Langley/McLean/Marshall Boundaries

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t mind if my kids are reasoned to Langley given its academic ranking above us, but I will throw a fit if anyone tries to rezone my future McLean HS kids to Marshall.

Snob.

[Anonymous]

Any information from the meeting?

Went to the meeting. A couple of things to note:

- Interim plan is to install a modular (it's coming from Cooper Middle) "in the area behind the existing modular and the girls softball field." They were cagey about this - they said "there is room," yet there were talks of it going ON the girls softball field.

- "Immediate" solution is that Janie Strauss brings this up again in a couple of months at her final school board meeting. If she is lucky and they don't shoot her down again, the boundaries would change slightly (there was talk of the kids in the Rotunda building in Tysons moving to a Spring Hill (where they already go) Cooper Longfellow pyramid vs. Longfellow McLean).

Should this "immediate" plan be voted in, it will be implemented IN THE FALL OF 2021. Then any child affected who has started McLean high school has the option to transfer to Langley at that point or be grandfathered and remain at McLean.

My read on the whole boundary vote-down is that Janie and Mr. Snead thought this was a slam dunk. They were asking to move 300 kids - not a large number - and those kids, coming from Spring Hill would stay with their "cohorts" and continue on to Langley. I think they were honestly shocked when they got voted down.

There was a lot of "this is up to the community" jargon during the whole meeting. Parents asked a lot of good questions, and it kind of always came back to "this is up to the community." They mentioned actual high school students (vs. parents) getting involved and that likely seeing more results than parents doing it.

- There were also shocking things put out there like 11.5% of FCPS students do not attend their districted school(s); schools are on a 37 year renovation timeline; developers who are building new real estate (e.g. high rises) don't have to contribute $$ to improving schools because of some arcane proffering law in VA; and students anywhere at anytime, if there is a school that is UNDERenrolled, can apply for a transfer. So, if kids wanted to move to Langley, they could. Right now. Theoretically, could solve itself!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Any information from the meeting?

Went to the meeting. A couple of things to note:

- Interim plan is to install a modular (it's coming from Cooper Middle) "in the area behind the existing modular and the girls softball field." They were cagey about this - they said "there is room," yet there were talks of it going ON the girls softball field.

- "Immediate" solution is that Janie Strauss brings this up again in a couple of months at her final school board meeting. If she is lucky and they don't shoot her down again, the boundaries would change slightly (there was talk of the kids in the Rotunda building in Tysons moving to a Spring Hill (where they already go) Cooper Longfellow pyramid vs. Longfellow McLean).

Should this "immediate" plan be voted in, it will be implemented IN THE FALL OF 2021. Then any child affected who has started McLean high school has the option to transfer to Langley at that point or be grandfathered and remain at McLean.

My read on the whole boundary vote-down is that Janie and Mr. Snead thought this was a slam dunk. They were asking to move 300 kids - not a large number - and those kids, coming from Spring Hill would stay with their "cohorts" and continue on to Langley. I think they were honestly shocked when they got voted down.

There was a lot of "this is up to the community" jargon during the whole meeting. Parents asked a lot of good questions, and it kind of always came back to "this is up to the community." They mentioned actual high school students (vs. parents) getting involved and that likely seeing more results than parents doing it.

- There were also shocking things put out there like 11.5% of FCPS students do not attend their districted school(s); schools are on a 37 year renovation timeline; developers who are building new real estate (e.g. high rises) don't have to contribute $$ to improving schools because of some arcane proffering law in VA; and students anywhere at anytime, if there is a school that is UNDERenrolled, can apply for a transfer. So, if kids wanted to move to Langley, they could. Right now. Theoretically, could solve itself!

Thanks for the update.

Janie isn't seeking re-election and Kevin (Sneed) is retiring. Sounds like they haven't treated this as a major priority; waited too late; and then proposed something that other Board members hadn't had enough time to consider. Technically, they never got "voted down"; they just got the message that it wasn't yet ready for prime time. It's unfortunate because it's the kids at the two schools that will suffer if McLean remains overcrowded and Langley has to start destaffing before 2021.

I'm glad to hear that there will at least be a modular relocation, rather than just more trailers. The suggestion of getting students involved sounds odd to me, unless they just meant that perhaps other School Board members would act more quickly if there were a group of Spring Hill students saying they'd be happy to stay with their classmates going to Cooper/Langley rather than Longfellow/McLean. Otherwise, the idea that kids should weigh in on which of their classmates should be redistricted sounds awful. Aren't we paying FCPS employees and School Board members to make these decisions?

Also, if they suggested McLean kids could just switch to Langley simply because it's under-enrolled, they ought to get that message out more broadly, because it's certainly not what the student transfer regulations suggest on their face. Most would assume you could only transfer to take a foreign language offered at Langley, but not McLean (like Russian), or met another of the specified criteria for pupil placing. The fact that the receiving school has space is a pre-requisite for a pupil placement under the regulations, but not a sufficient basis by itself.

[Anonymous]

It should go on the football field. At least the softball team wins and has a state championship to their name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Any information from the meeting?

Went to the meeting. A couple of things to note:

- Interim plan is to install a modular (it's coming from Cooper Middle) "in the area behind the existing modular and the girls softball field." They were cagey about this - they said "there is room," yet there were talks of it going ON the girls softball field.

- "Immediate" solution is that Janie Strauss brings this up again in a couple of months at her final school board meeting. If she is lucky and they don't shoot her down again, the boundaries would change slightly (there was talk of the kids in the Rotunda building in Tysons moving to a Spring Hill (where they already go) Cooper Longfellow pyramid vs. Longfellow McLean).

Should this "immediate" plan be voted in, it will be implemented IN THE FALL OF 2021. Then any child affected who has started McLean high school has the option to transfer to Langley at that point or be grandfathered and remain at McLean.

My read on the whole boundary vote-down is that Janie and Mr. Snead thought this was a slam dunk. They were asking to move 300 kids - not a large number - and those kids, coming from Spring Hill would stay with their "cohorts" and continue on to Langley. I think they were honestly shocked when they got voted down.

There was a lot of "this is up to the community" jargon during the whole meeting. Parents asked a lot of good questions, and it kind of always came back to "this is up to the community." They mentioned actual high school students (vs. parents) getting involved and that likely seeing more results than parents doing it.

- There were also shocking things put out there like 11.5% of FCPS students do not attend their districted school(s); schools are on a 37 year renovation timeline; developers who are building new real estate (e.g. high rises) don't have to contribute $$ to improving schools because of some arcane proffering law in VA; and students anywhere at anytime, if there is a school that is UNDERenrolled, can apply for a transfer. So, if kids wanted to move to Langley, they could. Right now. Theoretically, could solve itself!

Thanks for the update.

Janie isn't seeking re-election and Kevin (Sneed) is retiring. Sounds like they haven't treated this as a major priority; waited too late; and then proposed something that other Board members hadn't had enough time to consider. Technically, they never got "voted down"; they just got the message that it wasn't yet ready for prime time. It's unfortunate because it's the kids at the two schools that will suffer if McLean remains overcrowded and Langley has to start destaffing before 2021.

I'm glad to hear that there will at least be a modular relocation, rather than just more trailers. The suggestion of getting students involved sounds odd to me, unless they just meant that perhaps other School Board members would act more quickly if there were a group of Spring Hill students saying they'd be happy to stay with their classmates going to Cooper/Langley rather than Longfellow/McLean. Otherwise, the idea that kids should weigh in on which of their classmates should be redistricted sounds awful. Aren't we paying FCPS employees and School Board members to make these decisions?

Also, if they suggested McLean kids could just switch to Langley simply because it's under-enrolled, they ought to get that message out more broadly, because it's certainly not what the student transfer regulations suggest on their face. Most would assume you could only transfer to take a foreign language offered at Langley, but not McLean (like Russian), or met another of the specified criteria for pupil placing. The fact that the receiving school has space is a pre-requisite for a pupil placement under the regulations, but not a sufficient basis by itself.

and provide transportation if the students live in the McLean boundary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It should go on the football field. At least the softball team wins and has a state championship to their name.

Doesn't the girls soccer team, which also has a state championship, play on the same field as football?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It should go on the football field. At least the softball team wins and has a state championship to their name.

Doesn't the girls soccer team, which also has a state championship, play on the same field as football?

Also the football team did win the regional championship once in the prior century (1995).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Any information from the meeting?


Went to the meeting. A couple of things to note:

- Interim plan is to install a modular (it's coming from Cooper Middle) "in the area behind the existing modular and the girls softball field." They were cagey about this - they said "there is room," yet there were talks of it going ON the girls softball field.

- "Immediate" solution is that Janie Strauss brings this up again in a couple of months at her final school board meeting. If she is lucky and they don't shoot her down again, the boundaries would change slightly (there was talk of the kids in the Rotunda building in Tysons moving to a Spring Hill (where they already go) Cooper Longfellow pyramid vs. Longfellow McLean).

Should this "immediate" plan be voted in, it will be implemented IN THE FALL OF 2021. Then any child affected who has started McLean high school has the option to transfer to Langley at that point or be grandfathered and remain at McLean.

My read on the whole boundary vote-down is that Janie and Mr. Snead thought this was a slam dunk. They were asking to move 300 kids - not a large number - and those kids, coming from Spring Hill would stay with their "cohorts" and continue on to Langley. I think they were honestly shocked when they got voted down.

There was a lot of "this is up to the community" jargon during the whole meeting. Parents asked a lot of good questions, and it kind of always came back to "this is up to the community." They mentioned actual high school students (vs. parents) getting involved and that likely seeing more results than parents doing it.

- There were also shocking things put out there like 11.5% of FCPS students do not attend their districted school(s); schools are on a 37 year renovation timeline; developers who are building new real estate (e.g. high rises) don't have to contribute $$ to improving schools because of some arcane proffering law in VA; and students anywhere at anytime, if there is a school that is UNDERenrolled, can apply for a transfer. So, if kids wanted to move to Langley, they could. Right now. Theoretically, could solve itself!



Thanks for the update.

Janie isn't seeking re-election and Kevin (Sneed) is retiring. Sounds like they haven't treated this as a major priority; waited too late; and then proposed something that other Board members hadn't had enough time to consider. Technically, they never got "voted down"; they just got the message that it wasn't yet ready for prime time. It's unfortunate because it's the kids at the two schools that will suffer if McLean remains overcrowded and Langley has to start destaffing before 2021.

I'm glad to hear that there will at least be a modular relocation, rather than just more trailers. The suggestion of getting students involved sounds odd to me, unless they just meant that perhaps other School Board members would act more quickly if there were a group of Spring Hill students saying they'd be happy to stay with their classmates going to Cooper/Langley rather than Longfellow/McLean. Otherwise, the idea that kids should weigh in on which of their classmates should be redistricted sounds awful. Aren't we paying FCPS employees and School Board members to make these decisions?

Also, if they suggested McLean kids could just switch to Langley simply because it's under-enrolled, they ought to get that message out more broadly, because it's certainly not what the student transfer regulations suggest on their face. Most would assume you could only transfer to take a foreign language offered at Langley, but not McLean (like Russian), or met another of the specified criteria for pupil placing. The fact that the receiving school has space is a pre-requisite for a pupil placement under the regulations, but not a sufficient basis by itself.

PP here - I definitely got the read that they (Janie and Sneed) were surprised it didn't pass, especially since (their words) it did not affect a large number of students.

I think parents were surprised that people who WILL be there past 6 months from now weren't sent to deal with this issue. Wasn't a strong vote of confidence as to how the school board treats the issue.

As far as the modular, it wasn't clear if the modular is in addition to or replaces the trailers. The number of 800 students being housed was thrown out, so I'm not sure how that calculates.

The transfer issue, according to them, "Is open and available today. To any school currently under enrolled." I think they acknowledged that it's not an apples to apples comparison in terms of academic offerings, especially in foreign languages. And as the population at langley continues to decline, offerings will decrease, making it less attractive as a transfer option.

The student issue - I think they mean students speaking out and saying these changes would affect them, or help them, etc. in the spirit of getting something changed. Janie kept referencing it was a group of McLean students who enacted change a decade or so ago....either for higher teacher pay or the renovation (I can't remember honestly).

[Anonymous]

I’m sure it will sort itself out in a few years. It’s vexing that FCPS hasn’t been more pro-active in addressing the two sides of the coin here (overcrowding at McLean and under enrollment at Langley), and it’s obvious that Janie Strauss should have retired years ago. If she professed surprise last night that her proposal met opposition, she probably didn’t mention that one reason was that she was proposing to move Tysons apartments outside her magisterial district to Langley and hadn’t consulted with the Providence representative on the School Board in advance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should move at least a portion of Tysons to Langley.

Agreed. The McLean attendance islands along Route 7 west of Tysons should be the most obvious to move to Langley.

On a side note, I am a Shrevewood parent and am thrilled to see that a boundary review and adjustment FINALLY made it into the CIP. We've been bursting at the seams for the past few years, and the current sixth grade is the last of the "smaller" class sizes.

Where do you think part of Shrevewood will move? It seems like Stenwood, Freedom Hill or Lemon Road would make the most sense, if there is space.

I think Stenwood is the most logical, based on boundaries. All the apartments and condos at/near Dunn Loring are zoned for Shrevewood, although the kids could easily walk to Stenwood which is just down Gallows Road. Timber Lane is also close, esp. for the Fairwood Park neighborhood, but then that's a whole new pyramid so I imagine that's a much trickier move.

First, not all the condos/apts go to Shrevewood. There is a small pockets of condos/townhomes, directly across from the metro (Park Tower - Bellforest Ct) that go to Stenwood.

Seoncd, I have 2 kids at Stenwood and we are a small school. The school was renovated in 2012 and we have 2 trailers. I don't know if we could handle a huge contingent from Shrevewood at Stenwood. According to FCPS we are at 97% capacity. Adding the additional kids from the other apartment/condos on Gallows would probably add over 150+ more kids to the enrollment numbers.

My DC 2nd grade class has over 100 kids divided over 4 classes. Yes, a fair number of the 2nd graders will move to Westbrair, our center school, but I suspect a lot may stay as they have really been trying to build up their local level IV program. My DC 5th grade class has 30 and we have 3 classes in all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It should go on the football field. At least the softball team wins and has a state championship to their name.

Doesn't the girls soccer team, which also has a state championship, play on the same field as football?

Also the football team did win the regional championship once in the prior century (1995).

It has won 1 game in the past three seasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It should go on the football field. At least the softball team wins and has a state championship to their name.

Doesn't the girls soccer team, which also has a state championship, play on the same field as football?

Also the football team did win the regional championship once in the prior century (1995).

It has won 1 game in the past three seasons.

It makes McLean very popular for other schools’ homecomings.

Seriously, let it go. No one else cares as much about football as you do. Langley wasn’t very good at basketball this winter, either.

[Anonymous]

what can be done to alleviate the overcrowding in the next year or two? sounds like nothing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what can be done to alleviate the overcrowding in the next year or two? sounds like nothing?

Sounds like the answer is relocating a modular, more trailers, and perhaps a relaxed policy on pupil placements. And possibly electing School Board members this fall who’ll pay more attention to planning and utilization issues.

[Anonymous]

It’s vexing that FCPS hasn’t been more pro-active in addressing the two sides of the coin here (overcrowding at McLean and under enrollment at Langley)+1