FCPS Skyview Boundary Revised Scenario 1 / 2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm amazed no one from Westfield is raging in here

Well, half their students are being moved out and those families are happy.

For a school community to lose half their students and a third of their teachers is really terrible. I can't think of the last time FCPS disrupted and screwed over an existing HS to this extent.

Me neither and i have had kids in FCPS for almost 20 years.

Losing that many teachers means destaffing anyone who isn't an educational dinosaur. No offense to teachers in general, but its good to have a mix in the building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm amazed no one from Westfield is raging in here

I am reasonably certain that is why Westfield is going to end up losing so many students with limited backfill. The Centreville and Chantilly families have been very vocal about not wanting to move and Westfield has been quiet.

The people who have made the most noise got what they wanted. Crossfield is unhappy because it got what it wanted just not in a way that they wanted it.

Well, the families who aren't being zoned out of Westfield can't really advocate for...other neighborhoods to be moved in? How would that work exactly, without sounding totally racist and classist?

It's FCPS's responsibility---that they are abdicating completely--to make fair decisions on behalf of all the schools.

It is up to Westfield families to be demanding backfill and not ot be allowed to drop towhatever percentage they are at.

What percentage is SLHS going to be? I don't think they are losing that many kids, the Floris and Fox Mill groups are pretty small. I know the SLHS PTA didn't seem to think that the 45 or so 9th graders that opted in to Skyview was that big a deal, it was like 4% of the overall student body.

I don't think there is any way to do that--organize to tell FCPS to move other people into your school?

Yes, it happens regularly. It was the contentious bit of the county wide redistricting. Lewis parents are still upset that Lewis did not get students moved into Lewis and WSHS was left badly over crowded. There was more money and louder voices in the WSHS community fighting being moved to Lewis. The Lewis families that were active were 100% petitioning for kids from WSHS to be moved into Lewis to shore up Lewis's number and the number of kids in the IB program.

More likely then not, the new rule preventing pupil placement for foreign languages was meant to remove one method people pupil place out of Lewis. Kids pupil placing for AP and a language were being allowed to pupil place at overcrowded schools. Now that the rule is only AP or IB for pupil placement, parents pupil placing out of Lewis have to go to the nearest AP school with space, and that is not likely to be close by. Parents will have to chose between driving their kids farther for AP, to avoid Lewis, or send their kid to Lewis, or send their kid to private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SLHS is losing a lot of kids, though not as many as Westfield.

They are losing 300-400. going from 99% full to 83% full.
Westfield is losing @700-800 and going down to 74%.

But South Lakes could still end up with a smaller enrollment than Westfield.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm amazed no one from Westfield is raging in here

I am reasonably certain that is why Westfield is going to end up losing so many students with limited backfill. The Centreville and Chantilly families have been very vocal about not wanting to move and Westfield has been quiet.

The people who have made the most noise got what they wanted. Crossfield is unhappy because it got what it wanted just not in a way that they wanted it.

Well, the families who aren't being zoned out of Westfield can't really advocate for...other neighborhoods to be moved in? How would that work exactly, without sounding totally racist and classist?

It's FCPS's responsibility---that they are abdicating completely--to make fair decisions on behalf of all the schools.

It is up to Westfield families to be demanding backfill and not ot be allowed to drop towhatever percentage they are at.

What percentage is SLHS going to be? I don't think they are losing that many kids, the Floris and Fox Mill groups are pretty small. I know the SLHS PTA didn't seem to think that the 45 or so 9th graders that opted in to Skyview was that big a deal, it was like 4% of the overall student body.

I don't think there is any way to do that--organize to tell FCPS to move other people into your school?

Yes, it happens regularly. It was the contentious bit of the county wide redistricting. Lewis parents are still upset that Lewis did not get students moved into Lewis and WSHS was left badly over crowded. There was more money and louder voices in the WSHS community fighting being moved to Lewis. The Lewis families that were active were 100% petitioning for kids from WSHS to be moved into Lewis to shore up Lewis's number and the number of kids in the IB program.

More likely then not, the new rule preventing pupil placement for foreign languages was meant to remove one method people pupil place out of Lewis. Kids pupil placing for AP and a language were being allowed to pupil place at overcrowded schools. Now that the rule is only AP or IB for pupil placement, parents pupil placing out of Lewis have to go to the nearest AP school with space, and that is not likely to be close by. Parents will have to chose between driving their kids farther for AP, to avoid Lewis, or send their kid to Lewis, or send their kid to private.

Eliminating IB would solve more of the pupil placement, I think, than foreign language. Also, "mental health" used to be popular. Not sure if it is now or not. I know someone who used that because he wanted to be on a better sports team. His mother said he had "social issues." (He had been selected as captain of his team. that doesn't sound like he had social issues to me,)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SLHS is losing a lot of kids, though not as many as Westfield.

They are losing 300-400. going from 99% full to 83% full.
Westfield is losing @700-800 and going down to 74%.

But South Lakes could still end up with a smaller enrollment than Westfield.

Well, that is fair. Remember, Fox Mill would never have been at South Lakes had SB not claimed that schools should not be over 2000.

Most high schools across the United States are able to give a decent education with far fewer than 2000 kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone please explain why so many in crossfield are so laser focused on staying Oakton? I would MUCH prefer my teen having a close option like Skyview rather than the outrageously long commute to Oakton.

They paid oakton price to buy the house in oakton hs. They did not mind the commute to oakton when they bought the house and still do not mind that. For the people who were willing to pay the extra to buy in oakton hs, going to a better school out weighs 10+ minutes of extra commute time. As simple as that.

I actually do not understand why people who hates commute to oakton so much would buy in crossfield in the first place.

This right here is the answer. We bought houses in the Oakton district and absolutely knew the distance from our neighborhoods to the high school.

While I strongly prefer Oakton HS, my biggest concern is that scenario 1 is absolutely bananas in the way the board is proposing to split just a few Crossfield neighborhoods and send that handful of kids to Carson/Skyview. So my kids will have spent 7+ years with their peers at Crossfield, most of their class would move onto Franklin/Oakton, and then they would start MS knowing maybe 5 kids at a school of 1,400 (Carson). The math isn't mathing, and there is a plethora of research that shows what a terrible idea this is from a mental health standpoint.

For that scenario 1, you need to blame some of your neighbours. It must have happened like this: quite a few families jumped out complaining commute from that area to oakton and left a lot comments about wanting to go to skyview because it's so close. That splitter part was not in any of the previous scenarios.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm amazed no one from Westfield is raging in here

I am reasonably certain that is why Westfield is going to end up losing so many students with limited backfill. The Centreville and Chantilly families have been very vocal about not wanting to move and Westfield has been quiet.

The people who have made the most noise got what they wanted. Crossfield is unhappy because it got what it wanted just not in a way that they wanted it.

Well, the families who aren't being zoned out of Westfield can't really advocate for...other neighborhoods to be moved in? How would that work exactly, without sounding totally racist and classist?

It's FCPS's responsibility---that they are abdicating completely--to make fair decisions on behalf of all the schools.

It is up to Westfield families to be demanding backfill and not ot be allowed to drop towhatever percentage they are at.

What percentage is SLHS going to be? I don't think they are losing that many kids, the Floris and Fox Mill groups are pretty small. I know the SLHS PTA didn't seem to think that the 45 or so 9th graders that opted in to Skyview was that big a deal, it was like 4% of the overall student body.

I don't think there is any way to do that--organize to tell FCPS to move other people into your school?

Yes, it happens regularly. It was the contentious bit of the county wide redistricting. Lewis parents are still upset that Lewis did not get students moved into Lewis and WSHS was left badly over crowded. There was more money and louder voices in the WSHS community fighting being moved to Lewis. The Lewis families that were active were 100% petitioning for kids from WSHS to be moved into Lewis to shore up Lewis's number and the number of kids in the IB program.

More likely then not, the new rule preventing pupil placement for foreign languages was meant to remove one method people pupil place out of Lewis. Kids pupil placing for AP and a language were being allowed to pupil place at overcrowded schools. Now that the rule is only AP or IB for pupil placement, parents pupil placing out of Lewis have to go to the nearest AP school with space, and that is not likely to be close by. Parents will have to chose between driving their kids farther for AP, to avoid Lewis, or send their kid to Lewis, or send their kid to private.

Eliminating IB would solve more of the pupil placement, I think, than foreign language. Also, "mental health" used to be popular. Not sure if it is now or not. I know someone who used that because he wanted to be on a better sports team. His mother said he had "social issues." (He had been selected as captain of his team. that doesn't sound like he had social issues to me,)

Not really, if you kept foreign language as allowable and dropped IB, people would pupil place out of Lewis, Mt. Vernon, Herndon and the other Title 1 schools for language purposes. People used the foreign language and AP to move to Langley, Oakton, McLean, WSHS and a few others. I know that there were Herndon kids pupil placing to Langley for Russian, that is no longer open which will keep those kids at Herndon, unless they decide to pupil place to SLHS for IB.

Until you eliminate pupil placement all together, you won't see kids staying at the lower ranked schools. I am reasonably certain that IB is kept at the schools it is at because the school board knows parents would be upset to lose their reason for leaving the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm amazed no one from Westfield is raging in here

I am reasonably certain that is why Westfield is going to end up losing so many students with limited backfill. The Centreville and Chantilly families have been very vocal about not wanting to move and Westfield has been quiet.

The people who have made the most noise got what they wanted. Crossfield is unhappy because it got what it wanted just not in a way that they wanted it.

Well, the families who aren't being zoned out of Westfield can't really advocate for...other neighborhoods to be moved in? How would that work exactly, without sounding totally racist and classist?

It's FCPS's responsibility---that they are abdicating completely--to make fair decisions on behalf of all the schools.

Sure they can. South Lakes and Langley groups have been very vocal in the past about which areas they did and did not want rezoned to their schools, and they got their way in 2008 and 2021.

Maybe the middle class Westfield parents are not as big of obnoxious a-holes as those other groups were.

OK. Someone started off by suggesting Westfield parents couldn’t advocate on their own behalf. Then, when it’s pointed out that other school communities have done just that, the response is that it would be obnoxious.

So that leaves them dependent on FCPS staff and School Board members - the very people who’ve put them in the position they find unattractive. Good luck with that.

It doesn’t strike me as particularly obnoxious to ask FCPS to ensure that a smaller Westfield can continue to offer core classes and important electives, and that attention to the school’s demographics is part of that process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm amazed no one from Westfield is raging in here

I am reasonably certain that is why Westfield is going to end up losing so many students with limited backfill. The Centreville and Chantilly families have been very vocal about not wanting to move and Westfield has been quiet.

The people who have made the most noise got what they wanted. Crossfield is unhappy because it got what it wanted just not in a way that they wanted it.

Well, the families who aren't being zoned out of Westfield can't really advocate for...other neighborhoods to be moved in? How would that work exactly, without sounding totally racist and classist?

It's FCPS's responsibility---that they are abdicating completely--to make fair decisions on behalf of all the schools.

Sure they can. South Lakes and Langley groups have been very vocal in the past about which areas they did and did not want rezoned to their schools, and they got their way in 2008 and 2021.

Maybe the middle class Westfield parents are not as big of obnoxious a-holes as those other groups were.

OK. Someone started off by suggesting Westfield parents couldn’t advocate on their own behalf. Then, when it’s pointed out that other school communities have done just that, the response is that it would be obnoxious.

So that leaves them dependent on FCPS staff and School Board members - the very people who’ve put them in the position they find unattractive. Good luck with that.

It doesn’t strike me as particularly obnoxious to ask FCPS to ensure that a smaller Westfield can continue to offer core classes and important electives, and that attention to the school’s demographics is part of that process.

Westfield will be large enough to offer core classes and a good number of electives. It might not offer as many sections of some electives but they will be offered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone please explain why so many in crossfield are so laser focused on staying Oakton? I would MUCH prefer my teen having a close option like Skyview rather than the outrageously long commute to Oakton.

They paid oakton price to buy the house in oakton hs. They did not mind the commute to oakton when they bought the house and still do not mind that. For the people who were willing to pay the extra to buy in oakton hs, going to a better school out weighs 10+ minutes of extra commute time. As simple as that.

I actually do not understand why people who hates commute to oakton so much would buy in crossfield in the first place.

This right here is the answer. We bought houses in the Oakton district and absolutely knew the distance from our neighborhoods to the high school.

While I strongly prefer Oakton HS, my biggest concern is that scenario 1 is absolutely bananas in the way the board is proposing to split just a few Crossfield neighborhoods and send that handful of kids to Carson/Skyview. So my kids will have spent 7+ years with their peers at Crossfield, most of their class would move onto Franklin/Oakton, and then they would start MS knowing maybe 5 kids at a school of 1,400 (Carson). The math isn't mathing, and there is a plethora of research that shows what a terrible idea this is from a mental health standpoint.

For that scenario 1, you need to blame some of your neighbours. It must have happened like this: quite a few families jumped out complaining commute from that area to oakton and left a lot comments about wanting to go to skyview because it's so close. That splitter part was not in any of the previous scenarios.

You're totally right! People need to speak up - on all accounts - for what they do or do not want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm amazed no one from Westfield is raging in here

I am reasonably certain that is why Westfield is going to end up losing so many students with limited backfill. The Centreville and Chantilly families have been very vocal about not wanting to move and Westfield has been quiet.

The people who have made the most noise got what they wanted. Crossfield is unhappy because it got what it wanted just not in a way that they wanted it.

Well, the families who aren't being zoned out of Westfield can't really advocate for...other neighborhoods to be moved in? How would that work exactly, without sounding totally racist and classist?

It's FCPS's responsibility---that they are abdicating completely--to make fair decisions on behalf of all the schools.

Sure they can. South Lakes and Langley groups have been very vocal in the past about which areas they did and did not want rezoned to their schools, and they got their way in 2008 and 2021.

Maybe the middle class Westfield parents are not as big of obnoxious a-holes as those other groups were.

OK. Someone started off by suggesting Westfield parents couldn’t advocate on their own behalf. Then, when it’s pointed out that other school communities have done just that, the response is that it would be obnoxious.

So that leaves them dependent on FCPS staff and School Board members - the very people who’ve put them in the position they find unattractive. Good luck with that.

It doesn’t strike me as particularly obnoxious to ask FCPS to ensure that a smaller Westfield can continue to offer core classes and important electives, and that attention to the school’s demographics is part of that process.

Westfield will be large enough to offer core classes and a good number of electives. It might not offer as many sections of some electives but they will be offered.

They are losing 1000 students and backfilling with a few hundreded almost all FARMs students.
Once schools get below a certain number, the staffing formula which requires 32 students per class, only allows principals to offer one section of most APs. So if the times conflict, the student has to choose between say AP English and AP history. And most of the less popular APs simply won't be offered at all, b/c they won't have 32 students who want to take them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm amazed no one from Westfield is raging in here

I am reasonably certain that is why Westfield is going to end up losing so many students with limited backfill. The Centreville and Chantilly families have been very vocal about not wanting to move and Westfield has been quiet.

The people who have made the most noise got what they wanted. Crossfield is unhappy because it got what it wanted just not in a way that they wanted it.

Well, the families who aren't being zoned out of Westfield can't really advocate for...other neighborhoods to be moved in? How would that work exactly, without sounding totally racist and classist?

It's FCPS's responsibility---that they are abdicating completely--to make fair decisions on behalf of all the schools.

Sure they can. South Lakes and Langley groups have been very vocal in the past about which areas they did and did not want rezoned to their schools, and they got their way in 2008 and 2021.

Maybe the middle class Westfield parents are not as big of obnoxious a-holes as those other groups were.

OK. Someone started off by suggesting Westfield parents couldn’t advocate on their own behalf. Then, when it’s pointed out that other school communities have done just that, the response is that it would be obnoxious.

So that leaves them dependent on FCPS staff and School Board members - the very people who’ve put them in the position they find unattractive. Good luck with that.

It doesn’t strike me as particularly obnoxious to ask FCPS to ensure that a smaller Westfield can continue to offer core classes and important electives, and that attention to the school’s demographics is part of that process. [/quote]

That should not be difficult. The principal should be working on that now and ensure that the next year is a great year for all those kids--those leaving and those staying.
There is a lot of new construction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get rid of IB. People have been screaming this for over 20 years.

There used to be information on the cost difference to FCPS and it was significant. However, I cannot seem to find it now.

Or do what Loudon and Arlington do and make IB opt in. They house the program at specific schools and the kids who are interested in IB apply for the program. In applying, they are agreeing to pursue the IB Diploma. They are provided transportation to the school closest to them that provides IB. Set one IB school for the North, South, East, and West of FCPS and kids can opt into that program. Have a full AP program for all of the other students in the school. Kids who want IB can make the choice to attend an IB school, parents don't have to worry about transportation, everyone else can do AP.

The parents who want a school within a school or really value IB can send their kids to those schools. Everyone else has AP.

Please stop. They are not getting rid of IB. They love IB and faithfully renew the contract with the IBO every year. Getting rid of IB is not on their radar and certainly won’t affect the Skyview boundaries. If anything, moving Fox Mill to Skyview locks them into keeping IB at South Lakes, because South Lakes’ maintaining a reasonable enrollment becomes more dependent on a large number of transfers “for IB” every year from Herndon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm amazed no one from Westfield is raging in here

I am reasonably certain that is why Westfield is going to end up losing so many students with limited backfill. The Centreville and Chantilly families have been very vocal about not wanting to move and Westfield has been quiet.

The people who have made the most noise got what they wanted. Crossfield is unhappy because it got what it wanted just not in a way that they wanted it.

Well, the families who aren't being zoned out of Westfield can't really advocate for...other neighborhoods to be moved in? How would that work exactly, without sounding totally racist and classist?

It's FCPS's responsibility---that they are abdicating completely--to make fair decisions on behalf of all the schools.

Sure they can. South Lakes and Langley groups have been very vocal in the past about which areas they did and did not want rezoned to their schools, and they got their way in 2008 and 2021.

Maybe the middle class Westfield parents are not as big of obnoxious a-holes as those other groups were.

OK. Someone started off by suggesting Westfield parents couldn’t advocate on their own behalf. Then, when it’s pointed out that other school communities have done just that, the response is that it would be obnoxious.

So that leaves them dependent on FCPS staff and School Board members - the very people who’ve put them in the position they find unattractive. Good luck with that.

It doesn’t strike me as particularly obnoxious to ask FCPS to ensure that a smaller Westfield can continue to offer core classes and important electives, and that attention to the school’s demographics is part of that process.

Westfield will be large enough to offer core classes and a good number of electives. It might not offer as many sections of some electives but they will be offered.

They are losing 1000 students and backfilling with a few hundreded almost all FARMs students.
Once schools get below a certain number, the staffing formula which requires 32 students per class, only allows principals to offer one section of most APs. So if the times conflict, the student has to choose between say AP English and AP history. And most of the less popular APs simply won't be offered at all, b/c they won't have 32 students who want to take them.

And a lot of the kids they are losing are also high FARMS! People seem to forget that They are losing two high FARMS schools.. But, agree, Reid/Dixit should be more even handed.

[Anonymous]

No dog in this fight, but going down to just 2,000 seems way better than being over 2,700.

Seems like some Westfield posters are trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.