FCPS HS Boundary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone needs to bring this to the attention of Youngkin, Sears, and Miyares. This is a PR goldmine for Republicans wanting to highlight how out-of-touch and despotic the local Democrats have become in NoVa.

I think their changes will be well received by the county and most of their constituents. I think many underestimate how popular these public school initiatives have become.

Seattle public schools recently eliminated their version of AAP in the name of equity.

I think you are wrong. But I guess we will see.

The changes to the TJ admissions process seem to be along similar lines and that was well-received. Sure a handful of people were upset, but I think it had overall popular support.

This affects people’s property values. Their ability to retire, meet savings goals, or simply sell. Even the most liberal voter won’t stand for losing a hundred thousand in their house overnight.

The problem is that these pyramids were even allowed to become so disparate. Doing so created some winners as buyers were willing to pay more for certain schools. Undoing that stem will create losers. People who stand to lose substantial amounts of money will fight tooth and nail. I get it. To others, it’s an abstract data point, but to them it may mean a real difference in life trajectory.

FCPS is not in the business of ensuring personal investment risk is minimized for some and maximized for others.

Yeah, that's why they expanded West Potomac HS to 3000 seats when Mount Vernon had capacity. Karen Corbett-Sanders and the other Democratic politicians in that part of the county like Scott Surovell were more than happy to stick the rest of us with the bill for that expansion, but now they want to screw other school pyramids.

I would assume that region 3 gets screwed by any boundary shift. Moving MVHS closer to capacity with schools from Fort Hunt makes West Po a very high poverty school. You could use Hayfield, but that means a really long bus ride to Whitman for middle school and Hayfield becomes a high farms rate school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone needs to bring this to the attention of Youngkin, Sears, and Miyares. This is a PR goldmine for Republicans wanting to highlight how out-of-touch and despotic the local Democrats have become in NoVa.

I think their changes will be well received by the county and most of their constituents. I think many underestimate how popular these public school initiatives have become.

Seattle public schools recently eliminated their version of AAP in the name of equity.

I think you are wrong. But I guess we will see.

The changes to the TJ admissions process seem to be along similar lines and that was well-received. Sure a handful of people were upset, but I think it had overall popular support.

This affects people’s property values. Their ability to retire, meet savings goals, or simply sell. Even the most liberal voter won’t stand for losing a hundred thousand in their house overnight.

The problem is that these pyramids were even allowed to become so disparate. Doing so created some winners as buyers were willing to pay more for certain schools. Undoing that stem will create losers. People who stand to lose substantial amounts of money will fight tooth and nail. I get it. To others, it’s an abstract data point, but to them it may mean a real difference in life trajectory.

FCPS is not in the business of ensuring personal investment risk is minimized for some and maximized for others.

I really don't think that most people, even on this thread, fully get how massive the change could be. It's not going to be just about which elementary school they try to switch to which high school. They could totally redo everything, including who goes to what elementary schools, which schools feed which pyramid, even completely redo the regions (as if the regions really matter anyway.) The only thing they won't change with this is the achievement of any individual students, except downwards of course.

Yeah, that's why they expanded West Potomac HS to 3000 seats when Mount Vernon had capacity. Karen Corbett-Sanders and the other Democratic politicians in that part of the county like Scott Surovell were more than happy to stick the rest of us with the bill for that expansion, but now they want to screw other school pyramids.

I would assume that region 3 gets screwed by any boundary shift. Moving MVHS closer to capacity with schools from Fort Hunt makes West Po a very high poverty school. You could use Hayfield, but that means a really long bus ride to Whitman for middle school and Hayfield becomes a high farms rate school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone needs to bring this to the attention of Youngkin, Sears, and Miyares. This is a PR goldmine for Republicans wanting to highlight how out-of-touch and despotic the local Democrats have become in NoVa.

I think their changes will be well received by the county and most of their constituents. I think many underestimate how popular these public school initiatives have become.

Seattle public schools recently eliminated their version of AAP in the name of equity.

I think you are wrong. But I guess we will see.

The changes to the TJ admissions process seem to be along similar lines and that was well-received. Sure a handful of people were upset, but I think it had overall popular support.

This affects people’s property values. Their ability to retire, meet savings goals, or simply sell. Even the most liberal voter won’t stand for losing a hundred thousand in their house overnight.

The problem is that these pyramids were even allowed to become so disparate. Doing so created some winners as buyers were willing to pay more for certain schools. Undoing that stem will create losers. People who stand to lose substantial amounts of money will fight tooth and nail. I get it. To others, it’s an abstract data point, but to them it may mean a real difference in life trajectory.

FCPS is not in the business of ensuring personal investment risk is minimized for some and maximized for others.

Yeah, that's why they expanded West Potomac HS to 3000 seats when Mount Vernon had capacity. Karen Corbett-Sanders and the other Democratic politicians in that part of the county like Scott Surovell were more than happy to stick the rest of us with the bill for that expansion, but now they want to screw other school pyramids.

I would assume that region 3 gets screwed by any boundary shift. Moving MVHS closer to capacity with schools from Fort Hunt makes West Po a very high poverty school. You could use Hayfield, but that means a really long bus ride to Whitman for middle school and Hayfield becomes a high farms rate school.

I really don't think that most people, even on this thread, fully get how massive the change could be. It's not going to be just about which elementary school they try to switch to which high school. They could totally redo everything, including who goes to what elementary schools, which schools feed which pyramid, even completely redo the regions (as if the regions really matter anyway.) The only thing they won't change with this is the achievement of any individual students, except downwards of course.

Yeah, that's why they expanded West Potomac HS to 3000 seats when Mount Vernon had capacity. Karen Corbett-Sanders and the other Democratic politicians in that part of the county like Scott Surovell were more than happy to stick the rest of us with the bill for that expansion, but now they want to screw other school pyramids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone needs to bring this to the attention of Youngkin, Sears, and Miyares. This is a PR goldmine for Republicans wanting to highlight how out-of-touch and despotic the local Democrats have become in NoVa.

I think their changes will be well received by the county and most of their constituents. I think many underestimate how popular these public school initiatives have become.

Seattle public schools recently eliminated their version of AAP in the name of equity.

I think you are wrong. But I guess we will see.

The changes to the TJ admissions process seem to be along similar lines and that was well-received. Sure a handful of people were upset, but I think it had overall popular support.

This affects people’s property values. Their ability to retire, meet savings goals, or simply sell. Even the most liberal voter won’t stand for losing a hundred thousand in their house overnight.

The problem is that these pyramids were even allowed to become so disparate. Doing so created some winners as buyers were willing to pay more for certain schools. Undoing that stem will create losers. People who stand to lose substantial amounts of money will fight tooth and nail. I get it. To others, it’s an abstract data point, but to them it may mean a real difference in life trajectory.

FCPS is not in the business of ensuring personal investment risk is minimized for some and maximized for others.

Yeah, that's why they expanded West Potomac HS to 3000 seats when Mount Vernon had capacity. Karen Corbett-Sanders and the other Democratic politicians in that part of the county like Scott Surovell were more than happy to stick the rest of us with the bill for that expansion, but now they want to screw other school pyramids.

I would assume that region 3 gets screwed by any boundary shift. Moving MVHS closer to capacity with schools from Fort Hunt makes West Po a very high poverty school. You could use Hayfield, but that means a really long bus ride to Whitman for middle school and Hayfield becomes a high farms rate school.

I really don't think that most people, even on this thread, fully get how massive the change could be. It's not going to be just about which elementary school they try to switch to which high school. They could totally redo everything, including who goes to what elementary schools, which schools feed which pyramid, even completely redo the regions (as if the regions really matter anyway.) The only thing they won't change with this is the achievement of any individual students, except downwards of course.

Yeah, that's why they expanded West Potomac HS to 3000 seats when Mount Vernon had capacity. Karen Corbett-Sanders and the other Democratic politicians in that part of the county like Scott Surovell were more than happy to stick the rest of us with the bill for that expansion, but now they want to screw other school pyramids.

If they go way too far, then the county board just won't fund it. FCPS board members may be amateur politicians, but county board members tend to be more seasoned and some have higher aspirations

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The school board is insulated from county politics because we all vote D. Voting R statewide gives you governors and AGs who will repay the favor by going after boards and superintendents, just ask Scott Ziegler. If enough Rs win at the state level, we get vouchers. Sure they won't pay for private, but they're a nice discount for those of use having to pay because we're zoned to a terrible high school

If they give vouchers at the full per student cost ($19,795) a whole lot of new private schools will pop up at that exact rate, or perhaps a little above it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone needs to bring this to the attention of Youngkin, Sears, and Miyares. This is a PR goldmine for Republicans wanting to highlight how out-of-touch and despotic the local Democrats have become in NoVa.

I think their changes will be well received by the county and most of their constituents. I think many underestimate how popular these public school initiatives have become.

Seattle public schools recently eliminated their version of AAP in the name of equity.

I think you are wrong. But I guess we will see.

The changes to the TJ admissions process seem to be along similar lines and that was well-received. Sure a handful of people were upset, but I think it had overall popular support.

This affects people’s property values. Their ability to retire, meet savings goals, or simply sell. Even the most liberal voter won’t stand for losing a hundred thousand in their house overnight.

The problem is that these pyramids were even allowed to become so disparate. Doing so created some winners as buyers were willing to pay more for certain schools. Undoing that stem will create losers. People who stand to lose substantial amounts of money will fight tooth and nail. I get it. To others, it’s an abstract data point, but to them it may mean a real difference in life trajectory.

But just to put a finer point on this: 1) the SB may end up putting a large number of new homeowners underwater unnecessarily, and 2) it’s not an abstract data point for anyone in the county because this isn’t just a one shot deal, they want to redistrict every five years. This will be a continuing theme within the county. It’d be laughable, but it is so consequential.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone needs to bring this to the attention of Youngkin, Sears, and Miyares. This is a PR goldmine for Republicans wanting to highlight how out-of-touch and despotic the local Democrats have become in NoVa.

I think their changes will be well received by the county and most of their constituents. I think many underestimate how popular these public school initiatives have become.

Seattle public schools recently eliminated their version of AAP in the name of equity.

I think you are wrong. But I guess we will see.

The changes to the TJ admissions process seem to be along similar lines and that was well-received. Sure a handful of people were upset, but I think it had overall popular support.

This affects people’s property values. Their ability to retire, meet savings goals, or simply sell. Even the most liberal voter won’t stand for losing a hundred thousand in their house overnight.

The problem is that these pyramids were even allowed to become so disparate. Doing so created some winners as buyers were willing to pay more for certain schools. Undoing that stem will create losers. People who stand to lose substantial amounts of money will fight tooth and nail. I get it. To others, it’s an abstract data point, but to them it may mean a real difference in life trajectory.

FCPS is not in the business of ensuring personal investment risk is minimized for some and maximized for others.

Yeah, that's why they expanded West Potomac HS to 3000 seats when Mount Vernon had capacity. Karen Corbett-Sanders and the other Democratic politicians in that part of the county like Scott Surovell were more than happy to stick the rest of us with the bill for that expansion, but now they want to screw other school pyramids.

I would assume that region 3 gets screwed by any boundary shift. Moving MVHS closer to capacity with schools from Fort Hunt makes West Po a very high poverty school. You could use Hayfield, but that means a really long bus ride to Whitman for middle school and Hayfield becomes a high farms rate school.

I really don't think that most people, even on this thread, fully get how massive the change could be. It's not going to be just about which elementary school they try to switch to which high school. They could totally redo everything, including who goes to what elementary schools, which schools feed which pyramid, even completely redo the regions (as if the regions really matter anyway.) The only thing they won't change with this is the achievement of any individual students, except downwards of course.

Yeah, that's why they expanded West Potomac HS to 3000 seats when Mount Vernon had capacity. Karen Corbett-Sanders and the other Democratic politicians in that part of the county like Scott Surovell were more than happy to stick the rest of us with the bill for that expansion, but now they want to screw other school pyramids.

Agree and it is a sad thing to say. The testing situation needs to change as does viewing success only as attending a 4 year college with high SAT scores. I came from a working class background and don’t see why that doesn’t get more respect.

I’m bad at reading these policies, can someone clarify if the board can only change 15% of the population at a time without major hearings? Their criteria are that they don’t break up communities, but they seem eager to do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
If they go way too far, then the county board just won't fund it. FCPS board members may be amateur politicians, but county board members tend to be more seasoned and some have higher aspirations

As long as it achieves what the leftist-dominated county board wants to see - roughly equivalent FARMs rates across all schools - they will be thrilled, and their ads will trumpet how they "fixed FCPS's equity problem" by following the gospel of One Fairfax. And FCPS will happily collect only the right data, massaged in just the right way, to support the argument.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone needs to bring this to the attention of Youngkin, Sears, and Miyares. This is a PR goldmine for Republicans wanting to highlight how out-of-touch and despotic the local Democrats have become in NoVa.

I think their changes will be well received by the county and most of their constituents. I think many underestimate how popular these public school initiatives have become.

Seattle public schools recently eliminated their version of AAP in the name of equity.

I think you are wrong. But I guess we will see.

The changes to the TJ admissions process seem to be along similar lines and that was well-received. Sure a handful of people were upset, but I think it had overall popular support.

This affects people’s property values. Their ability to retire, meet savings goals, or simply sell. Even the most liberal voter won’t stand for losing a hundred thousand in their house overnight.

The problem is that these pyramids were even allowed to become so disparate. Doing so created some winners as buyers were willing to pay more for certain schools. Undoing that stem will create losers. People who stand to lose substantial amounts of money will fight tooth and nail. I get it. To others, it’s an abstract data point, but to them it may mean a real difference in life trajectory.

But just to put a finer point on this: 1) the SB may end up putting a large number of new homeowners underwater unnecessarily, and 2) it’s not an abstract data point for anyone in the county because this isn’t just a one shot deal, they want to redistrict every five years. This will be a continuing theme within the county. It’d be laughable, but it is so consequential.

If it becomes a major issue, vouchers will be front and center in 2025 as a republican campaign issue. If they can peal away 50 or 100k democrats in fairfax, they can swing an election

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Agree and it is a sad thing to say. The testing situation needs to change as does viewing success only as attending a 4 year college with high SAT scores. I came from a working class background and don’t see why that doesn’t get more respect.

I’m bad at reading these policies, can someone clarify if the board can only change 15% of the population at a time without major hearings? Their criteria are that they don’t break up communities, but they seem eager to do that.

A good question is "does moving an entire elementary school to a new middle/high school count as changing 15% of the population? A high school is ~2000 kids or more, of which a single elementary school constitutes maybe 300, which is exactly 15%. If they can wave a little grandfathering magic, they're under the limit.

And they don't give a crap about breaking up communities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If they go way too far, then the county board just won't fund it. FCPS board members may be amateur politicians, but county board members tend to be more seasoned and some have higher aspirations

As long as it achieves what the leftist-dominated county board wants to see - roughly equivalent FARMs rates across all schools - they will be thrilled, and their ads will trumpet how they "fixed FCPS's equity problem" by following the gospel of One Fairfax. And FCPS will happily collect only the right data, massaged in just the right way, to support the argument.

It won't achieve that because no map can give Langley the same FARMS rate as MVSH absent major bussing. The brunt will be borne by schools like WSHS, Lake Braddock, and Woodson who border the highest FARMS rate schools

[Anonymous]

I’m answering my own question here. Comparing the new policy with the old one is interesting. HEre are the differences I see.

The 15 % seems to have always been there, but what is changing is the ordering of the criteria. Before there was no order and now, they are using these as the major criteria:

Upon this review, in alignment with the Strategic Plan, the Superintendent shall prioritize the following criteria, in no particular order, when recommending individual school boundaries:
● Access to Programming: Ensure equitable access to programs and facilities, and consider impact on school programs and populations.
● Enrollment/Capacity: Using student enrollment projections, balance available capacity across the school division and maximize efficient and effective use of school facilities, as per best practices for capacity utilization and program needs while eliminating or preventing the establishment of split feeders, whenever possible.
● Proximity: Promote contiguous attendance zones and maintain neighborhood groupings (to include condominium and apartment complexes) to eliminate and/or prevent establishment of attendance islands.
● Transportation: Provide for walking and bussing safety and limit transportation times and ensure efficient transportation routes with attendance areas.

Keeping communities and pyramids together are now shuttled under criteria the superintendent MAY use, but not SHALL use.

SO, they can do what they want I guess as long as it is fair. Which shoots all magnet and immersion languages out of the water because not everyone gets access to Japanese or German (as examples) at their schools? What about IB and what does access to programs REALLY mean, gatehouse people on this board?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m answering my own question here. Comparing the new policy with the old one is interesting. HEre are the differences I see.

The 15 % seems to have always been there, but what is changing is the ordering of the criteria. Before there was no order and now, they are using these as the major criteria:

Upon this review, in alignment with the Strategic Plan, the Superintendent shall prioritize the following criteria, in no particular order, when recommending individual school boundaries:
● Access to Programming: Ensure equitable access to programs and facilities, and consider impact on school programs and populations.
● Enrollment/Capacity: Using student enrollment projections, balance available capacity across the school division and maximize efficient and effective use of school facilities, as per best practices for capacity utilization and program needs while eliminating or preventing the establishment of split feeders, whenever possible.
● Proximity: Promote contiguous attendance zones and maintain neighborhood groupings (to include condominium and apartment complexes) to eliminate and/or prevent establishment of attendance islands.
● Transportation: Provide for walking and bussing safety and limit transportation times and ensure efficient transportation routes with attendance areas.

Keeping communities and pyramids together are now shuttled under criteria the superintendent MAY use, but not SHALL use.

SO, they can do what they want I guess as long as it is fair. Which shoots all magnet and immersion languages out of the water because not everyone gets access to Japanese or German (as examples) at their schools? What about IB and what does access to programs REALLY mean, gatehouse people on this board?

If they achieve that, it will be a first. At the elementary school level, they'd have to disallow PTAs from funding programs for it to happen

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone needs to bring this to the attention of Youngkin, Sears, and Miyares. This is a PR goldmine for Republicans wanting to highlight how out-of-touch and despotic the local Democrats have become in NoVa.

I think their changes will be well received by the county and most of their constituents. I think many underestimate how popular these public school initiatives have become.

Seattle public schools recently eliminated their version of AAP in the name of equity.

I think you are wrong. But I guess we will see.

The changes to the TJ admissions process seem to be along similar lines and that was well-received. Sure a handful of people were upset, but I think it had overall popular support.

This affects people’s property values. Their ability to retire, meet savings goals, or simply sell. Even the most liberal voter won’t stand for losing a hundred thousand in their house overnight.

The problem is that these pyramids were even allowed to become so disparate. Doing so created some winners as buyers were willing to pay more for certain schools. Undoing that stem will create losers. People who stand to lose substantial amounts of money will fight tooth and nail. I get it. To others, it’s an abstract data point, but to them it may mean a real difference in life trajectory.

FCPS is not in the business of ensuring personal investment risk is minimized for some and maximized for others.

Yeah, that's why they expanded West Potomac HS to 3000 seats when Mount Vernon had capacity. Karen Corbett-Sanders and the other Democratic politicians in that part of the county like Scott Surovell were more than happy to stick the rest of us with the bill for that expansion, but now they want to screw other school pyramids.

I would assume that region 3 gets screwed by any boundary shift. Moving MVHS closer to capacity with schools from Fort Hunt makes West Po a very high poverty school. You could use Hayfield, but that means a really long bus ride to Whitman for middle school and Hayfield becomes a high farms rate school.

I really don't think that most people, even on this thread, fully get how massive the change could be. It's not going to be just about which elementary school they try to switch to which high school. They could totally redo everything, including who goes to what elementary schools, which schools feed which pyramid, even completely redo the regions (as if the regions really matter anyway.) The only thing they won't change with this is the achievement of any individual students, except downwards of course.

Yeah, that's why they expanded West Potomac HS to 3000 seats when Mount Vernon had capacity. Karen Corbett-Sanders and the other Democratic politicians in that part of the county like Scott Surovell were more than happy to stick the rest of us with the bill for that expansion, but now they want to screw other school pyramids.

Agree and it is a sad thing to say. The testing situation needs to change as does viewing success only as attending a 4 year college with high SAT scores. I came from a working class background and don’t see why that doesn’t get more respect.

I’m bad at reading these policies, can someone clarify if the board can only change 15% of the population at a time without major hearings? Their criteria are that they don’t break up communities, but they seem eager to do that.

I think it’s really important to emphasize that even though public hearings are better than no public hearings, this board is absolutely tone deaf when it comes to public opinion. Don’t forget, we were just told yesterday by a board member that Fairfax County kids are snowflakes and need to toughen up by getting redistricted.

It’s safe to assume that they will “operationalize” whatever they want to, regardless of the overwhelming outrage they are about to encounter. If it’s announced, it’s a done deal. Reach out before they announce the lines.

[Anonymous]

Also, can FCPS be sued if rising Juniors have no one to go to for teacher recommendations because they have all been switched due to boundary changes? I guess this is my biggest worry; that after building years of good will my kid will be starting all over again. And his recommendations will be crap because the teachers haven’t know him very long.