Boundary Review Meetings

[Anonymous]

I don’t think there’s a solution to overcrowding at WSHS that doesn’t move students to Lewis. You can move to LBSS, but that just creates overcrowding at LB at the high school level.

What is the smallest elementary school that feeds Irving/WSHS? Just shift that whole school (no new split feeders!).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think there’s a solution to overcrowding at WSHS that doesn’t move students to Lewis. You can move to LBSS, but that just creates overcrowding at LB at the high school level.

What is the smallest elementary school that feeds Irving/WSHS? Just shift that whole school (no new split feeders!).

I don’t live in the area, but what a dumb thing to say. Residency checks, stopping transfers, and upcoming natural population decreases would absolutely solve the problem.

You’re being cavalier about kids’ mental health and it’s disgusting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think there’s a solution to overcrowding at WSHS that doesn’t move students to Lewis. You can move to LBSS, but that just creates overcrowding at LB at the high school level.

What is the smallest elementary school that feeds Irving/WSHS? Just shift that whole school (no new split feeders!).

It would be Rolling Valley ES or West Springfield ES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is Lorton Station the school that hosted the Hagel Circle kids for a year or two?

If so, that is where they should go, not Halley or Gunston.

Yup, it’s also the only school where the Hagel Circle kids can walk too.

Why would that be so crucial, to be able to walk when a lot of Fairfax county students cannot walk to school. There is a bus for that reason and if they miss the bus, they have parents who drive. Most Lorton residents have cars in order to live in this area.

You know the real reason why you don’t want Hagel Circle part of Gunston…. I was there on the 22nd Of October. Discrimination 100% based on their socio-economic status and their demographics.

Your privilege is showing. Many families along the Rt. 1 corridor (yes, Hagel Circle is right off of Rt. 1) do not have reliable transportation - maybe the family only has one vehicle and that parent is unable to do drop off/pick up because of their work schedule and the bell schedule. The bus that runs along Rt. 1 is always full of people catching it to go and up down the highway for groceries, shopping. There is a grocery store (Food Lion) 1.2 miles from the complex. People along the corridor routinely walk a mile or more to shop/go to work/go to school. During the workday, you see countless women (usually women) with babies/toddlers walking up and down Rt. 1 carrying grocery bags. Yes, Hagel Circle is further away from most of the retail on Rt. 1 but the housing prices are significantly less than further north in the Mount Vernon area (another area full of low income families.).

[Anonymous]

Are they going to fix the island they made in graham road they added to timber lane? Would make more sense to swap that out for the kids already at timber lane that they made the island at Shrevewood for. That way more kids in need are staying at their current closer schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is Lorton Station the school that hosted the Hagel Circle kids for a year or two?

If so, that is where they should go, not Halley or Gunston.

Yup, it’s also the only school where the Hagel Circle kids can walk too.

Why would that be so crucial, to be able to walk when a lot of Fairfax county students cannot walk to school. There is a bus for that reason and if they miss the bus, they have parents who drive. Most Lorton residents have cars in order to live in this area.

You know the real reason why you don’t want Hagel Circle part of Gunston…. I was there on the 22nd Of October. Discrimination 100% based on their socio-economic status and their demographics.

Your privilege is showing. Many families along the Rt. 1 corridor (yes, Hagel Circle is right off of Rt. 1) do not have reliable transportation - maybe the family only has one vehicle and that parent is unable to do drop off/pick up because of their work schedule and the bell schedule. The bus that runs along Rt. 1 is always full of people catching it to go and up down the highway for groceries, shopping. There is a grocery store (Food Lion) 1.2 miles from the complex. People along the corridor routinely walk a mile or more to shop/go to work/go to school. During the workday, you see countless women (usually women) with babies/toddlers walking up and down Rt. 1 carrying grocery bags. Yes, Hagel Circle is further away from most of the retail on Rt. 1 but the housing prices are significantly less than further north in the Mount Vernon area (another area full of low income families.).

+1. A Halley Teacher came to another meeting that was held at Gunston with Mateo Dunne present and said that if the students in Hagel Circle miss the bus, they are only getting to school if it’s feasible to walk there. These parents either don’t have reliable transportation or have already left for work. Getting to Gunston involves walking south along route 1, crossing Route 1 and walking nearly a mile down Gunston Road which has a 50 mph speed limit and zero sidewalks. Getting to Lorton Station means walking to the back of Hagel Circle, taking a short path to Timarand Drive and hitting a crosswalk right at Lorton Station elementary. Look at the current boundary maps, Hagel Circle was carved from the Lorton Station boundaries. Bussing the kids to another school won’t solve the problem, time for FCPS to buck up and move these kids back to their neighborhood school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think there’s a solution to overcrowding at WSHS that doesn’t move students to Lewis. You can move to LBSS, but that just creates overcrowding at LB at the high school level.

What is the smallest elementary school that feeds Irving/WSHS? Just shift that whole school (no new split feeders!).

It would be Rolling Valley ES or West Springfield ES.

West Springfield ES - oh look! We are back to the Daventry problem.

[Anonymous]

Rezone Daventry to Garfield as well. No split feeding for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are they going to fix the island they made in graham road they added to timber lane? Would make more sense to swap that out for the kids already at timber lane that they made the island at Shrevewood for. That way more kids in need are staying at their current closer schools.

That little island from Graham Road that they moved to Timber Lane equates to over 300 elementary students. That is Kingsley Commons, the community that once had Graham Road in their backyard, then down the road, and they are now being evicted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Attending tonight’s meeting, the Superintendent opened by addressing Hagel Circle and it looks like they’ll be making corrections to the maps to send the kids to their community school of Lorton Station vs Halley (current school) or Gunston (proposed school)

Keep in mind, Lorton Station already has over 700 students. An additional 146 students would lead to overcrowding. Lorton Station is not their community school. Gunston was built at the time Hagel Circle was. That was the original elementary school for Hagel.

Better solution is keeping Gunston or having them go to Halley which both schools could easily handle that amount of students. Keep in mind, there is a reason why Hagel Circle was zoned for Halley, it was a capacity issue.

Gunston is one of the oldest elementary schools in the county. It was built in the 1950s. It was one of the only schools in Lorton! That’s not relevant to today, especially when Lorton has undergone substantial development since the. Gunston doesn’t have the capacity because they’re on a septic system that already has issues. Lorton Station has capacity for 890 students, with approximately 700 current students there is plenty of room for Hagel Circle students to attend the elementary school within walking distance of their home. Lorton Station is also an AAP center - get rid of centers and there is even more space.

Okay, let’s say as you propose Lorton Station Elementary becomes Hagel Circles assigned school. That would mean Gunston Elementary would be well under its capacity. What neighborhood should be added?

Gunston wouldn’t be under capacity. If you looked at the proposal you would see that multiple neighborhoods are being forced out of Gunston under the options to move Hagel Circle from Halley. That was part of the parents concern at the meeting on the 22nd, why was their school targeted to have neighborhoods moved out when Halley Elementary is the school that will end up at 68% enrollment? Even with the neighborhoods being moved out, there is only room for the Hagel Circle kids if Gunston starts using the two dilapidated module units.

Then it came up that if Halley has all of this extra capacity, it can be used for a Korean Immersion program that someone on the school board wants to create.

Also, Hagel Circle can access the Pohick Village townhouse community via walking path which is directly across from Lorton Station elementary. Mateo Dunne even confirmed this during the meeting on the 22nd.

What you are saying about the capacity makes no sense.

Look at the PowerPoint slides provided before the meeting and still available. They did a study and found that there definitely is capacity to handle the Hagel circle community since they assigned Inlet Cove to Island Creek Elementary. They shuffled around some neighborhoods to accommodate so what you’re saying is not believable or able to be backed up with evidence.

Second, let’s say Lorton Station is walkable, why should that be a huge reason why Lorton Station should take it? Lorton station already serves two large apartment complexes which make up the majority of students there. Overcrowding will become an issue and need to be accommodated with six extra trailers. I spoke with Mr. Dunne and he confirmed this.

You know the real reason why most parents objected to it and it was displayed subtlety and blatantly that evening….. it’s because the reputation Hagel Circle has and it’s really unfair to that community to be pushed away.

[Anonymous]

Imagine how much easier life would be for the school board if they hadn’t undertaken the unnecessary boundary review and instead just did Coates and Western.

They’ve managed to alienate a ton of their constituents and didn’t even really fix much, but are certainly going to be detrimentally impacting a lot of students and the students’ mental health.

Shame on the school board for turning me and many others against the public school system.

[Anonymous]

If they actually do take Hagel Circle out to Lorton Station and presumably Hayfield, there would be room at South County. I feel like some of the Gunston neighborhoods will try to get moved in like a PP mentioned upthread. There are some nice neighborhoods of newer homes right on the border of South County and Hayfield off Gunston Rd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is Lorton Station the school that hosted the Hagel Circle kids for a year or two?

If so, that is where they should go, not Halley or Gunston.

Yup, it’s also the only school where the Hagel Circle kids can walk too.

Why would that be so crucial, to be able to walk when a lot of Fairfax county students cannot walk to school. There is a bus for that reason and if they miss the bus, they have parents who drive. Most Lorton residents have cars in order to live in this area.

You know the real reason why you don’t want Hagel Circle part of Gunston…. I was there on the 22nd Of October. Discrimination 100% based on their socio-economic status and their demographics.

Your privilege is showing. Many families along the Rt. 1 corridor (yes, Hagel Circle is right off of Rt. 1) do not have reliable transportation - maybe the family only has one vehicle and that parent is unable to do drop off/pick up because of their work schedule and the bell schedule. The bus that runs along Rt. 1 is always full of people catching it to go and up down the highway for groceries, shopping. There is a grocery store (Food Lion) 1.2 miles from the complex. People along the corridor routinely walk a mile or more to shop/go to work/go to school. During the workday, you see countless women (usually women) with babies/toddlers walking up and down Rt. 1 carrying grocery bags. Yes, Hagel Circle is further away from most of the retail on Rt. 1 but the housing prices are significantly less than further north in the Mount Vernon area (another area full of low income families.).

Let’s say your assumption is correct that most families there have reliable transportation to get to school, why would you bring that up if you don’t live there. Doesn’t it seem ironic that people outside the neighborhood were bringing that factor up, that Hagel Circle should be assigned a school that is walkable? The parents of Gunston were bringing that up and not one Hagel Circle parent brought that issue up, that it should be walkable. You know the goal is to keep Hagel Circle out of Gunston Elementary and you have no right to do that since it is Public Property. You do not have more right over that. They are Lorton Residents as well. I don’t have any problem welcoming Hagel Circle into Lorton Station but that would require Woods of Fairfax to be assigned to Gunston. Based on you alls behavior that night, you wouldn’t want that because they are Low Income, high minority neighborhood as well.

Lorton Station is technically walkable, but it is quite a walk. Check google maps, Mapquest, etc and you can see it easily takes between 30-45 minutes to walk there. Let’s say that it’s between the months of November to March, it’s really cold. Would FCPS want a 8 year old child walking in those temps?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Attending tonight’s meeting, the Superintendent opened by addressing Hagel Circle and it looks like they’ll be making corrections to the maps to send the kids to their community school of Lorton Station vs Halley (current school) or Gunston (proposed school)

Keep in mind, Lorton Station already has over 700 students. An additional 146 students would lead to overcrowding. Lorton Station is not their community school. Gunston was built at the time Hagel Circle was. That was the original elementary school for Hagel.

Better solution is keeping Gunston or having them go to Halley which both schools could easily handle that amount of students. Keep in mind, there is a reason why Hagel Circle was zoned for Halley, it was a capacity issue.

Gunston is one of the oldest elementary schools in the county. It was built in the 1950s. It was one of the only schools in Lorton! That’s not relevant to today, especially when Lorton has undergone substantial development since the. Gunston doesn’t have the capacity because they’re on a septic system that already has issues. Lorton Station has capacity for 890 students, with approximately 700 current students there is plenty of room for Hagel Circle students to attend the elementary school within walking distance of their home. Lorton Station is also an AAP center - get rid of centers and there is even more space.

Okay, let’s say as you propose Lorton Station Elementary becomes Hagel Circles assigned school. That would mean Gunston Elementary would be well under its capacity. What neighborhood should be added?

Gunston wouldn’t be under capacity. If you looked at the proposal you would see that multiple neighborhoods are being forced out of Gunston under the options to move Hagel Circle from Halley. That was part of the parents concern at the meeting on the 22nd, why was their school targeted to have neighborhoods moved out when Halley Elementary is the school that will end up at 68% enrollment? Even with the neighborhoods being moved out, there is only room for the Hagel Circle kids if Gunston starts using the two dilapidated module units.

Then it came up that if Halley has all of this extra capacity, it can be used for a Korean Immersion program that someone on the school board wants to create.

Also, Hagel Circle can access the Pohick Village townhouse community via walking path which is directly across from Lorton Station elementary. Mateo Dunne even confirmed this during the meeting on the 22nd.

What you are saying about the capacity makes no sense.

Look at the PowerPoint slides provided before the meeting and still available. They did a study and found that there definitely is capacity to handle the Hagel circle community since they assigned Inlet Cove to Island Creek Elementary. They shuffled around some neighborhoods to accommodate so what you’re saying is not believable or able to be backed up with evidence.

Second, let’s say Lorton Station is walkable, why should that be a huge reason why Lorton Station should take it? Lorton station already serves two large apartment complexes which make up the majority of students there. Overcrowding will become an issue and need to be accommodated with six extra trailers. I spoke with Mr. Dunne and he confirmed this.

You know the real reason why most parents objected to it and it was displayed subtlety and blatantly that evening….. it’s because the reputation Hagel Circle has and it’s really unfair to that community to be pushed away.

Honestly, PP you sound like a Lorton Station parent trying to avoid Hagel Circle being rezoned to its community school. So I guess it’s the pot calling the kettle black. Multiple posts have laid out why Gunston isn’t a good option for Hagel Circle, and why the ability to walk to a school is important for the lower income students. If Lorton Station is overcrowded it’s because it’s an AAP center for South County and Hayfield schools. Maybe FCPS can create a center at Halley with all of the excess capacity to alleviate the pressure on Lorton Station so that students who actually live in the community can attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Attending tonight’s meeting, the Superintendent opened by addressing Hagel Circle and it looks like they’ll be making corrections to the maps to send the kids to their community school of Lorton Station vs Halley (current school) or Gunston (proposed school)

Keep in mind, Lorton Station already has over 700 students. An additional 146 students would lead to overcrowding. Lorton Station is not their community school. Gunston was built at the time Hagel Circle was. That was the original elementary school for Hagel.

Better solution is keeping Gunston or having them go to Halley which both schools could easily handle that amount of students. Keep in mind, there is a reason why Hagel Circle was zoned for Halley, it was a capacity issue.

Gunston is one of the oldest elementary schools in the county. It was built in the 1950s. It was one of the only schools in Lorton! That’s not relevant to today, especially when Lorton has undergone substantial development since the. Gunston doesn’t have the capacity because they’re on a septic system that already has issues. Lorton Station has capacity for 890 students, with approximately 700 current students there is plenty of room for Hagel Circle students to attend the elementary school within walking distance of their home. Lorton Station is also an AAP center - get rid of centers and there is even more space.

Okay, let’s say as you propose Lorton Station Elementary becomes Hagel Circles assigned school. That would mean Gunston Elementary would be well under its capacity. What neighborhood should be added?

Gunston wouldn’t be under capacity. If you looked at the proposal you would see that multiple neighborhoods are being forced out of Gunston under the options to move Hagel Circle from Halley. That was part of the parents concern at the meeting on the 22nd, why was their school targeted to have neighborhoods moved out when Halley Elementary is the school that will end up at 68% enrollment? Even with the neighborhoods being moved out, there is only room for the Hagel Circle kids if Gunston starts using the two dilapidated module units.

Then it came up that if Halley has all of this extra capacity, it can be used for a Korean Immersion program that someone on the school board wants to create.

Also, Hagel Circle can access the Pohick Village townhouse community via walking path which is directly across from Lorton Station elementary. Mateo Dunne even confirmed this during the meeting on the 22nd.

What you are saying about the capacity makes no sense.

Look at the PowerPoint slides provided before the meeting and still available. They did a study and found that there definitely is capacity to handle the Hagel circle community since they assigned Inlet Cove to Island Creek Elementary. They shuffled around some neighborhoods to accommodate so what you’re saying is not believable or able to be backed up with evidence.

Second, let’s say Lorton Station is walkable, why should that be a huge reason why Lorton Station should take it? Lorton station already serves two large apartment complexes which make up the majority of students there. Overcrowding will become an issue and need to be accommodated with six extra trailers. I spoke with Mr. Dunne and he confirmed this.

You know the real reason why most parents objected to it and it was displayed subtlety and blatantly that evening….. it’s because the reputation Hagel Circle has and it’s really unfair to that community to be pushed away.

Honestly, PP you sound like a Lorton Station parent trying to avoid Hagel Circle being rezoned to its community school. So I guess it’s the pot calling the kettle black. Multiple posts have laid out why Gunston isn’t a good option for Hagel Circle, and why the ability to walk to a school is important for the lower income students. If Lorton Station is overcrowded it’s because it’s an AAP center for South County and Hayfield schools. Maybe FCPS can create a center at Halley with all of the excess capacity to alleviate the pressure on Lorton Station so that students who actually live in the community can attend.

I’ve definitely thought all along that they should put in an AAP center at Halley to fill that capacity.