FCPS Skyview Boundary Scenario 1/2/3

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The original opt in, opt out plan was designed because of the lack of sports and electives into the second year. The admin team has said at many of the meetings that if they have close to 1,000 kids in the initial classes that they will have sports in the second year, with the exception of varsity football for safety purposes. That could change the opt out option in the second year but we don't know.

And with opt out, you are more likely to be in the minority staying at your base school. More families are not going to read the emails and end up at Skyview then read their email and chose to opt out. If transportation is provided to Skyview and not the old school, fewer kids are going to opt out of Skyview. It won't be like this year were there were more reasons to stay at the base school. There are going to fully running clubs, there is a list 30 clubs at the moment, sports, full freshman academics, and transportation.

We have no way of knowing now how many families will opt out of Skyview if they have an option. It depends largely on how the boundaries are drawn, how many students within the boundary have older siblings at other schools, and how Skyview functions in its first year. The new staff seems dedicated, but the roll-out has been chaotic; FCPS has not met its enrollment targets; and FCPS may be faced with a difficult decision to cut back on what Skyview offers or, conversely, spend far more per student at Skyview than at other schools and face criticism for that decision.

450 ninth graders opted in this year before they opened enrollment up to kids outside of the 5 schools. Do you really think that there is going to be a large number of people opting out next year? They have 800 kids enrolled at Skyview and have been upfront that they cannot offer as many electives the first year because they won't have the student numbers for some electives. That said, they mainly need electives that are available to freshman and sophomores so they don't need a full slate of electives. There will be more options in the second year because they will have 400-500 more kids.

I think it is safe to say that there are a good number of parents who don't pay attention to the school emails and will not be opting out simply because they don't read their emails. There have been parents asking about opt-in options from the 5 original schools targeted since March 1 because they never looked at the emails.

With a brand new school, a year under it's belt, an enthusiastic staff, and sports I suspect you will find more people wanting to attend Skyview. And there will be people who send their kids because it means they have transportation even if they would slightly prefer the old school. Does it really matter that your kids are at the same school if you end up having to drive one to school for 2-3 years because they are being pupil placed and transportation for your neighborhood no longer exists?

The kids opting out will be in the minority. They want to be at school with their friends and it will be more convenient for most families. And it is shiny and new.

Shiny and new doesn’t matter to people as much as whether a school can offer what a family wants, compared to the available alternatives. The verdict is still out on what the Skyview experience will look like in a year. Limited electives might not matter much at a middle school, but that will be a bigger concern at a high school.

I agree there will be plenty of families in boundary for Skyview who’ll ignore school communications so their kids will end up there by default. Others will pay more attention.

I suppose people whose kids are taking obscure electives and AP classes will try to place at another school, but there aren't as many of those as you think.

It will all sort out in about five years, but the way they've gone about opening Skyview creates risks that wouldn't exist if they'd gone the traditional route of setting boundaries, opening with two classes assigned to the school, and only having an "opt in" option for juniors. Westfield and South County opened with substantially more than 800 kids.

What you consider an "obscure" elective might be a deal-breaker for some kids if not available. And sophomores at many schools take AP classes that may not even be offered at Skyview for years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The original opt in, opt out plan was designed because of the lack of sports and electives into the second year. The admin team has said at many of the meetings that if they have close to 1,000 kids in the initial classes that they will have sports in the second year, with the exception of varsity football for safety purposes. That could change the opt out option in the second year but we don't know.

And with opt out, you are more likely to be in the minority staying at your base school. More families are not going to read the emails and end up at Skyview then read their email and chose to opt out. If transportation is provided to Skyview and not the old school, fewer kids are going to opt out of Skyview. It won't be like this year were there were more reasons to stay at the base school. There are going to fully running clubs, there is a list 30 clubs at the moment, sports, full freshman academics, and transportation.

We have no way of knowing now how many families will opt out of Skyview if they have an option. It depends largely on how the boundaries are drawn, how many students within the boundary have older siblings at other schools, and how Skyview functions in its first year. The new staff seems dedicated, but the roll-out has been chaotic; FCPS has not met its enrollment targets; and FCPS may be faced with a difficult decision to cut back on what Skyview offers or, conversely, spend far more per student at Skyview than at other schools and face criticism for that decision.

450 ninth graders opted in this year before they opened enrollment up to kids outside of the 5 schools. Do you really think that there is going to be a large number of people opting out next year? They have 800 kids enrolled at Skyview and have been upfront that they cannot offer as many electives the first year because they won't have the student numbers for some electives. That said, they mainly need electives that are available to freshman and sophomores so they don't need a full slate of electives. There will be more options in the second year because they will have 400-500 more kids.

I think it is safe to say that there are a good number of parents who don't pay attention to the school emails and will not be opting out simply because they don't read their emails. There have been parents asking about opt-in options from the 5 original schools targeted since March 1 because they never looked at the emails.

With a brand new school, a year under it's belt, an enthusiastic staff, and sports I suspect you will find more people wanting to attend Skyview. And there will be people who send their kids because it means they have transportation even if they would slightly prefer the old school. Does it really matter that your kids are at the same school if you end up having to drive one to school for 2-3 years because they are being pupil placed and transportation for your neighborhood no longer exists?

The kids opting out will be in the minority. They want to be at school with their friends and it will be more convenient for most families. And it is shiny and new.

Shiny and new doesn’t matter to people as much as whether a school can offer what a family wants, compared to the available alternatives. The verdict is still out on what the Skyview experience will look like in a year. Limited electives might not matter much at a middle school, but that will be a bigger concern at a high school.

I agree there will be plenty of families in boundary for Skyview who’ll ignore school communications so their kids will end up there by default. Others will pay more attention.

I suppose people whose kids are taking obscure electives and AP classes will try to place at another school, but there aren't as many of those as you think.

It will all sort out in about five years, but the way they've gone about opening Skyview creates risks that wouldn't exist if they'd gone the traditional route of setting boundaries, opening with two classes assigned to the school, and only having an "opt in" option for juniors. Westfield and South County opened with substantially more than 800 kids.

What you consider an "obscure" elective might be a deal-breaker for some kids if not available. And sophomores at many schools take AP classes that may not even be offered at Skyview for years.

[Anonymous]

A recent Melanie Meren post:

"The Crossfield ES community celebrated the official completion of the school renovation that began in 2023! While there for the ribbon cutting, I remembered being in the Crossfield cafeteria many years ago and hearing parents’ questions about how the process would unfold. Principal Mark Granieri remarked today that the renovation went very smoothly, and I was so glad to hear that. While I thank our FCPS facilities and design teams, I do want the school division to shorten the amount of time it takes for a renovation.

While the darling musical performance by kindergarten students brought a smile to my face on the sunny day, for me, the event was overshadowed by the distress I’ve heard from many Crossfield ES families about the Superintendent’s proposed boundary scenarios for Skyview HS that would impact this elementary school. Like many residents, I believe that people who’ve participated in months of boundary-related community meetings in good faith feel they’ve been blindsided by the Superintendent’s recommendations that for this school in particular, create new split feeders. This has caused unnecessary distress. Approaching proposals for boundaries cannot be done cavalierly.

I appreciate the Superintendent changing course quickly and halting boundary work at elementary schools, allowing them to remain in place for the next five years. Thank you to everyone who showed up and spoke up."

Meren represents Hunter Mill. She not only allowed, but facilitated, the last-minute creation of a new Kilmer/Marshall attendance island in Hunter Mill near Reston that separates one group of Kilmer/Marshall families from all the other families at those schools. She has little credibility when it comes to acting in good faith or not approaching boundaries cavalierly. Everything she does is based on "what's best for me" and "where are the most votes." No one involved in the current Skyview discussions should indulge in the fiction that she'll act any differently this time.

[Anonymous]

Scenario 2 doesn’t seem that horrible at all at the HS level.
Could some of the middle school boundaries be adjusted to make more sense? For example, u don’t understand why they would reassign the neighborhood (Dogwood?) that is currently Hughes/SL to RCMS when they’d still be at SLHS.
And then Oak Hill could be RCMS/Skyview.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
And then Oak Hill could be RCMS/Skyview.

Yeah, although a good portion of Oak Hill walks to Franklin, can see it from their houses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
And then Oak Hill could be RCMS/Skyview.

Yeah, although a good portion of Oak Hill walks to Franklin, can see it from their houses.

And, if it weren't for traffic, a good portion could walk to Carson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The original opt in, opt out plan was designed because of the lack of sports and electives into the second year. The admin team has said at many of the meetings that if they have close to 1,000 kids in the initial classes that they will have sports in the second year, with the exception of varsity football for safety purposes. That could change the opt out option in the second year but we don't know.

And with opt out, you are more likely to be in the minority staying at your base school. More families are not going to read the emails and end up at Skyview then read their email and chose to opt out. If transportation is provided to Skyview and not the old school, fewer kids are going to opt out of Skyview. It won't be like this year were there were more reasons to stay at the base school. There are going to fully running clubs, there is a list 30 clubs at the moment, sports, full freshman academics, and transportation.

We have no way of knowing now how many families will opt out of Skyview if they have an option. It depends largely on how the boundaries are drawn, how many students within the boundary have older siblings at other schools, and how Skyview functions in its first year. The new staff seems dedicated, but the roll-out has been chaotic; FCPS has not met its enrollment targets; and FCPS may be faced with a difficult decision to cut back on what Skyview offers or, conversely, spend far more per student at Skyview than at other schools and face criticism for that decision.

450 ninth graders opted in this year before they opened enrollment up to kids outside of the 5 schools. Do you really think that there is going to be a large number of people opting out next year? They have 800 kids enrolled at Skyview and have been upfront that they cannot offer as many electives the first year because they won't have the student numbers for some electives. That said, they mainly need electives that are available to freshman and sophomores so they don't need a full slate of electives. There will be more options in the second year because they will have 400-500 more kids.

I think it is safe to say that there are a good number of parents who don't pay attention to the school emails and will not be opting out simply because they don't read their emails. There have been parents asking about opt-in options from the 5 original schools targeted since March 1 because they never looked at the emails.

With a brand new school, a year under it's belt, an enthusiastic staff, and sports I suspect you will find more people wanting to attend Skyview. And there will be people who send their kids because it means they have transportation even if they would slightly prefer the old school. Does it really matter that your kids are at the same school if you end up having to drive one to school for 2-3 years because they are being pupil placed and transportation for your neighborhood no longer exists?

The kids opting out will be in the minority. They want to be at school with their friends and it will be more convenient for most families. And it is shiny and new.

Shiny and new doesn’t matter to people as much as whether a school can offer what a family wants, compared to the available alternatives. The verdict is still out on what the Skyview experience will look like in a year. Limited electives might not matter much at a middle school, but that will be a bigger concern at a high school.

I agree there will be plenty of families in boundary for Skyview who’ll ignore school communications so their kids will end up there by default. Others will pay more attention.

I suppose people whose kids are taking obscure electives and AP classes will try to place at another school, but there aren't as many of those as you think.

My child (who will be a 10th grader at Skyview next year) is taking a language that is only offered at the base school. Plan A was to take the language through an academy - although it now looks like there won't be academy transportation. Plan B is to take the class online. It's not ideal, but we're still looking forward to three years of Skyview.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A recent Melanie Meren post:

"The Crossfield ES community celebrated the official completion of the school renovation that began in 2023! While there for the ribbon cutting, I remembered being in the Crossfield cafeteria many years ago and hearing parents’ questions about how the process would unfold. Principal Mark Granieri remarked today that the renovation went very smoothly, and I was so glad to hear that. While I thank our FCPS facilities and design teams, I do want the school division to shorten the amount of time it takes for a renovation.

While the darling musical performance by kindergarten students brought a smile to my face on the sunny day, for me, the event was overshadowed by the distress I’ve heard from many Crossfield ES families about the Superintendent’s proposed boundary scenarios for Skyview HS that would impact this elementary school. Like many residents, I believe that people who’ve participated in months of boundary-related community meetings in good faith feel they’ve been blindsided by the Superintendent’s recommendations that for this school in particular, create new split feeders. This has caused unnecessary distress. Approaching proposals for boundaries cannot be done cavalierly.

I appreciate the Superintendent changing course quickly and halting boundary work at elementary schools, allowing them to remain in place for the next five years. Thank you to everyone who showed up and spoke up."

Meren represents Hunter Mill. She not only allowed, but facilitated, the last-minute creation of a new Kilmer/Marshall attendance island in Hunter Mill near Reston that separates one group of Kilmer/Marshall families from all the other families at those schools. She has little credibility when it comes to acting in good faith or not approaching boundaries cavalierly. Everything she does is based on "what's best for me" and "where are the most votes." No one involved in the current Skyview discussions should indulge in the fiction that she'll act any differently this time.

I am not going to vote for her next time.

[Anonymous]

McDaniel:

Based on the feedback from the Lees Corner community, it is our expectation that Lees Corner remains within the Chantilly High School pyramid.

Can he and Dixit unilaterally decide that LC is not moving? Based on the feedback?

This is worse than the RIO situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The original opt in, opt out plan was designed because of the lack of sports and electives into the second year. The admin team has said at many of the meetings that if they have close to 1,000 kids in the initial classes that they will have sports in the second year, with the exception of varsity football for safety purposes. That could change the opt out option in the second year but we don't know.

And with opt out, you are more likely to be in the minority staying at your base school. More families are not going to read the emails and end up at Skyview then read their email and chose to opt out. If transportation is provided to Skyview and not the old school, fewer kids are going to opt out of Skyview. It won't be like this year were there were more reasons to stay at the base school. There are going to fully running clubs, there is a list 30 clubs at the moment, sports, full freshman academics, and transportation.

We have no way of knowing now how many families will opt out of Skyview if they have an option. It depends largely on how the boundaries are drawn, how many students within the boundary have older siblings at other schools, and how Skyview functions in its first year. The new staff seems dedicated, but the roll-out has been chaotic; FCPS has not met its enrollment targets; and FCPS may be faced with a difficult decision to cut back on what Skyview offers or, conversely, spend far more per student at Skyview than at other schools and face criticism for that decision.

450 ninth graders opted in this year before they opened enrollment up to kids outside of the 5 schools. Do you really think that there is going to be a large number of people opting out next year? They have 800 kids enrolled at Skyview and have been upfront that they cannot offer as many electives the first year because they won't have the student numbers for some electives. That said, they mainly need electives that are available to freshman and sophomores so they don't need a full slate of electives. There will be more options in the second year because they will have 400-500 more kids.

I think it is safe to say that there are a good number of parents who don't pay attention to the school emails and will not be opting out simply because they don't read their emails. There have been parents asking about opt-in options from the 5 original schools targeted since March 1 because they never looked at the emails.

With a brand new school, a year under it's belt, an enthusiastic staff, and sports I suspect you will find more people wanting to attend Skyview. And there will be people who send their kids because it means they have transportation even if they would slightly prefer the old school. Does it really matter that your kids are at the same school if you end up having to drive one to school for 2-3 years because they are being pupil placed and transportation for your neighborhood no longer exists?

The kids opting out will be in the minority. They want to be at school with their friends and it will be more convenient for most families. And it is shiny and new.

Shiny and new doesn’t matter to people as much as whether a school can offer what a family wants, compared to the available alternatives. The verdict is still out on what the Skyview experience will look like in a year. Limited electives might not matter much at a middle school, but that will be a bigger concern at a high school.

I agree there will be plenty of families in boundary for Skyview who’ll ignore school communications so their kids will end up there by default. Others will pay more attention.

I suppose people whose kids are taking obscure electives and AP classes will try to place at another school, but there aren't as many of those as you think.

My child (who will be a 10th grader at Skyview next year) is taking a language that is only offered at the base school. Plan A was to take the language through an academy - although it now looks like there won't be academy transportation. Plan B is to take the class online. It's not ideal, but we're still looking forward to three years of Skyview.

Are you sure about no academy transportation? Why would they have it at other HSs but not Skyview?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:McDaniel:

Based on the feedback from the Lees Corner community, it is our expectation that Lees Corner remains within the Chantilly High School pyramid.

Can he and Dixit unilaterally decide that LC is not moving? Based on the feedback?

This is worse than the RIO situation.

It’s not worse than the RIO situation. It is more justified geographically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:McDaniel:

Based on the feedback from the Lees Corner community, it is our expectation that Lees Corner remains within the Chantilly High School pyramid.

Can he and Dixit unilaterally decide that LC is not moving? Based on the feedback?

This is worse than the RIO situation.

The school board makes the final decision. And, no, this is not like RIO at all. Lees Corner has valid reasons to object that are based in reality, not emotion. They would not be in the mix but for RIO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The original opt in, opt out plan was designed because of the lack of sports and electives into the second year. The admin team has said at many of the meetings that if they have close to 1,000 kids in the initial classes that they will have sports in the second year, with the exception of varsity football for safety purposes. That could change the opt out option in the second year but we don't know.

And with opt out, you are more likely to be in the minority staying at your base school. More families are not going to read the emails and end up at Skyview then read their email and chose to opt out. If transportation is provided to Skyview and not the old school, fewer kids are going to opt out of Skyview. It won't be like this year were there were more reasons to stay at the base school. There are going to fully running clubs, there is a list 30 clubs at the moment, sports, full freshman academics, and transportation.

We have no way of knowing now how many families will opt out of Skyview if they have an option. It depends largely on how the boundaries are drawn, how many students within the boundary have older siblings at other schools, and how Skyview functions in its first year. The new staff seems dedicated, but the roll-out has been chaotic; FCPS has not met its enrollment targets; and FCPS may be faced with a difficult decision to cut back on what Skyview offers or, conversely, spend far more per student at Skyview than at other schools and face criticism for that decision.

450 ninth graders opted in this year before they opened enrollment up to kids outside of the 5 schools. Do you really think that there is going to be a large number of people opting out next year? They have 800 kids enrolled at Skyview and have been upfront that they cannot offer as many electives the first year because they won't have the student numbers for some electives. That said, they mainly need electives that are available to freshman and sophomores so they don't need a full slate of electives. There will be more options in the second year because they will have 400-500 more kids.

I think it is safe to say that there are a good number of parents who don't pay attention to the school emails and will not be opting out simply because they don't read their emails. There have been parents asking about opt-in options from the 5 original schools targeted since March 1 because they never looked at the emails.

With a brand new school, a year under it's belt, an enthusiastic staff, and sports I suspect you will find more people wanting to attend Skyview. And there will be people who send their kids because it means they have transportation even if they would slightly prefer the old school. Does it really matter that your kids are at the same school if you end up having to drive one to school for 2-3 years because they are being pupil placed and transportation for your neighborhood no longer exists?

The kids opting out will be in the minority. They want to be at school with their friends and it will be more convenient for most families. And it is shiny and new.

Shiny and new doesn’t matter to people as much as whether a school can offer what a family wants, compared to the available alternatives. The verdict is still out on what the Skyview experience will look like in a year. Limited electives might not matter much at a middle school, but that will be a bigger concern at a high school.

I agree there will be plenty of families in boundary for Skyview who’ll ignore school communications so their kids will end up there by default. Others will pay more attention.

And the likelihood is that the kid will decide it is more important to go to school with their friends from ES and MS then take an obscure elective some point in time down the line. Especially if the kid is coming from a HS that offers said elective and it is popular. Skyview listened to the FMES families that were asking about Japanese and are offering Japanese at the school. There are enough 9th graders to have a Japanese 3 class. If there is an elective that is popular at Chantilly, that is not one of the Academy electives, let the Admin team know that you are interested. If enough people are and enough kids put it on their class list when they should be taking it, they will try and make it work. I know people from FMES that got phone calls from the Admin team at Skyview to talk to them about Japanese and what other classes parents wanted to make sure were there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McDaniel:

Based on the feedback from the Lees Corner community, it is our expectation that Lees Corner remains within the Chantilly High School pyramid.

Can he and Dixit unilaterally decide that LC is not moving? Based on the feedback?

This is worse than the RIO situation.

The school board makes the final decision. And, no, this is not like RIO at all. Lees Corner has valid reasons to object that are based in reality, not emotion. They would not be in the mix but for RIO.

Its exactly the same situation as RIO.

[Anonymous]

Well, there’s the merits and then there’s the process.

On the merits, you have Lees Corner close to Chantilly, but also closer to Westfield than other areas likely to get moved there. And then you have some Centreville areas that are further away from Westfield but also not as close to Centreville as Lees Corner is to Chantilly.

Unless they just plan to gut Westfield, someone has to move there if a large chunk of Westfield moves to Skyview, and it’s hard to say one area has a better argument than the other. They don’t have a clear flow chart in place that dictates the “right” result.

That’s when the process kicks in. In theory, the School Board hired a third-party consultant to make recommendations to Reid and for Reid to make recommendations to the School Board. When you have School Board members weighing in now, in the middle of the process, it looks like they are jumping the gun. And once a few members do this, the other members with potentially affected schools feel like they are stooges if they don’t also enter the fray, and we’re off to the races.

It happened during the county-wide review and now it’s happening again. I’d argue that it’s a significant enough break-down in how they should be approaching major decisions that the current School Board should be replaced next year, with the next School Board firing Reid after being sworn in. Any boundary process will be controversial, but they repeatedly take challenging situations and make them worse.