FCPS Boundary Review Updates

[Anonymous]

Removing kids south of Braddock (currently attend Willow Springs) and sending them further than Fairfax Highschool to Frost and Woodson is insane...wasn't transportation time a key issue brought up? Moving 87 kids with a longer bus ride seems counter intuitive to the entire point of this study- and it adds a new split feeder where there was not one before. (and I would be remiss if I didnt add that a majority of Willow Springs homes are <1-2miles from Centreville/Liberty and Chantilly and Robinson are closer than Fairfax) No perfect solution but I would hope some sense was voiced at the BRAC meeting to call out things like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do they want to eliminate the split feeders where 75%+ go to one MS/HS and 25% go somewhere else? Or are those ok and they want to eliminate the roughly 50-50 split schools?

They want to eliminate any schemes where the split is overly lopsided —80/20, 90/10, etc. Half and half is considered acceptable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Longfellow/mclean boundary looks clearer to me and solves capacity and keeps neighborhood together.

No. It is more of a mess. 50 plus net change to Longfellow means 100 more to Mclean HS. Assuming no split feeder for Longfellow. In many cases or slides all Thru did was circle/move a connector.

Nothing more should go into Longfellow/Mclean. Should the Spring Hill Mclean Island even attend Spring Hill? https://boundary.fcps.edu/boundary/
All of it or pieces of it? Checkerboard high rise - Accenture - 8421 Broad St-across from Spring Hill metro is assigned to Spring Hill/Longfellow/Mclean
2051 International Drive=Saks Galleria Mall -Westbriar/Kilmer/Marshall

Note the apt listed has AAP at Churchill Rd which is near Cooper and has a modular. Spring Hill is projected over capacity pre shuffle.

And remember the addition as part of the renovation for Falls Church HS?

How can the BRAC even have relevant discussions when the grouped by FCPS artificial regions? Marshall Pyramid is in Region 5 with Chantilly and Westfield. Also it is possible that more from islands applied for BRAC leaving who/what to provide input on existing non island boundaries for Mclean?

As I read the proposed Longfellow/McLean changes from "Scenario 1," there would be one set of changes affecting McLean and two affecting Longfellow:

McLean:

* Move Spring Hill attendance island from McLean to Langley;

* Move area bordered by 123, Toll Road, and 495 from Marshall to McLean; and

* Move a SPA that includes the Falls Hill neighborhood and some nearby areas off Route 7 from Marshall to McLean (no indication they would not stay at Shrevewood).

Net projected impact: - 142 students

Longfellow

* All of the changes for McLean (-76 impact on Longfellow), plus the following changes relating to the Graham Road/Pine Spring situations estimated to have a +50 impact on Longfellow:

* Move a small area west of Hollywood Road from Timber Lane to Shrevewood, and from Longfellow to Kilmer; and

* Move several CPAs now assigned to Pine Spring and Graham Road to Timber Lane, and from Jackson to Longfellow

Net projected impact: = -26 students

As noted earlier, the intent appears to have been to recognize that McLean is overcrowed while Longfellow is not, and to make Timber Lane a 100% feeder to at least Longfellow. However, it would appear to create a weird situation where a very small part of Longfellow would go to Falls Church, a very small part of Kilmer would go to McLean, and kids living near the "old" Graham Road site would now have a significantly longer commute to Timber Lane than the current Graham Road site. And it would also turn Shrevewood, which currently feeds entirely to Kilmer/Marshall, into a split feeder with Longfellow/McLean. Perhaps they take all this up in the 4/25 presentation. For now, they are putting a lot of McLean/Longfellow in play, especially since Westgate and Lemon Road are also split feeders and they haven't addressed them at all yet.

As for your point about whether the Tysons island "should even attend Spring Hill," it's unclear where you want these kids to go. They should have prioritized a new ES in Tysons (they have a call on a site off Jones Bridge Road) over the Dunn Loring site, in which case these kids could/should go to that school, but Frisch obviously is hell-bent to move forward with Dunn Loring, which is further away. What the School Board has done by giving Dunn Loring a green light is in direct opposition to the goals of the Tysons Partnership, which is to add a school to Tysons rather than continue to send kids to schools elsewhere.

WHy wouldn't they just move the Timberlane - longfellow - mclean island to Timberlane - Jackson - Falls Church? I don't understand how they haven't proposed this, it looks so obvious.

Probably because that neighborhood provides McLean’s only socioeconomic diversity.

But much of that neighborhood is wealthy! They all send their kids to private to avoid Timberlane and then send them public for long fellow and McLean. Wouldn't it be more helpful to move wealthy kids to Falls Church to balance that school better?

Wouldn’t that make the wealthy families just go private for high school too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So confused—why would they create new split feeders of <25% if the goal is supposedly to eliminate split feeders?

They could not achieve their equity objectives while also eliminating split feeders, so they had to redefine the split feeder goal.

what do you mean by “equity objectives”?

PP. The goal of the boundary review is to 'paper up' the high FARMS rate high schools by increasing the number of non-FARMS students. High schools transformed into high FARMS rate over time based on 1) proximity - non-FARMS families bought homes far enough away geographically. 2) capacity - families in a high FARMS HS boundary found ways to transfer to other schools (Lewis/WSHS comes to mind). Throw in transportation, and FCPS has 3 criteria to cherry pick boundary change justifications to paper up the high-FARMS schools. Yes, I will concede that attendance island clean up does not inherently have an equity agenda, but it is a catalyst to help justify broader, follow on boundary changes.

Equitable access to programming should be listed as a desired result, not a criteria. Is the BRAC holding a boundary meeting in which Thru will provide analysis of programs by school and boundary change recommendations?

You'll notice most of the parents complaining about the boundary review are the ones whose children are the fungible things that will be moved from a good school (WSHS, Woodson, Langley) and tasked to paper up a high FARMS school (Lewis, Annandale, Herndon).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Longfellow/mclean boundary looks clearer to me and solves capacity and keeps neighborhood together.

No. It is more of a mess. 50 plus net change to Longfellow means 100 more to Mclean HS. Assuming no split feeder for Longfellow. In many cases or slides all Thru did was circle/move a connector.

Nothing more should go into Longfellow/Mclean. Should the Spring Hill Mclean Island even attend Spring Hill? https://boundary.fcps.edu/boundary/
All of it or pieces of it? Checkerboard high rise - Accenture - 8421 Broad St-across from Spring Hill metro is assigned to Spring Hill/Longfellow/Mclean
2051 International Drive=Saks Galleria Mall -Westbriar/Kilmer/Marshall

Note the apt listed has AAP at Churchill Rd which is near Cooper and has a modular. Spring Hill is projected over capacity pre shuffle.

And remember the addition as part of the renovation for Falls Church HS?

How can the BRAC even have relevant discussions when the grouped by FCPS artificial regions? Marshall Pyramid is in Region 5 with Chantilly and Westfield. Also it is possible that more from islands applied for BRAC leaving who/what to provide input on existing non island boundaries for Mclean?

As I read the proposed Longfellow/McLean changes from "Scenario 1," there would be one set of changes affecting McLean and two affecting Longfellow:

McLean:

* Move Spring Hill attendance island from McLean to Langley;

* Move area bordered by 123, Toll Road, and 495 from Marshall to McLean; and

* Move a SPA that includes the Falls Hill neighborhood and some nearby areas off Route 7 from Marshall to McLean (no indication they would not stay at Shrevewood).

Net projected impact: - 142 students

Longfellow

* All of the changes for McLean (-76 impact on Longfellow), plus the following changes relating to the Graham Road/Pine Spring situations estimated to have a +50 impact on Longfellow:

* Move a small area west of Hollywood Road from Timber Lane to Shrevewood, and from Longfellow to Kilmer; and

* Move several CPAs now assigned to Pine Spring and Graham Road to Timber Lane, and from Jackson to Longfellow

Net projected impact: = -26 students

As noted earlier, the intent appears to have been to recognize that McLean is overcrowed while Longfellow is not, and to make Timber Lane a 100% feeder to at least Longfellow. However, it would appear to create a weird situation where a very small part of Longfellow would go to Falls Church, a very small part of Kilmer would go to McLean, and kids living near the "old" Graham Road site would now have a significantly longer commute to Timber Lane than the current Graham Road site. And it would also turn Shrevewood, which currently feeds entirely to Kilmer/Marshall, into a split feeder with Longfellow/McLean. Perhaps they take all this up in the 4/25 presentation. For now, they are putting a lot of McLean/Longfellow in play, especially since Westgate and Lemon Road are also split feeders and they haven't addressed them at all yet.

As for your point about whether the Tysons island "should even attend Spring Hill," it's unclear where you want these kids to go. They should have prioritized a new ES in Tysons (they have a call on a site off Jones Bridge Road) over the Dunn Loring site, in which case these kids could/should go to that school, but Frisch obviously is hell-bent to move forward with Dunn Loring, which is further away. What the School Board has done by giving Dunn Loring a green light is in direct opposition to the goals of the Tysons Partnership, which is to add a school to Tysons rather than continue to send kids to schools elsewhere.

WHy wouldn't they just move the Timberlane - longfellow - mclean island to Timberlane - Jackson - Falls Church? I don't understand how they haven't proposed this, it looks so obvious.

Probably because that neighborhood provides McLean’s only socioeconomic diversity.

But much of that neighborhood is wealthy! They all send their kids to private to avoid Timberlane and then send them public for long fellow and McLean. Wouldn't it be more helpful to move wealthy kids to Falls Church to balance that school better?

Wouldn’t that make the wealthy families just go private for high school too?

DP. Falls Church is AP like McLean and is getting a big renovation/expansion. They haven't identified anything yet that would take advantage of that renovation/expansion, just things that would eliminate attendance islands or situations where a school lies outside its attendance area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Removing kids south of Braddock (currently attend Willow Springs) and sending them further than Fairfax Highschool to Frost and Woodson is insane...wasn't transportation time a key issue brought up? Moving 87 kids with a longer bus ride seems counter intuitive to the entire point of this study- and it adds a new split feeder where there was not one before. (and I would be remiss if I didnt add that a majority of Willow Springs homes are <1-2miles from Centreville/Liberty and Chantilly and Robinson are closer than Fairfax) No perfect solution but I would hope some sense was voiced at the BRAC meeting to call out things like this.

Centreville HS is currently at 109% capacity, but projected to fall to 69% capacity with the upcoming renovation (see document page 67):

https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/Adopted-Capital-Improvement-Program-FY-2026%E2%80%9330.pdf

Shouldn’t that be taken into account? Is it a good idea to make a move now before the renovation? How about making a proposal that takes the renovation into account, such as “make X move in Year Y, after the renovation?”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Removing kids south of Braddock (currently attend Willow Springs) and sending them further than Fairfax Highschool to Frost and Woodson is insane...wasn't transportation time a key issue brought up? Moving 87 kids with a longer bus ride seems counter intuitive to the entire point of this study- and it adds a new split feeder where there was not one before. (and I would be remiss if I didnt add that a majority of Willow Springs homes are <1-2miles from Centreville/Liberty and Chantilly and Robinson are closer than Fairfax) No perfect solution but I would hope some sense was voiced at the BRAC meeting to call out things like this.

Centreville HS is currently at 109% capacity, but projected to fall to 69% capacity with the upcoming renovation (see document page 67):

https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/Adopted-Capital-Improvement-Program-FY-2026%E2%80%9330.pdf

Shouldn’t that be taken into account? Is it a good idea to make a move now before the renovation? How about making a proposal that takes the renovation into account, such as “make X move in Year Y, after the renovation?”

It's pretty clear the consultants and BRAC haven't discussed (or at least made public) anything yet that takes ongoing or upcoming school expansions into account.

Thru Consulting doesn't seem to be doing a great job with checkers so far, so asking them to play chess may not be a fair ask.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They would create a new split feeder at Longfellow that would be about 95% to McLean and 5% to Falls Church. Maybe they solve that on 4/25.

The idea of a 5% split feeder is just breathtakingly cruel and my kid would be in that 5%. There's no way they would actually do this, right? I can't even believe this is on the table.

This is what Carson does to the Fox Mill and handful of Crossfield kids that go to South Lakes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s revisit Franklin/Carson/Rocky Run.

If we move (1) Franklin kids who are already zoned to Chantilly to Rocky Run, (2) Carson kids zoned to SLHS (fox mill and some Floris kids) to Hughes, and (3) Crossfield kids from Carson to Franklin, will this solve the split feeder problem?

This makes no sense. The Franklin kids that go to Chantilly are from Oak Hill and Lees Corner. Some of the Oak Hill kids are walkers to Franklin. I think some of the Lees Corner kids may be, as well. Franklin is on the dividing line of Oak Hill and Lees Corner.

It would make more sense to send the Navy/Waples Mill kids to Carson.

Why not swap the Oakton zoned kids from Carson to Franklin with the Chantilly zoned kids from Franklin to Carson? That would eliminate two split feeders. While we're at it, let's eliminate AAP centers in middle schools so the Navy mamas don't complain about losing that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two strong observations:

Why would they send the Navy island in Franklin Farm to Oak Hill? Franklin Farm on that side of the parkway goes to Crossfield. Look at the map. There is something else going on here. These kids currently go to as does Crossfield.

Thru missed a real island--though it is tiny:
Look at the boundary map for Lee's Corner. Compare it with the Crossfield boundary map. There is a street --a cul-de-sac that is split. Some go to Crossfield and some to Lee's Corner. The students that go to Crossfield must drive through the Lee's Corner boundary in order to get to Crossfield. There are a couple of other cul-de-sacs off of the street.
If you want to see it, look at Ashvale Drive. Some of it may be be Franklin Glen instead of Franklin Farm and had the boundary line drawn before the parkway was built. That would be the Lee's Corner portion.

This could be easily missed if you are not familiar with the area.

This is why they should have had people familiar with elementary school boundaries on the committee.

Yes, I pointed this out a few months ago. Everything on the eastern side of FFX County Parkway should go to either Crossfield or Navy. The easiest solution would be to make three changes:

1. Move everything EAST of FFX Parkway to either Crossfield or Navy
2. Move Everything EAST of West Ox Rd from Navy to Crossfield (e.g. Bennett, etc.)
3. Move everything NORTH of Franklin Farm Rd. between West Ox and FFX Parkway to Crossfield
4. Move everything SOUTH of Franklin Farm Rd. between West Ox and FFX Parkway to Navy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two strong observations:

Why would they send the Navy island in Franklin Farm to Oak Hill? Franklin Farm on that side of the parkway goes to Crossfield. Look at the map. There is something else going on here. These kids currently go to as does Crossfield.

Thru missed a real island--though it is tiny:
Look at the boundary map for Lee's Corner. Compare it with the Crossfield boundary map. There is a street --a cul-de-sac that is split. Some go to Crossfield and some to Lee's Corner. The students that go to Crossfield must drive through the Lee's Corner boundary in order to get to Crossfield. There are a couple of other cul-de-sacs off of the street.
If you want to see it, look at Ashvale Drive. Some of it may be be Franklin Glen instead of Franklin Farm and had the boundary line drawn before the parkway was built. That would be the Lee's Corner portion.

This could be easily missed if you are not familiar with the area.

This is why they should have had people familiar with elementary school boundaries on the committee.

Yes, I pointed this out a few months ago. Everything on the eastern side of FFX County Parkway should go to either Crossfield or Navy. The easiest solution would be to make three changes:

1. Move everything EAST of FFX Parkway to either Crossfield or Navy
2. Move Everything EAST of West Ox Rd from Navy to Crossfield (e.g. Bennett, etc.)
3. Move everything NORTH of Franklin Farm Rd. between West Ox and FFX Parkway to Crossfield
4. Move everything SOUTH of Franklin Farm Rd. between West Ox and FFX Parkway to Navy

Haha, I mean FOUR changes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s revisit Franklin/Carson/Rocky Run.

If we move (1) Franklin kids who are already zoned to Chantilly to Rocky Run, (2) Carson kids zoned to SLHS (fox mill and some Floris kids) to Hughes, and (3) Crossfield kids from Carson to Franklin, will this solve the split feeder problem?

Carson is not overcrowded, why would you move all these kids out of Carson without moving new kids in? Also Crossfield is zoned to Oakton, it doesn't make sense to move those kids to Franklin unless you are moving all those kids to Chantilly too, which is ridiculous given how overcrowded Chantilly HS is. The post several weeks ago about moving anyone from Carson that is zoned to Chantilly to Franklin makes the most sense. But don't move kids zoned to Oakton to yet another MS.

Carson is a three way split feeder. Tell me how to fix it.

Is that really a “problem” that needs solving?

Yes it does. My kids made friends and they all went to different schools. One way to do this is to get rid of AAP at Carson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of these attendance islands have caused huge sways in capacity. Will be interesting how they are filled in if they use this as baseline.

Looking at their late March illustrations of split feeders and how deliberately they cleaned up attendance islands, feels like split feeders will receive the same with their newly published 25% caveat. Gulp!

It's looking more and more likely that Hunt Valley will become a split feeder to WSHS and SCHS. Based on what's leftover after the attendance island moves, it would help solve capacity at both WSHS and SCHS.

Wonder if they’ll force HV to Lorton Station for the AAP center like they do with the rest of the SoCo pyramid.

Most of Hunt Valley is inside the parkway, 5 minutes from Sangster and under 10 minutes, just over 2 miles, to West Springfield, all on back roads. For the majority of Hunt Valley, it makes no sense to rezone it to Lorton station.

Perhaps they will rezone the rest of that neighborhood behind Saint Raymond, adjacent to the Sangster island, to Newington Forest/South County, so the entire St. Raymond neighborhood will attend the same schools.

While not ideal, making that entire neighborhood go to Newington and South County would keep their commute about the same, and also make the switch to somewhat comparable schools, both in quality and facilities.

Then, FCPS could leave the other side of Gambrill and the neighborhoods outside the parkway at the end of Sydenstriker at Hunt Valley/Irving/West Springfield, with logical, shortest commute, and the fewest amount of students disrupted.

Coupled with grandfathering of all existing high school kids in that neighborhood, both Sangster and HV zoned, this could be a workable solution that is the least controversial option. But the high school students should definitely be grandfathered. That is key to a good outcome for all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Longfellow/mclean boundary looks clearer to me and solves capacity and keeps neighborhood together.

No. It is more of a mess. 50 plus net change to Longfellow means 100 more to Mclean HS. Assuming no split feeder for Longfellow. In many cases or slides all Thru did was circle/move a connector.

Nothing more should go into Longfellow/Mclean. Should the Spring Hill Mclean Island even attend Spring Hill? https://boundary.fcps.edu/boundary/
All of it or pieces of it? Checkerboard high rise - Accenture - 8421 Broad St-across from Spring Hill metro is assigned to Spring Hill/Longfellow/Mclean
2051 International Drive=Saks Galleria Mall -Westbriar/Kilmer/Marshall

Note the apt listed has AAP at Churchill Rd which is near Cooper and has a modular. Spring Hill is projected over capacity pre shuffle.

And remember the addition as part of the renovation for Falls Church HS?

How can the BRAC even have relevant discussions when the grouped by FCPS artificial regions? Marshall Pyramid is in Region 5 with Chantilly and Westfield. Also it is possible that more from islands applied for BRAC leaving who/what to provide input on existing non island boundaries for Mclean?

As I read the proposed Longfellow/McLean changes from "Scenario 1," there would be one set of changes affecting McLean and two affecting Longfellow:

McLean:

* Move Spring Hill attendance island from McLean to Langley;

* Move area bordered by 123, Toll Road, and 495 from Marshall to McLean; and

* Move a SPA that includes the Falls Hill neighborhood and some nearby areas off Route 7 from Marshall to McLean (no indication they would not stay at Shrevewood).

Net projected impact: - 142 students

Longfellow

* All of the changes for McLean (-76 impact on Longfellow), plus the following changes relating to the Graham Road/Pine Spring situations estimated to have a +50 impact on Longfellow:

* Move a small area west of Hollywood Road from Timber Lane to Shrevewood, and from Longfellow to Kilmer; and

* Move several CPAs now assigned to Pine Spring and Graham Road to Timber Lane, and from Jackson to Longfellow

Net projected impact: = -26 students

As noted earlier, the intent appears to have been to recognize that McLean is overcrowed while Longfellow is not, and to make Timber Lane a 100% feeder to at least Longfellow. However, it would appear to create a weird situation where a very small part of Longfellow would go to Falls Church, a very small part of Kilmer would go to McLean, and kids living near the "old" Graham Road site would now have a significantly longer commute to Timber Lane than the current Graham Road site. And it would also turn Shrevewood, which currently feeds entirely to Kilmer/Marshall, into a split feeder with Longfellow/McLean. Perhaps they take all this up in the 4/25 presentation. For now, they are putting a lot of McLean/Longfellow in play, especially since Westgate and Lemon Road are also split feeders and they haven't addressed them at all yet.

As for your point about whether the Tysons island "should even attend Spring Hill," it's unclear where you want these kids to go. They should have prioritized a new ES in Tysons (they have a call on a site off Jones Bridge Road) over the Dunn Loring site, in which case these kids could/should go to that school, but Frisch obviously is hell-bent to move forward with Dunn Loring, which is further away. What the School Board has done by giving Dunn Loring a green light is in direct opposition to the goals of the Tysons Partnership, which is to add a school to Tysons rather than continue to send kids to schools elsewhere.

WHy wouldn't they just move the Timberlane - longfellow - mclean island to Timberlane - Jackson - Falls Church? I don't understand how they haven't proposed this, it looks so obvious.

Probably because that neighborhood provides McLean’s only socioeconomic diversity.

But much of that neighborhood is wealthy! They all send their kids to private to avoid Timberlane and then send them public for long fellow and McLean. Wouldn't it be more helpful to move wealthy kids to Falls Church to balance that school better?

A lot of wealthy families send their kids to Timberlane because they know they'll end up at Mclean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So confused—why would they create new split feeders of <25% if the goal is supposedly to eliminate split feeders?

They could not achieve their equity objectives while also eliminating split feeders, so they had to redefine the split feeder goal.

what do you mean by “equity objectives”?

PP. The goal of the boundary review is to 'paper up' the high FARMS rate high schools by increasing the number of non-FARMS students. High schools transformed into high FARMS rate over time based on 1) proximity - non-FARMS families bought homes far enough away geographically. 2) capacity - families in a high FARMS HS boundary found ways to transfer to other schools (Lewis/WSHS comes to mind). Throw in transportation, and FCPS has 3 criteria to cherry pick boundary change justifications to paper up the high-FARMS schools. Yes, I will concede that attendance island clean up does not inherently have an equity agenda, but it is a catalyst to help justify broader, follow on boundary changes.

Equitable access to programming should be listed as a desired result, not a criteria. Is the BRAC holding a boundary meeting in which Thru will provide analysis of programs by school and boundary change recommendations?

You'll notice most of the parents complaining about the boundary review are the ones whose children are the fungible things that will be moved from a good school (WSHS, Woodson, Langley) and tasked to paper up a high FARMS school (Lewis, Annandale, Herndon).

What does FARM stand for?