I spent 2+ hours listening to people complain about having to move to LBSS because it’s not part of their community (even though the rest of Sangster goes there) and how far away it is and how people want their babies to be babies and not surrounded by upper classmen. It sounds terrible. I’ve only been there for games and it looked okay to me but it sounds really bad with a lot of bullying and abuse towards 7th and 8th graders. |
I didn’t say on that long. I lasted an hour and then zoomed out. To me, the most compelling arguments were the Irving middle school kids with siblings at WSHS who will be going to LBSS. Parents may have kids at 2 different high schools next year and I don’t think that is a good thing. It can be easily fixed with grandfathering siblings. From there, the secondary school bussing issue is not something I have heard about, but I can see the point. However, lots of Sangster parents deal with that already because most of that school goes to LBSS currently. |
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The parent who made the bus comment was a white oaks parent. Not Sangster. I heard many people say LBSS is a great school it’s just not the middle school and HS experience they went for their student, which is a valid point. Please don’t lump all of together and make accusations like that.
Neither WO or Sangster parents threw any other neighborhoods under the bus with suggesting they “pick them” instead. I heard overwhelmingly that they consider slowing these decisions down and reexamine data. Perhaps voting on a partial county boundary change to allow more time with accurate data be examined in this area. |
All the other concerns were unrelated to the school’s quality. People just wanted to stay where they are. Same with white oaks parents not attacking cherry run. |
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People who don’t understand the nuance of these neighborhoods don’t see the community both White oaks and Sangster parents are fighting for. A man with a house on the dividing line made it clear - his neighborhood is walkable for students to visit friends etc but moving him to LBSS makes most of his school. community across the parkway and Lee chapel, eliminating the community aspect. white oaks parents explained that their neighborhood is governed by 3 HOAS that would be split in strange ways, again eliminating the neighborhood community when the students go to different schools.
When these parents talk about community, it’s not the school it’s where their physical house is and the community they see daily, carpool with, walk to friends houses etc. but moving these schools they would no longer be part of that because the natural boundaries are the parkway - and kids aren’t crossing that alone to go play w a friend |
Honestly, that was one comment made by one parent and the entire rest of room thought it was cringe. The rest of the comments were thoughtful and reasonable. I was impressed by how White Oaks, Sangster, and HV parents all spoke with decorum. I also appreciated Dr. Reid staying far past ending time to finish questions. Tonight made me proud for the whole West Springfield community. |
Someone is moving. Reid made that very clear. And if it’s not the Sangster split feeder and White Oaks attendance island then it will be West Springfield ES neighborhoods like Daventry, who will get returned to Lewis. Or sending Hunt Valley to Saratoga/Lewis or South County. Or maybe sending more of Orange Hunt to Sangster. Families are getting moved. It’s just a question of which ones. |
I think this comment is to stoke the fires and spread more fear. It sounded like the community worked together last night to force more questions on data. I also hope it made Dr.Reid and the board to acknowledge how challenging this process has been for every member of the community. |
It seems though that “someone will be moving” for the sake of moving. A couple of parents raised some good questions about shifting overcrowding from one place to another (WSHS to LB, and Cardinal forest to white oaks), lack of data on transportation which is critical to assess whether these changes address anything at all, whether split feeder percentage is calculated correctly, demographic trends etc. I hope there will be answers to that otherwise what’s the justification? It seems that community might not be concerned with split feeders and islands that much, etc etc |
Sandy Anderson has made it very clear the status quo won’t work. Current WSHS parents complain about overcrowding. SB and FCPS staff don’t care how challenging the process has been. Do you talk to any of them last night after the meeting? They are moving ahead with this. Someone is moving. The question is which neighborhood(s). |
I wasn't bothered by that comment and my kid goes to LB. There are also LB kids who don't want to go to Irving because of Irving's reputation. All schools have good and bad. It's valid for someone not to want their 7th grader on the bus with 12th graders even if it's not everyone's priority. |
I agree there were great points from parents. I watched until all my points were spoken and heard and then left the meeting. I do wonder when the ‘next round” comes. By that I mean they are going to do this every 5 years. When does the 5 years start. At the start of the process (2023) or the start of the approval (Jan 2026) or the start of the year the changes take effect (Aug 2026). I also really want them to do residency checks at each natural break (going to middle, going to high school). This is something APS started when they redid boundaries and judging by the Maryland license plates at drop off, it is much needed in the WSHS community. |
I also thought Reid's response should have been thanks for your feedback and not basically gaslighting the commenter by trying to emotionally appeal to people and protect the principal's feelings. The principal doesn't know everything that goes on and Reid especially doesn't. |
I'm not affected but not passing it creates an equity issue. |
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Someone is moving. Reid made that very clear. And if it’s not the Sangster split feeder and White Oaks attendance island then it will be West Springfield ES neighborhoods like Daventry, who will get returned to Lewis. Or sending Hunt Valley to Saratoga/Lewis or South County. Or maybe sending more of Orange Hunt to Sangster. Families are getting moved. It’s just a question of which ones. I think this comment is to stoke the fires and spread more fear. It sounded like the community worked together last night to force more questions on data. I also hope it made Dr.Reid and the board to acknowledge how challenging this process has been for every member of the community. I agree this comment is trying to bring new fears into the conversation. And the comments regarding how horrible LBSS is and bringing up the one person who mentioned the bus etc. Is perhaps someone in danger of being moved out if different neighborhoods shift If you listened last night, you heard a lot of respectful voices discussing data, class size growth shifts and the desire to stay within their physical community. You’re painting the evening to be something it was not. |