FCPS HS Boundary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the projections for WS? I thought while this current cohort of HS kids was large, the current ES cohort was smaller than typical.

You are correct.

Once the current class of 2026 graduates, all the subsequent classes go down in size significantly.

2026 is well over 700 students. 2025 and 2024 are in the mkd to upper 600s.

Every class after 2026 is in the low 600s.

WSHS will self correct without a boundary adjustment once 2026 graduates, based on all the numbers in the middle school and elementary classes zoned for WSHS.

However, there are many out of zone kids attending WSHS usiing other addresses.

WSHS needs to do a residency check before sny rezoning occurs.

The current numbers at Irving don’t align with this. Nice try.

j

Yes they do current 8th grade is 601 current 7th is 571

So let's parse this. The current enrollment at Irving (1217 as of the start of the 2023-24 school year) is the second-highest enrollment at Irving of any year since 2014-15. In addition to those students, there are 117 Irving kids who transferred out to other schools this year, including over 100 to Lake Braddock, and students who may attend West Springfield after attending K-8 parochial schools.

In comparison, Lewis is projected to have 1423 students by 2028-29. So even if West Springfield only had 2600 kids in 2028, rather than the 2925 students that FCPS is now projecting, there would still be a huge disparity between the two schools in terms of enrollment and opportunities. There's no other combination in FCPS of nearby high schools where the current and projected contrast in enrollment and opportunities is so glaring.

If you know the area at all, though, you'd know it's just not that simple to redraw Irving/WSHS boundaries. The boundary is not weirdly gerrymandered to keep kids out of Lewis. Except for that one neighborhood south of the parkway, the boundary makes sense. The neighborhoods closest to Lewis, that sort of northeast section, walks to Irving and is very close to West Springfield. Easily bikeable and walkable. I guess Daventry could go back to Key/Lewis and the area south of the parkway to either Lewis or South County. And maybe something on the west side to LBSS if they could absorb some more kids. Look, we are at WSHS/Irving but we aren't in a zone that would move, we are literally right in the middle of the boundary, so I'm not trying to plead my personal case. But the West Springfield boundary largely makes sense as is. There is just a lot of housing, a good amount of "affordable for the area" apartments and town houses. It's compact and all has the same mixed culture, government-type worker, military family, vibe. I think it would be a shame to mess it up.

I recognize that the current WSHS boundaries are relatively compact. However, the enrollment imbalance between WSHS and Lewis trumps that. We certainly shouldn't be allocating more money to expand WSHS again any time soon, and Lewis needs more students to thrive.

You WANT Lewis to have more kids, so advocate with the people there to not transfer.

Exactly.

Start with the 230 kids zoned for Lewis who currently transfer to other schools.

They transfer because Lewis doesn’t offer the classes that students want. There’s no guarantee that adding back those 230 kids would improve course availability or extracurricular activities at Lewis. Many more than 230 students would be needed for Lewis to compete with neighboring schools. Around 20 years ago, there wasn’t such disparity among schools. We need to correct and rebalance the schools, however that happens.

But you are advocating for the schools board to transfer in 200 West Springfield High School kids to replace the 200 Lewis zoned kids who live in that zone and are transferring to other high schools.

Don't you see the idiocy of this idea?

Start by closing the loophole that allows 230 plus Lewis kids to transfer to other schools. See how that works for a couple of years.

If that doesn't work, then look at other options.

Those 230 Lewis students attending other schools should absolutely be the first step.

Rezoning should be the absolute last option.

Since FCPS does not offer the same classes at each HS, students should absolutely be given the opportunity to transfer to the school that offers their desired courses. To stop transfers would be unconscionable.

DP. Generally agree with you, but if they’re going to argue efficiency as the rationale for redistricting, then they absolutely should start by bringing students back to where they belong. It’s a no brainer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The biggest INequity in FCPS is allowing AAP kids to choose which school they'd like to attend. This needs to stop. The center model needs to end. How on earth is it fair to give some kids options that other kids aren't given?

That’s coming now that LLIV is just about at every school now. Centers will be going away soon, I suspect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the projections for WS? I thought while this current cohort of HS kids was large, the current ES cohort was smaller than typical.

You are correct.

Once the current class of 2026 graduates, all the subsequent classes go down in size significantly.

2026 is well over 700 students. 2025 and 2024 are in the mkd to upper 600s.

Every class after 2026 is in the low 600s.

WSHS will self correct without a boundary adjustment once 2026 graduates, based on all the numbers in the middle school and elementary classes zoned for WSHS.

However, there are many out of zone kids attending WSHS usiing other addresses.

WSHS needs to do a residency check before sny rezoning occurs.

The current numbers at Irving don’t align with this. Nice try.

j

Yes they do current 8th grade is 601 current 7th is 571

So let's parse this. The current enrollment at Irving (1217 as of the start of the 2023-24 school year) is the second-highest enrollment at Irving of any year since 2014-15. In addition to those students, there are 117 Irving kids who transferred out to other schools this year, including over 100 to Lake Braddock, and students who may attend West Springfield after attending K-8 parochial schools.

In comparison, Lewis is projected to have 1423 students by 2028-29. So even if West Springfield only had 2600 kids in 2028, rather than the 2925 students that FCPS is now projecting, there would still be a huge disparity between the two schools in terms of enrollment and opportunities. There's no other combination in FCPS of nearby high schools where the current and projected contrast in enrollment and opportunities is so glaring.

If you know the area at all, though, you'd know it's just not that simple to redraw Irving/WSHS boundaries. The boundary is not weirdly gerrymandered to keep kids out of Lewis. Except for that one neighborhood south of the parkway, the boundary makes sense. The neighborhoods closest to Lewis, that sort of northeast section, walks to Irving and is very close to West Springfield. Easily bikeable and walkable. I guess Daventry could go back to Key/Lewis and the area south of the parkway to either Lewis or South County. And maybe something on the west side to LBSS if they could absorb some more kids. Look, we are at WSHS/Irving but we aren't in a zone that would move, we are literally right in the middle of the boundary, so I'm not trying to plead my personal case. But the West Springfield boundary largely makes sense as is. There is just a lot of housing, a good amount of "affordable for the area" apartments and town houses. It's compact and all has the same mixed culture, government-type worker, military family, vibe. I think it would be a shame to mess it up.

I recognize that the current WSHS boundaries are relatively compact. However, the enrollment imbalance between WSHS and Lewis trumps that. We certainly shouldn't be allocating more money to expand WSHS again any time soon, and Lewis needs more students to thrive.

You WANT Lewis to have more kids, so advocate with the people there to not transfer.

Exactly.

Start with the 230 kids zoned for Lewis who currently transfer to other schools.

They transfer because Lewis doesn’t offer the classes that students want. There’s no guarantee that adding back those 230 kids would improve course availability or extracurricular activities at Lewis. Many more than 230 students would be needed for Lewis to compete with neighboring schools. Around 20 years ago, there wasn’t such disparity among schools. We need to correct and rebalance the schools, however that happens.

DP. It sounds as if the better idea would be to simply close Lewis (use it for something else) and send those kids to the other nearby HS. Obviously, no one wants to attend Lewis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The biggest INequity in FCPS is allowing AAP kids to choose which school they'd like to attend. This needs to stop. The center model needs to end. How on earth is it fair to give some kids options that other kids aren't given?

That’s coming now that LLIV is just about at every school now. Centers will be going away soon, I suspect.

Good. This is way overdue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the projections for WS? I thought while this current cohort of HS kids was large, the current ES cohort was smaller than typical.

You are correct.

Once the current class of 2026 graduates, all the subsequent classes go down in size significantly.

2026 is well over 700 students. 2025 and 2024 are in the mkd to upper 600s.

Every class after 2026 is in the low 600s.

WSHS will self correct without a boundary adjustment once 2026 graduates, based on all the numbers in the middle school and elementary classes zoned for WSHS.

However, there are many out of zone kids attending WSHS usiing other addresses.

WSHS needs to do a residency check before sny rezoning occurs.

The current numbers at Irving don’t align with this. Nice try.

j

Yes they do current 8th grade is 601 current 7th is 571

So let's parse this. The current enrollment at Irving (1217 as of the start of the 2023-24 school year) is the second-highest enrollment at Irving of any year since 2014-15. In addition to those students, there are 117 Irving kids who transferred out to other schools this year, including over 100 to Lake Braddock, and students who may attend West Springfield after attending K-8 parochial schools.

In comparison, Lewis is projected to have 1423 students by 2028-29. So even if West Springfield only had 2600 kids in 2028, rather than the 2925 students that FCPS is now projecting, there would still be a huge disparity between the two schools in terms of enrollment and opportunities. There's no other combination in FCPS of nearby high schools where the current and projected contrast in enrollment and opportunities is so glaring.

If you know the area at all, though, you'd know it's just not that simple to redraw Irving/WSHS boundaries. The boundary is not weirdly gerrymandered to keep kids out of Lewis. Except for that one neighborhood south of the parkway, the boundary makes sense. The neighborhoods closest to Lewis, that sort of northeast section, walks to Irving and is very close to West Springfield. Easily bikeable and walkable. I guess Daventry could go back to Key/Lewis and the area south of the parkway to either Lewis or South County. And maybe something on the west side to LBSS if they could absorb some more kids. Look, we are at WSHS/Irving but we aren't in a zone that would move, we are literally right in the middle of the boundary, so I'm not trying to plead my personal case. But the West Springfield boundary largely makes sense as is. There is just a lot of housing, a good amount of "affordable for the area" apartments and town houses. It's compact and all has the same mixed culture, government-type worker, military family, vibe. I think it would be a shame to mess it up.

I recognize that the current WSHS boundaries are relatively compact. However, the enrollment imbalance between WSHS and Lewis trumps that. We certainly shouldn't be allocating more money to expand WSHS again any time soon, and Lewis needs more students to thrive.

You WANT Lewis to have more kids, so advocate with the people there to not transfer.

Exactly.

Start with the 230 kids zoned for Lewis who currently transfer to other schools.

They transfer because Lewis doesn’t offer the classes that students want. There’s no guarantee that adding back those 230 kids would improve course availability or extracurricular activities at Lewis. Many more than 230 students would be needed for Lewis to compete with neighboring schools. Around 20 years ago, there wasn’t such disparity among schools. We need to correct and rebalance the schools, however that happens.

But you are advocating for the schools board to transfer in 200 West Springfield High School kids to replace the 200 Lewis zoned kids who live in that zone and are transferring to other high schools.

Don't you see the idiocy of this idea?

Start by closing the loophole that allows 230 plus Lewis kids to transfer to other schools. See how that works for a couple of years.

If that doesn't work, then look at other options.

Those 230 Lewis students attending other schools should absolutely be the first step.

Rezoning should be the absolute last option.

Since FCPS does not offer the same classes at each HS, students should absolutely be given the opportunity to transfer to the school that offers their desired courses. To stop transfers would be unconscionable.

DP. Generally agree with you, but if they’re going to argue efficiency as the rationale for redistricting, then they absolutely should start by bringing students back to where they belong. It’s a no brainer

230 students is just a drop in a bucket compared to the number of students Lewis would need to make it competitive. I think the answer may be to close it completely in a few years when the HS age demographic drops off. Either that, or convert it to a trade school. Until then, keep the status quo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The biggest INequity in FCPS is allowing AAP kids to choose which school they'd like to attend. This needs to stop. The center model needs to end. How on earth is it fair to give some kids options that other kids aren't given?

That’s coming now that LLIV is just about at every school now. Centers will be going away soon, I suspect.

Good. This is way overdue.

I mean they haven’t actually come out and said that… but it seems like a reasonable take.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The biggest INequity in FCPS is allowing AAP kids to choose which school they'd like to attend. This needs to stop. The center model needs to end. How on earth is it fair to give some kids options that other kids aren't given?

That’s coming now that LLIV is just about at every school now. Centers will be going away soon, I suspect.

Good. This is way overdue.

I mean they haven’t actually come out and said that… but it seems like a reasonable take.

+2 once LLIV is established at every school there’s no need for centers, so hopefully they decide to eliminate that and can save some money and buses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the projections for WS? I thought while this current cohort of HS kids was large, the current ES cohort was smaller than typical.

You are correct.

Once the current class of 2026 graduates, all the subsequent classes go down in size significantly.

2026 is well over 700 students. 2025 and 2024 are in the mkd to upper 600s.

Every class after 2026 is in the low 600s.

WSHS will self correct without a boundary adjustment once 2026 graduates, based on all the numbers in the middle school and elementary classes zoned for WSHS.

However, there are many out of zone kids attending WSHS usiing other addresses.

WSHS needs to do a residency check before sny rezoning occurs.

The current numbers at Irving don’t align with this. Nice try.

j

Yes they do current 8th grade is 601 current 7th is 571

So let's parse this. The current enrollment at Irving (1217 as of the start of the 2023-24 school year) is the second-highest enrollment at Irving of any year since 2014-15. In addition to those students, there are 117 Irving kids who transferred out to other schools this year, including over 100 to Lake Braddock, and students who may attend West Springfield after attending K-8 parochial schools.

In comparison, Lewis is projected to have 1423 students by 2028-29. So even if West Springfield only had 2600 kids in 2028, rather than the 2925 students that FCPS is now projecting, there would still be a huge disparity between the two schools in terms of enrollment and opportunities. There's no other combination in FCPS of nearby high schools where the current and projected contrast in enrollment and opportunities is so glaring.

If you know the area at all, though, you'd know it's just not that simple to redraw Irving/WSHS boundaries. The boundary is not weirdly gerrymandered to keep kids out of Lewis. Except for that one neighborhood south of the parkway, the boundary makes sense. The neighborhoods closest to Lewis, that sort of northeast section, walks to Irving and is very close to West Springfield. Easily bikeable and walkable. I guess Daventry could go back to Key/Lewis and the area south of the parkway to either Lewis or South County. And maybe something on the west side to LBSS if they could absorb some more kids. Look, we are at WSHS/Irving but we aren't in a zone that would move, we are literally right in the middle of the boundary, so I'm not trying to plead my personal case. But the West Springfield boundary largely makes sense as is. There is just a lot of housing, a good amount of "affordable for the area" apartments and town houses. It's compact and all has the same mixed culture, government-type worker, military family, vibe. I think it would be a shame to mess it up.

I recognize that the current WSHS boundaries are relatively compact. However, the enrollment imbalance between WSHS and Lewis trumps that. We certainly shouldn't be allocating more money to expand WSHS again any time soon, and Lewis needs more students to thrive.

You WANT Lewis to have more kids, so advocate with the people there to not transfer.

Exactly.

Start with the 230 kids zoned for Lewis who currently transfer to other schools.

They transfer because Lewis doesn’t offer the classes that students want. There’s no guarantee that adding back those 230 kids would improve course availability or extracurricular activities at Lewis. Many more than 230 students would be needed for Lewis to compete with neighboring schools. Around 20 years ago, there wasn’t such disparity among schools. We need to correct and rebalance the schools, however that happens.

DP. It sounds as if the better idea would be to simply close Lewis (use it for something else) and send those kids to the other nearby HS. Obviously, no one wants to attend Lewis.

It was zoned this way because WSHS parents didn't want Lewis apartment kids at their school. Doubtful they want them now either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the projections for WS? I thought while this current cohort of HS kids was large, the current ES cohort was smaller than typical.

You are correct.

Once the current class of 2026 graduates, all the subsequent classes go down in size significantly.

2026 is well over 700 students. 2025 and 2024 are in the mkd to upper 600s.

Every class after 2026 is in the low 600s.

WSHS will self correct without a boundary adjustment once 2026 graduates, based on all the numbers in the middle school and elementary classes zoned for WSHS.

However, there are many out of zone kids attending WSHS usiing other addresses.

WSHS needs to do a residency check before sny rezoning occurs.

The current numbers at Irving don’t align with this. Nice try.

j

Yes they do current 8th grade is 601 current 7th is 571

So let's parse this. The current enrollment at Irving (1217 as of the start of the 2023-24 school year) is the second-highest enrollment at Irving of any year since 2014-15. In addition to those students, there are 117 Irving kids who transferred out to other schools this year, including over 100 to Lake Braddock, and students who may attend West Springfield after attending K-8 parochial schools.

In comparison, Lewis is projected to have 1423 students by 2028-29. So even if West Springfield only had 2600 kids in 2028, rather than the 2925 students that FCPS is now projecting, there would still be a huge disparity between the two schools in terms of enrollment and opportunities. There's no other combination in FCPS of nearby high schools where the current and projected contrast in enrollment and opportunities is so glaring.

If you know the area at all, though, you'd know it's just not that simple to redraw Irving/WSHS boundaries. The boundary is not weirdly gerrymandered to keep kids out of Lewis. Except for that one neighborhood south of the parkway, the boundary makes sense. The neighborhoods closest to Lewis, that sort of northeast section, walks to Irving and is very close to West Springfield. Easily bikeable and walkable. I guess Daventry could go back to Key/Lewis and the area south of the parkway to either Lewis or South County. And maybe something on the west side to LBSS if they could absorb some more kids. Look, we are at WSHS/Irving but we aren't in a zone that would move, we are literally right in the middle of the boundary, so I'm not trying to plead my personal case. But the West Springfield boundary largely makes sense as is. There is just a lot of housing, a good amount of "affordable for the area" apartments and town houses. It's compact and all has the same mixed culture, government-type worker, military family, vibe. I think it would be a shame to mess it up.

I recognize that the current WSHS boundaries are relatively compact. However, the enrollment imbalance between WSHS and Lewis trumps that. We certainly shouldn't be allocating more money to expand WSHS again any time soon, and Lewis needs more students to thrive.

You WANT Lewis to have more kids, so advocate with the people there to not transfer.

Exactly.

Start with the 230 kids zoned for Lewis who currently transfer to other schools.

They transfer because Lewis doesn’t offer the classes that students want. There’s no guarantee that adding back those 230 kids would improve course availability or extracurricular activities at Lewis. Many more than 230 students would be needed for Lewis to compete with neighboring schools. Around 20 years ago, there wasn’t such disparity among schools. We need to correct and rebalance the schools, however that happens.

But you are advocating for the schools board to transfer in 200 West Springfield High School kids to replace the 200 Lewis zoned kids who live in that zone and are transferring to other high schools.

Don't you see the idiocy of this idea?

Start by closing the loophole that allows 230 plus Lewis kids to transfer to other schools. See how that works for a couple of years.

If that doesn't work, then look at other options.

Those 230 Lewis students attending other schools should absolutely be the first step.

Rezoning should be the absolute last option.

Since FCPS does not offer the same classes at each HS, students should absolutely be given the opportunity to transfer to the school that offers their desired courses. To stop transfers would be unconscionable.

To rezone a nearby school when over 200 zoned students are transferring out of their neighborhood school is unconscionable.

[Anonymous]

We live in one of the Hunt Valley neighborhoods off of Gambrill. While this is all speculation at this point, would they keep the elementary kids at Hunt Valley and make it a split feeder, or would they move the elementary kids to Saratoga? Geographically, I think it makes more sense to move neighborhoods like ours to Newington Forest/South County, but I can see why they might end up moving us to Lewis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in one of the Hunt Valley neighborhoods off of Gambrill. While this is all speculation at this point, would they keep the elementary kids at Hunt Valley and make it a split feeder, or would they move the elementary kids to Saratoga? Geographically, I think it makes more sense to move neighborhoods like ours to Newington Forest/South County, but I can see why they might end up moving us to Lewis.

They haven’t announced any plans other than starting the holistic boundary study soon. If you are asking the question, it means you are not safe.

You should reach out to the SB with your views. There is not much time to weigh in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in one of the Hunt Valley neighborhoods off of Gambrill. While this is all speculation at this point, would they keep the elementary kids at Hunt Valley and make it a split feeder, or would they move the elementary kids to Saratoga? Geographically, I think it makes more sense to move neighborhoods like ours to Newington Forest/South County, but I can see why they might end up moving us to Lewis.

They haven’t announced any plans other than starting the holistic boundary study soon. If you are asking the question, it means you are not safe.

You should reach out to the SB with your views. There is not much time to weigh in.

The email announced that they are updating the boundary policy, not starting a new holistic boundary study. The latter would a while, while the former will be completed soon and operationalized in 2025 or 2026 (most likely).

[Anonymous]

Here is a quote from the email from McDaniel:
"When will the new boundaries be implemented? I can’t say for sure, but I’d suspect Fall 2025 at the earliest. Perhaps, more reasonably, I’d say Fall 2026. My position has been that the School Board implements the new boundary lines once they are drawn and approved following an extensive public outreach process."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is a quote from the email from McDaniel:
"When will the new boundaries be implemented? I can’t say for sure, but I’d suspect Fall 2025 at the earliest. Perhaps, more reasonably, I’d say Fall 2026. My position has been that the School Board implements the new boundary lines once they are drawn and approved following an extensive public outreach process."

Robyn Lady said after it passes this month they will operationalize it. Her words. They’ve also talked about this at length at board meetings.

Just because it isn’t directly in McDaniel’s newsletter doesn’t mean they haven’t announced it through other means.

The windows to offer opposition to this disaster is now.

[Anonymous]

I don’t disagree. I interpret McDaniel‘s email saying as changes are going to be made quickly.