FCPS' plans to address concerns at under-enrolled and over-enrolled schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about the homeowners and non-ESL students that live in the Lewis boundaries? They should be forced to move to other schools and see their home values suffer? Doesn't seem right to me.

Wtf are you babbling about? How would their home values suffer going to a better performing school with more kids? Seems like it would be a win for them.

But, to be fair, I don’t think they should have to move if they don’t want to. 1,500 students is only a critical shortfall if you are trying to make a blatant equity play. It’s the people in Lewis pyramid trying to bolster their own house value at the expense of their neighbors.

I'm asking why people in the Lewis pyramid who are not ESL should have to transfer to other schools to find similar cohorts and challenging classes. That is the situation now and will continue to be unless something is done to help the school. Why are some pyramids designated as the permanent home of the poor and ESL populations? That is how FCPS is treating them. How is that fair to the homeowners in the Lewis pyramid? They moved higher income areas from Gambrill Road and Daventry to West Springfield. That helped their property values. Was that fair to the homeowners still zoned to Lewis? Maybe some people are tired of being dumped on.

Did you not know your school pyramid before you bought your house?

And as for being dumped on, yeah, FCPS families are overwhelmingly tired of this boundary change crap. The school board wasted years on it instead of working to improve the school system. The opportunity cost is through the roof on boundary changes, and they’re going to run it back in four years. It’s insanity.

I’m so tired of this argument. So the “poors” should be the ones that suffer and their kids get a worse education than others?
Things will never be truly equal, but comparing Lewis to say Langley is a huge difference. Why should people in the Lewis pyramid have their backs turned on them by the school board because “they’re too poor to buy a house in a better neighborhood”

And by example, we bought our house in the Lewis pyramid in 2020 thinking we’d move when our kids are older, or things could change in the next ten-ish years. Fast forward to now, we’ve got a kid in kindergarten at Springfield Estates, which is a very good school, but it looks like the school board gives zero Fs about Key and Lewis. We have a very low interest rate on our mortgage, one spouse is fed, and one is a contractor. Mortgage rates are now high, prices are high, gas is expensive, food is expensive. Fed feels like they could be RIFed at any moment. But I guess according to DCUM trolls we should just move in order to have our kids get an equitable education? Noted, sounds so easy I’ll hop right on that. /s

Yes, this is exactly what you can expect to hear from this crowd…

“Suck it up”
“You knew what schools you were zoned for 15 years ago when you bought and should not have expected any improvement”
“Lewis is thriving as a small school!”
“It shouldn’t matter that the school can’t fill basic sports, academic programs”
“ MENTAL HEALTH!”
“Just give it a few more years…”

We pulled our kid last year and are in the process of moving.

Make sure you check out the schools that your new home is zoned for so that you don’t have to continue to try to mooch off your neighbors there. Life is easier when you put in the effort on the front end.

Bon voyage!

+1. The PP took a gamble on buying a house zoned for the worst high school in Fairfax County. They could have either purchased less house in a more well regarded school, but they chose not too. They even acknowledge that they knew about the issues with the school when they purchased. Sorry, let me get out my violin for you. My house has downsides, but when we purchased the number 1 consideration was the schools. That area of Fairfax County was a nonstarter.

I’m not disputing your points. I also didn’t ask for sympathy, and the “we win, you lose” tone isn’t helpful.

We live in a 1200 sq ft townhouse, which is what we could afford. The idea that we should have “downgraded” more, or somehow predicted this, isn’t realistic.

We moved to the county expecting access to good schools. Instead, we’re watching our assigned school fall continue to fall behind with little action to address it. That’s the issue.

If your kids are in a good position, great for you. But dismissing other families’ concerns instead of pushing for better across the board is part of the problem.

DP but there are affordable TH’s in almost every pyramid except like, Langley/McLean/Oakton/Madison. This is really coming across like, “I bought an inexpensive, convenient home, but don’t want to make a schools trade-off, so now I’m hoping a bunch of people get moved to my school so they can pull it up by osmosis.”

+1. The poster even says that they bought the house in 2020. I know for a fact that there were plenty of reasonably priced townhouses and even single family homes in pyramids like West Springfield, South County, Lake Braddock, Robinson, etc in 2020. I live well within the boundaries of one of those districts and a neighbor’s 4 bedroom house sold for $560k in 2020. OP chose the Springfield Estates area for convenience knowing the high school issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about the homeowners and non-ESL students that live in the Lewis boundaries? They should be forced to move to other schools and see their home values suffer? Doesn't seem right to me.

Wtf are you babbling about? How would their home values suffer going to a better performing school with more kids? Seems like it would be a win for them.

But, to be fair, I don’t think they should have to move if they don’t want to. 1,500 students is only a critical shortfall if you are trying to make a blatant equity play. It’s the people in Lewis pyramid trying to bolster their own house value at the expense of their neighbors.

I'm asking why people in the Lewis pyramid who are not ESL should have to transfer to other schools to find similar cohorts and challenging classes. That is the situation now and will continue to be unless something is done to help the school. Why are some pyramids designated as the permanent home of the poor and ESL populations? That is how FCPS is treating them. How is that fair to the homeowners in the Lewis pyramid? They moved higher income areas from Gambrill Road and Daventry to West Springfield. That helped their property values. Was that fair to the homeowners still zoned to Lewis? Maybe some people are tired of being dumped on.

Did you not know your school pyramid before you bought your house?

And as for being dumped on, yeah, FCPS families are overwhelmingly tired of this boundary change crap. The school board wasted years on it instead of working to improve the school system. The opportunity cost is through the roof on boundary changes, and they’re going to run it back in four years. It’s insanity.

I’m so tired of this argument. So the “poors” should be the ones that suffer and their kids get a worse education than others?
Things will never be truly equal, but comparing Lewis to say Langley is a huge difference. Why should people in the Lewis pyramid have their backs turned on them by the school board because “they’re too poor to buy a house in a better neighborhood”

And by example, we bought our house in the Lewis pyramid in 2020 thinking we’d move when our kids are older, or things could change in the next ten-ish years. Fast forward to now, we’ve got a kid in kindergarten at Springfield Estates, which is a very good school, but it looks like the school board gives zero Fs about Key and Lewis. We have a very low interest rate on our mortgage, one spouse is fed, and one is a contractor. Mortgage rates are now high, prices are high, gas is expensive, food is expensive. Fed feels like they could be RIFed at any moment. But I guess according to DCUM trolls we should just move in order to have our kids get an equitable education? Noted, sounds so easy I’ll hop right on that. /s

Yes, this is exactly what you can expect to hear from this crowd…

“Suck it up”
“You knew what schools you were zoned for 15 years ago when you bought and should not have expected any improvement”
“Lewis is thriving as a small school!”
“It shouldn’t matter that the school can’t fill basic sports, academic programs”
“ MENTAL HEALTH!”
“Just give it a few more years…”

We pulled our kid last year and are in the process of moving.

Make sure you check out the schools that your new home is zoned for so that you don’t have to continue to try to mooch off your neighbors there. Life is easier when you put in the effort on the front end.

Bon voyage!

+1. The PP took a gamble on buying a house zoned for the worst high school in Fairfax County. They could have either purchased less house in a more well regarded school, but they chose not too. They even acknowledge that they knew about the issues with the school when they purchased. Sorry, let me get out my violin for you. My house has downsides, but when we purchased the number 1 consideration was the schools. That area of Fairfax County was a nonstarter.

I’m not disputing your points. I also didn’t ask for sympathy, and the “we win, you lose” tone isn’t helpful.

We live in a 1200 sq ft townhouse, which is what we could afford. The idea that we should have “downgraded” more, or somehow predicted this, isn’t realistic.

We moved to the county expecting access to good schools. Instead, we’re watching our assigned school fall continue to fall behind with little action to address it. That’s the issue.

If your kids are in a good position, great for you. But dismissing other families’ concerns instead of pushing for better across the board is part of the problem.

DP. Here’s the thing - if you seek to improve your schools by messing with my kids, I will fight you every damn step of the way. I don’t dismiss your concerns, but boundary changes just hurt a lot of people AND degrades the entire school system. If the school system wanted to fix your school without using our kids as their resource, then it would have my full support.

Equity redistricting just doesn’t work.

I like a lot of Lewis parents are advocating to fix problems at the school first without any redistricting involved. The problem is that the school board is turning their backs on them.

But also to play devils advocate, since apparently DCUM is under the impression that you need to pick your home 20 years in advance in a good school district, if you think your kids have a chance of being moved, then maybe you should have foreseen this possibility and moved within an inch of your favored high school. Boundaries are never set in stone. Sorry you’re one of the poors that picked a house on the edge of your boundary.

DP - if you share what the Lewis parents want the school board to do, maybe we can help advocate on your behalf.

[Anonymous]

The county has really felt the influx of poor immigrant families over the last 20 years. And I imagine it will continue. FARMS and ESOL has essentially doubled in the last 10 years. Poor people only have so many places they can afford to live in this county, so inevitably some schools will feel it much more than others.

I think the county populace is generally supportive of these immigrant populations but not necessarily in their own communities. All the families that continue to flee Lewis aren’t MAGA types. This aspect doesn’t seem to be talked about very much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about the homeowners and non-ESL students that live in the Lewis boundaries? They should be forced to move to other schools and see their home values suffer? Doesn't seem right to me.

Wtf are you babbling about? How would their home values suffer going to a better performing school with more kids? Seems like it would be a win for them.

But, to be fair, I don’t think they should have to move if they don’t want to. 1,500 students is only a critical shortfall if you are trying to make a blatant equity play. It’s the people in Lewis pyramid trying to bolster their own house value at the expense of their neighbors.

I'm asking why people in the Lewis pyramid who are not ESL should have to transfer to other schools to find similar cohorts and challenging classes. That is the situation now and will continue to be unless something is done to help the school. Why are some pyramids designated as the permanent home of the poor and ESL populations? That is how FCPS is treating them. How is that fair to the homeowners in the Lewis pyramid? They moved higher income areas from Gambrill Road and Daventry to West Springfield. That helped their property values. Was that fair to the homeowners still zoned to Lewis? Maybe some people are tired of being dumped on.

Did you not know your school pyramid before you bought your house?

And as for being dumped on, yeah, FCPS families are overwhelmingly tired of this boundary change crap. The school board wasted years on it instead of working to improve the school system. The opportunity cost is through the roof on boundary changes, and they’re going to run it back in four years. It’s insanity.

I’m so tired of this argument. So the “poors” should be the ones that suffer and their kids get a worse education than others?
Things will never be truly equal, but comparing Lewis to say Langley is a huge difference. Why should people in the Lewis pyramid have their backs turned on them by the school board because “they’re too poor to buy a house in a better neighborhood”

And by example, we bought our house in the Lewis pyramid in 2020 thinking we’d move when our kids are older, or things could change in the next ten-ish years. Fast forward to now, we’ve got a kid in kindergarten at Springfield Estates, which is a very good school, but it looks like the school board gives zero Fs about Key and Lewis. We have a very low interest rate on our mortgage, one spouse is fed, and one is a contractor. Mortgage rates are now high, prices are high, gas is expensive, food is expensive. Fed feels like they could be RIFed at any moment. But I guess according to DCUM trolls we should just move in order to have our kids get an equitable education? Noted, sounds so easy I’ll hop right on that. /s

Yes, this is exactly what you can expect to hear from this crowd…

“Suck it up”
“You knew what schools you were zoned for 15 years ago when you bought and should not have expected any improvement”
“Lewis is thriving as a small school!”
“It shouldn’t matter that the school can’t fill basic sports, academic programs”
“ MENTAL HEALTH!”
“Just give it a few more years…”

We pulled our kid last year and are in the process of moving.

Make sure you check out the schools that your new home is zoned for so that you don’t have to continue to try to mooch off your neighbors there. Life is easier when you put in the effort on the front end.

Bon voyage!

+1. The PP took a gamble on buying a house zoned for the worst high school in Fairfax County. They could have either purchased less house in a more well regarded school, but they chose not too. They even acknowledge that they knew about the issues with the school when they purchased. Sorry, let me get out my violin for you. My house has downsides, but when we purchased the number 1 consideration was the schools. That area of Fairfax County was a nonstarter.

I’m not disputing your points. I also didn’t ask for sympathy, and the “we win, you lose” tone isn’t helpful.

We live in a 1200 sq ft townhouse, which is what we could afford. The idea that we should have “downgraded” more, or somehow predicted this, isn’t realistic.

We moved to the county expecting access to good schools. Instead, we’re watching our assigned school fall continue to fall behind with little action to address it. That’s the issue.

If your kids are in a good position, great for you. But dismissing other families’ concerns instead of pushing for better across the board is part of the problem.

DP but there are affordable TH’s in almost every pyramid except like, Langley/McLean/Oakton/Madison. This is really coming across like, “I bought an inexpensive, convenient home, but don’t want to make a schools trade-off, so now I’m hoping a bunch of people get moved to my school so they can pull it up by osmosis.”

That’s your small minded framing. From my side, it sounds like anything that might impact your kids is off the table.

Please point me to townhomes at similar price points in higher-performing Fairfax pyramids. I’ll wait.

Expecting the school board to ensure a baseline level of quality across the schools we all pay into shouldn’t be controversial. It only becomes controversial when it requires difficult changes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about the homeowners and non-ESL students that live in the Lewis boundaries? They should be forced to move to other schools and see their home values suffer? Doesn't seem right to me.

Wtf are you babbling about? How would their home values suffer going to a better performing school with more kids? Seems like it would be a win for them.

But, to be fair, I don’t think they should have to move if they don’t want to. 1,500 students is only a critical shortfall if you are trying to make a blatant equity play. It’s the people in Lewis pyramid trying to bolster their own house value at the expense of their neighbors.

I'm asking why people in the Lewis pyramid who are not ESL should have to transfer to other schools to find similar cohorts and challenging classes. That is the situation now and will continue to be unless something is done to help the school. Why are some pyramids designated as the permanent home of the poor and ESL populations? That is how FCPS is treating them. How is that fair to the homeowners in the Lewis pyramid? They moved higher income areas from Gambrill Road and Daventry to West Springfield. That helped their property values. Was that fair to the homeowners still zoned to Lewis? Maybe some people are tired of being dumped on.

Did you not know your school pyramid before you bought your house?

And as for being dumped on, yeah, FCPS families are overwhelmingly tired of this boundary change crap. The school board wasted years on it instead of working to improve the school system. The opportunity cost is through the roof on boundary changes, and they’re going to run it back in four years. It’s insanity.

I’m so tired of this argument. So the “poors” should be the ones that suffer and their kids get a worse education than others?
Things will never be truly equal, but comparing Lewis to say Langley is a huge difference. Why should people in the Lewis pyramid have their backs turned on them by the school board because “they’re too poor to buy a house in a better neighborhood”

And by example, we bought our house in the Lewis pyramid in 2020 thinking we’d move when our kids are older, or things could change in the next ten-ish years. Fast forward to now, we’ve got a kid in kindergarten at Springfield Estates, which is a very good school, but it looks like the school board gives zero Fs about Key and Lewis. We have a very low interest rate on our mortgage, one spouse is fed, and one is a contractor. Mortgage rates are now high, prices are high, gas is expensive, food is expensive. Fed feels like they could be RIFed at any moment. But I guess according to DCUM trolls we should just move in order to have our kids get an equitable education? Noted, sounds so easy I’ll hop right on that. /s

Yes, this is exactly what you can expect to hear from this crowd…

“Suck it up”
“You knew what schools you were zoned for 15 years ago when you bought and should not have expected any improvement”
“Lewis is thriving as a small school!”
“It shouldn’t matter that the school can’t fill basic sports, academic programs”
“ MENTAL HEALTH!”
“Just give it a few more years…”

We pulled our kid last year and are in the process of moving.

Make sure you check out the schools that your new home is zoned for so that you don’t have to continue to try to mooch off your neighbors there. Life is easier when you put in the effort on the front end.

Bon voyage!

+1. The PP took a gamble on buying a house zoned for the worst high school in Fairfax County. They could have either purchased less house in a more well regarded school, but they chose not too. They even acknowledge that they knew about the issues with the school when they purchased. Sorry, let me get out my violin for you. My house has downsides, but when we purchased the number 1 consideration was the schools. That area of Fairfax County was a nonstarter.

I’m not disputing your points. I also didn’t ask for sympathy, and the “we win, you lose” tone isn’t helpful.

We live in a 1200 sq ft townhouse, which is what we could afford. The idea that we should have “downgraded” more, or somehow predicted this, isn’t realistic.

We moved to the county expecting access to good schools. Instead, we’re watching our assigned school fall continue to fall behind with little action to address it. That’s the issue.

If your kids are in a good position, great for you. But dismissing other families’ concerns instead of pushing for better across the board is part of the problem.

DP. Here’s the thing - if you seek to improve your schools by messing with my kids, I will fight you every damn step of the way. I don’t dismiss your concerns, but boundary changes just hurt a lot of people AND degrades the entire school system. If the school system wanted to fix your school without using our kids as their resource, then it would have my full support.

Equity redistricting just doesn’t work.

I like a lot of Lewis parents are advocating to fix problems at the school first without any redistricting involved. The problem is that the school board is turning their backs on them.

But also to play devils advocate, since apparently DCUM is under the impression that you need to pick your home 20 years in advance in a good school district, if you think your kids have a chance of being moved, then maybe you should have foreseen this possibility and moved within an inch of your favored high school. Boundaries are never set in stone. Sorry you’re one of the poors that picked a house on the edge of your boundary.

DP - if you share what the Lewis parents want the school board to do, maybe we can help advocate on your behalf.

Literally read through this thread. Big things are remove IB at Lewis and add AAP to Key.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about the homeowners and non-ESL students that live in the Lewis boundaries? They should be forced to move to other schools and see their home values suffer? Doesn't seem right to me.

Wtf are you babbling about? How would their home values suffer going to a better performing school with more kids? Seems like it would be a win for them.

But, to be fair, I don’t think they should have to move if they don’t want to. 1,500 students is only a critical shortfall if you are trying to make a blatant equity play. It’s the people in Lewis pyramid trying to bolster their own house value at the expense of their neighbors.

I'm asking why people in the Lewis pyramid who are not ESL should have to transfer to other schools to find similar cohorts and challenging classes. That is the situation now and will continue to be unless something is done to help the school. Why are some pyramids designated as the permanent home of the poor and ESL populations? That is how FCPS is treating them. How is that fair to the homeowners in the Lewis pyramid? They moved higher income areas from Gambrill Road and Daventry to West Springfield. That helped their property values. Was that fair to the homeowners still zoned to Lewis? Maybe some people are tired of being dumped on.

Did you not know your school pyramid before you bought your house?

And as for being dumped on, yeah, FCPS families are overwhelmingly tired of this boundary change crap. The school board wasted years on it instead of working to improve the school system. The opportunity cost is through the roof on boundary changes, and they’re going to run it back in four years. It’s insanity.

I’m so tired of this argument. So the “poors” should be the ones that suffer and their kids get a worse education than others?
Things will never be truly equal, but comparing Lewis to say Langley is a huge difference. Why should people in the Lewis pyramid have their backs turned on them by the school board because “they’re too poor to buy a house in a better neighborhood”

And by example, we bought our house in the Lewis pyramid in 2020 thinking we’d move when our kids are older, or things could change in the next ten-ish years. Fast forward to now, we’ve got a kid in kindergarten at Springfield Estates, which is a very good school, but it looks like the school board gives zero Fs about Key and Lewis. We have a very low interest rate on our mortgage, one spouse is fed, and one is a contractor. Mortgage rates are now high, prices are high, gas is expensive, food is expensive. Fed feels like they could be RIFed at any moment. But I guess according to DCUM trolls we should just move in order to have our kids get an equitable education? Noted, sounds so easy I’ll hop right on that. /s

Yes, this is exactly what you can expect to hear from this crowd…

“Suck it up”
“You knew what schools you were zoned for 15 years ago when you bought and should not have expected any improvement”
“Lewis is thriving as a small school!”
“It shouldn’t matter that the school can’t fill basic sports, academic programs”
“ MENTAL HEALTH!”
“Just give it a few more years…”

We pulled our kid last year and are in the process of moving.

Make sure you check out the schools that your new home is zoned for so that you don’t have to continue to try to mooch off your neighbors there. Life is easier when you put in the effort on the front end.

Bon voyage!

+1. The PP took a gamble on buying a house zoned for the worst high school in Fairfax County. They could have either purchased less house in a more well regarded school, but they chose not too. They even acknowledge that they knew about the issues with the school when they purchased. Sorry, let me get out my violin for you. My house has downsides, but when we purchased the number 1 consideration was the schools. That area of Fairfax County was a nonstarter.

I’m not disputing your points. I also didn’t ask for sympathy, and the “we win, you lose” tone isn’t helpful.

We live in a 1200 sq ft townhouse, which is what we could afford. The idea that we should have “downgraded” more, or somehow predicted this, isn’t realistic.

We moved to the county expecting access to good schools. Instead, we’re watching our assigned school fall continue to fall behind with little action to address it. That’s the issue.

If your kids are in a good position, great for you. But dismissing other families’ concerns instead of pushing for better across the board is part of the problem.

DP. Here’s the thing - if you seek to improve your schools by messing with my kids, I will fight you every damn step of the way. I don’t dismiss your concerns, but boundary changes just hurt a lot of people AND degrades the entire school system. If the school system wanted to fix your school without using our kids as their resource, then it would have my full support.

Equity redistricting just doesn’t work.

I like a lot of Lewis parents are advocating to fix problems at the school first without any redistricting involved. The problem is that the school board is turning their backs on them.

But also to play devils advocate, since apparently DCUM is under the impression that you need to pick your home 20 years in advance in a good school district, if you think your kids have a chance of being moved, then maybe you should have foreseen this possibility and moved within an inch of your favored high school. Boundaries are never set in stone. Sorry you’re one of the poors that picked a house on the edge of your boundary.

No need to apologize, we’re living our best lives here in a good school pyramid that we chose deliberately and even got a house well under what we could afford. Even had the foresight to think 20 years ahead!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about the homeowners and non-ESL students that live in the Lewis boundaries? They should be forced to move to other schools and see their home values suffer? Doesn't seem right to me.

Wtf are you babbling about? How would their home values suffer going to a better performing school with more kids? Seems like it would be a win for them.

But, to be fair, I don’t think they should have to move if they don’t want to. 1,500 students is only a critical shortfall if you are trying to make a blatant equity play. It’s the people in Lewis pyramid trying to bolster their own house value at the expense of their neighbors.

I'm asking why people in the Lewis pyramid who are not ESL should have to transfer to other schools to find similar cohorts and challenging classes. That is the situation now and will continue to be unless something is done to help the school. Why are some pyramids designated as the permanent home of the poor and ESL populations? That is how FCPS is treating them. How is that fair to the homeowners in the Lewis pyramid? They moved higher income areas from Gambrill Road and Daventry to West Springfield. That helped their property values. Was that fair to the homeowners still zoned to Lewis? Maybe some people are tired of being dumped on.

Did you not know your school pyramid before you bought your house?

And as for being dumped on, yeah, FCPS families are overwhelmingly tired of this boundary change crap. The school board wasted years on it instead of working to improve the school system. The opportunity cost is through the roof on boundary changes, and they’re going to run it back in four years. It’s insanity.

I’m so tired of this argument. So the “poors” should be the ones that suffer and their kids get a worse education than others?
Things will never be truly equal, but comparing Lewis to say Langley is a huge difference. Why should people in the Lewis pyramid have their backs turned on them by the school board because “they’re too poor to buy a house in a better neighborhood”

And by example, we bought our house in the Lewis pyramid in 2020 thinking we’d move when our kids are older, or things could change in the next ten-ish years. Fast forward to now, we’ve got a kid in kindergarten at Springfield Estates, which is a very good school, but it looks like the school board gives zero Fs about Key and Lewis. We have a very low interest rate on our mortgage, one spouse is fed, and one is a contractor. Mortgage rates are now high, prices are high, gas is expensive, food is expensive. Fed feels like they could be RIFed at any moment. But I guess according to DCUM trolls we should just move in order to have our kids get an equitable education? Noted, sounds so easy I’ll hop right on that. /s

Yes, this is exactly what you can expect to hear from this crowd…

“Suck it up”
“You knew what schools you were zoned for 15 years ago when you bought and should not have expected any improvement”
“Lewis is thriving as a small school!”
“It shouldn’t matter that the school can’t fill basic sports, academic programs”
“ MENTAL HEALTH!”
“Just give it a few more years…”

We pulled our kid last year and are in the process of moving.

Make sure you check out the schools that your new home is zoned for so that you don’t have to continue to try to mooch off your neighbors there. Life is easier when you put in the effort on the front end.

Bon voyage!

+1. The PP took a gamble on buying a house zoned for the worst high school in Fairfax County. They could have either purchased less house in a more well regarded school, but they chose not too. They even acknowledge that they knew about the issues with the school when they purchased. Sorry, let me get out my violin for you. My house has downsides, but when we purchased the number 1 consideration was the schools. That area of Fairfax County was a nonstarter.

I’m not disputing your points. I also didn’t ask for sympathy, and the “we win, you lose” tone isn’t helpful.

We live in a 1200 sq ft townhouse, which is what we could afford. The idea that we should have “downgraded” more, or somehow predicted this, isn’t realistic.

We moved to the county expecting access to good schools. Instead, we’re watching our assigned school fall continue to fall behind with little action to address it. That’s the issue.

If your kids are in a good position, great for you. But dismissing other families’ concerns instead of pushing for better across the board is part of the problem.

DP but there are affordable TH’s in almost every pyramid except like, Langley/McLean/Oakton/Madison. This is really coming across like, “I bought an inexpensive, convenient home, but don’t want to make a schools trade-off, so now I’m hoping a bunch of people get moved to my school so they can pull it up by osmosis.”

That’s your small minded framing. From my side, it sounds like anything that might impact your kids is off the table.

Please point me to townhomes at similar price points in higher-performing Fairfax pyramids. I’ll wait.

Expecting the school board to ensure a baseline level of quality across the schools we all pay into shouldn’t be controversial. It only becomes controversial when it requires difficult changes.

By what metric(s) is FCPS failing to ensure a baseline level of quality at Lewis? Be specific.

In my experience the default position of every School Board member and senior FCPS is that every kid can get a great education in every high school, bar none. You have to have specific evidence that’s no longer the case.

If your response is simply to keep saying Lewis couldn’t field a baseball team a few years ago, or that FCPS has to change the demographics at Lewis, you will get nowhere. FCPS has been a whipping boy of the Trump administration for a long time. Their employees now tell people in public that they do not consider demographics when considering potential boundary changes. It’s not 2018 when the likes of Pat Hynes and Tamara Derenak-Kaufax were openly pushing boundary changes to spread the dwindling number of UMC white and Asian families around like magic pixie dust.

[Anonymous]

Honest question here- how will 100 extra students from WSHS meaningfully make a difference at Lewis? It's not that wealthy of an area where you'd be guaranteed that most of these 100 would be high enough SES that a PP thinks is needed.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Moving students is not the answer.

Make the school better. There is nothing wrong with a 1500 population high

I went to a suburban high school. There were 276 people in my graduating class.

Sure, a very large school is able to offer more variety of classes, but just because some different classes are offered does not mean that every kid who is interested will be able to take it

But, once more, what is IB doing for Lewis? Is it an advantage or a disadvantage. In my view, it is a huge disadvantage. It is far less flexible than AP and it is more difficult to get college credit for them. It also enables a mass exodus of transfers to AP high schools.

Going down a division isn't bad -- until you realize that all the schools in the vicinity are a higher division. Which means if Lewis wants to play schools of a similar size and the same division, the students will have to travel beyond FCPS boundaries, traveling more than an hour or so. That's more money spent for transportation, and also the massive amounts of time Lewis students will spent on a bus being carted around. In the meantime, there are schools minutes away, like Edison and Hayfield and WSHS, but Lewis would be in a different division.

Also pointing out that the nearby schools are overcrowded. WSHS is overcrowded to the point where kids can't make sports teams unless they've been playing since they were five years old.

IB is not the magic fairy godmother that people think it is. You don't wave it away and think that suddenly students will unfurl into existence like a sparkling ball gown. It doesn't work that way. Not with an IB school right next door to Lewis.

Move Daventry to Lewis and Bren Mar Park to Lewis. Edison and WSHS both get some relief and Lewis gets 500+ new students. Done.

I would probably move those Keene Mill neighborhoods above to Lewis before Daventry, since they are the closest to Lewis with the easiest commute.

Right….. make a triple split feeder out of Keene mill or split feeder of Irving? Makes no sense. How about fix
Lewis?

Just rebutting the person who keeps saying that Daventry should be moved. There are several Keene Mill neighborhoods closer to Lewis than Daventry or any other WSHS neighborhood.

Besides, Keene Mill is not a split feeder at this point. AAP kids zoned for a different pyramid attending Keene Mill for AAP do not make Keene Mill a split feeder. Those kids are choosing to attend a special program in a different pyramid. Having those AAP kids return to Lake Braddock for middle school does not mean that Keene Mill would become a "triple" split feeder if those neighborhoods closest to Lewis were rezoned to Lewis. Keene Mill with its special program accepting out of bounds AAP kids is no more of a split feeder than Orange Hunt accepting out of bound students for language immersion.

The problem with split feeders is that kids break up friendships and community. You are advocating that in an AAP class at Keene mill, kids would be matriculating to 3 schools: Lewis, Braddock and WSHS. To any kid in those classes, it would be a three way split feeder.

A bad example for your point is using Orange Hunt. Everyone currently in the immersion program at OHES was told that the kids matriculate from OHES to WIMS then to WSHS. That said, yes, this may be changing this year, it is hard to know. Also, transportation to this program is not provided which keeps many of the kids in the area as parents don’t usually trek from that far to get their kid to school everyday.Transportation is given for Keene Mill AAP students.

Of course, no one addressed all the points about diversity of Keene Mill etc. I am NOT the person saying Daventry should be moved and in all the Region 4 meetings I attended, I heard Sangster parents and Hunt Vally parents talking about Daventry, but not Keene mill ones.

The neighborhoods someone keeps bringing up are smaller than Daventry and again, many KMES kids walk to WSHS. And almost all walk to Irving.

Every single neighborhood brought up: Daventry, and the KMES ones are attending the closest high school to their house.

Lewis shouldn’t have more kids anyway. They are making progress there in no small part because they have smaller class sizes which ESL and low income kids do better with.

Keene Mill is not a split feeder.

Every elementary school in the WSHS pyramid sends students to Lake Braddock for AAP. Keene Mill is not unique or special in that regard.

Being an AAP center that pulls in out of bound kids who return to their zoned neighborhood middle school does not mean that Keene Mill is a split feeder.

There are zero houses zoned for Keene Mill that split off to a different pyramid for middle school.

The only split feeder in the WSHS pyramid is Rolling Valley, which actually has neighborhoods zoned to Lewis.

Keene Mill is not a split feeder no matter how much some want to use the AAP center as a reason why some other neighborhood like Daventry should get rezoned

It is a split feeder to all the AAP kids who have to say goodbye to friends. Why is that so different to you? Because you are an adult with a silly argument to make? If the argument to get ride of split feeders is because they are bad FOR THE KIDS and the Keene Mill kids already have to deal with being a center school split among 2 high schools, making it become a SPLIT FEEDER (in your definition) would be more detrimental to it than just taking a regular elementary school and having it be a split feeder.

Adding in more movement to that school where students there already contend with being a center school and having a glut of kids from 1 other feeder already in grades 3-6 is EVEN WORSE than having a regular elementary school become one. Because, you have to think about what the KIDS experience there friendships, not how adults want lines to be drawn. THis is the entire argument as to why split feeders should be eliminated. But you think compounding already complex issues is fine because…..


Meanwhile, you would take away a good chunk of the diversity at WSHS by taking kids from KMES(most diverse school in WSHS pyramid) out of WSHS AND kill a walk zone or create a split feeder at Irving…. Neither of which are positives.

AGAIN I AM NOT saying DAVENTRY should move. I never have, I never will, but the argument to move KMES is not compelling and ill thought out.

No matter how you slice it, Keene Mill is not a split feeder.

My points still stand whether you call KMES a split feeder or not.

AAP kids who choose to attend a school not their zoned school should be a zero factor when it comes to rezoning.

The AAP kids choosing to attend Lake Braddock instead of Irving for AAP are completely irrelevant to rezoning discussions.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What about the homeowners and non-ESL students that live in the Lewis boundaries? They should be forced to move to other schools and see their home values suffer? Doesn't seem right to me.

Wtf are you babbling about? How would their home values suffer going to a better performing school with more kids? Seems like it would be a win for them.

But, to be fair, I don’t think they should have to move if they don’t want to. 1,500 students is only a critical shortfall if you are trying to make a blatant equity play. It’s the people in Lewis pyramid trying to bolster their own house value at the expense of their neighbors.

I'm asking why people in the Lewis pyramid who are not ESL should have to transfer to other schools to find similar cohorts and challenging classes. That is the situation now and will continue to be unless something is done to help the school. Why are some pyramids designated as the permanent home of the poor and ESL populations? That is how FCPS is treating them. How is that fair to the homeowners in the Lewis pyramid? They moved higher income areas from Gambrill Road and Daventry to West Springfield. That helped their property values. Was that fair to the homeowners still zoned to Lewis? Maybe some people are tired of being dumped on.

Gambrill Road was moved back to WSHS 20+ years ago because it was a split feeder. The kids went to Hunt Valley and Irving and then Lee. The neighborhoods wanted their kids to not lose all their friends for HS. I don’t know the history of Daventry.

We all spent 2 years arguing this issue in other threads. The school board didn’t move the WSHS neighborhoods to Lewis. There are a few changes they are still looking at, including Rolling Valley and eliminating an attendance island. I’d suggest focusing on those areas because that’s what the school board said it would do.

Daventry was the same.

The last split feeder in the WSHS pyramid is Rolling Valley.

Keene Mill is not a split feeder. They are an AAP center where AAP kids get to pick between Irving or Lake Braddock. That is not a split feeder. That is a chouce that some families get while other do not.

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Anonymous wrote:What about the homeowners and non-ESL students that live in the Lewis boundaries? They should be forced to move to other schools and see their home values suffer? Doesn't seem right to me.

Wtf are you babbling about? How would their home values suffer going to a better performing school with more kids? Seems like it would be a win for them.

But, to be fair, I don’t think they should have to move if they don’t want to. 1,500 students is only a critical shortfall if you are trying to make a blatant equity play. It’s the people in Lewis pyramid trying to bolster their own house value at the expense of their neighbors.

I'm asking why people in the Lewis pyramid who are not ESL should have to transfer to other schools to find similar cohorts and challenging classes. That is the situation now and will continue to be unless something is done to help the school. Why are some pyramids designated as the permanent home of the poor and ESL populations? That is how FCPS is treating them. How is that fair to the homeowners in the Lewis pyramid? They moved higher income areas from Gambrill Road and Daventry to West Springfield. That helped their property values. Was that fair to the homeowners still zoned to Lewis? Maybe some people are tired of being dumped on.

Did you not know your school pyramid before you bought your house?

And as for being dumped on, yeah, FCPS families are overwhelmingly tired of this boundary change crap. The school board wasted years on it instead of working to improve the school system. The opportunity cost is through the roof on boundary changes, and they’re going to run it back in four years. It’s insanity.

I bought my house a long time ago and that is irrelevant. A resident anywhere in the county should expect that their schools will be reasonably equitable (not perfectly equal, but not so disparate that they are treated as pariahs). Lewis is clearly being separated from the rest of the other county high schools. Potentially with Mt. Vernon joining it with its shrinking enrollment.

Oh yeah, you’re totally right, schools are irrelevant when families choose their house. In fact, no one really cares where their kids go to school.

Do you even hear yourself?

To learn, you should go to a boundary change meeting and try to peddle that line. See what reaction you get. It took the school board two years, but by the end, they finally understood that school boundary changes are the most rage-inducing thing they can do. People across the county hate their school board members for what they’ve done.

I hope they show up to actually vote them out, instead of carry forward the status quo of woke idiots running the school board. Two years ago, we had a really competent challenger to Robyn Lady. And yet, the woke idiotic crowd that is now complaining up a storm about Robyn Lady all voted her in. Y'all deserve exactly what the school board is dishing out to you ... bc you're the ones to blame for this catastrophe!

They won't.

Franconia district where Lewis is located votes overwhelmingly drmocratic. They could run a hoat for school board in Franconia and the hoat would win.

If the Lewis parents want to send a message to the school board that soneone needs to start caring about Lewis, they would run either an independent or republican candidate, then do a huge get out the vote effort, including getting Lewis seniors involved, and flip that seat from solidly democratic to anyone but a democratic endorsed candidate

That would send shock waves to the school board and perhaps get their attention about how badly they have neglected Lewis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New poster here. I’ve lived in the Lewis school district for over 25 years and I remember when Lewis was well-regarded and on par with neighboring schools. FCPS created the problem at Lewis by removing higher SES neighborhoods from the school. Those were the families that ran the PTA, supported extracurricular activities, and improved test scores. The only way the school will improve is to add higher SES neighborhoods to Lewis in sufficient numbers to effectively change the demographics. It needs to be done comprehensively rather than on a piecemeal basis.

WSHS has Lewis kids there, kids zoned yo other high schools beyond Lewis, and kids from as far away as Prince William County

A boundary study at over capacity high schools might help Lewis

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The county has really felt the influx of poor immigrant families over the last 20 years. And I imagine it will continue. FARMS and ESOL has essentially doubled in the last 10 years. Poor people only have so many places they can afford to live in this county, so inevitably some schools will feel it much more than others.

I think the county populace is generally supportive of these immigrant populations but not necessarily in their own communities. All the families that continue to flee Lewis aren’t MAGA types. This aspect doesn’t seem to be talked about very much.

The franconia district that Lewis sits in is one of most reliably blue voting blocks in Fairfax County and has been for years.

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Anonymous wrote:What about the homeowners and non-ESL students that live in the Lewis boundaries? They should be forced to move to other schools and see their home values suffer? Doesn't seem right to me.

Wtf are you babbling about? How would their home values suffer going to a better performing school with more kids? Seems like it would be a win for them.

But, to be fair, I don’t think they should have to move if they don’t want to. 1,500 students is only a critical shortfall if you are trying to make a blatant equity play. It’s the people in Lewis pyramid trying to bolster their own house value at the expense of their neighbors.

I'm asking why people in the Lewis pyramid who are not ESL should have to transfer to other schools to find similar cohorts and challenging classes. That is the situation now and will continue to be unless something is done to help the school. Why are some pyramids designated as the permanent home of the poor and ESL populations? That is how FCPS is treating them. How is that fair to the homeowners in the Lewis pyramid? They moved higher income areas from Gambrill Road and Daventry to West Springfield. That helped their property values. Was that fair to the homeowners still zoned to Lewis? Maybe some people are tired of being dumped on.

Did you not know your school pyramid before you bought your house?

And as for being dumped on, yeah, FCPS families are overwhelmingly tired of this boundary change crap. The school board wasted years on it instead of working to improve the school system. The opportunity cost is through the roof on boundary changes, and they’re going to run it back in four years. It’s insanity.

I’m so tired of this argument. So the “poors” should be the ones that suffer and their kids get a worse education than others?
Things will never be truly equal, but comparing Lewis to say Langley is a huge difference. Why should people in the Lewis pyramid have their backs turned on them by the school board because “they’re too poor to buy a house in a better neighborhood”

And by example, we bought our house in the Lewis pyramid in 2020 thinking we’d move when our kids are older, or things could change in the next ten-ish years. Fast forward to now, we’ve got a kid in kindergarten at Springfield Estates, which is a very good school, but it looks like the school board gives zero Fs about Key and Lewis. We have a very low interest rate on our mortgage, one spouse is fed, and one is a contractor. Mortgage rates are now high, prices are high, gas is expensive, food is expensive. Fed feels like they could be RIFed at any moment. But I guess according to DCUM trolls we should just move in order to have our kids get an equitable education? Noted, sounds so easy I’ll hop right on that. /s

Yes, this is exactly what you can expect to hear from this crowd…

“Suck it up”
“You knew what schools you were zoned for 15 years ago when you bought and should not have expected any improvement”
“Lewis is thriving as a small school!”
“It shouldn’t matter that the school can’t fill basic sports, academic programs”
“ MENTAL HEALTH!”
“Just give it a few more years…”

We pulled our kid last year and are in the process of moving.

Make sure you check out the schools that your new home is zoned for so that you don’t have to continue to try to mooch off your neighbors there. Life is easier when you put in the effort on the front end.

Bon voyage!

+1. The PP took a gamble on buying a house zoned for the worst high school in Fairfax County. They could have either purchased less house in a more well regarded school, but they chose not too. They even acknowledge that they knew about the issues with the school when they purchased. Sorry, let me get out my violin for you. My house has downsides, but when we purchased the number 1 consideration was the schools. That area of Fairfax County was a nonstarter.

I’m not disputing your points. I also didn’t ask for sympathy, and the “we win, you lose” tone isn’t helpful.

We live in a 1200 sq ft townhouse, which is what we could afford. The idea that we should have “downgraded” more, or somehow predicted this, isn’t realistic.

We moved to the county expecting access to good schools. Instead, we’re watching our assigned school fall continue to fall behind with little action to address it. That’s the issue.

If your kids are in a good position, great for you. But dismissing other families’ concerns instead of pushing for better across the board is part of the problem.

DP. Here’s the thing - if you seek to improve your schools by messing with my kids, I will fight you every damn step of the way. I don’t dismiss your concerns, but boundary changes just hurt a lot of people AND degrades the entire school system. If the school system wanted to fix your school without using our kids as their resource, then it would have my full support.

Equity redistricting just doesn’t work.

I like a lot of Lewis parents are advocating to fix problems at the school first without any redistricting involved. The problem is that the school board is turning their backs on them.

But also to play devils advocate, since apparently DCUM is under the impression that you need to pick your home 20 years in advance in a good school district, if you think your kids have a chance of being moved, then maybe you should have foreseen this possibility and moved within an inch of your favored high school. Boundaries are never set in stone. Sorry you’re one of the poors that picked a house on the edge of your boundary.

DP - if you share what the Lewis parents want the school board to do, maybe we can help advocate on your behalf.

Literally read through this thread. Big things are remove IB at Lewis and add AAP to Key.

Bingo

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about the homeowners and non-ESL students that live in the Lewis boundaries? They should be forced to move to other schools and see their home values suffer? Doesn't seem right to me.

Wtf are you babbling about? How would their home values suffer going to a better performing school with more kids? Seems like it would be a win for them.

But, to be fair, I don’t think they should have to move if they don’t want to. 1,500 students is only a critical shortfall if you are trying to make a blatant equity play. It’s the people in Lewis pyramid trying to bolster their own house value at the expense of their neighbors.

I'm asking why people in the Lewis pyramid who are not ESL should have to transfer to other schools to find similar cohorts and challenging classes. That is the situation now and will continue to be unless something is done to help the school. Why are some pyramids designated as the permanent home of the poor and ESL populations? That is how FCPS is treating them. How is that fair to the homeowners in the Lewis pyramid? They moved higher income areas from Gambrill Road and Daventry to West Springfield. That helped their property values. Was that fair to the homeowners still zoned to Lewis? Maybe some people are tired of being dumped on.

Did you not know your school pyramid before you bought your house?

And as for being dumped on, yeah, FCPS families are overwhelmingly tired of this boundary change crap. The school board wasted years on it instead of working to improve the school system. The opportunity cost is through the roof on boundary changes, and they’re going to run it back in four years. It’s insanity.

I bought my house a long time ago and that is irrelevant. A resident anywhere in the county should expect that their schools will be reasonably equitable (not perfectly equal, but not so disparate that they are treated as pariahs). Lewis is clearly being separated from the rest of the other county high schools. Potentially with Mt. Vernon joining it with its shrinking enrollment.

Oh yeah, you’re totally right, schools are irrelevant when families choose their house. In fact, no one really cares where their kids go to school.

Do you even hear yourself?

To learn, you should go to a boundary change meeting and try to peddle that line. See what reaction you get. It took the school board two years, but by the end, they finally understood that school boundary changes are the most rage-inducing thing they can do. People across the county hate their school board members for what they’ve done.

I hope they show up to actually vote them out, instead of carry forward the status quo of woke idiots running the school board. Two years ago, we had a really competent challenger to Robyn Lady. And yet, the woke idiotic crowd that is now complaining up a storm about Robyn Lady all voted her in. Y'all deserve exactly what the school board is dishing out to you ... bc you're the ones to blame for this catastrophe!

They won't.

Franconia district where Lewis is located votes overwhelmingly drmocratic. They could run a hoat for school board in Franconia and the hoat would win.

If the Lewis parents want to send a message to the school board that soneone needs to start caring about Lewis, they would run either an independent or republican candidate, then do a huge get out the vote effort, including getting Lewis seniors involved, and flip that seat from solidly democratic to anyone but a democratic endorsed candidate

That would send shock waves to the school board and perhaps get their attention about how badly they have neglected Lewis.

This would be a Herculean effort in such a Democratic district. This shouldn't even be a partisan issue. The current Franconia School Member should clearly explain why she is not advocating for IB to be replaced with AP at Lewis (the IB diploma numbers have been terrible for years and it drives pupil placement). Why she is not advocating for AAP at Key. Why she is not advocating to send the Saratoga kids to Springfield Estates for AAP. These things have been pointed out before with no movement.

And as far a purchasing a home - it is wrong to tell people that they bought in the wrong part of the county and therefore should expect a bad school. In a county system you should not have schools that are so different right next to each other. Simply starting with enrollment- West Springfield is close to twice the size as Lewis. ESL numbers are 35% at Lewis and around 5% at WS. When Gambrill and Daventry were moved to West Springfield, those were literally the wealthiest areas sending kids to Lee and they moved them to a wealthier school. They knew what the consequences would be. I don't expect WS and Lewis to be exactly the same, but the difference has become ridiculous.