FCPS comprehensive boundary review

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they want to redistrict kids to schools that are closer to their homes, they have the authority to do it with or without a third-party study on the purported benefits.

Exactly. At the end of the day, they don't have to justify anything. School boundary lines are man made, just made up. They can shift them a few streets over and provide whatever justification they want.

As soon as they pass a policy, they have to adhere to it. What you both are advocating for is an unaccountable junta.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they want to redistrict kids to schools that are closer to their homes, they have the authority to do it with or without a third-party study on the purported benefits.

Exactly. At the end of the day, they don't have to justify anything. School boundary lines are man made, just made up. They can shift them a few streets over and provide whatever justification they want.

As soon as they pass a policy, they have to adhere to it. What you both are advocating for is an unaccountable junta.

I'm not advocating for it AT ALL. Not sure how you read that into my statement. Just being realistic.
Policies can change and do change.

[Anonymous]

What is the point of them doing this? I bought a house for the schools that my kids go to. What if they have to go to a school that I don't like for my kids??? When does all of this happen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the point of them doing this? I bought a house for the schools that my kids go to. What if they have to go to a school that I don't like for my kids??? When does all of this happen?

You probably want to review the entire thread and read FCPSs website if this is first heard for you. There are lots of claimed reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they want to redistrict kids to schools that are closer to their homes, they have the authority to do it with or without a third-party study on the purported benefits.

Exactly. At the end of the day, they don't have to justify anything. School boundary lines are man made, just made up. They can shift them a few streets over and provide whatever justification they want.

As soon as they pass a policy, they have to adhere to it. What you both are advocating for is an unaccountable junta.

I'm not advocating for it AT ALL. Not sure how you read that into my statement. Just being realistic.
Policies can change and do change.

Policy changed in July 18, 2024. Transportation is a big four category. What we’ve learned so far is: 1) that even minimal grandfather will swamp any theoretical transportation savings; and 2) academics and sleep time are only affected with an hour commute or longer.

So, even using the FCPS hand-selected study of college kids, the transportation rationale is a mirage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the point of them doing this? I bought a house for the schools that my kids go to. What if they have to go to a school that I don't like for my kids??? When does all of this happen?

If you watch the daytime planning meetings available online, which few do, the school board and Reid openly stated that they are doing a county wide rezoning over One Fairfax, which you can google, and equity.

Reid also affirmed that the FCPS Chief Equity Officer was critical to the committee to ensure all rezoning aligns with One Fairfax.

I believe the meeting date is October 8 or around that date, and the CEO statement came towards the end.

Mateo Dunn was the only school board member that I recall who showed any skepticism for the rezoning process and the only advocacy for parents and students, so thank you Mount Vernon district for choosing well. He appears to have all the opposition of Elizabeth Schulz, without all the bristle.

The school board and Reid's open embrace as One Fairfax as the most important reason behind countywide rezoning contrasts significantly with their public stances at the community meetings and multiple emails that rezoning is about transportation, keeping neighborhoods together, split feeders and access to programs.

That is their public stance to delay getting yelled at until FCPS is past the point of no return.

What they say in private when they think no one is paying attention is much more honest.

Rezoning is about One Fairfax.

Do your own research using the October 8 meeting as a starting point and work backwards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they want to redistrict kids to schools that are closer to their homes, they have the authority to do it with or without a third-party study on the purported benefits.

Exactly. At the end of the day, they don't have to justify anything. School boundary lines are man made, just made up. They can shift them a few streets over and provide whatever justification they want.

As soon as they pass a policy, they have to adhere to it. What you both are advocating for is an unaccountable junta.

I'm not advocating for it AT ALL. Not sure how you read that into my statement. Just being realistic.
Policies can change and do change.

Policy changed in July 18, 2024. Transportation is a big four category. What we’ve learned so far is: 1) that even minimal grandfather will swamp any theoretical transportation savings; and 2) academics and sleep time are only affected with an hour commute or longer.

So, even using the FCPS hand-selected study of college kids, the transportation rationale is a mirage.

The stufy that FCPS used to justify rezoning over transportation is an article about college kids in a middle eastern country who had commutes linger than one hour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they want to redistrict kids to schools that are closer to their homes, they have the authority to do it with or without a third-party study on the purported benefits.

Exactly. At the end of the day, they don't have to justify anything. School boundary lines are man made, just made up. They can shift them a few streets over and provide whatever justification they want.

As soon as they pass a policy, they have to adhere to it. What you both are advocating for is an unaccountable junta.

I'm not advocating for it AT ALL. Not sure how you read that into my statement. Just being realistic.
Policies can change and do change.

Policy changed in July 18, 2024. Transportation is a big four category. What we’ve learned so far is: 1) that even minimal grandfather will swamp any theoretical transportation savings; and 2) academics and sleep time are only affected with an hour commute or longer.

So, even using the FCPS hand-selected study of college kids, the transportation rationale is a mirage.

Grandfathering would likely not be forever (if entertained at all) neighborhoods wouldn't be grandfathered, currently enrolled students would be. So, things should right size over the course of 5+ years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they want to redistrict kids to schools that are closer to their homes, they have the authority to do it with or without a third-party study on the purported benefits.

Exactly. At the end of the day, they don't have to justify anything. School boundary lines are man made, just made up. They can shift them a few streets over and provide whatever justification they want.

As soon as they pass a policy, they have to adhere to it. What you both are advocating for is an unaccountable junta.

I'm not advocating for it AT ALL. Not sure how you read that into my statement. Just being realistic.
Policies can change and do change.

Policy changed in July 18, 2024. Transportation is a big four category. What we’ve learned so far is: 1) that even minimal grandfather will swamp any theoretical transportation savings; and 2) academics and sleep time are only affected with an hour commute or longer.

So, even using the FCPS hand-selected study of college kids, the transportation rationale is a mirage.

Grandfathering would likely not be forever (if entertained at all) neighborhoods wouldn't be grandfathered, currently enrolled students would be. So, things should right size over the course of 5+ years.

Aaand then we rezone again in 5 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they want to redistrict kids to schools that are closer to their homes, they have the authority to do it with or without a third-party study on the purported benefits.

Exactly. At the end of the day, they don't have to justify anything. School boundary lines are man made, just made up. They can shift them a few streets over and provide whatever justification they want.

As soon as they pass a policy, they have to adhere to it. What you both are advocating for is an unaccountable junta.

I'm not advocating for it AT ALL. Not sure how you read that into my statement. Just being realistic.
Policies can change and do change.

Policy changed in July 18, 2024. Transportation is a big four category. What we’ve learned so far is: 1) that even minimal grandfather will swamp any theoretical transportation savings; and 2) academics and sleep time are only affected with an hour commute or longer.

So, even using the FCPS hand-selected study of college kids, the transportation rationale is a mirage.

Grandfathering would likely not be forever (if entertained at all) neighborhoods wouldn't be grandfathered, currently enrolled students would be. So, things should right size over the course of 5+ years.

My point is that running double runs for even a year is going to swamp any long-term savings from taking a handful of buses off the road (and I don’t think they even get a handful of the buses off the road).

[Anonymous]

So, is the goal to make sure every school has the same percentage of free lunches? The same racial demographics?

I don't think they realize just how destructive a boundary review is to the communities. When you cannot even divulge the names of the people on the review committee, that should tell you something.

I live on one edge of a compact boundary. If the committee members are from the other edge, who do you think will move? And, FWIW, no school is closer to us than the current one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, is the goal to make sure every school has the same percentage of free lunches? The same racial demographics?

I don't think they realize just how destructive a boundary review is to the communities. When you cannot even divulge the names of the people on the review committee, that should tell you something.

I live on one edge of a compact boundary. If the committee members are from the other edge, who do you think will move? And, FWIW, no school is closer to us than the current one.

They know that there are tipping points with the number of FARMS students beyond which the performance of non-FARMS students falls dramatically. Ideally, they'd try to bring every school below that threshold. Geography prevents it to some extent, but it's still a justifiable reason to rezone

[Anonymous]

Can’t we all agree that commutes over an hour to school are not a good thing, no matter where the study was done? That meas two lost hours a day for some kids. For many FARMS high school students, that means lost wages. It also means lost SAT prep time or sports training for wealthier students.

What justifies a two hour long ride on a bus over a 15 min one? Some will say school quality. Then go ahead and sign your kid up to private school, and enjoy that hour drive to and from every morning; and, then again in the afternoon if you work from home. You have that choice. Nobody is stopping you. Public schools should be looking out for the general public good, not just the squeaky wheels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can’t we all agree that commutes over an hour to school are not a good thing, no matter where the study was done? That meas two lost hours a day for some kids. For many FARMS high school students, that means lost wages. It also means lost SAT prep time or sports training for wealthier students.

What justifies a two hour long ride on a bus over a 15 min one? Some will say school quality. Then go ahead and sign your kid up to private school, and enjoy that hour drive to and from every morning; and, then again in the afternoon if you work from home. You have that choice. Nobody is stopping you. Public schools should be looking out for the general public good, not just the squeaky wheels.

FCPS is using that study to justify rezoning our neighborhoods to schools with longer bus rides. Go figure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, is the goal to make sure every school has the same percentage of free lunches? The same racial demographics?

I don't think they realize just how destructive a boundary review is to the communities. When you cannot even divulge the names of the people on the review committee, that should tell you something.

I live on one edge of a compact boundary. If the committee members are from the other edge, who do you think will move? And, FWIW, no school is closer to us than the current one.

We are one of the neighborhoods rumored for rezonng to a distant high school on the other side of the interstate.

Most of the neighborhoods that feed into our elementary school are close enough to the high school that we can listen to the football games from our yards and even hear them with windows closed in some levels of the house. We can hear marching band practice and performances from our houses.

The neighbors often joke that we know when to run over to pick up our kids from the games, a 5-10 minute drive through neighborhood roads, just by listening to the football game calls from our houses.

It is not just our elementary school zone. Most of the elementwry schoops in our high school zone is close enough to the high school to hear the football games. Yet FCPS wants to rip apart our community and rezone us over inaccurate enrollment data and equity.

My kids are at the edge of the Woodson zone. We can hear LBSS games from our house easily, much more easily than Woodson. Yet our attendance zone isn't that weird, the schools are just pretty close together.

So...just being able to hear the football games doesn't mean your kids should go to the school, I guess.