Mount Vernon?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Concerning boundaries in the eastern part of the county, FCPS needs to shake up the puzzle pieces and look at the situation with a fresh perspective. They need to look at the changes that have occurred - both physical and social.

For example, the current widening of Route 1 from Lorton to Ft. Belvoir will make areas like Gunston more accessible to the Mount Vernon area. Maybe it would be sensible to put those students at Mt. Vernon HS?

The Saratoga folks are closer to West Springfield, South County, AND Hayfield than to Lee. Maybe something can be done to help them get to a more convenient school.

Lorton Station Elementary kids should definitely go to South Co.

They need to ignore the entitled attitude of certain "good"
schools and look at what's best for all.

Pretty much.
They have to find a way to get more sfh's into Lee. Some homes sure currenty zoned wshs need to be shifted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm guessing whatever jerks that are spouting this holier than thou, sanctimonious crap about how they made sacrifices to buy an ever so slightly older home, with an inconsequentially smaller amount of square footage, are relatively new to the area.
Lee wasn't that bad. I went to one of the "good" ffx HS's and had lots of friends ( due to outside extra curriculars) that attended Lee. The school seemed a little bit more of a mix, but not in a bad way. All of those kids were middle class and went to great colleges. That was in the 90's.
Saratoga actually voted to stay in the Lee pyramid. They had the option to move to South County. They didn't.
There are people that bought into that area and it has since deteriorated. They have a right to want it to be built back up to par.

The 90s are almost 20 years ago.

Those who bought during the 90s would not likely have school aged children now.

Actually those young families who bought homes in the mid to late 90s would have kids in high school right now. So they bought when Lee HS had a much different reputation.

In the mid-90s, Lee was already in the bottom third in FCPS, and now it's in the bottom fourth. So I think the basic premise that people buying in that district any time over the past 20 years got a bait-and-switch from FCPS is flawed. They bought in a school district that had a lot of older housing that, over time, became less attractive to middle-class families, who moved to newer communities in western Fairfax, Prince William and Loudoun.

Quite honestly, if anyone has the case to make that FCPS treated them unfairly, it's people who bought in the Annandale district, not Lee. You could have bought in the Annandale district in the early-to-mid 90s and then watch FCPS systematically move single-family neighborhoods out of Annandale to Falls Church, Lake Braddock, Edison and Woodson.

Wakefield Chapel even voted to stay in Annandale (as it had always been since the subdivision was built), and the former Annandale principal wrote a very persuasive letter on the importance of keeping middle and upper-middle class neighborhoods at Annandale. Yet the school board stubbornly pursued its own agenda. Yes Annandale HS got screwed.

[Anonymous]

I agree. We are a county wide school system and the success of our county is affected by the reputation of the schools. It is not a good thing for any of us to have large parts of the county with terrible schools and other parts of the county with well regarded schools. Fairfax County has long touted the quality of its schools as a feature to attract new business and new residents. It's getting increasingly difficult for the county to make such claims. That's a problem for all of us not just those in the lesser regarded school pyramids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree. We are a county wide school system and the success of our county is affected by the reputation of the schools. It is not a good thing for any of us to have large parts of the county with terrible schools and other parts of the county with well regarded schools. Fairfax County has long touted the quality of its schools as a feature to attract new business and new residents. It's getting increasingly difficult for the county to make such claims. That's a problem for all of us not just those in the lesser regarded school pyramids.

Yet you see poster basically gloating about their superior choices. It's beyond stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm guessing whatever jerks that are spouting this holier than thou, sanctimonious crap about how they made sacrifices to buy an ever so slightly older home, with an inconsequentially smaller amount of square footage, are relatively new to the area.
Lee wasn't that bad. I went to one of the "good" ffx HS's and had lots of friends ( due to outside extra curriculars) that attended Lee. The school seemed a little bit more of a mix, but not in a bad way. All of those kids were middle class and went to great colleges. That was in the 90's.
Saratoga actually voted to stay in the Lee pyramid. They had the option to move to South County. They didn't.
There are people that bought into that area and it has since deteriorated. They have a right to want it to be built back up to par.

The 90s are almost 20 years ago.

Those who bought during the 90s would not likely have school aged children now.

Actually those young families who bought homes in the mid to late 90s would have kids in high school right now. So they bought when Lee HS had a much different reputation.

In the mid-90s, Lee was already in the bottom third in FCPS, and now it's in the bottom fourth. So I think the basic premise that people buying in that district any time over the past 20 years got a bait-and-switch from FCPS is flawed. They bought in a school district that had a lot of older housing that, over time, became less attractive to middle-class families, who moved to newer communities in western Fairfax, Prince William and Loudoun.

Quite honestly, if anyone has the case to make that FCPS treated them unfairly, it's people who bought in the Annandale district, not Lee. You could have bought in the Annandale district in the early-to-mid 90s and then watch FCPS systematically move single-family neighborhoods out of Annandale to Falls Church, Lake Braddock, Edison and Woodson.

Wakefield Chapel even voted to stay in Annandale (as it had always been since the subdivision was built), and the former Annandale principal wrote a very persuasive letter on the importance of keeping middle and upper-middle class neighborhoods at Annandale. Yet the school board stubbornly pursued its own agenda. Yes Annandale HS got screwed.

Saratoga voted to stay at Lee. It's no different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm guessing whatever jerks that are spouting this holier than thou, sanctimonious crap about how they made sacrifices to buy an ever so slightly older home, with an inconsequentially smaller amount of square footage, are relatively new to the area.
Lee wasn't that bad. I went to one of the "good" ffx HS's and had lots of friends ( due to outside extra curriculars) that attended Lee. The school seemed a little bit more of a mix, but not in a bad way. All of those kids were middle class and went to great colleges. That was in the 90's.
Saratoga actually voted to stay in the Lee pyramid. They had the option to move to South County. They didn't.
There are people that bought into that area and it has since deteriorated. They have a right to want it to be built back up to par.

The 90s are almost 20 years ago.

Those who bought during the 90s would not likely have school aged children now.

Actually those young families who bought homes in the mid to late 90s would have kids in high school right now. So they bought when Lee HS had a much different reputation.

In the mid-90s, Lee was already in the bottom third in FCPS, and now it's in the bottom fourth. So I think the basic premise that people buying in that district any time over the past 20 years got a bait-and-switch from FCPS is flawed. They bought in a school district that had a lot of older housing that, over time, became less attractive to middle-class families, who moved to newer communities in western Fairfax, Prince William and Loudoun.

Quite honestly, if anyone has the case to make that FCPS treated them unfairly, it's people who bought in the Annandale district, not Lee. You could have bought in the Annandale district in the early-to-mid 90s and then watch FCPS systematically move single-family neighborhoods out of Annandale to Falls Church, Lake Braddock, Edison and Woodson.

Annandale totally got screwed. No doubt. But I think people aren't understanding that it isn't people who bought in the 90's who got screwed in Saratoga. It's people who bought in the mid 2000's. Before the crash. I also dispute the premise that Lee was bad in the 90's. If you lived in this area in the 80's and 90's you would know that no school was looked at as being particularly bad. Except maybe TC Williams and that isn't ffx. It was basically understood that if you went to school anywhere in ffx county - it was a good school. Some schools might have been considered better for certain things, but great schools didn't exist. People weren't such obnoxious assholes about zipcodes and school pyramids. Also, there wasn't as much multi family housing anywhere. There weren't the high number immigrants. The immigrants who were here were often middle class.
Yes, someone will not be happy when rezoning happens. Having spent 100k more than someone else doesn't buy you any assurances. Argue proximity to schools and neighborhood spirit all you want. Fine. Arguing that you spent x amount more? Nope. Just don't go there.

This is a good point. There have been a lot of demographic shifts in the past ten-fifteen years. I grew up here in the 90s and went to Langley. It was considered good, but t certainly didn't have the status it does today. Population changes have created exacerbated circumstances for schools like Lee or Annandale which were seeing some shifts in the 90s, but not to the point where people actively avoid them like today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm guessing whatever jerks that are spouting this holier than thou, sanctimonious crap about how they made sacrifices to buy an ever so slightly older home, with an inconsequentially smaller amount of square footage, are relatively new to the area.
Lee wasn't that bad. I went to one of the "good" ffx HS's and had lots of friends ( due to outside extra curriculars) that attended Lee. The school seemed a little bit more of a mix, but not in a bad way. All of those kids were middle class and went to great colleges. That was in the 90's.
Saratoga actually voted to stay in the Lee pyramid. They had the option to move to South County. They didn't.
There are people that bought into that area and it has since deteriorated. They have a right to want it to be built back up to par.

The 90s are almost 20 years ago.

Those who bought during the 90s would not likely have school aged children now.

Actually those young families who bought homes in the mid to late 90s would have kids in high school right now. So they bought when Lee HS had a much different reputation.

In the mid-90s, Lee was already in the bottom third in FCPS, and now it's in the bottom fourth. So I think the basic premise that people buying in that district any time over the past 20 years got a bait-and-switch from FCPS is flawed. They bought in a school district that had a lot of older housing that, over time, became less attractive to middle-class families, who moved to newer communities in western Fairfax, Prince William and Loudoun.

Quite honestly, if anyone has the case to make that FCPS treated them unfairly, it's people who bought in the Annandale district, not Lee. You could have bought in the Annandale district in the early-to-mid 90s and then watch FCPS systematically move single-family neighborhoods out of Annandale to Falls Church, Lake Braddock, Edison and Woodson.

Wakefield Chapel even voted to stay in Annandale (as it had always been since the subdivision was built), and the former Annandale principal wrote a very persuasive letter on the importance of keeping middle and upper-middle class neighborhoods at Annandale. Yet the school board stubbornly pursued its own agenda. Yes Annandale HS got screwed.

+1

That was when Facilities complained about the excessive overcrowding at Annandale and all the excess capacity at Woodson..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are wealthy areas that are zoned for Mount Vernon HS, those neighborhoods mainly feed into Washington Mill ES. However, tons of those families send their children to private or parochial schools in Alexandria and beyond versus the local publics.

The local middle school is pretty far away with all of the students being bussed, no walkers. In fact, Whitman on a map is more north than Sandburg (the MS for West Potomac).

For families looking to opt out of MVHS, I believe they have Hayfield (?) as an option as West Potomac is overcrowded.

We've been at Washington Mill and are happy. Both my kids are in AAP there. There should be no option to send your kids to WP or Hayfield.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm guessing whatever jerks that are spouting this holier than thou, sanctimonious crap about how they made sacrifices to buy an ever so slightly older home, with an inconsequentially smaller amount of square footage, are relatively new to the area.
Lee wasn't that bad. I went to one of the "good" ffx HS's and had lots of friends ( due to outside extra curriculars) that attended Lee. The school seemed a little bit more of a mix, but not in a bad way. All of those kids were middle class and went to great colleges. That was in the 90's.
Saratoga actually voted to stay in the Lee pyramid. They had the option to move to South County. They didn't.
There are people that bought into that area and it has since deteriorated. They have a right to want it to be built back up to par.

The 90s are almost 20 years ago.

Those who bought during the 90s would not likely have school aged children now.

Actually those young families who bought homes in the mid to late 90s would have kids in high school right now. So they bought when Lee HS had a much different reputation.

In the mid-90s, Lee was already in the bottom third in FCPS, and now it's in the bottom fourth. So I think the basic premise that people buying in that district any time over the past 20 years got a bait-and-switch from FCPS is flawed. They bought in a school district that had a lot of older housing that, over time, became less attractive to middle-class families, who moved to newer communities in western Fairfax, Prince William and Loudoun.

Quite honestly, if anyone has the case to make that FCPS treated them unfairly, it's people who bought in the Annandale district, not Lee. You could have bought in the Annandale district in the early-to-mid 90s and then watch FCPS systematically move single-family neighborhoods out of Annandale to Falls Church, Lake Braddock, Edison and Woodson.

Annandale totally got screwed. No doubt. But I think people aren't understanding that it isn't people who bought in the 90's who got screwed in Saratoga. It's people who bought in the mid 2000's. Before the crash. I also dispute the premise that Lee was bad in the 90's. If you lived in this area in the 80's and 90's you would know that no school was looked at as being particularly bad. Except maybe TC Williams and that isn't ffx. It was basically understood that if you went to school anywhere in ffx county - it was a good school. Some schools might have been considered better for certain things, but great schools didn't exist. People weren't such obnoxious assholes about zipcodes and school pyramids. Also, there wasn't as much multi family housing anywhere. There weren't the high number immigrants. The immigrants who were here were often middle class.
Yes, someone will not be happy when rezoning happens. Having spent 100k more than someone else doesn't buy you any assurances. Argue proximity to schools and neighborhood spirit all you want. Fine. Arguing that you spent x amount more? Nope. Just don't go there.

In the mid 2000s even at the peak before the crash Lee was considered an undesireable school.

[Anonymous]

^^^ maybe by racist assholes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are wealthy areas that are zoned for Mount Vernon HS, those neighborhoods mainly feed into Washington Mill ES. However, tons of those families send their children to private or parochial schools in Alexandria and beyond versus the local publics.

The local middle school is pretty far away with all of the students being bussed, no walkers. In fact, Whitman on a map is more north than Sandburg (the MS for West Potomac).

For families looking to opt out of MVHS, I believe they have Hayfield (?) as an option as West Potomac is overcrowded.

We've been at Washington Mill and are happy. Both my kids are in AAP there. There should be no option to send your kids to WP or Hayfield.

I too have heard good things about Washington Mill, thank you for sharing your experience!

[Anonymous]

Here is a crazy, crazy idea. Make Lee the sole IB school in the county. Include bussing from anywhere. Redistribute the students from Lee to neighboring schools.

One reason why I think it would work is that if you took the whole county's IB participation, it would likely only fill a single school. So why bother spreading it around. That way demand matches the usage. And the building is used.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Concerning boundaries in the eastern part of the county, FCPS needs to shake up the puzzle pieces and look at the situation with a fresh perspective. They need to look at the changes that have occurred - both physical and social.

For example, the current widening of Route 1 from Lorton to Ft. Belvoir will make areas like Gunston more accessible to the Mount Vernon area. Maybe it would be sensible to put those students at Mt. Vernon HS?

The Saratoga folks are closer to West Springfield, South County, AND Hayfield than to Lee. Maybe something can be done to help them get to a more convenient school.

Lorton Station Elementary kids should definitely go to South Co.

They need to ignore the entitled attitude of certain "good"
schools and look at what's best for all.

Why should single family homes zoned for West Springfield be moved to Lee so that single family homes zoned for Lee can be moved to South County or West Springfield.

The Saratoga folks voted to stay at Lee so they don't necessarily have a leg to stand on with their argument that some other neighborhood needs to switch place with them.

They need to devote this energy to improving Lee. How are the STEM activities, music program and theater program at Lee? STEM and fine arts appeal greatly to families who value education. Those would be good areas to focus on. Lobbying fcps to switch Lee from IB to AP is another sensible approach.

But this proposal? Sheer nonsense.

Pretty much.
They have to find a way to get more sfh's into Lee. Some homes sure currenty zoned wshs need to be shifted.

[Anonymous]

Why should single family homes zoned for West Springfield be moved to Lee so that single family homes zoned for Lee can be moved to South County or West Springfield. 

The Saratoga folks voted to stay at Lee so they don't necessarily have a leg to stand on with their argument that some other neighborhood needs to switch place with them. 

They need to devote this energy to improving Lee. How are the STEM activities, music program and theater program at Lee? STEM and fine arts appeal greatly to families who value education. Those would be good areas to focus on. Lobbying fcps to switch Lee from IB to AP is another sensible approach. 

But this proposal? Sheer nonsense. 

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Concerning boundaries in the eastern part of the county, FCPS needs to shake up the puzzle pieces and look at the situation with a fresh perspective. They need to look at the changes that have occurred - both physical and social.

For example, the current widening of Route 1 from Lorton to Ft. Belvoir will make areas like Gunston more accessible to the Mount Vernon area. Maybe it would be sensible to put those students at Mt. Vernon HS?

The Saratoga folks are closer to West Springfield, South County, AND Hayfield than to Lee. Maybe something can be done to help them get to a more convenient school.

Lorton Station Elementary kids should definitely go to South Co.

They need to ignore the entitled attitude of certain "good"
schools and look at what's best for all.

Pretty much.
They have to find a way to get more sfh's into Lee. Some homes sure currenty zoned wshs need to be shifted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is a crazy, crazy idea. Make Lee the sole IB school in the county. Include bussing from anywhere. Redistribute the students from Lee to neighboring schools.

One reason why I think it would work is that if you took the whole county's IB participation, it would likely only fill a single school. So why bother spreading it around. That way demand matches the usage. And the building is used.

This is actually a very sound idea.