FCPS comprehensive boundary review

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

That would have been far more sensible. But addressing significant under-enrollment should be added to the mix as well.

Addressing significant under-enrollment is not fixed by redistricting. It is fixed by analyzing and acknowledging the elephant in the room: special programs (IB, for example) which enable the family to request transfer.
Foreign language is another. Unless there is an extremely good reason why a student wants a particular foreign language, that should not be a good reason for transfer. (There might be some good reasons, but I personally know kids who transferred for sports based on a foreign language not offered at base school.)

Or, perhaps, offer an online option for the language.

+1

There should be a menu of foreign languages available in person at every high school. The remainder should be offered solely on an online platform.

+1. Some of the very expensive private high schools do this already.

[Anonymous]

What about turning Lewis into a foreign language magnet for languages like Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Urdu, etc?

+1, one of the best ideas I've seen on this thread.

There's a significant unmet demand for Mandarin immersion in FCPS. There's also a substantial heritage speaker community for Hindi-Urdu that could benefit from services. That covers the two most populous countries of the world.

Add in some other K-6 magnets in the Lewis Pyramid (e.g. Montessori) and you might retain zoned students and attract others.

Another interesting idea from a PP be to greatly expand the vocational programs at Edison and transfer part of the general student population to Lewis. And provide some advanced STEM options as well.

Fair capital improvements to bring facilities to comparable facilities nearby would also help.

- UMC family in Lewis Pyramid considering moving or pupil placing, but would much rather be offered reasons to stay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

What about turning Lewis into a foreign language magnet for languages like Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Urdu, etc?

+1, one of the best ideas I've seen on this thread.

There's a significant unmet demand for Mandarin immersion in FCPS. There's also a substantial heritage speaker community for Hindi-Urdu that could benefit from services. That covers the two most populous countries of the world.

Add in some other K-6 magnets in the Lewis Pyramid (e.g. Montessori) and you might retain zoned students and attract others.

Another interesting idea from a PP be to greatly expand the vocational programs at Edison and transfer part of the general student population to Lewis. And provide some advanced STEM options as well.

Fair capital improvements to bring facilities to comparable facilities nearby would also help.

- UMC family in Lewis Pyramid considering moving or pupil placing, but would much rather be offered reasons to stay.

Lewis is not located well enough to attract those from all over the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What about turning Lewis into a foreign language magnet for languages like Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Urdu, etc?

+1, one of the best ideas I've seen on this thread.

There's a significant unmet demand for Mandarin immersion in FCPS. There's also a substantial heritage speaker community for Hindi-Urdu that could benefit from services. That covers the two most populous countries of the world.

Add in some other K-6 magnets in the Lewis Pyramid (e.g. Montessori) and you might retain zoned students and attract others.

Another interesting idea from a PP be to greatly expand the vocational programs at Edison and transfer part of the general student population to Lewis. And provide some advanced STEM options as well.

Fair capital improvements to bring facilities to comparable facilities nearby would also help.

- UMC family in Lewis Pyramid considering moving or pupil placing, but would much rather be offered reasons to stay.

Lewis is not located well enough to attract those from all over the county.

+1. They can do some things to make Lewis more attractive, but it shouldn't come at the expense of other schools, whether it's usurping language electives, turning Edison into a vocational school and moving kids to Lewis, or leapfrogging other schools for capital improvements.

If that's really the only way to make it palatable, it's better to just close it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

That would have been far more sensible. But addressing significant under-enrollment should be added to the mix as well.

Addressing significant under-enrollment is not fixed by redistricting. It is fixed by analyzing and acknowledging the elephant in the room: special programs (IB, for example) which enable the family to request transfer.
Foreign language is another. Unless there is an extremely good reason why a student wants a particular foreign language, that should not be a good reason for transfer. (There might be some good reasons, but I personally know kids who transferred for sports based on a foreign language not offered at base school.)

Or, perhaps, offer an online option for the language.

+1

There should be a menu of foreign languages available in person at every high school. The remainder should be offered solely on an online platform.

+1
But this needs phased out. Can’t just drop them for kids that started already.

-1 foreign language needs to be practiced and learned in front of people. you are completely ignorant of language learning if you think online/computer based language learning works well.

So, phase it out. We cannot offer all languages to all students. Allow transfers for those who have proof of real need to learn the language or with a close association to it. It has been abused far too much for those who want to be on a better sports team.

Not really.

What about turning Lewis into a foreign language magnet for languages like Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Urdu, etc?

Keep the bigger language programs of Spanish, French and German where they are, but put the smaller language programs all in one place.

Make Lewis the IB magnet too, for all of the schools in that part of the county.

Eliminate the useless "leadership" academy.

A foreign language and IB magnet at Lewis would surely grow the school by around 50-100+/- high achieving students per grade.

A side benefit of doing something this is that the kind of kids that would seek out IB and language magnets are likely to also strong in math and sciences, which would raise Lewis test scores across the board. These students would heavily trend towards music students, which would increase the quality and profile of Lewis' orchestra, band and marching band.

FCPS could easily and quickly turn around Lewis' test scores and rankings, while filling the enrollment with high schieving students who want to attend the school, with very little effort or disruption of an unwanted rezoning that won't make one bit of change to Lewis' status.

Sounds like you basically want to pull electives and programs out of other schools so your kids aren't at risk of getting rezoned to Lewis.

+100
And just because these programs would be (hypothetically) offered at Lewis, doesn't mean anyone will magically be interested in going there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What about turning Lewis into a foreign language magnet for languages like Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Urdu, etc?

+1, one of the best ideas I've seen on this thread.

There's a significant unmet demand for Mandarin immersion in FCPS. There's also a substantial heritage speaker community for Hindi-Urdu that could benefit from services. That covers the two most populous countries of the world.

Add in some other K-6 magnets in the Lewis Pyramid (e.g. Montessori) and you might retain zoned students and attract others.

Another interesting idea from a PP be to greatly expand the vocational programs at Edison and transfer part of the general student population to Lewis. And provide some advanced STEM options as well.

Fair capital improvements to bring facilities to comparable facilities nearby would also help.

- UMC family in Lewis Pyramid considering moving or pupil placing, but would much rather be offered reasons to stay.

Lewis is not located well enough to attract those from all over the county.

What do you mean by not in a desirable.location? It's at the intersection of the beltway, close to the FFX county parkway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

What about turning Lewis into a foreign language magnet for languages like Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Urdu, etc?

+1, one of the best ideas I've seen on this thread.

There's a significant unmet demand for Mandarin immersion in FCPS. There's also a substantial heritage speaker community for Hindi-Urdu that could benefit from services. That covers the two most populous countries of the world.

Add in some other K-6 magnets in the Lewis Pyramid (e.g. Montessori) and you might retain zoned students and attract others.

Another interesting idea from a PP be to greatly expand the vocational programs at Edison and transfer part of the general student population to Lewis. And provide some advanced STEM options as well.

Fair capital improvements to bring facilities to comparable facilities nearby would also help.

- UMC family in Lewis Pyramid considering moving or pupil placing, but would much rather be offered reasons to stay.

IB Lewis had 54 students transferring out to IB Edison. IB Lewis had <10 transferring to AP West Springfield. Edison has the highest number in the county for miscellaneous transfer in at 109. What I find unusual is the Global STEM at Edison rather than Lewis and Bren Mar Park was moved to IB Edison rather than IB Lewis from IB Annandale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What about turning Lewis into a foreign language magnet for languages like Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Urdu, etc?

+1, one of the best ideas I've seen on this thread.

There's a significant unmet demand for Mandarin immersion in FCPS. There's also a substantial heritage speaker community for Hindi-Urdu that could benefit from services. That covers the two most populous countries of the world.

Add in some other K-6 magnets in the Lewis Pyramid (e.g. Montessori) and you might retain zoned students and attract others.

Another interesting idea from a PP be to greatly expand the vocational programs at Edison and transfer part of the general student population to Lewis. And provide some advanced STEM options as well.

Fair capital improvements to bring facilities to comparable facilities nearby would also help.

- UMC family in Lewis Pyramid considering moving or pupil placing, but would much rather be offered reasons to stay.

Lewis is not located well enough to attract those from all over the county.

What do you mean by not in a desirable.location? It's at the intersection of the beltway, close to the FFX county parkway.

Look at a map. If you live in Lewis district, would you send your kid to Westfield every day? To Herndon? To South Lakes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What about turning Lewis into a foreign language magnet for languages like Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Urdu, etc?

+1, one of the best ideas I've seen on this thread.

There's a significant unmet demand for Mandarin immersion in FCPS. There's also a substantial heritage speaker community for Hindi-Urdu that could benefit from services. That covers the two most populous countries of the world.

Add in some other K-6 magnets in the Lewis Pyramid (e.g. Montessori) and you might retain zoned students and attract others.

Another interesting idea from a PP be to greatly expand the vocational programs at Edison and transfer part of the general student population to Lewis. And provide some advanced STEM options as well.

Fair capital improvements to bring facilities to comparable facilities nearby would also help.

- UMC family in Lewis Pyramid considering moving or pupil placing, but would much rather be offered reasons to stay.

Lewis is not located well enough to attract those from all over the county.

What do you mean by not in a desirable.location? It's at the intersection of the beltway, close to the FFX county parkway.

Look at a map. If you live in Lewis district, would you send your kid to Westfield every day? To Herndon? To South Lakes?

Absolutely not, but to that end you could say no school is in a "desirable location" if you're far away. People.pupil place for the programs not.location.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What about turning Lewis into a foreign language magnet for languages like Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Urdu, etc?

+1, one of the best ideas I've seen on this thread.

There's a significant unmet demand for Mandarin immersion in FCPS. There's also a substantial heritage speaker community for Hindi-Urdu that could benefit from services. That covers the two most populous countries of the world.

Add in some other K-6 magnets in the Lewis Pyramid (e.g. Montessori) and you might retain zoned students and attract others.

Another interesting idea from a PP be to greatly expand the vocational programs at Edison and transfer part of the general student population to Lewis. And provide some advanced STEM options as well.

Fair capital improvements to bring facilities to comparable facilities nearby would also help.

- UMC family in Lewis Pyramid considering moving or pupil placing, but would much rather be offered reasons to stay.

IB Lewis had 54 students transferring out to IB Edison. IB Lewis had <10 transferring to AP West Springfield. Edison has the highest number in the county for miscellaneous transfer in at 109. What I find unusual is the Global STEM at Edison rather than Lewis and Bren Mar Park was moved to IB Edison rather than IB Lewis from IB Annandale.

When Bren Mar Park got moved they thought Annandale was overcrowded. If you're moving Bren Mar Park, it seems like it's easier to get to Edison by taking Edsall Road to Van Dorn (Edison is near the intersection of Van Dorn and Franconia) than to get to Lewis, which is a longer trip from Edsall to Backlick to Franconia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What about turning Lewis into a foreign language magnet for languages like Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Urdu, etc?

+1, one of the best ideas I've seen on this thread.

There's a significant unmet demand for Mandarin immersion in FCPS. There's also a substantial heritage speaker community for Hindi-Urdu that could benefit from services. That covers the two most populous countries of the world.

Add in some other K-6 magnets in the Lewis Pyramid (e.g. Montessori) and you might retain zoned students and attract others.

Another interesting idea from a PP be to greatly expand the vocational programs at Edison and transfer part of the general student population to Lewis. And provide some advanced STEM options as well.

Fair capital improvements to bring facilities to comparable facilities nearby would also help.

- UMC family in Lewis Pyramid considering moving or pupil placing, but would much rather be offered reasons to stay.

Lewis is not located well enough to attract those from all over the county.

What do you mean by not in a desirable.location? It's at the intersection of the beltway, close to the FFX county parkway.

Look at a map. If you live in Lewis district, would you send your kid to Westfield every day? To Herndon? To South Lakes?

Absolutely not, but to that end you could say no school is in a "desirable location" if you're far away. People.pupil place for the programs not.location.

DP. For TJHSST, yes. For some, even Langley. For what you're proposing at Lewis, probably not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

We can continue offering what we do without trying to judge everybody by the bad apples.
Also, who is supposed to be a judge of "what's a good reason"? I'm a heritage speaker of a language, and want to reinforce that for my kids in school. I know of others that hope to live in countries where particular languages are spoken. And I know of many who just read the research on learning multiple languages and think it's a good idea. How would the school system decide what of those is a "good" reason and weed out those wanting to use it for particular schools?

I think that having a parent as a "heritage speaker" is a good reason that would be acceptable. But, I personally know kids who transferred to another high school for sports purposes and gave the language as a reason. The language had no connection to the family. It was used like some people use IB/AP to transfer.
Transferring for sports is far more common than most realize.

That's discrimination by ethnicity/national origin. FCPS has enough lawsuits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

That would have been far more sensible. But addressing significant under-enrollment should be added to the mix as well.

Addressing significant under-enrollment is not fixed by redistricting. It is fixed by analyzing and acknowledging the elephant in the room: special programs (IB, for example) which enable the family to request transfer.
Foreign language is another. Unless there is an extremely good reason why a student wants a particular foreign language, that should not be a good reason for transfer. (There might be some good reasons, but I personally know kids who transferred for sports based on a foreign language not offered at base school.)

Or, perhaps, offer an online option for the language.

+1

There should be a menu of foreign languages available in person at every high school. The remainder should be offered solely on an online platform.

+1
But this needs phased out. Can’t just drop them for kids that started already.

-1 foreign language needs to be practiced and learned in front of people. you are completely ignorant of language learning if you think online/computer based language learning works well.

So, phase it out. We cannot offer all languages to all students. Allow transfers for those who have proof of real need to learn the language or with a close association to it. It has been abused far too much for those who want to be on a better sports team.

We can continue offering what we do without trying to judge everybody by the bad apples.
Also, who is supposed to be a judge of "what's a good reason"? I'm a heritage speaker of a language, and want to reinforce that for my kids in school. I know of others that hope to live in countries where particular languages are spoken. And I know of many who just read the research on learning multiple languages and think it's a good idea. How would the school system decide what of those is a "good" reason and weed out those wanting to use it for particular schools?

If equitable access to programming is a serious goal, they cannot continue the current system where certain schools offer far more robust foreign languages offerings than others and families who want to avail of that have to pay an application fee to pupil place and then arrange for their kids' transportation.

You cannot possibly offer all languages at all schools.

You can offer some languages at all schools and the rest online. That’s an obvious solution although not attractive to the privilege hoarders.

Hoarding what privilege?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

That would have been far more sensible. But addressing significant under-enrollment should be added to the mix as well.

Addressing significant under-enrollment is not fixed by redistricting. It is fixed by analyzing and acknowledging the elephant in the room: special programs (IB, for example) which enable the family to request transfer.
Foreign language is another. Unless there is an extremely good reason why a student wants a particular foreign language, that should not be a good reason for transfer. (There might be some good reasons, but I personally know kids who transferred for sports based on a foreign language not offered at base school.)

Or, perhaps, offer an online option for the language.

+1

There should be a menu of foreign languages available in person at every high school. The remainder should be offered solely on an online platform.

+1
But this needs phased out. Can’t just drop them for kids that started already.

-1 foreign language needs to be practiced and learned in front of people. you are completely ignorant of language learning if you think online/computer based language learning works well.

So, phase it out. We cannot offer all languages to all students. Allow transfers for those who have proof of real need to learn the language or with a close association to it. It has been abused far too much for those who want to be on a better sports team.

We can continue offering what we do without trying to judge everybody by the bad apples.
Also, who is supposed to be a judge of "what's a good reason"? I'm a heritage speaker of a language, and want to reinforce that for my kids in school. I know of others that hope to live in countries where particular languages are spoken. And I know of many who just read the research on learning multiple languages and think it's a good idea. How would the school system decide what of those is a "good" reason and weed out those wanting to use it for particular schools?

If equitable access to programming is a serious goal, they cannot continue the current system where certain schools offer far more robust foreign languages offerings than others and families who want to avail of that have to pay an application fee to pupil place and then arrange for their kids' transportation.

You cannot possibly offer all languages at all schools.

You can offer some languages at all schools and the rest online. That’s an obvious solution although not attractive to the privilege hoarders.

Hoarding what privilege?

DP. A frequent poster on this board believes that if your kids go to a school that is better performing than her kids, that their school should be brought down to her kids’ school’s level. It’s a selfish approach to life, but you’ll forgive her for being so bitter.

[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:

That would have been far more sensible. But addressing significant under-enrollment should be added to the mix as well.

Addressing significant under-enrollment is not fixed by redistricting. It is fixed by analyzing and acknowledging the elephant in the room: special programs (IB, for example) which enable the family to request transfer.
Foreign language is another. Unless there is an extremely good reason why a student wants a particular foreign language, that should not be a good reason for transfer. (There might be some good reasons, but I personally know kids who transferred for sports based on a foreign language not offered at base school.)

Or, perhaps, offer an online option for the language.

+1

There should be a menu of foreign languages available in person at every high school. The remainder should be offered solely on an online platform.

+1
But this needs phased out. Can’t just drop them for kids that started already.

-1 foreign language needs to be practiced and learned in front of people. you are completely ignorant of language learning if you think online/computer based language learning works well.

So, phase it out. We cannot offer all languages to all students. Allow transfers for those who have proof of real need to learn the language or with a close association to it. It has been abused far too much for those who want to be on a better sports team.

We can continue offering what we do without trying to judge everybody by the bad apples.
Also, who is supposed to be a judge of "what's a good reason"? I'm a heritage speaker of a language, and want to reinforce that for my kids in school. I know of others that hope to live in countries where particular languages are spoken. And I know of many who just read the research on learning multiple languages and think it's a good idea. How would the school system decide what of those is a "good" reason and weed out those wanting to use it for particular schools?

If equitable access to programming is a serious goal, they cannot continue the current system where certain schools offer far more robust foreign languages offerings than others and families who want to avail of that have to pay an application fee to pupil place and then arrange for their kids' transportation.

You cannot possibly offer all languages at all schools.

You can offer some languages at all schools and the rest online. That’s an obvious solution although not attractive to the privilege hoarders.

Hoarding what privilege?

DP. A frequent poster on this board believes that if your kids go to a school that is better performing than her kids, that their school should be brought down to her kids’ school’s level. It’s a selfish approach to life, but you’ll forgive her for being so bitter.

Schools don't perform; students do. But some schools provide access to opportunities in FCPS that others do not, and it aligns largely with the wealth of the community.

If FCPS cares about equitable access, it has to tackle this and stop indulging those like you who offer little but insults and condescension to everyone else.