FCPS Skyview Boundary Revised Scenario 1 / 2

[Anonymous]

Since FCPS doesn't publish those numbers anywhere, you really have to know the neighborhoods to predict how the FARMs rates will change at any given school.

I would agree with pp that the Floris/McNair/Coates areas moving out from Westfield are a mix of kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Its unfortunate for the Crossfield parents who wanted Skyview but I agree with the other posted, you are coming out of this situation with two good options, one of which you chose when you moved in. If there was room at Skyview for Fox Mill and Crossfield, that would be a different story.

You and other poster are confusing me with someone else. My kids aren't going to Crossfield or Skyview. Not moving Crossfield has left Oakton overcrowded with further increases in sight. Putting them at Franklin has made it impossible to follow through with getting rid of Carson as a center without more boundary changes. I just wish they had planned for the future when making these changes instead of caving to what the loudest groups want right now. It eliminates choices and makes it harder on everyone coming later, who aren't as organized and loud because their kids are still young and it doesn't affect them right now.

[Anonymous]

It was short sighted of the RIO people, because once Oakton is overcrowded, they are the first ones to go, and its going to be to South Lakes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So the Westfield parents were reasonable, happy to take any kids zoned into their school, and followed the procedures they were supposed to: emailing the SB and commenting on the boundary tool. And their school is being treated like trash.

So the message to the rest of FCPS families for any future boundary changes is don't follow the given procedures, harass and hound Reid and the SB members, make sure a lobbyist and someone who works at Gatehouse lives in your neighborhood, and lie about being able to hear a school band. Whatever you do, don't be polite and reasonable.

I think Westfield is in a weird position because:

1) The schools moving out of Westfield are higher FARMs schools, so their departure doesn't really impact the AP program since most of the kids leaving probably are not in those classes
2) Floris makes sense in terms of location and reunifying a split feeder school
3) It is weird to be vocal about "We want these ES to be moved because we are losing a lot of kids and we need those seats backfilled"
4) Most people don't want to anger others by demanding that their kids are moved to your school, regardless of how proud you are of the school.

It is a perfect storm made worse by the fact that Dixit lives in a neighborhood that should move and she doesn't want to so there is no chance that is going to happen.

I think Floris is the lowest FARMS school currently in the Westfield pyramid. Conversely, the areas being moved into Westfield from Chantilly and Centreville are some of the highest FARMS areas at those two schools.

Get ready for a lot of public statements from School Board members about how Westfield is a fantastic school and that it will continue to be great with the boundary changes (even as they stab it in the back).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was short sighted of the RIO people, because once Oakton is overcrowded, they are the first ones to go, and its going to be to South Lakes.

Uh huh. That's like saying Langley is just a few years away from seeing some of its neighborhoods moved to Herndon. You may wish that happens, but the people at those schools know how to work the system far better than you can ever imagine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So the Westfield parents were reasonable, happy to take any kids zoned into their school, and followed the procedures they were supposed to: emailing the SB and commenting on the boundary tool. And their school is being treated like trash.

So the message to the rest of FCPS families for any future boundary changes is don't follow the given procedures, harass and hound Reid and the SB members, make sure a lobbyist and someone who works at Gatehouse lives in your neighborhood, and lie about being able to hear a school band. Whatever you do, don't be polite and reasonable.

I think Westfield is in a weird position because:

1) The schools moving out of Westfield are higher FARMs schools, so their departure doesn't really impact the AP program since most of the kids leaving probably are not in those classes
2) Floris makes sense in terms of location and reunifying a split feeder school
3) It is weird to be vocal about "We want these ES to be moved because we are losing a lot of kids and we need those seats backfilled"
4) Most people don't want to anger others by demanding that their kids are moved to your school, regardless of how proud you are of the school.

It is a perfect storm made worse by the fact that Dixit lives in a neighborhood that should move and she doesn't want to so there is no chance that is going to happen.

This isn't accurate. Its a mix of SES kids moving out.

How many Floris kids vs how many FARMs kids?

McNair is 44% FARMs (about 457 students)
Coates is 54% FARMs (about 882 students)
Floris is 13% FARMs (about 624 Students)

Westfield is losing a lot of poverty with the schools that are moving out. Probably far more then they are gaining with the few kids moving to the school. Roughly 2/3 of the kids moving out are FARMs, that is huge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was short sighted of the RIO people, because once Oakton is overcrowded, they are the first ones to go, and its going to be to South Lakes.

Uh huh. That's like saying Langley is just a few years away from seeing some of its neighborhoods moved to Herndon. You may wish that happens, but the people at those schools know how to work the system far better than you can ever imagine.

In the mean time our kids will be packed into the high school like sardines. Oakton will be the new Chantilly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So the Westfield parents were reasonable, happy to take any kids zoned into their school, and followed the procedures they were supposed to: emailing the SB and commenting on the boundary tool. And their school is being treated like trash.

So the message to the rest of FCPS families for any future boundary changes is don't follow the given procedures, harass and hound Reid and the SB members, make sure a lobbyist and someone who works at Gatehouse lives in your neighborhood, and lie about being able to hear a school band. Whatever you do, don't be polite and reasonable.

I think Westfield is in a weird position because:

1) The schools moving out of Westfield are higher FARMs schools, so their departure doesn't really impact the AP program since most of the kids leaving probably are not in those classes
2) Floris makes sense in terms of location and reunifying a split feeder school
3) It is weird to be vocal about "We want these ES to be moved because we are losing a lot of kids and we need those seats backfilled"
4) Most people don't want to anger others by demanding that their kids are moved to your school, regardless of how proud you are of the school.

It is a perfect storm made worse by the fact that Dixit lives in a neighborhood that should move and she doesn't want to so there is no chance that is going to happen.

This isn't accurate. Its a mix of SES kids moving out.

How many Floris kids vs how many FARMs kids?

McNair is 44% FARMs (about 457 students)
Coates is 54% FARMs (about 882 students)
Floris is 13% FARMs (about 624 Students)

Westfield is losing a lot of poverty with the schools that are moving out. Probably far more then they are gaining with the few kids moving to the school. Roughly 2/3 of the kids moving out are FARMs, that is huge.

How is it possible that 2/3 of the kids moving out of Westfield are FARMs when none of those three elementary schools has a level that high?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since FCPS doesn't publish those numbers anywhere, you really have to know the neighborhoods to predict how the FARMs rates will change at any given school.

I would agree with pp that the Floris/McNair/Coates areas moving out from Westfield are a mix of kids.

Floris’ FARMs rate is around 10% which is pretty low…it’s definitely not the same as Coates and McNair.

[Anonymous]

Its impossible to get accurate numbers because they are all split feeders currently.

[Anonymous]

I think its pretty obvious that Westfield is losing a mix of kids but not getting back the same mix.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So the Westfield parents were reasonable, happy to take any kids zoned into their school, and followed the procedures they were supposed to: emailing the SB and commenting on the boundary tool. And their school is being treated like trash.

So the message to the rest of FCPS families for any future boundary changes is don't follow the given procedures, harass and hound Reid and the SB members, make sure a lobbyist and someone who works at Gatehouse lives in your neighborhood, and lie about being able to hear a school band. Whatever you do, don't be polite and reasonable.

I think Westfield is in a weird position because:

1) The schools moving out of Westfield are higher FARMs schools, so their departure doesn't really impact the AP program since most of the kids leaving probably are not in those classes
2) Floris makes sense in terms of location and reunifying a split feeder school
3) It is weird to be vocal about "We want these ES to be moved because we are losing a lot of kids and we need those seats backfilled"
4) Most people don't want to anger others by demanding that their kids are moved to your school, regardless of how proud you are of the school.

It is a perfect storm made worse by the fact that Dixit lives in a neighborhood that should move and she doesn't want to so there is no chance that is going to happen.

This isn't accurate. Its a mix of SES kids moving out.

How many Floris kids vs how many FARMs kids?

McNair is 44% FARMs (about 457 students)
Coates is 54% FARMs (about 882 students)
Floris is 13% FARMs (about 624 Students)

Westfield is losing a lot of poverty with the schools that are moving out. Probably far more then they are gaining with the few kids moving to the school. Roughly 2/3 of the kids moving out are FARMs, that is huge.

Huh?

I did an analysis just looking at the size of the current 6th grade classes at Coates, Floris, and McNair Upper, based on the overall FARMS rates reported in 2024-25. It suggests that on a combined basis Coates, Floris, and McNair Upper would have a FARMS rate of about 32.8%, nowhere near 2/3 of the kids.

In 2024-25, Westfield's FARMS rate was 31.3%, so the kids moving out are probably slightly higher FARMS than Westfield. On the other hand, the kids moving into Westfield from Chantilly and Centreville may be substantially higher FARMS, since those areas are understood to be some of the higher FARMS neighborhoods at Brookfield (58.0% overall FARMS in 2024-25), Bull Run (43.1% overall FARMS in 2024-25), and Cub Run (22.9% overall FARMS in 2024-25).

So the Westfield parents are right to think that the Skyview-related changes will leave their school substantially smaller, and likely with a higher FARMS rate to boot. That's the double whammy for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since FCPS doesn't publish those numbers anywhere, you really have to know the neighborhoods to predict how the FARMs rates will change at any given school.

I would agree with pp that the Floris/McNair/Coates areas moving out from Westfield are a mix of kids.

Floris’ FARMs rate is around 10% which is pretty low…it’s definitely not the same as Coates and McNair.

But, some of Floris currently goes to South Lakes. And, I think it is the more affluent part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was short sighted of the RIO people, because once Oakton is overcrowded, they are the first ones to go, and its going to be to South Lakes.

Uh huh. That's like saying Langley is just a few years away from seeing some of its neighborhoods moved to Herndon. You may wish that happens, but the people at those schools know how to work the system far better than you can ever imagine.

In the mean time our kids will be packed into the high school like sardines. Oakton will be the new Chantilly.

Oakton has more permanent capacity and a larger campus than Chantilly. If it hits the same enrollment as Chantilly, the overcrowding may not feel quite as obvious.

[Anonymous]

We know the 77 kids from CVHS that Seema was so eager to get rid of and the portion of Brookfield is almost all low-income kids coming back in.

We know the Brookfield part being sent from Chantilly is mostly low income kids.

The Cub Run/Chantilly area is mostly commercial but there are some townhouses and a condo building and one neighborhood of SFHs. So that's probably a mix of kids but not that many students total.