Risky to buy in a pyramid with split feeder schools? (Crossfield elementary)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the schools the feed a lot of MS or HS are going to be a target for redistricting. I expect that the Fox Mill kids that go to SLHS will be moved from Carson to Hughes. Fox Mill is closer to Hughes then Carson and Hughes is right across the parking lot from SLHS.

Yes why doesn't this happen? It is like 5 minutes up the road.

Probably because everyone at the school was upset about being moved from Oakton to SLHS, if they have moved the kids from Carson to Hughes at the same time there would have been even more anger. Carson is one of the best MS in the county, moving from a strong HS to a well under performing high school and from AP to IB was already being fought, toss in moving form one of the stronger MS to a weak MS and you have an even uglier fight.

This is what I've heard...it's unlikely to happen because people (parents) will fight it. Has that changed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The bigger issue is that FCPS is getting ready to embark on what it terms a "holistic" review of school boundaries at every level (elementary, middle, and high schools).

There are certain parts of western Fairfax (Oak Hill/Floris/Crossfield/Navy) that have tended to see a lot of boundaries changes in the past (one area in particular bounced from Oakton to Westfield to South Lakes), so these areas might be particularly likely to be affected again.

They are claiming that their goals include eliminating split feeders and attendance islands, but it's too early to tell how it will shake out. If you really want Oakton as opposed to South Lakes and Chantilly (and Chantilly is great) you probably should be looking closer to Oakton HS itself.

Is there really a remote chance that houses in Franklin farm could be rezoned to South Lakes high?

Yes, its closer to that neighborhood than Oakton!

It's closer to Chantilly than to either South Lakes or Oakton, but Chantilly is over capacity already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The bigger issue is that FCPS is getting ready to embark on what it terms a "holistic" review of school boundaries at every level (elementary, middle, and high schools).

There are certain parts of western Fairfax (Oak Hill/Floris/Crossfield/Navy) that have tended to see a lot of boundaries changes in the past (one area in particular bounced from Oakton to Westfield to South Lakes), so these areas might be particularly likely to be affected again.

They are claiming that their goals include eliminating split feeders and attendance islands, but it's too early to tell how it will shake out. If you really want Oakton as opposed to South Lakes and Chantilly (and Chantilly is great) you probably should be looking closer to Oakton HS itself.

Is there really a remote chance that houses in Franklin farm could be rezoned to South Lakes high?

If you look at the boundary maps you will see that some already are. Although others will think I'm completely delusional or lying, I will say that my DC attends SLHS and is doing well. It's an IB school and some people prefer AP. That's a valid reason to not want to attend the school. All the fearmongering about FARMs and other nonsense is exactly that, nonsense.

There is no part of Franklin Farm that goes to South Lakes. The homes north of the parkway go to Oakton and the homes south of the parkway go to Chantilly. Franklin Farm is not even the closest neighborhood to the boundary line. Several smaller neighborhoods — Franklin Oaks, Glenbrooke Woods, maybe a couple others — are right along the line. Moving all of the Franklin Farm homes north of the parkway to South Lakes would be a lot of kids. Not sure that makes sense when Oakton just expanded with their renovation. How far under capacity is South Lakes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The bigger issue is that FCPS is getting ready to embark on what it terms a "holistic" review of school boundaries at every level (elementary, middle, and high schools).

There are certain parts of western Fairfax (Oak Hill/Floris/Crossfield/Navy) that have tended to see a lot of boundaries changes in the past (one area in particular bounced from Oakton to Westfield to South Lakes), so these areas might be particularly likely to be affected again.

They are claiming that their goals include eliminating split feeders and attendance islands, but it's too early to tell how it will shake out. If you really want Oakton as opposed to South Lakes and Chantilly (and Chantilly is great) you probably should be looking closer to Oakton HS itself.

Is there really a remote chance that houses in Franklin farm could be rezoned to South Lakes high?

If you look at the boundary maps you will see that some already are. Although others will think I'm completely delusional or lying, I will say that my DC attends SLHS and is doing well. It's an IB school and some people prefer AP. That's a valid reason to not want to attend the school. All the fearmongering about FARMs and other nonsense is exactly that, nonsense.

There is no part of Franklin Farm that goes to South Lakes. The homes north of the parkway go to Oakton and the homes south of the parkway go to Chantilly. Franklin Farm is not even the closest neighborhood to the boundary line. Several smaller neighborhoods — Franklin Oaks, Glenbrooke Woods, maybe a couple others — are right along the line. Moving all of the Franklin Farm homes north of the parkway to South Lakes would be a lot of kids. Not sure that makes sense when Oakton just expanded with their renovation. How far under capacity is South Lakes?

It just never made sense to me that Franklin Farm kids north of the parkway went to Crossfield when so many schools are closer - Navy, Lee's Corner, Oak Hill, even Fox Mill. They made Navy the AAP center a few years ago but until then the AAP center was Hunter's Woods. In the meantime, the kids across the parkway went to Lee's Corner or Oak Hill as the AAP center, both of which were only a few minutes away as opposed to Crossfield, which is in Reston. It never made any sense and still doesn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:8:55 again and I don’t want to derail this thread, but you never know what will happen in a school anyway. Our kids didn’t change schools and ended up at Madison, the school we knew they would go to. This is NOT remotely like the HS academically that it was when we purchased the house. It’s still a great school but you can research the posts on their grading changes to see what I mean. So even if you buy in a district with no chance of rezoning you don’t know what you will get in a few years. I would not have sent my kids to HS here now.

+1 This is what happened to us. We moved to get into Madison pyramid, and we should have stayed where we were and gone private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:8:55 again and I don’t want to derail this thread, but you never know what will happen in a school anyway. Our kids didn’t change schools and ended up at Madison, the school we knew they would go to. This is NOT remotely like the HS academically that it was when we purchased the house. It’s still a great school but you can research the posts on their grading changes to see what I mean. So even if you buy in a district with no chance of rezoning you don’t know what you will get in a few years. I would not have sent my kids to HS here now.

What is the TL;DR version of the grading changes issue? Aren't all FCPS schools going lenient with grading and putting smilies instead of grades? What does it actually matter? Did the cohort of kids your kids are with actually change for the worse?

Okay TL DR version of what happened. Madison and Herndon are doing their own grading program and don’t follow the rest of the county. At Madison, they are graded 0-4, it’s confusing for many, there are no retake of tests only replacement grades later of different material. Many do not know where they are at in a subject until it’s too late.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The bigger issue is that FCPS is getting ready to embark on what it terms a "holistic" review of school boundaries at every level (elementary, middle, and high schools).

There are certain parts of western Fairfax (Oak Hill/Floris/Crossfield/Navy) that have tended to see a lot of boundaries changes in the past (one area in particular bounced from Oakton to Westfield to South Lakes), so these areas might be particularly likely to be affected again.

They are claiming that their goals include eliminating split feeders and attendance islands, but it's too early to tell how it will shake out. If you really want Oakton as opposed to South Lakes and Chantilly (and Chantilly is great) you probably should be looking closer to Oakton HS itself.

Is there really a remote chance that houses in Franklin farm could be rezoned to South Lakes high?

If you look at the boundary maps you will see that some already are. Although others will think I'm completely delusional or lying, I will say that my DC attends SLHS and is doing well. It's an IB school and some people prefer AP. That's a valid reason to not want to attend the school. All the fearmongering about FARMs and other nonsense is exactly that, nonsense.

There is no part of Franklin Farm that goes to South Lakes. The homes north of the parkway go to Oakton and the homes south of the parkway go to Chantilly. Franklin Farm is not even the closest neighborhood to the boundary line. Several smaller neighborhoods — Franklin Oaks, Glenbrooke Woods, maybe a couple others — are right along the line. Moving all of the Franklin Farm homes north of the parkway to South Lakes would be a lot of kids. Not sure that makes sense when Oakton just expanded with their renovation. How far under capacity is South Lakes?

It just never made sense to me that Franklin Farm kids north of the parkway went to Crossfield when so many schools are closer - Navy, Lee's Corner, Oak Hill, even Fox Mill. They made Navy the AAP center a few years ago but until then the AAP center was Hunter's Woods. In the meantime, the kids across the parkway went to Lee's Corner or Oak Hill as the AAP center, both of which were only a few minutes away as opposed to Crossfield, which is in Reston. It never made any sense and still doesn't.

NO ONE in Franklin Farm is districted to attend Lees Corner.

Almost all of Franklin Farm on the Reston side of the Parkway goes to Crossfield, but kids who live off of Nestlewood go to Navy.

The kids on the Chantilly side of the Parkway go to Oak Hill, not Lees Corner.

[Anonymous]

OP please don't let these crazy people scare you off. They are well aware it's an election year and want to scare people into voting for Republicans. It is unlikely that the homes in this area are going to be rezoned - for one thing, Oakton is newly renovated and below capacity while Chantilly and South Lakes are both above capacity.

In regards to Crossfield being a split feeder -- the VAST majority of Crossfield goes to Carson and Oakton. There is one neighborhood behind the school that is zoned to South Lakes and there is literally one street of less than 10 houses in Franklin Farm that is zoned to Chantilly. All the other kids will stay together until high school.

It's a nice community and the school will be beautiful once the renovation is completed. The only negative thing I have to say about the school is that the PTO is terrible. Nobody knows what they do and what they spend money on. It's certainly not on community building or family events, they're like a black hole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do not know much about that specific school pyramid. But, my child is in a split-feeder elementary and it feels hard as she gets ready to go on to MS. Half the friends will go to different schools.

There is only one neighborhood zoned to Crossfield that will end up at a different MS/HS. Almost everyone else goes to Carson and Oakton together. The really challenging part will be that the friends they make in middle school will all be going to Chantilly, while the Crossfield and Navy kids go to Oakton and Fox Mill kids go to South Lakes. I wish they would rezone Crossfield kids to Franklin MS. It would be nice to be Crossfield - Franklin - Oakton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The bigger issue is that FCPS is getting ready to embark on what it terms a "holistic" review of school boundaries at every level (elementary, middle, and high schools).

There are certain parts of western Fairfax (Oak Hill/Floris/Crossfield/Navy) that have tended to see a lot of boundaries changes in the past (one area in particular bounced from Oakton to Westfield to South Lakes), so these areas might be particularly likely to be affected again.

They are claiming that their goals include eliminating split feeders and attendance islands, but it's too early to tell how it will shake out. If you really want Oakton as opposed to South Lakes and Chantilly (and Chantilly is great) you probably should be looking closer to Oakton HS itself.

Is there really a remote chance that houses in Franklin farm could be rezoned to South Lakes high?

No. There are several neighborhoods between Franklin Farm and Fox Mill that would go first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's risky to buy in Fairfax County right now, period. You will have literally no idea which schools your kids will attend a year from now, two years from now, etc. Even if you buy right next door to a "good" school, the makeup of that school can and almost assuredly will be changed to be more "average" - and when 40% of the county is FARMS, there won't be any good schools left, just mediocre schools.

You can guarantee you won’t be redistricted by buying in City of Fairfax. The city owns the schools and pays FCPS to administer. Our kids will always go Providence/Daniel Run - KJMS - Fairfax.

But you can’t guarantee the county won’t stop sending the county kids at Willow Springs and Powell who prop up the Fairfax HS test scores to FHS.

Sure you can. The city is not going to give up seats to county kids unless they get the kids they want. If the county wants the seats (and they do), they will play ball. But don't move to city of Fairfax if you are a snob.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP please don't let these crazy people scare you off. They are well aware it's an election year and want to scare people into voting for Republicans. It is unlikely that the homes in this area are going to be rezoned - for one thing, Oakton is newly renovated and below capacity while Chantilly and South Lakes are both above capacity.

In regards to Crossfield being a split feeder -- the VAST majority of Crossfield goes to Carson and Oakton. There is one neighborhood behind the school that is zoned to South Lakes and there is literally one street of less than 10 houses in Franklin Farm that is zoned to Chantilly. All the other kids will stay together until high school.

It's a nice community and the school will be beautiful once the renovation is completed. The only negative thing I have to say about the school is that the PTO is terrible. Nobody knows what they do and what they spend money on. It's certainly not on community building or family events, they're like a black hole.

South Lakes is below capacity, and Crossfield is closer to South Lakes than Oakton.

It’s bizarre you warn people away from Republicans when you have your facts wrong and it’s Democrats who are pushing changes to redraw all the school boundaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP please don't let these crazy people scare you off. They are well aware it's an election year and want to scare people into voting for Republicans. It is unlikely that the homes in this area are going to be rezoned - for one thing, Oakton is newly renovated and below capacity while Chantilly and South Lakes are both above capacity.

In regards to Crossfield being a split feeder -- the VAST majority of Crossfield goes to Carson and Oakton. There is one neighborhood behind the school that is zoned to South Lakes and there is literally one street of less than 10 houses in Franklin Farm that is zoned to Chantilly. All the other kids will stay together until high school.

It's a nice community and the school will be beautiful once the renovation is completed. The only negative thing I have to say about the school is that the PTO is terrible. Nobody knows what they do and what they spend money on. It's certainly not on community building or family events, they're like a black hole.

South Lakes is below capacity, and Crossfield is closer to South Lakes than Oakton.

It’s bizarre you warn people away from Republicans when you have your facts wrong and it’s Democrats who are pushing changes to redraw all the school boundaries.

Crossfield is a few miles from Fox Mill, I can easily see those kids being sent to South Lakes. We have driven to Oakton for events and I was surprised that Fox Mill was once assigned to Oakton, it is a lot longer to Oakton then to South Lakes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP please don't let these crazy people scare you off. They are well aware it's an election year and want to scare people into voting for Republicans. It is unlikely that the homes in this area are going to be rezoned - for one thing, Oakton is newly renovated and below capacity while Chantilly and South Lakes are both above capacity.

In regards to Crossfield being a split feeder -- the VAST majority of Crossfield goes to Carson and Oakton. There is one neighborhood behind the school that is zoned to South Lakes and there is literally one street of less than 10 houses in Franklin Farm that is zoned to Chantilly. All the other kids will stay together until high school.

It's a nice community and the school will be beautiful once the renovation is completed. The only negative thing I have to say about the school is that the PTO is terrible. Nobody knows what they do and what they spend money on. It's certainly not on community building or family events, they're like a black hole.

South Lakes is below capacity, and Crossfield is closer to South Lakes than Oakton.

It’s bizarre you warn people away from Republicans when you have your facts wrong and it’s Democrats who are pushing changes to redraw all the school boundaries.

South Lakes is at 96% capacity and projected to be 93% in 2028. That’s less than 200 seats. Crossfield takes up 300+ seats, so they wouldn’t all fit. Crossfield is more likely to become a fully Oakton Feeder than a South Lakes one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP please don't let these crazy people scare you off. They are well aware it's an election year and want to scare people into voting for Republicans. It is unlikely that the homes in this area are going to be rezoned - for one thing, Oakton is newly renovated and below capacity while Chantilly and South Lakes are both above capacity.

In regards to Crossfield being a split feeder -- the VAST majority of Crossfield goes to Carson and Oakton. There is one neighborhood behind the school that is zoned to South Lakes and there is literally one street of less than 10 houses in Franklin Farm that is zoned to Chantilly. All the other kids will stay together until high school.

It's a nice community and the school will be beautiful once the renovation is completed. The only negative thing I have to say about the school is that the PTO is terrible. Nobody knows what they do and what they spend money on. It's certainly not on community building or family events, they're like a black hole.

South Lakes is below capacity, and Crossfield is closer to South Lakes than Oakton.

It’s bizarre you warn people away from Republicans when you have your facts wrong and it’s Democrats who are pushing changes to redraw all the school boundaries.

South Lakes is at 96% capacity and projected to be 93% in 2028. That’s less than 200 seats. Crossfield takes up 300+ seats, so they wouldn’t all fit. Crossfield is more likely to become a fully Oakton Feeder than a South Lakes one.

Oakton is projected to be at 95% capacity, higher than South Lakes, and Crossfield is a long distance from Oakton. A lot of boundaries could change - part of South Lakes could move to Herndon and Crossfield could move entirely to South Lakes.