Fall 2022 Over/Under-Enrollment at FCPS High Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You get the school district you vote for

Keep voting lockstep with teAM bLuE!11 because of some irrelevant political issues that the hacks are using to manipulate you into turning your $3.2B annual FCPS budget over to a bunch of political hacks who aren't interested in educating YOUR children or preserving YOUR property values.

Are you joking? "Team blue" so far has been a conservative's dream come true. No boundary changes along with allowing worsening conditions at the undesirable schools has catapulted property values at the "good" schools. A republican candidate who goes on about removing useless equity policies and truly taking action for equality might actually have to do something that hurts property values.

The school board often rezoned for capacity when it was run by republicans.

Somehow they managed to do this without tanking property values.

Rezoning based on reasonable factors like capacity and distance-to-school has always been an occasional requirement in many public schools. Rezoning based on "racial and social equity" of One Fairfax--shifting kids around like pieces on a gameboard based on their race or parental income level--is a terrible idea. That's what's in store for FCPS---the factors to be considered for rezoning have already been amended along those lines. Nothing conservative about that.

FCPS has never actually changed a single boundary based on "One Fairfax" principles. When the School Board took tentative steps along those lines back in 2018, the local Republicans - many from the Langley area - intimidated the hell out of them and they shut it down. The Langley/McLean boundary change from 2021 - where Elaine Tholen overrode a staff recommendation that would have moved some Tysons apartments to Langley and instead made sure only expensive single-family homes were reassigned - was actually regressive from an "equity" standpoint. The Republicans from Great Falls will continue to claim the School Board is going to redistrict based on "One Fairfax," and the Democrats will continue to be all talk and no action because they live in fear of vocal parents.

If you're in the "right" neighborhood, it's a classic "heads I win, tails you lose" scenario. Of course, there are also a lot of folks on the losing end, but recent history shows they get ignored by the School Board.

DP. I honestly can't count how many time you have posted exactly the same rant. Here's the thing: "One Fairfax" nonsense *should* be shut down. If Langley parents are the only ones bold enough to take action, so be it. The Democrats *should* live in fear of vocal parents because everything they do is asinine. It's just too bad more parents across FCPS don't speak up for themselves too.

PP was in response to the same nonsense again from right-wingers about how the School Board is intent on redistricting everyone based on “One Fairfax,” which they have never done and almost certainly never will. That’s the rant, so there’s good reason to call it out for the scaremongering that it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought Saratoga had the opportunjty to get rezoned from then Lee (Lewis) intk the brand new South County High School, but the residents successfully fought the rezoning.

If I remember correctly, residents wanted to be included in South County and thought it was a done deal, but at the last minute dirty politicians threw Saratoga under the bus so that Mason Neck would be sent to the new school instead. Saratoga Elementary’s mascot is the Stallions, the same as South County’s, but it’s students are in the Lewis Pyramid.

I always wondered about Saratoga. It's like the red-headed stepchild being bussed up the parkway to Key MS and Lewis HS when the other five elementary schools that feed into it are from Springfield proper. Didn't know about the South County bait and switch though.

Saratoga should be zoned for South County.

But the residents fought getting rezoned to South County years ago.

No. You have that wrong. Most residents wanted South County. I attended the public meetings that were held on the matter. Keeping Saratoga at Lee was a last minute political deal by politicians catering to wealthier constituents in surrounding neighborhoods who demanded to be included in the new South County school.

[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:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

Why do you keep dragging West Springfield into your discussion about overenrolled schools when WSHS is around the average enrollment capacity of the majority of fcps high schools? Why do you call WS a "white" school when it is majority minority with one of the highest percentages of African American students in all of FCPS?

It is such a bizarre fixation to have this strange focus on one school that is not over enrolled and has one of the most compact boundaries in the county. It is almost as if you are trolling.

You appear to lack the self-awareness to realize you're proving PP's point.

And there's not just one poster noting that, if the School Board was more focused, they'd pay more attention to the disparity between the enrollments at Lewis and surrounding schools, including West Springfield.

Definitely one poster obsesssed with WSHS who posts here all the time.

They constantly triies to turn a thread about schools 30% or more over enrolled into a thread about a school only 5% over enrolled, similar enrollment to the majority of FCPS high schools.

I have posted about the disparities between West Springfield and Lewis and am definitely not the only one PP ends up sparring with. So you can shelve the "one obsessed poster" because others also see the disparities.

There's a huge difference in total enrollment between West Springfield (2650) and Lewis (1685). Also, West Springfield has the second-highest number of white kids of any HS in FCPS (1289) while Lewis - with which West Springfield shares a long border - has the fewest (193).

Ask yourself if a School Board that really cares about "equity" would not be taking a harder look at Lewis, or at the boundaries in that general area. And, yes, it would include a look at whether the IB program at Lewis is helping or hurting the school. And, yes, Lewis also borders other schools besides West Springfield (Annandale, Edison, Hayfield, and South County), although none of those other schools currently has as many students or is as over-enrolled as West Springfield.

You make it extremely personal with other posters, when it's really about the huge gap between the School Board's talk about "equity" and what they really do (or don't do).

Why do you care so much?

I swear the people who constantly bring up Lewis on DCUM (and target WSHS in the process) are people who live in areas zoned for Lewis and are resentful.

People who get screwed again and again do tend to build up some resentment. Not sure why you would expect something different.

Oh, please.

So, there won't be any resentment if some WS students are rezoned to Lewis. Good to hear.

New poster.

Owning a house that you purchased at $100,000-$200.000 less than houses in a neighboring district knowing perfectly well that the price was lower due to a lower performing high school, is very different than paying a premium and sacrificing things like space for a house zoned for a specific school, then losing $100,000-$200,000 or more in equity, overnight, perhaps putting your house under water, if your house gets rezoned to one of the lowest rated schools in FCPS.

Especially since rezoning a neighborhood will make zero impact on Lewis' ranking, as many of those kids will find a way to not attend Lewis using the AP/IB loophole, or a language not offered at Lewis, or Catholic school.

The only thing rezoning a neighborhood out of Lewis will do is bring down the property values in a significant way for the neighborhood rezoned.

Sorry but the whole equity argument is completely invalid. By the same token, those who bought property 10-15 years ago in zones like Lewis, Annandale, and Mt. Vernon should have had the same real estate protections before the school board made decisions to deteriorate their property values. We bought in those zones at a time when there was parity and differences in schools were nowhere near as significant as they are now. We couldn't have predicted that FCPS would neglect the program development of certain pyramids to this extent.

Annandale is the best example of FCPS’s death by a thousand cuts.

It was built in the mid-50s, so it got a cheap renovation like McLean and Lewis, unlike the much fancier renovations of schools built later.

Then FCPS started rezoning SFH neighborhoods out of Annandale. First it was moving Columbia Pines to Justice and Falls Church. Then Ravensworth got moved to Lake Braddock. Then Wakefield Forest got moved to Woodson, and Edsall Park and Bren Mar Park got moved to Edison. Leaving most of the low-income apartments along 236 from the Beltway to Alexandria zoned to AHS (some go to Falls Church). In the process they also turned Poe MS into the poorest MS in FCPS. All these decisions were incremental, but if you own a SFH in Annandale you take a big hit compared to people living zoned for Woodson. Obviously if you bought long enough ago you wouldn’t have known FCPS would do this.

It all happens because School Board members play favorites with their own communities. Annandale didn’t have anyone looking out after it because the Mason District representative historically came from Stuart and the Braddock District representative from Woodson.

This is spot on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You get the school district you vote for

Keep voting lockstep with teAM bLuE!11 because of some irrelevant political issues that the hacks are using to manipulate you into turning your $3.2B annual FCPS budget over to a bunch of political hacks who aren't interested in educating YOUR children or preserving YOUR property values.

Are you joking? "Team blue" so far has been a conservative's dream come true. No boundary changes along with allowing worsening conditions at the undesirable schools has catapulted property values at the "good" schools. A republican candidate who goes on about removing useless equity policies and truly taking action for equality might actually have to do something that hurts property values.

The school board often rezoned for capacity when it was run by republicans.

Somehow they managed to do this without tanking property values.

Rezoning based on reasonable factors like capacity and distance-to-school has always been an occasional requirement in many public schools. Rezoning based on "racial and social equity" of One Fairfax--shifting kids around like pieces on a gameboard based on their race or parental income level--is a terrible idea. That's what's in store for FCPS---the factors to be considered for rezoning have already been amended along those lines. Nothing conservative about that.

FCPS has never actually changed a single boundary based on "One Fairfax" principles. When the School Board took tentative steps along those lines back in 2018, the local Republicans - many from the Langley area - intimidated the hell out of them and they shut it down. The Langley/McLean boundary change from 2021 - where Elaine Tholen overrode a staff recommendation that would have moved some Tysons apartments to Langley and instead made sure only expensive single-family homes were reassigned - was actually regressive from an "equity" standpoint. The Republicans from Great Falls will continue to claim the School Board is going to redistrict based on "One Fairfax," and the Democrats will continue to be all talk and no action because they live in fear of vocal parents.

If you're in the "right" neighborhood, it's a classic "heads I win, tails you lose" scenario. Of course, there are also a lot of folks on the losing end, but recent history shows they get ignored by the School Board.

DP. I honestly can't count how many time you have posted exactly the same rant. Here's the thing: "One Fairfax" nonsense *should* be shut down. If Langley parents are the only ones bold enough to take action, so be it. The Democrats *should* live in fear of vocal parents because everything they do is asinine. It's just too bad more parents across FCPS don't speak up for themselves too.

PP was in response to the same nonsense again from right-wingers about how the School Board is intent on redistricting everyone based on “One Fairfax,” which they have never done and almost certainly never will. That’s the rant, so there’s good reason to call it out for the scaremongering that it is.

Then FCPS should quit braying about “One Fairfax” once and for all. Because as long as they act as if that’s their guiding principle (rather than, say, simply focusing on education), there will be pushback.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

Why do you keep dragging West Springfield into your discussion about overenrolled schools when WSHS is around the average enrollment capacity of the majority of fcps high schools? Why do you call WS a "white" school when it is majority minority with one of the highest percentages of African American students in all of FCPS?

It is such a bizarre fixation to have this strange focus on one school that is not over enrolled and has one of the most compact boundaries in the county. It is almost as if you are trolling.

You appear to lack the self-awareness to realize you're proving PP's point.

And there's not just one poster noting that, if the School Board was more focused, they'd pay more attention to the disparity between the enrollments at Lewis and surrounding schools, including West Springfield.

Definitely one poster obsesssed with WSHS who posts here all the time.

They constantly triies to turn a thread about schools 30% or more over enrolled into a thread about a school only 5% over enrolled, similar enrollment to the majority of FCPS high schools.

I have posted about the disparities between West Springfield and Lewis and am definitely not the only one PP ends up sparring with. So you can shelve the "one obsessed poster" because others also see the disparities.

There's a huge difference in total enrollment between West Springfield (2650) and Lewis (1685). Also, West Springfield has the second-highest number of white kids of any HS in FCPS (1289) while Lewis - with which West Springfield shares a long border - has the fewest (193).

Ask yourself if a School Board that really cares about "equity" would not be taking a harder look at Lewis, or at the boundaries in that general area. And, yes, it would include a look at whether the IB program at Lewis is helping or hurting the school. And, yes, Lewis also borders other schools besides West Springfield (Annandale, Edison, Hayfield, and South County), although none of those other schools currently has as many students or is as over-enrolled as West Springfield.

You make it extremely personal with other posters, when it's really about the huge gap between the School Board's talk about "equity" and what they really do (or don't do).

Why do you care so much?

I swear the people who constantly bring up Lewis on DCUM (and target WSHS in the process) are people who live in areas zoned for Lewis and are resentful.

People who get screwed again and again do tend to build up some resentment. Not sure why you would expect something different.

Oh, please.

So, there won't be any resentment if some WS students are rezoned to Lewis. Good to hear.

Weren't there adjustments to the Springfield magisterial district that supposedly were intended to protect Democrats if Laura Jane Cohen and her colleagues moved part of West Springfield to Lewis?

Yes.

It was a last minute backdoor deal which changed the final redistricting plan, overnight, without allowing the community to give feedback or the current supervisor any heads up until it was a done deal.

They moved the neighborhoods that are walkable to the Springfield Government center over to Lee district, and annexed neghborhoods across town somewhere near Vienna, so that everyone involved has to now drive across town to access things like early voting and their board of supervisor.

Yup. The community of West Springfield was carved between three magisterial districts. Rolling Road is the dividing line. Neighborhoods east of Rolling are now part of the Lee or Braddock districts. West of Rolling remains part of Springfield. Local representation on the Board of Supervisors has been diminished.

The whole equity issue around Lewis HS and its neighbors is starting to ring hollow. WSHS is already majority-minority and I suspect that will only increase as the immediate area continues to diversify.

[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:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

Why do you keep dragging West Springfield into your discussion about overenrolled schools when WSHS is around the average enrollment capacity of the majority of fcps high schools? Why do you call WS a "white" school when it is majority minority with one of the highest percentages of African American students in all of FCPS?

It is such a bizarre fixation to have this strange focus on one school that is not over enrolled and has one of the most compact boundaries in the county. It is almost as if you are trolling.

You appear to lack the self-awareness to realize you're proving PP's point.

And there's not just one poster noting that, if the School Board was more focused, they'd pay more attention to the disparity between the enrollments at Lewis and surrounding schools, including West Springfield.

Definitely one poster obsesssed with WSHS who posts here all the time.

They constantly triies to turn a thread about schools 30% or more over enrolled into a thread about a school only 5% over enrolled, similar enrollment to the majority of FCPS high schools.

I have posted about the disparities between West Springfield and Lewis and am definitely not the only one PP ends up sparring with. So you can shelve the "one obsessed poster" because others also see the disparities.

There's a huge difference in total enrollment between West Springfield (2650) and Lewis (1685). Also, West Springfield has the second-highest number of white kids of any HS in FCPS (1289) while Lewis - with which West Springfield shares a long border - has the fewest (193).

Ask yourself if a School Board that really cares about "equity" would not be taking a harder look at Lewis, or at the boundaries in that general area. And, yes, it would include a look at whether the IB program at Lewis is helping or hurting the school. And, yes, Lewis also borders other schools besides West Springfield (Annandale, Edison, Hayfield, and South County), although none of those other schools currently has as many students or is as over-enrolled as West Springfield.

You make it extremely personal with other posters, when it's really about the huge gap between the School Board's talk about "equity" and what they really do (or don't do).

Why do you care so much?

I swear the people who constantly bring up Lewis on DCUM (and target WSHS in the process) are people who live in areas zoned for Lewis and are resentful.

People who get screwed again and again do tend to build up some resentment. Not sure why you would expect something different.

Oh, please.

So, there won't be any resentment if some WS students are rezoned to Lewis. Good to hear.

New poster.

Owning a house that you purchased at $100,000-$200.000 less than houses in a neighboring district knowing perfectly well that the price was lower due to a lower performing high school, is very different than paying a premium and sacrificing things like space for a house zoned for a specific school, then losing $100,000-$200,000 or more in equity, overnight, perhaps putting your house under water, if your house gets rezoned to one of the lowest rated schools in FCPS.

Especially since rezoning a neighborhood will make zero impact on Lewis' ranking, as many of those kids will find a way to not attend Lewis using the AP/IB loophole, or a language not offered at Lewis, or Catholic school.

The only thing rezoning a neighborhood out of Lewis will do is bring down the property values in a significant way for the neighborhood rezoned.

Sorry but the whole equity argument is completely invalid. By the same token, those who bought property 10-15 years ago in zones like Lewis, Annandale, and Mt. Vernon should have had the same real estate protections before the school board made decisions to deteriorate their property values. We bought in those zones at a time when there was parity and differences in schools were nowhere near as significant as they are now. We couldn't have predicted that FCPS would neglect the program development of certain pyramids to this extent.

Annandale is the best example of FCPS’s death by a thousand cuts.

It was built in the mid-50s, so it got a cheap renovation like McLean and Lewis, unlike the much fancier renovations of schools built later.

Then FCPS started rezoning SFH neighborhoods out of Annandale. First it was moving Columbia Pines to Justice and Falls Church. Then Ravensworth got moved to Lake Braddock. Then Wakefield Forest got moved to Woodson, and Edsall Park and Bren Mar Park got moved to Edison. Leaving most of the low-income apartments along 236 from the Beltway to Alexandria zoned to AHS (some go to Falls Church). In the process they also turned Poe MS into the poorest MS in FCPS. All these decisions were incremental, but if you own a SFH in Annandale you take a big hit compared to people living zoned for Woodson. Obviously if you bought long enough ago you wouldn’t have known FCPS would do this.

It all happens because School Board members play favorites with their own communities. Annandale didn’t have anyone looking out after it because the Mason District representative historically came from Stuart and the Braddock District representative from Woodson.

This is spot on.

Agree from someone zoned to Westfield. Similar situation here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You get the school district you vote for

Keep voting lockstep with teAM bLuE!11 because of some irrelevant political issues that the hacks are using to manipulate you into turning your $3.2B annual FCPS budget over to a bunch of political hacks who aren't interested in educating YOUR children or preserving YOUR property values.

Are you joking? "Team blue" so far has been a conservative's dream come true. No boundary changes along with allowing worsening conditions at the undesirable schools has catapulted property values at the "good" schools. A republican candidate who goes on about removing useless equity policies and truly taking action for equality might actually have to do something that hurts property values.

The school board often rezoned for capacity when it was run by republicans.

Somehow they managed to do this without tanking property values.

Rezoning based on reasonable factors like capacity and distance-to-school has always been an occasional requirement in many public schools. Rezoning based on "racial and social equity" of One Fairfax--shifting kids around like pieces on a gameboard based on their race or parental income level--is a terrible idea. That's what's in store for FCPS---the factors to be considered for rezoning have already been amended along those lines. Nothing conservative about that.

FCPS has never actually changed a single boundary based on "One Fairfax" principles. When the School Board took tentative steps along those lines back in 2018, the local Republicans - many from the Langley area - intimidated the hell out of them and they shut it down. The Langley/McLean boundary change from 2021 - where Elaine Tholen overrode a staff recommendation that would have moved some Tysons apartments to Langley and instead made sure only expensive single-family homes were reassigned - was actually regressive from an "equity" standpoint. The Republicans from Great Falls will continue to claim the School Board is going to redistrict based on "One Fairfax," and the Democrats will continue to be all talk and no action because they live in fear of vocal parents.

If you're in the "right" neighborhood, it's a classic "heads I win, tails you lose" scenario. Of course, there are also a lot of folks on the losing end, but recent history shows they get ignored by the School Board.

DP. I honestly can't count how many time you have posted exactly the same rant. Here's the thing: "One Fairfax" nonsense *should* be shut down. If Langley parents are the only ones bold enough to take action, so be it. The Democrats *should* live in fear of vocal parents because everything they do is asinine. It's just too bad more parents across FCPS don't speak up for themselves too.

PP was in response to the same nonsense again from right-wingers about how the School Board is intent on redistricting everyone based on “One Fairfax,” which they have never done and almost certainly never will. That’s the rant, so there’s good reason to call it out for the scaremongering that it is.

Then FCPS should quit braying about “One Fairfax” once and for all. Because as long as they act as if that’s their guiding principle (rather than, say, simply focusing on education), there will be pushback.

You might ask yourself why a slogan that now means little more than “we’re all in this together” triggers you so much, or why you’d claim that it’s incompatible with a focus on education.

[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:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

Why do you keep dragging West Springfield into your discussion about overenrolled schools when WSHS is around the average enrollment capacity of the majority of fcps high schools? Why do you call WS a "white" school when it is majority minority with one of the highest percentages of African American students in all of FCPS?

It is such a bizarre fixation to have this strange focus on one school that is not over enrolled and has one of the most compact boundaries in the county. It is almost as if you are trolling.

You appear to lack the self-awareness to realize you're proving PP's point.

And there's not just one poster noting that, if the School Board was more focused, they'd pay more attention to the disparity between the enrollments at Lewis and surrounding schools, including West Springfield.

Definitely one poster obsesssed with WSHS who posts here all the time.

They constantly triies to turn a thread about schools 30% or more over enrolled into a thread about a school only 5% over enrolled, similar enrollment to the majority of FCPS high schools.

I have posted about the disparities between West Springfield and Lewis and am definitely not the only one PP ends up sparring with. So you can shelve the "one obsessed poster" because others also see the disparities.

There's a huge difference in total enrollment between West Springfield (2650) and Lewis (1685). Also, West Springfield has the second-highest number of white kids of any HS in FCPS (1289) while Lewis - with which West Springfield shares a long border - has the fewest (193).

Ask yourself if a School Board that really cares about "equity" would not be taking a harder look at Lewis, or at the boundaries in that general area. And, yes, it would include a look at whether the IB program at Lewis is helping or hurting the school. And, yes, Lewis also borders other schools besides West Springfield (Annandale, Edison, Hayfield, and South County), although none of those other schools currently has as many students or is as over-enrolled as West Springfield.

You make it extremely personal with other posters, when it's really about the huge gap between the School Board's talk about "equity" and what they really do (or don't do).

Why do you care so much?

I swear the people who constantly bring up Lewis on DCUM (and target WSHS in the process) are people who live in areas zoned for Lewis and are resentful.

People who get screwed again and again do tend to build up some resentment. Not sure why you would expect something different.

Oh, please.

So, there won't be any resentment if some WS students are rezoned to Lewis. Good to hear.

Weren't there adjustments to the Springfield magisterial district that supposedly were intended to protect Democrats if Laura Jane Cohen and her colleagues moved part of West Springfield to Lewis?

Yes.

It was a last minute backdoor deal which changed the final redistricting plan, overnight, without allowing the community to give feedback or the current supervisor any heads up until it was a done deal.

They moved the neighborhoods that are walkable to the Springfield Government center over to Lee district, and annexed neghborhoods across town somewhere near Vienna, so that everyone involved has to now drive across town to access things like early voting and their board of supervisor.

Yup. The community of West Springfield was carved between three magisterial districts. Rolling Road is the dividing line. Neighborhoods east of Rolling are now part of the Lee or Braddock districts. West of Rolling remains part of Springfield. Local representation on the Board of Supervisors has been diminished.

The whole equity issue around Lewis HS and its neighbors is starting to ring hollow. WSHS is already majority-minority and I suspect that will only increase as the immediate area continues to diversify.

There are only three high schools in FCPS that are majority white now - Langley, Madison, and Robinson.

However, West Springfield has the second largest number of white kids of any FCPS high school and Lewis has the fewest; West Springfield has over 800 more kids than Lewis; there’s a big difference in the quality of the facilities; and Lewis isn’t allowed to offer the same AP courses as West Springfield.

Taking that into account, the assertion that equity issues around Lewis “ring hollow” sounds very close to deliberate indifference. It may get ignored because Derenak Kaufax and Cohen are timid, and Keys Gamarra foolishly thinks her Academy program will draw families to Lewis, but the inequities are real.

[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:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

Why do you keep dragging West Springfield into your discussion about overenrolled schools when WSHS is around the average enrollment capacity of the majority of fcps high schools? Why do you call WS a "white" school when it is majority minority with one of the highest percentages of African American students in all of FCPS?

It is such a bizarre fixation to have this strange focus on one school that is not over enrolled and has one of the most compact boundaries in the county. It is almost as if you are trolling.

You appear to lack the self-awareness to realize you're proving PP's point.

And there's not just one poster noting that, if the School Board was more focused, they'd pay more attention to the disparity between the enrollments at Lewis and surrounding schools, including West Springfield.

Definitely one poster obsesssed with WSHS who posts here all the time.

They constantly triies to turn a thread about schools 30% or more over enrolled into a thread about a school only 5% over enrolled, similar enrollment to the majority of FCPS high schools.

I have posted about the disparities between West Springfield and Lewis and am definitely not the only one PP ends up sparring with. So you can shelve the "one obsessed poster" because others also see the disparities.

There's a huge difference in total enrollment between West Springfield (2650) and Lewis (1685). Also, West Springfield has the second-highest number of white kids of any HS in FCPS (1289) while Lewis - with which West Springfield shares a long border - has the fewest (193).

Ask yourself if a School Board that really cares about "equity" would not be taking a harder look at Lewis, or at the boundaries in that general area. And, yes, it would include a look at whether the IB program at Lewis is helping or hurting the school. And, yes, Lewis also borders other schools besides West Springfield (Annandale, Edison, Hayfield, and South County), although none of those other schools currently has as many students or is as over-enrolled as West Springfield.

You make it extremely personal with other posters, when it's really about the huge gap between the School Board's talk about "equity" and what they really do (or don't do).

Why do you care so much?

I swear the people who constantly bring up Lewis on DCUM (and target WSHS in the process) are people who live in areas zoned for Lewis and are resentful.

People who get screwed again and again do tend to build up some resentment. Not sure why you would expect something different.

Oh, please.

So, there won't be any resentment if some WS students are rezoned to Lewis. Good to hear.

Weren't there adjustments to the Springfield magisterial district that supposedly were intended to protect Democrats if Laura Jane Cohen and her colleagues moved part of West Springfield to Lewis?

Yes.

It was a last minute backdoor deal which changed the final redistricting plan, overnight, without allowing the community to give feedback or the current supervisor any heads up until it was a done deal.

They moved the neighborhoods that are walkable to the Springfield Government center over to Lee district, and annexed neghborhoods across town somewhere near Vienna, so that everyone involved has to now drive across town to access things like early voting and their board of supervisor.

Yup. The community of West Springfield was carved between three magisterial districts. Rolling Road is the dividing line. Neighborhoods east of Rolling are now part of the Lee or Braddock districts. West of Rolling remains part of Springfield. Local representation on the Board of Supervisors has been diminished.

The whole equity issue around Lewis HS and its neighbors is starting to ring hollow. WSHS is already majority-minority and I suspect that will only increase as the immediate area continues to diversify.

It's misleading to imply that WSHS's majority-minority standing means it is diversifying in a significant manner. I won't dwell on race, but it's been a very slow trend to get under 50% white. The real factor is that WSHS is less than 4% ELL and 16% FARMs. So even if that area is diversifying, it's educated, wealthy, and assimilated families that are able to afford those boundaries.

There are no Fairfax County Land & Development plans for affordable housing in the WSHS boundary like the multiple affordable housing complexes that exist in neighboring South County and Lewis boundaries, so WSHS will indefinitely continue to have it very easy until affordable housing is built.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You get the school district you vote for

Keep voting lockstep with teAM bLuE!11 because of some irrelevant political issues that the hacks are using to manipulate you into turning your $3.2B annual FCPS budget over to a bunch of political hacks who aren't interested in educating YOUR children or preserving YOUR property values.

Are you joking? "Team blue" so far has been a conservative's dream come true. No boundary changes along with allowing worsening conditions at the undesirable schools has catapulted property values at the "good" schools. A republican candidate who goes on about removing useless equity policies and truly taking action for equality might actually have to do something that hurts property values.

The school board often rezoned for capacity when it was run by republicans.

Somehow they managed to do this without tanking property values.

Rezoning based on reasonable factors like capacity and distance-to-school has always been an occasional requirement in many public schools. Rezoning based on "racial and social equity" of One Fairfax--shifting kids around like pieces on a gameboard based on their race or parental income level--is a terrible idea. That's what's in store for FCPS---the factors to be considered for rezoning have already been amended along those lines. Nothing conservative about that.

FCPS has never actually changed a single boundary based on "One Fairfax" principles. When the School Board took tentative steps along those lines back in 2018, the local Republicans - many from the Langley area - intimidated the hell out of them and they shut it down. The Langley/McLean boundary change from 2021 - where Elaine Tholen overrode a staff recommendation that would have moved some Tysons apartments to Langley and instead made sure only expensive single-family homes were reassigned - was actually regressive from an "equity" standpoint. The Republicans from Great Falls will continue to claim the School Board is going to redistrict based on "One Fairfax," and the Democrats will continue to be all talk and no action because they live in fear of vocal parents.

If you're in the "right" neighborhood, it's a classic "heads I win, tails you lose" scenario. Of course, there are also a lot of folks on the losing end, but recent history shows they get ignored by the School Board.

DP. I honestly can't count how many time you have posted exactly the same rant. Here's the thing: "One Fairfax" nonsense *should* be shut down. If Langley parents are the only ones bold enough to take action, so be it. The Democrats *should* live in fear of vocal parents because everything they do is asinine. It's just too bad more parents across FCPS don't speak up for themselves too.

PP was in response to the same nonsense again from right-wingers about how the School Board is intent on redistricting everyone based on “One Fairfax,” which they have never done and almost certainly never will. That’s the rant, so there’s good reason to call it out for the scaremongering that it is.

Then FCPS should quit braying about “One Fairfax” once and for all. Because as long as they act as if that’s their guiding principle (rather than, say, simply focusing on education), there will be pushback.

You might ask yourself why a slogan that now means little more than “we’re all in this together” triggers you so much, or why you’d claim that it’s incompatible with a focus on education.

Because it doesn't mean "we are all in this together" it means "we will focus only on supporting the people who are behind and ignore the needs of everyone else." And the reality is that what they are doing to support the people who are behind is not new or innovative or working so that those kids are falling farther behind and the kids who could be excelling are left to their parents devices to meet their potential. Because the "One Fairfax" bullshit has achieved nothing and is only words with no real action.

If we want to help kids who are ESOL, then we need need ESOL classrooms in ES where there is the strongest chance to help the kids learn English and not mixed classes where the kids are not learning English and the English speaking kids are not getting much out of the class. They do that for MS and HS and it works reasonably well. Why are we not doing this as soon as kids need it in ES? In the name of equity or diversity? We are dragging out a vital skill for ESOL kids that is needed to get them on grade level across the board AND we are slowing down learning for English speaking kids by mixing the classroom. It is a lose lose situation. But separating the ESOL kids looks bad so we can't do that.

Why don't we have more programs to support kids who are struggling? Why not have normal size classes for kids who are on grade level or advanced at Title 1 schools and spend the extra money on smaller classes for kids who are behind? Have more reading and math specialists to pull into those smaller classes so that the kids who are behind have more individualized attention and a better chance at getting up to grade level? Probably because it would look bad because the classes would be divided by SES, which strongly correlates with race, and god forbid we have kids who minorities in classes as a group because they need more support.

The kids who are behind are falling farther behind and the kids who are on grade level or advanced are not being given opportunities to grow and learn. The parents who are fed up with it are leaving for private schools or are supplementing at home or using programs to supplement. So those parents are making sure that their kids are getting a better education and are being challenged.

And parents fight boundary changes because they don't want to move to a school that is caught in this cycle of failure because of crappy policies and implementation of strategies in the name of equity and fairness. I would rather be in an over crowded high school (my kids school is not over crowded but is close) then stuck at an under performing high school where the school is more focused on equity then meeting the actual needs of the kids. No one wants to move to the schools that are chronically unfilled because the programs at those schools suck. Yes, there is IB or AP but there are not as many offerings because so few kids can take them. At least at a crowded or over crowded school there are more academic options for my kid. And lets face it, many of the MC and UMC kids that you would move to the under crowded schools are not going to be in classes with the kids who are already there. There are a good number of schools where you can point to a school within a school where the AP/IB kids are in their own bubble away from the ESOL and FARMs kids who continue to struggle academically because the programs in FCPS for them suck.

[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:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

Why do you keep dragging West Springfield into your discussion about overenrolled schools when WSHS is around the average enrollment capacity of the majority of fcps high schools? Why do you call WS a "white" school when it is majority minority with one of the highest percentages of African American students in all of FCPS?

It is such a bizarre fixation to have this strange focus on one school that is not over enrolled and has one of the most compact boundaries in the county. It is almost as if you are trolling.

You appear to lack the self-awareness to realize you're proving PP's point.

And there's not just one poster noting that, if the School Board was more focused, they'd pay more attention to the disparity between the enrollments at Lewis and surrounding schools, including West Springfield.

Definitely one poster obsesssed with WSHS who posts here all the time.

They constantly triies to turn a thread about schools 30% or more over enrolled into a thread about a school only 5% over enrolled, similar enrollment to the majority of FCPS high schools.

I have posted about the disparities between West Springfield and Lewis and am definitely not the only one PP ends up sparring with. So you can shelve the "one obsessed poster" because others also see the disparities.

There's a huge difference in total enrollment between West Springfield (2650) and Lewis (1685). Also, West Springfield has the second-highest number of white kids of any HS in FCPS (1289) while Lewis - with which West Springfield shares a long border - has the fewest (193).

Ask yourself if a School Board that really cares about "equity" would not be taking a harder look at Lewis, or at the boundaries in that general area. And, yes, it would include a look at whether the IB program at Lewis is helping or hurting the school. And, yes, Lewis also borders other schools besides West Springfield (Annandale, Edison, Hayfield, and South County), although none of those other schools currently has as many students or is as over-enrolled as West Springfield.

You make it extremely personal with other posters, when it's really about the huge gap between the School Board's talk about "equity" and what they really do (or don't do).

Why do you care so much?

I swear the people who constantly bring up Lewis on DCUM (and target WSHS in the process) are people who live in areas zoned for Lewis and are resentful.

People who get screwed again and again do tend to build up some resentment. Not sure why you would expect something different.

Oh, please.

So, there won't be any resentment if some WS students are rezoned to Lewis. Good to hear.

Weren't there adjustments to the Springfield magisterial district that supposedly were intended to protect Democrats if Laura Jane Cohen and her colleagues moved part of West Springfield to Lewis?

Yes.

It was a last minute backdoor deal which changed the final redistricting plan, overnight, without allowing the community to give feedback or the current supervisor any heads up until it was a done deal.

They moved the neighborhoods that are walkable to the Springfield Government center over to Lee district, and annexed neghborhoods across town somewhere near Vienna, so that everyone involved has to now drive across town to access things like early voting and their board of supervisor.

Yup. The community of West Springfield was carved between three magisterial districts. Rolling Road is the dividing line. Neighborhoods east of Rolling are now part of the Lee or Braddock districts. West of Rolling remains part of Springfield. Local representation on the Board of Supervisors has been diminished.

The whole equity issue around Lewis HS and its neighbors is starting to ring hollow. WSHS is already majority-minority and I suspect that will only increase as the immediate area continues to diversify.

There are only three high schools in FCPS that are majority white now - Langley, Madison, and Robinson.

However, West Springfield has the second largest number of white kids of any FCPS high school and Lewis has the fewest; West Springfield has over 800 more kids than Lewis; there’s a big difference in the quality of the facilities; and Lewis isn’t allowed to offer the same AP courses as West Springfield.

Taking that into account, the assertion that equity issues around Lewis “ring hollow” sounds very close to deliberate indifference. It may get ignored because Derenak Kaufax and Cohen are timid, and Keys Gamarra foolishly thinks her Academy program will draw families to Lewis, but the inequities are real.

McLean is also majority white.

[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:

Anonymous wrote:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

Why do you keep dragging West Springfield into your discussion about overenrolled schools when WSHS is around the average enrollment capacity of the majority of fcps high schools? Why do you call WS a "white" school when it is majority minority with one of the highest percentages of African American students in all of FCPS?

It is such a bizarre fixation to have this strange focus on one school that is not over enrolled and has one of the most compact boundaries in the county. It is almost as if you are trolling.

You appear to lack the self-awareness to realize you're proving PP's point.

And there's not just one poster noting that, if the School Board was more focused, they'd pay more attention to the disparity between the enrollments at Lewis and surrounding schools, including West Springfield.

Definitely one poster obsesssed with WSHS who posts here all the time.

They constantly triies to turn a thread about schools 30% or more over enrolled into a thread about a school only 5% over enrolled, similar enrollment to the majority of FCPS high schools.

I have posted about the disparities between West Springfield and Lewis and am definitely not the only one PP ends up sparring with. So you can shelve the "one obsessed poster" because others also see the disparities.

There's a huge difference in total enrollment between West Springfield (2650) and Lewis (1685). Also, West Springfield has the second-highest number of white kids of any HS in FCPS (1289) while Lewis - with which West Springfield shares a long border - has the fewest (193).

Ask yourself if a School Board that really cares about "equity" would not be taking a harder look at Lewis, or at the boundaries in that general area. And, yes, it would include a look at whether the IB program at Lewis is helping or hurting the school. And, yes, Lewis also borders other schools besides West Springfield (Annandale, Edison, Hayfield, and South County), although none of those other schools currently has as many students or is as over-enrolled as West Springfield.

You make it extremely personal with other posters, when it's really about the huge gap between the School Board's talk about "equity" and what they really do (or don't do).

Why do you care so much?

I swear the people who constantly bring up Lewis on DCUM (and target WSHS in the process) are people who live in areas zoned for Lewis and are resentful.

People who get screwed again and again do tend to build up some resentment. Not sure why you would expect something different.

Oh, please.

So, there won't be any resentment if some WS students are rezoned to Lewis. Good to hear.

Weren't there adjustments to the Springfield magisterial district that supposedly were intended to protect Democrats if Laura Jane Cohen and her colleagues moved part of West Springfield to Lewis?

Yes.

It was a last minute backdoor deal which changed the final redistricting plan, overnight, without allowing the community to give feedback or the current supervisor any heads up until it was a done deal.

They moved the neighborhoods that are walkable to the Springfield Government center over to Lee district, and annexed neghborhoods across town somewhere near Vienna, so that everyone involved has to now drive across town to access things like early voting and their board of supervisor.

Yup. The community of West Springfield was carved between three magisterial districts. Rolling Road is the dividing line. Neighborhoods east of Rolling are now part of the Lee or Braddock districts. West of Rolling remains part of Springfield. Local representation on the Board of Supervisors has been diminished.

The whole equity issue around Lewis HS and its neighbors is starting to ring hollow. WSHS is already majority-minority and I suspect that will only increase as the immediate area continues to diversify.

There are only three high schools in FCPS that are majority white now - Langley, Madison, and Robinson.

However, West Springfield has the second largest number of white kids of any FCPS high school and Lewis has the fewest; West Springfield has over 800 more kids than Lewis; there’s a big difference in the quality of the facilities; and Lewis isn’t allowed to offer the same AP courses as West Springfield.

Taking that into account, the assertion that equity issues around Lewis “ring hollow” sounds very close to deliberate indifference. It may get ignored because Derenak Kaufax and Cohen are timid, and Keys Gamarra foolishly thinks her Academy program will draw families to Lewis, but the inequities are real.

McLean is also majority white.

Nope. According to FCPS, it is majority minority as of this fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You get the school district you vote for

Keep voting lockstep with teAM bLuE!11 because of some irrelevant political issues that the hacks are using to manipulate you into turning your $3.2B annual FCPS budget over to a bunch of political hacks who aren't interested in educating YOUR children or preserving YOUR property values.

Are you joking? "Team blue" so far has been a conservative's dream come true. No boundary changes along with allowing worsening conditions at the undesirable schools has catapulted property values at the "good" schools. A republican candidate who goes on about removing useless equity policies and truly taking action for equality might actually have to do something that hurts property values.

The school board often rezoned for capacity when it was run by republicans.

Somehow they managed to do this without tanking property values.

Rezoning based on reasonable factors like capacity and distance-to-school has always been an occasional requirement in many public schools. Rezoning based on "racial and social equity" of One Fairfax--shifting kids around like pieces on a gameboard based on their race or parental income level--is a terrible idea. That's what's in store for FCPS---the factors to be considered for rezoning have already been amended along those lines. Nothing conservative about that.

FCPS has never actually changed a single boundary based on "One Fairfax" principles. When the School Board took tentative steps along those lines back in 2018, the local Republicans - many from the Langley area - intimidated the hell out of them and they shut it down. The Langley/McLean boundary change from 2021 - where Elaine Tholen overrode a staff recommendation that would have moved some Tysons apartments to Langley and instead made sure only expensive single-family homes were reassigned - was actually regressive from an "equity" standpoint. The Republicans from Great Falls will continue to claim the School Board is going to redistrict based on "One Fairfax," and the Democrats will continue to be all talk and no action because they live in fear of vocal parents.

If you're in the "right" neighborhood, it's a classic "heads I win, tails you lose" scenario. Of course, there are also a lot of folks on the losing end, but recent history shows they get ignored by the School Board.

DP. I honestly can't count how many time you have posted exactly the same rant. Here's the thing: "One Fairfax" nonsense *should* be shut down. If Langley parents are the only ones bold enough to take action, so be it. The Democrats *should* live in fear of vocal parents because everything they do is asinine. It's just too bad more parents across FCPS don't speak up for themselves too.

PP was in response to the same nonsense again from right-wingers about how the School Board is intent on redistricting everyone based on “One Fairfax,” which they have never done and almost certainly never will. That’s the rant, so there’s good reason to call it out for the scaremongering that it is.

Then FCPS should quit braying about “One Fairfax” once and for all. Because as long as they act as if that’s their guiding principle (rather than, say, simply focusing on education), there will be pushback.

You might ask yourself why a slogan that now means little more than “we’re all in this together” triggers you so much, or why you’d claim that it’s incompatible with a focus on education.

Because it doesn't mean "we are all in this together" it means "we will focus only on supporting the people who are behind and ignore the needs of everyone else." And the reality is that what they are doing to support the people who are behind is not new or innovative or working so that those kids are falling farther behind and the kids who could be excelling are left to their parents devices to meet their potential. Because the "One Fairfax" bullshit has achieved nothing and is only words with no real action.

If we want to help kids who are ESOL, then we need need ESOL classrooms in ES where there is the strongest chance to help the kids learn English and not mixed classes where the kids are not learning English and the English speaking kids are not getting much out of the class. They do that for MS and HS and it works reasonably well. Why are we not doing this as soon as kids need it in ES? In the name of equity or diversity? We are dragging out a vital skill for ESOL kids that is needed to get them on grade level across the board AND we are slowing down learning for English speaking kids by mixing the classroom. It is a lose lose situation. But separating the ESOL kids looks bad so we can't do that.

Why don't we have more programs to support kids who are struggling? Why not have normal size classes for kids who are on grade level or advanced at Title 1 schools and spend the extra money on smaller classes for kids who are behind? Have more reading and math specialists to pull into those smaller classes so that the kids who are behind have more individualized attention and a better chance at getting up to grade level? Probably because it would look bad because the classes would be divided by SES, which strongly correlates with race, and god forbid we have kids who minorities in classes as a group because they need more support.

The kids who are behind are falling farther behind and the kids who are on grade level or advanced are not being given opportunities to grow and learn. The parents who are fed up with it are leaving for private schools or are supplementing at home or using programs to supplement. So those parents are making sure that their kids are getting a better education and are being challenged.

And parents fight boundary changes because they don't want to move to a school that is caught in this cycle of failure because of crappy policies and implementation of strategies in the name of equity and fairness. I would rather be in an over crowded high school (my kids school is not over crowded but is close) then stuck at an under performing high school where the school is more focused on equity then meeting the actual needs of the kids. No one wants to move to the schools that are chronically unfilled because the programs at those schools suck. Yes, there is IB or AP but there are not as many offerings because so few kids can take them. At least at a crowded or over crowded school there are more academic options for my kid. And lets face it, many of the MC and UMC kids that you would move to the under crowded schools are not going to be in classes with the kids who are already there. There are a good number of schools where you can point to a school within a school where the AP/IB kids are in their own bubble away from the ESOL and FARMs kids who continue to struggle academically because the programs in FCPS for them suck.

I think your perceptions of "reality" may not align with FCPS educators, but perhaps they'll have a populist appeal next fall.

It's a bit odd to pivot from claiming FCPS is going to redistrict county-wide in the name of equity pursuant to One Fairfax to now asserting it's an empty slogan, but the latter ("only words with no real action") is probably closer to the truth.

As was noted in a PP, when handed a chance on a platter to introduce some housing diversity to Langley, the county's least diverse high school, Elaine Tholen and her colleagues made sure that did not happen. To the contrary, Elaine doubled down on making sure Langley draws almost entirely from expensive, single-family homes. So forgive those of us who think the idea that they are going to start reassigning kids to schools 15-20 miles away from their houses (as opposed to 3 miles) because of "One Fairfax" is fanciful.

As for your other comments, perhaps you could start a new thread to explore them. The focus of this thread is on schools that are either well above or well below capacity, and what FCPS might do to address those issues, not on whether their model for teaching for ESOL students is flawed. Perhaps there is some relationship (if, for example, some parents pull their kids out of schools if they think the ESOL students won't be in ESOL-only classes, leading to their under-enrollment), but otherwise it will likely derail the thread. In particular, posters might want to debate how you complained that FCPS now "will focus only on supporting the people who are behind," but then spent a lot of time suggesting they focus even more on that cohort.

[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:There’s not a single member of the current School Board with an ounce of courage. They pick soft targets (Asian immigrants hoping their kids will get into TJ) but they’d never take on vocal parents like the white parents at Langley or West Springfield.

Why do you keep dragging West Springfield into your discussion about overenrolled schools when WSHS is around the average enrollment capacity of the majority of fcps high schools? Why do you call WS a "white" school when it is majority minority with one of the highest percentages of African American students in all of FCPS?

It is such a bizarre fixation to have this strange focus on one school that is not over enrolled and has one of the most compact boundaries in the county. It is almost as if you are trolling.

You appear to lack the self-awareness to realize you're proving PP's point.

And there's not just one poster noting that, if the School Board was more focused, they'd pay more attention to the disparity between the enrollments at Lewis and surrounding schools, including West Springfield.

Definitely one poster obsesssed with WSHS who posts here all the time.

They constantly triies to turn a thread about schools 30% or more over enrolled into a thread about a school only 5% over enrolled, similar enrollment to the majority of FCPS high schools.

I have posted about the disparities between West Springfield and Lewis and am definitely not the only one PP ends up sparring with. So you can shelve the "one obsessed poster" because others also see the disparities.

There's a huge difference in total enrollment between West Springfield (2650) and Lewis (1685). Also, West Springfield has the second-highest number of white kids of any HS in FCPS (1289) while Lewis - with which West Springfield shares a long border - has the fewest (193).

Ask yourself if a School Board that really cares about "equity" would not be taking a harder look at Lewis, or at the boundaries in that general area. And, yes, it would include a look at whether the IB program at Lewis is helping or hurting the school. And, yes, Lewis also borders other schools besides West Springfield (Annandale, Edison, Hayfield, and South County), although none of those other schools currently has as many students or is as over-enrolled as West Springfield.

You make it extremely personal with other posters, when it's really about the huge gap between the School Board's talk about "equity" and what they really do (or don't do).

Why do you care so much?

I swear the people who constantly bring up Lewis on DCUM (and target WSHS in the process) are people who live in areas zoned for Lewis and are resentful.

People who get screwed again and again do tend to build up some resentment. Not sure why you would expect something different.

Oh, please.

So, there won't be any resentment if some WS students are rezoned to Lewis. Good to hear.

Weren't there adjustments to the Springfield magisterial district that supposedly were intended to protect Democrats if Laura Jane Cohen and her colleagues moved part of West Springfield to Lewis?

Yes.

It was a last minute backdoor deal which changed the final redistricting plan, overnight, without allowing the community to give feedback or the current supervisor any heads up until it was a done deal.

They moved the neighborhoods that are walkable to the Springfield Government center over to Lee district, and annexed neghborhoods across town somewhere near Vienna, so that everyone involved has to now drive across town to access things like early voting and their board of supervisor.

Yup. The community of West Springfield was carved between three magisterial districts. Rolling Road is the dividing line. Neighborhoods east of Rolling are now part of the Lee or Braddock districts. West of Rolling remains part of Springfield. Local representation on the Board of Supervisors has been diminished.

The whole equity issue around Lewis HS and its neighbors is starting to ring hollow. WSHS is already majority-minority and I suspect that will only increase as the immediate area continues to diversify.

There are only three high schools in FCPS that are majority white now - Langley, Madison, and Robinson.

However, West Springfield has the second largest number of white kids of any FCPS high school and Lewis has the fewest; West Springfield has over 800 more kids than Lewis; there’s a big difference in the quality of the facilities; and Lewis isn’t allowed to offer the same AP courses as West Springfield.

Taking that into account, the assertion that equity issues around Lewis “ring hollow” sounds very close to deliberate indifference. It may get ignored because Derenak Kaufax and Cohen are timid, and Keys Gamarra foolishly thinks her Academy program will draw families to Lewis, but the inequities are real.

Lewis is an IB school.

If you want AP, lobby your school board member to get rid of IB and switch Lewis to IB.

Lewis being IB has zero to do with WSHS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You get the school district you vote for

Keep voting lockstep with teAM bLuE!11 because of some irrelevant political issues that the hacks are using to manipulate you into turning your $3.2B annual FCPS budget over to a bunch of political hacks who aren't interested in educating YOUR children or preserving YOUR property values.

Are you joking? "Team blue" so far has been a conservative's dream come true. No boundary changes along with allowing worsening conditions at the undesirable schools has catapulted property values at the "good" schools. A republican candidate who goes on about removing useless equity policies and truly taking action for equality might actually have to do something that hurts property values.

The school board often rezoned for capacity when it was run by republicans.

Somehow they managed to do this without tanking property values.

Rezoning based on reasonable factors like capacity and distance-to-school has always been an occasional requirement in many public schools. Rezoning based on "racial and social equity" of One Fairfax--shifting kids around like pieces on a gameboard based on their race or parental income level--is a terrible idea. That's what's in store for FCPS---the factors to be considered for rezoning have already been amended along those lines. Nothing conservative about that.

FCPS has never actually changed a single boundary based on "One Fairfax" principles. When the School Board took tentative steps along those lines back in 2018, the local Republicans - many from the Langley area - intimidated the hell out of them and they shut it down. The Langley/McLean boundary change from 2021 - where Elaine Tholen overrode a staff recommendation that would have moved some Tysons apartments to Langley and instead made sure only expensive single-family homes were reassigned - was actually regressive from an "equity" standpoint. The Republicans from Great Falls will continue to claim the School Board is going to redistrict based on "One Fairfax," and the Democrats will continue to be all talk and no action because they live in fear of vocal parents.

If you're in the "right" neighborhood, it's a classic "heads I win, tails you lose" scenario. Of course, there are also a lot of folks on the losing end, but recent history shows they get ignored by the School Board.

DP. I honestly can't count how many time you have posted exactly the same rant. Here's the thing: "One Fairfax" nonsense *should* be shut down. If Langley parents are the only ones bold enough to take action, so be it. The Democrats *should* live in fear of vocal parents because everything they do is asinine. It's just too bad more parents across FCPS don't speak up for themselves too.

PP was in response to the same nonsense again from right-wingers about how the School Board is intent on redistricting everyone based on “One Fairfax,” which they have never done and almost certainly never will. That’s the rant, so there’s good reason to call it out for the scaremongering that it is.

Then FCPS should quit braying about “One Fairfax” once and for all. Because as long as they act as if that’s their guiding principle (rather than, say, simply focusing on education), there will be pushback.

You might ask yourself why a slogan that now means little more than “we’re all in this together” triggers you so much, or why you’d claim that it’s incompatible with a focus on education.

Because it doesn't mean "we are all in this together" it means "we will focus only on supporting the people who are behind and ignore the needs of everyone else." And the reality is that what they are doing to support the people who are behind is not new or innovative or working so that those kids are falling farther behind and the kids who could be excelling are left to their parents devices to meet their potential. Because the "One Fairfax" bullshit has achieved nothing and is only words with no real action.

If we want to help kids who are ESOL, then we need need ESOL classrooms in ES where there is the strongest chance to help the kids learn English and not mixed classes where the kids are not learning English and the English speaking kids are not getting much out of the class. They do that for MS and HS and it works reasonably well. Why are we not doing this as soon as kids need it in ES? In the name of equity or diversity? We are dragging out a vital skill for ESOL kids that is needed to get them on grade level across the board AND we are slowing down learning for English speaking kids by mixing the classroom. It is a lose lose situation. But separating the ESOL kids looks bad so we can't do that.

Why don't we have more programs to support kids who are struggling? Why not have normal size classes for kids who are on grade level or advanced at Title 1 schools and spend the extra money on smaller classes for kids who are behind? Have more reading and math specialists to pull into those smaller classes so that the kids who are behind have more individualized attention and a better chance at getting up to grade level? Probably because it would look bad because the classes would be divided by SES, which strongly correlates with race, and god forbid we have kids who minorities in classes as a group because they need more support.

The kids who are behind are falling farther behind and the kids who are on grade level or advanced are not being given opportunities to grow and learn. The parents who are fed up with it are leaving for private schools or are supplementing at home or using programs to supplement. So those parents are making sure that their kids are getting a better education and are being challenged.

And parents fight boundary changes because they don't want to move to a school that is caught in this cycle of failure because of crappy policies and implementation of strategies in the name of equity and fairness. I would rather be in an over crowded high school (my kids school is not over crowded but is close) then stuck at an under performing high school where the school is more focused on equity then meeting the actual needs of the kids. No one wants to move to the schools that are chronically unfilled because the programs at those schools suck. Yes, there is IB or AP but there are not as many offerings because so few kids can take them. At least at a crowded or over crowded school there are more academic options for my kid. And lets face it, many of the MC and UMC kids that you would move to the under crowded schools are not going to be in classes with the kids who are already there. There are a good number of schools where you can point to a school within a school where the AP/IB kids are in their own bubble away from the ESOL and FARMs kids who continue to struggle academically because the programs in FCPS for them suck.

I think your perceptions of "reality" may not align with FCPS educators, but perhaps they'll have a populist appeal next fall.

It's a bit odd to pivot from claiming FCPS is going to redistrict county-wide in the name of equity pursuant to One Fairfax to now asserting it's an empty slogan, but the latter ("only words with no real action") is probably closer to the truth.

As was noted in a PP, when handed a chance on a platter to introduce some housing diversity to Langley, the county's least diverse high school, Elaine Tholen and her colleagues made sure that did not happen. To the contrary, Elaine doubled down on making sure Langley draws almost entirely from expensive, single-family homes. So forgive those of us who think the idea that they are going to start reassigning kids to schools 15-20 miles away from their houses (as opposed to 3 miles) because of "One Fairfax" is fanciful.

As for your other comments, perhaps you could start a new thread to explore them. The focus of this thread is on schools that are either well above or well below capacity, and what FCPS might do to address those issues, not on whether their model for teaching for ESOL students is flawed. Perhaps there is some relationship (if, for example, some parents pull their kids out of schools if they think the ESOL students won't be in ESOL-only classes, leading to their under-enrollment), but otherwise it will likely derail the thread. In particular, posters might want to debate how you complained that FCPS now "will focus only on supporting the people who are behind," but then spent a lot of time suggesting they focus even more on that cohort.

The reason behind the massive over enrollment is that parents don't want their schools redistricted to the under enrolled schools because of the issues that surround those schools, primarily the massive gaps between the kids who are struggling (ESOL and lower SES kids). No one wants to move to Lewis or Justice or Herndon. Heck, people are hesitant about South Lakes. Since the solution is not build capacity at over crowded schools we need to look at why no one wants their kids at those lower enrolled high schools. Parents will fight being redistricted into a poorly performing school with fewer class opportunities then what is available at their existing school. And since the parents who are fighting that move have more money and are more likely to vote, the School Board is not going to make a huge boundary change to redistribute the population in a way that makes sense. The School Board members are interested in keeping their current positions or being elected to a higher position, they are not going to piss off their constituents with a massive redistricting.

My kid is zoned for South Lakes and we are happy with the school. Redistricting for us would probably lead to his going to Oakton or South Lakes, so I don't have a real dog in the redistricting fight.

You can say it is a boundary thing only but that ignores the fact that it is not. That the School Boards focus on equity and finding band aids to try and staunch the bleeding at the struggling schools is very much the issue. If Lewis and Justice and Herndon and Mt Vernon had better programs and were not struggling with the issues that come from high ESOL and high FARMs students, parents would be less likely to fight a boundary change. You will not get buy in from the voting population for massive redistricting without improving the quality of those schools. That means that you need to address the programs at those schools and at the ES and MS that support them so that the schools can improve.

Or go ahead and stick your head in the sand and keep saying that all it takes is boundary change. Then suggest that kids from Great Falls should be shifted to Herndon while some of the kids from Herndon are shifted to schools that are closer to them and watch the fur fly.