+1000 |
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I was at a meeting last school year at some random church in central Springfield. And yes, I have children impacted by boundary changes currently in middle and high school. I found the meeting to be full of parents of young elementary school students and preschoolers who were whining about purchasing their homes for a specific combination of schools. Also, lots of “I don’t like the secondary school model” from parents of preschoolers.
It’s important to understand that when you look at Great Schools, Sangster outperforms the rest of the elementary schools that feed West Springfield HS. And that WSHS outperforms LB. So parents will fight for this specific combination of schools for their children. |
There are multiple posts here from Sangster parent(s), maybe one person posting multiple times, posting that someone else should get rezoned out of WSHS instead of them, and blaming the BRAC members. It could very well be one prolific poster, but there are definitely multiple posts saying those 2 things. |
So then you understand the desire to keep the pyramid as is for so many families? And that isn’t even taking into account the community aspect that most of us are fighting for. I’m glad it would be helpful for your family,Kim. But everyone has their own reasons
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If you look at the SAT scores, LB usually out performs WSHS there. WSHS is stronger than LB in other metrics. The two schools really are equal. I have seen similar things as you too. Parents of older elementary kids and teens are mostly content or quietly in agreement with the rezoning of Sangster, as long as there is generous grandfathering. Grandfathering is key. They have more community involvement and feel connected to both WSHS and LBSS, through years of sports, activities and community events, and through Sangster itself. The parents of little kids, preschool kids and babies are furious, just as you observed. They don't have the same deep community ties yet as the Sangster parents of older kids do, so they don't really understand how connected the LB and WS communities really are, and also haven't seen what it is like for those Sangster kids to have most of their friends go to LB while they have to start over at Irving. My Sangster kid did have to start over at Irving. Even knowing the AAP kids who ended up at Irving, it was much harder than if they had been able to go to Lake Braddock with most of their Sangster friends and classmates. Change is hard. But after the initial disappointment, with ample grandfathering, I predict that this rezoning change will end up being a very positive thing for the students in that Sangster neighborhood. |
| There are at least 8 WS/LB alumni parents in the group hoping to keep the split. Several who lived the split themselves as kids (on both sides Went to WS from Sangster or to LB from Sangster) so they know the community and the connection well. Just because it was hard for your student doesn’t mean everyone has the same experience. |
Why were both reps from the same elementary school? Of course they were going to do something like this. |
+1. Our elementary school (Gunston) would have happily been fully rezoned to Gunston which would have fixed the South County/Hayfield split feeder. Instead, the proposals turn it into a South County/Hayfield/Mount Vernon split feeder and move neighborhoods out and add neighborhoods in. I guess no one on the BRAC cared about maintaining our schools community. |
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I’d like to think it was random and not purposeful. Unfortunately it wasn’t due to lack of volunteers from other elem schools. I think it’s a testament to how flawed the process has been. |
The selection process was on viddo. Fairfacts had it online. WSHS had one of the largest pools of volunteers for BRAC. Most of them were from HV. 2 HV people selected by the random number generator. If you put 140 red jellybeans in a jar, plus 40 jellybeans mixed between 7 additional colors, shake the jar, close your eyes and pick 2 jellybeans, you are almost certainly going to end up with 2 red jellybeans. It was basic marh, nothing nafarous. |
It was all on video. Fairfacts has it and posted it When did your neighborhood dial in to the rezoning fight? In the WSHS pyramid, Hunt Valley and West Springfield Elementary were involved from before 8130 was revised, in very large numbers, because they felt the most threat from the potential changes The other elementary schools felt that rezoning wouldn't affect them, so they weren't as motivated to get involved so early. They didn't start getting involved until after maps started happening. |
Exactly this. We’re in Hunt Valley and have been getting warned on DCUM (and thru the local grapevine) that they wanted to redistrict us out for the last what, two years now? All of the local neighborhoods organized and are unified in our advocacy. Safer neighborhoods didn’t tune in until recently. A lot of HV parents (including me) applied for the BRAC but didn’t make it. |
I think we are saying the same thing- that the reps were chosen at random. From the outside looking in, that seems fair. What’s being stated by so many is that the priorities can become flawed when reps are only representative of one elementary school. This is not on the reps, but on the process as a whole. |
BRAC also compiled recommendations based on what comments were made on the scenario 3 maps. If your neighborhood didn’t comment they wouldn’t have taken your concerns into consideration. I’m sorry Sangster parents feel like LBSS isn’t good enough for them. But they’ll find that others in the community won’t share that opinion. It’s a great school. |