that exist between West Springfield and Lewis. It's about time they do something about it.

Past School Boards and FCPS staff have absolutely played favorites. That's how West Springfield got renovated ahead of schedule (trade-off that involved closing Clifton ES) and then got a major expansion courtesy of a former facilities head who went to WSHS. It's also why schools like Lewis, in contrast, ended up with a poor reputation. They need to start making amends.

Lewis ended up in this situation because of the decade long Mixing Bowl construction project.

Lewis (then Lee) sits directly inside.

For years, the high school and surrounding neighborhoods were directly under all the noise, mess, traffic problems and toxic dust of that gigantic, drawn our construction project.

Any family that could afford to move elsewhere did.

They were replaced by recent immigrant families that were happy to have a nice home in a neighborhood with manicured lawns, nice sidewalks, and things like grocery stores, restaurants, jobs, malls, schools and public transit within walking distance.

As the number of non English speaking working class and lower class families increased, Lewis's test scores decreased, making it increasingly undesirable to families with kids, even after the Mixing Bowl construction ended.

That construction project sent Lewis on its downfall.

To claim otherwise and blaming the neighboring school's families is complete ignorance and ignores the true catalyst of Lewis/Lee's decline.

And its placement virtually in the mixing bowl is also why no one wants their kids to go there when they could bike or walk to WSHS. I HATE that area and it will definitely mean my kids miss out on activities.
After communing home on 395 the last thing I want to do is deal with clueless Marylanders who don’t know which lane they should be in to get home when I pick up my kid from practice. Seriously, Virtual VA would be better.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:If you would like to contact Sandy Evans to comment about HVES/WSHS students being moved to Lewis HS, https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fcps.edu%2Fstaff%2Fsandy-anderson%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0Gr3cAoZnJjBsEbcH17W9nrzCATjQz1jkd4738QQIv6J2czoJJsOakSrc_aem_5LAlboGhtWlnyzOk6TmejA&h=AT1upZxnEvMyjYUIbWPZqa_42yfaQYrNgXcsxeysrCfF7TeaC62598bH5-c7HFm_rHGi9RQ68PeO2FS6iXXZVByTgOMhstF3NfvpH3Cf3fgDO8y6zDaNrXhceGozfM8u5g&__tn__=R]-R&c[0]=AT0eMXYcxKKCnoAV3K2xTOke30P9EWcS-jOEOa-esEHravjz14pJp56bkaFOfaJbTP7G0gJw01i3_Ul4-znX7FYoSxsZZcoEH3vWQRERu79Oc6ycXXNOtifzJOiEx4WR8qfQ61HtixWJE_rz4XkHdNz9VqTgcSpA7rwDujkDOylf2yoHz9qqwl5zQxis9E8

Lewis is a failed HS and a lot of time, money, and resources has been poured into Lewis over the past 5 years, with no improvement. Now they want to move high SES, non-FARMS students to come in to help fix the school? Lewis is an FCPS problem, expecting good students from stable families to come in save the school is an interesting Hail Mary by Dr Reid. No way that people who paid almost a million dollars for a 50 y.o. split level in West Springfield are going to go for that nonsense.

No dog in this fight, but that attitude needs to go. It's absolutely not FCPS's nor the taxpayer's responsibility to remove all risk from overbidding for real estate. Do you always support government intervention, or only when the government will save your bottom line?

No one overbid for a house in West Springfield, we bought in a stable district with great schools. Lewis has been mismanaged by years, including appointing a Principal and nominating him as Principal of the Year, for no accomplishment. Why was that? Enormous amounts of money, resources, staff, and trial programs have been poured into Lewis, with no results. Nearby Hayfield HS and Edison HS have a number of out of state and out of district students, no one is focused on that issue either. There are 4 other HS's closer to West Springfield, but somehow bussing West Springfield students through the Mixing Bowl during morning and evening rush hours and requiring parents and student drivers to move through that same traffic nightmare is going to help solve what issue? The traffic and bussing issue should have made this a nonstarter from the get go. WS students will now spend 1+hour commuting each way for Dr Reid's equity experiment.

No dog in the fight? Are you a taxpayer? Are you concerned about FCPS waste and abuse? Are you a county resident and tax payer? Which school district do you live in?

Actually I do not support government intervention. At all. The government is seldom concerned about the bottom line or doing what is best for the majority of citizens. The school district is spending millions to build the Dunn Loring ES, where it is not needed; spent millions to expand WestPo, when it was not needed.

Can you substantiate that first bold claim? ESL and high FARMS heavy schools typically do get more funding, but 'enormous' amounts? And no results? The results are different because many of the students are starting at a much different place.

Second bold statement - the only high school closer to West Springfield than Lewis is Lake Braddock. The drive to Lewis is either straight down Old Keene Mill / Franconia to Frontier or you can use the elevated section of Franconia to bypass the mall area and then go in through the Springfield Estates neighborhood. Or other students would go straight down the parkway to Frontier. This is not a terrible commute. But you know that.

Third bold statement - just a bit of exaggeration in that commute timeline...

The mental gymnastics people attempt to justify the commute is insane. It doesn't make any sense on any level for any reason to do this.

Why is the debate surrounding Hunt Valley elementary? It’s a slow day at work so I just looked at the maps since I live in the area. West Springfield elementary is closer to Lewis than Hunt Valley. Saratoga zoned for Lewis makes sense and I can see why that was done when South County was built. It’s cut off from the other areas due to Pohick Creek. Hunt Valley doesn’t make sense. However, the boundaries of West Springfield are compact and it doesn’t make sense to transfer kids from a successful school closer to their home to help improve a poorly performing school.

I think the issue is that rolling valley, Keane mill , cardinal forest, and WSES are so close including walkers I believe to at least Irving and WSHS. Orange Hunt would create an island.

WSES seems like the only alternative if you have to pick one and could work but they are right next to Irving and then there’s the name.

HV shares boundaries with Lewis and are already on a bus. Not that I agree with it but I think that’s the logic. And yes I understand that a longer commute goes against statements about boundary change purpose. That same argument works for WSES as well wrt to Key and Lewis.

The compact boundaries make it really hard to move any school without feeling like it doesn’t make sense.

+1 there’s no current gerrymandering in WSHS boundaries. There IS some weirdness they could clean up at the ES level, but that would be just within the pyramid and would not affect the high school.

At the meeting Reid said she saw more changes happening at the elementary level than other levels.

Changing the elementary schools changes the high school zoning without actually announcing that Reid and the school board are rezoning high schools

It might or might not. You can change ES boundaries without affecting MS or HS assignments.

However, just doing something like eliminating the Keene Mill attendance island isn't going to address the chronic under-enrollment at Lewis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can't have a county-wide school and tolerate the disparities that exist between West Springfield and Lewis. It's about time they do something about it.

Past School Boards and FCPS staff have absolutely played favorites. That's how West Springfield got renovated ahead of schedule (trade-off that involved closing Clifton ES) and then got a major expansion courtesy of a former facilities head who went to WSHS. It's also why schools like Lewis, in contrast, ended up with a poor reputation. They need to start making amends.

Lewis ended up in this situation because of the decade long Mixing Bowl construction project.

Lewis (then Lee) sits directly inside.

For years, the high school and surrounding neighborhoods were directly under all the noise, mess, traffic problems and toxic dust of that gigantic, drawn our construction project.

Any family that could afford to move elsewhere did.

They were replaced by recent immigrant families that were happy to have a nice home in a neighborhood with manicured lawns, nice sidewalks, and things like grocery stores, restaurants, jobs, malls, schools and public transit within walking distance.

As the number of non English speaking working class and lower class families increased, Lewis's test scores decreased, making it increasingly undesirable to families with kids, even after the Mixing Bowl construction ended.

That construction project sent Lewis on its downfall.

To claim otherwise and blaming the neighboring school's families is complete ignorance and ignores the true catalyst of Lewis/Lee's decline.

There were multiple UMC areas redistricted out of Lee/Lewis over the years. Same thing happened at Annandale. Also no MS AAP centers in those pyramids.

It's not about blaming families in neighboring pyramids, but about acknowledging that past decisions had consequences that disadvantage current students at Key and Lewis.