FCPS Boundary Review Updates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Well-funded is FairFACTS matters who raised over 40 grand in a couple of months. They are less well funded because the GFCA realized how toxic they are.

Not a member of FairFacts. I've no idea who is running it. But, if you think 40 grand will compete with FCPS who spends millions and millions every day with no thought, 40 grand is miniscule. David vs Goliath.

1.$500K along on a "consultant" that is providing cover for the School board. And, I seriously doubt that the $$$ to Thru will stop at $500K--on a no bid contract.

2. Do you think all these meetings with communities are free? Custodians, staffing, etc? Do you think staff is not being paid for this?

3. A "lottery" with witnesses and video proving that something smells--and no serious response from FCPS.

4. Committee members who are known activists that will support the School Board. (Irony alert--one of the proponents of the SB and "equity warrior" does not want her own neighborhood moved. Talk about hypocrite.)

5. Using overcrowding as an excuse when the most overcrowded schools are functioning well. And, one of them will rapidly lose population over the next years.

6. No discussion on the School Board about eliminating IB which would limit pupil placement and likely bring "more affluent" students back to less affluent schools--and, incidentally bring great savings to FCPS--by eliminating need for high school redistricting and keeping the community happy.

7. Going through with this when so many citizens and families are worried about careers and future.

This is the last thing Fairfax County needs right now.

TWO of the the crowded high schools will rapidly start losing population in 2 years.

The Irving class that replaces class of 2026 is around 150 fewer students than the 720 ish class of 2026.

All subsequesnt classes are smallertgan the ones they replace.

In 2 years after class of 2025 and 2026 graduates, WSHS will be nearly 150-200 fewer students.

They have Chantilly down around 300 kids over the next 5 years.

They have McLean down around 150 kids over the next 5 years.

They have West Springfield up around 200 kids over the next 5 years.

I always see WS posters saying the enrollment there is going to decline, but the Facilities people in FCPS don't seem to agree.

If you look at the school enrollment numbers posted monthly, WSHS will drop by a couple hundred kids over the next few years.

The 9th through 11th grades at WSHS are all larger than the 12th grade class. The Irving enrollment this past fall (1211) isn't significantly lower than the recent high in 2021-22 (1224). And the CIP itself indicates that FCPS is projecting continued growth at WSHS.

If you want to make the case that WSHS will drop, you'll have to do better than just asserting it will drop by a couple hundred kids. And now is probably the time to be marshaling FACTS to make that argument, not just making the assertion.

Next years freshmen are around 40 students fewer than this years seniors.

The Irving 7th grade classs is 150 fewer students than this year's juniors.



Enrollment starts to drop after class of 2026 graduates.

The CIP estimates are never accurate

There are 667 WSHS seniors as of last month.

There are 640 8th graders at Irving. There are also 106 transfers from Irving to Lake Braddock, so let's assume they are evenly split between 7th and 8th grade = 53 per grade. That gets you to 693 freshmen next year. West Springfield is now also averaging about 15 pupil placements into the school per class, so that takes you to 708 freshmen.

That doesn't take into account some kids going to TJ, which would reduce the number of freshmen next year, but it also doesn't take into account kids from K-8 private or parochial schools who may go to West Springfield. Either way it's far from clear there will only be around 627 freshmen next year.

To add on to that, for the past 9 years (and possibly more but the data doesn't go beyond that), Irving has sent less than 10 kids to TJ per year according to the published statistics per middle school. TJ transfers is at the very bottom of factors affecting the size of the WSHS freshman class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child’s middle school currently feeds three high schools - per pp it is not as simple as a thru line from es-Ms-hs. Agree better answer is residency checks and looking at IB and AAP centers.

Okay, but if you get rid of AAP in favor of tracking within a school know that if you have a complaint about another child in your child’s class there is NO OTHER CLASS for your kid or that kid to switch to.

They are stuck with those same peers OR will be working below their current levels. If we do away with having multiple levels within a class, (know as heterogeneous grouping) those kids you all complain about can’t be easily switched to another teacher nor can your kid.

Wow! I was a teacher for quite some time and never had a child removed from my class because of another child. I don't recall this happening in any of my kids' classes either.

How often have you done this with your child?

My personal children? Never. It happens all the time where I teach. When did you teach? This is commonplace when we place children for the following school year. We ask parents if they want their child with or away from a certain child and teachers have “keep with” or “separate from” when doing groupings for the next grade level. If all the classes are ability grouped, you can’t regroup each year because the kids need to be with the same level of learner. Read some posts on the elementary school forms here to see parents advocating for other kids getting kicked out or asking for another classroom. How are you meeting those parent requests if the children are leveled in low, middle and high groups across the 3 teachers in the grade level?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you assume those of us with a special ed student don’t also have neurotypical and non-disabled children? My senior is intellectually disabled and autistic; my sophomore is in an all honors classes straight A student. We need voices representing special ed children, but I’m also interested and well versed in issues for non-disabled children too.

Imagine feeling slighted by disabled special ed children being represented. Also, a large percentage of special ed students in FCPS are in fact in general ed classrooms. Maybe learn something about the subject matter before lighting the torch at your oppression olympics.

THIS! Same here. Most parents have very different kids which extends to disabilities, AAP, Gen Ed, LGBTQ+, and more.
I'm not sure why people want to attack kids who are different because they are afraid of change. Their fear mongering about kids and boundaries is just ignorant, because they clearly know nothing and there is no evidence of any but necessary boundary changes to solve issues PARENTS want solved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do you assume those of us with a special ed student don’t also have neurotypical and non-disabled children? My senior is intellectually disabled and autistic; my sophomore is in an all honors classes straight A student. We need voices representing special ed children, but I’m also interested and well versed in issues for non-disabled children too.

Imagine feeling slighted by disabled special ed children being represented. Also, a large percentage of special ed students in FCPS are in fact in general ed classrooms. Maybe learn something about the subject matter before lighting the torch at your oppression olympics.

THIS! Same here. Most parents have very different kids which extends to disabilities, AAP, Gen Ed, LGBTQ+, and more.
I'm not sure why people want to attack kids who are different because they are afraid of change. Their fear mongering about kids and boundaries is just ignorant, because they clearly know nothing and there is no evidence of any but necessary boundary changes to solve issues PARENTS want solved.

Not focused on the SpecED angle here, but there are plenty of parents who don’t want their kids redistricted just to atone for the SB’s past misallocation of capital resources or FCPS’s concerns that some schools are at risk of losing accrediting. These are not solutions, just cover-up’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do you assume those of us with a special ed student don’t also have neurotypical and non-disabled children? My senior is intellectually disabled and autistic; my sophomore is in an all honors classes straight A student. We need voices representing special ed children, but I’m also interested and well versed in issues for non-disabled children too.

Imagine feeling slighted by disabled special ed children being represented. Also, a large percentage of special ed students in FCPS are in fact in general ed classrooms. Maybe learn something about the subject matter before lighting the torch at your oppression olympics.

THIS! Same here. Most parents have very different kids which extends to disabilities, AAP, Gen Ed, LGBTQ+, and more.
I'm not sure why people want to attack kids who are different because they are afraid of change. Their fear mongering about kids and boundaries is just ignorant, because they clearly know nothing and there is no evidence of any but necessary boundary changes to solve issues PARENTS want solved.

Except, if you look through the responses more parents DON”T want to change boundaries. I’m also not sure why you think change in the middle of a high school career is anything BUT disruptive. Research has been done on this and it turns out children’s academic performance suffers for at least a year after a move that isn’t aligned with the usual school transitions. I have 2 kids my older AAP kid is the one who would have to switch in the middle of high school. The younger sped kid would attend the new school. I’m fine with the younger one going to a new school. I’m not fine making my older kid sacrifice with lower grades for a year because the board “forgot” about grandfathering.

It isn’t fear mongering. It is a very real concern for parents of current 8-10th graders and there is an easy solution that was proposed and then voted against.

[Anonymous]

Democratic Party favorably rating is at 29% per a recent poll. It’s far left (even for Fairfax) moves like the comprehensive boundary review that sink the Dem’s popularity at a time that they need every one of us they can get.

-sincerely a former Democrat who left the party over the boundary changes they are pushing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do you assume those of us with a special ed student don’t also have neurotypical and non-disabled children? My senior is intellectually disabled and autistic; my sophomore is in an all honors classes straight A student. We need voices representing special ed children, but I’m also interested and well versed in issues for non-disabled children too.

Imagine feeling slighted by disabled special ed children being represented. Also, a large percentage of special ed students in FCPS are in fact in general ed classrooms. Maybe learn something about the subject matter before lighting the torch at your oppression olympics.

THIS! Same here. Most parents have very different kids which extends to disabilities, AAP, Gen Ed, LGBTQ+, and more.
I'm not sure why people want to attack kids who are different because they are afraid of change. Their fear mongering about kids and boundaries is just ignorant, because they clearly know nothing and there is no evidence of any but necessary boundary changes to solve issues PARENTS want solved.

Except, if you look through the responses more parents DON”T want to change boundaries. I’m also not sure why you think change in the middle of a high school career is anything BUT disruptive. Research has been done on this and it turns out children’s academic performance suffers for at least a year after a move that isn’t aligned with the usual school transitions. I have 2 kids my older AAP kid is the one who would have to switch in the middle of high school. The younger sped kid would attend the new school. I’m fine with the younger one going to a new school. I’m not fine making my older kid sacrifice with lower grades for a year because the board “forgot” about grandfathering.

It isn’t fear mongering. It is a very real concern for parents of current 8-10th graders and there is an easy solution that was proposed and then voted against.

For many, many years, military families have stayed put while parent goes to next assignment if the kids are in high school. I cannot imagine choosing to stay in Fairfax County while parent takes tour in Korea if you are going to be redistricted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since the BRAC meeting was canceled this week, do we know the next date yet?

People keep asking but they are secret and closed and subject to NDAs. Just like any good public, transparent process.

LOL! I’m assuming there should be one this week or next since 3/10. And agreed that are so sneaky about the dates. I do look forward to what they disclose as it seems things should start heating up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Democratic Party favorably rating is at 29% per a recent poll. It’s far left (even for Fairfax) moves like the comprehensive boundary review that sink the Dem’s popularity at a time that they need every one of us they can get.

-sincerely a former Democrat who left the party over the boundary changes they are pushing.

And yet, I guarantee you that more far left candidates will be elected again next time around. As much as people complain about things like boundary rezoning, they refuse to change their voting habits.

[Anonymous]

Any movement on requiring the school board members’ kids to be moved as part of the boundary changes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any movement on requiring the school board members’ kids to be moved as part of the boundary changes?

Few of them have children in the schools. A couple of them have no children and others have kids that are out of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any movement on requiring the school board members’ kids to be moved as part of the boundary changes?

Few of them have children in the schools. A couple of them have no children and others have kids that are out of school.

I believe at least Sandy Anderson and Kyle McDaniel do. They are two of the biggest proponents of the boundary changes, so I’m sure they would have no objection to moving their kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any movement on requiring the school board members’ kids to be moved as part of the boundary changes?

Few of them have children in the schools. A couple of them have no children and others have kids that are out of school.

Sizemore-Heizer’s kids are out now but all she ever did when she was an at-large member and her youngest was still at LBSS was tout Lake Braddock. Constantly. Paid no attention to any other schools.

Now that she’s the Braddock rep she pays some attention to Woodson as well but the last thing we need are parents who only care about the schools their own kids attend.

[Anonymous]

I get that people don't want to switch schools, but the big question for me is WHY.

Is it that the teachers suck at certain schools? Or is it that people only want their kids to go to schools with certain types of children, eg., the more affluent native English speakers? And yeah, it's not the teachers, otherwise we'll just switch the staff at Langley and Herndon and call it a day.

So parents spend oodles of money on housing so their kids can attend schools with other affluent kids, which drives up housing costs and forces lower-income students into certain schools.

And above all, the ones with the most income do not want to mess with the system because it risks mixing their children alongside those they spent so much money to avoid.

[Anonymous]

Which schools do the SB members kids attend?