Freedom Hill Elementary in Vienna

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are at Wolftrap and majority of Wolftrap students will go to Marshall and some will go to Madison since Wolftrap it's a split feeder. I don't see it as an issue.

The majority of Wolftrap kids are zoned for Madison (63%), not Marshall (37%). However, the split is not an issue for you because they'll go to Kilmer, and 85% of Kilmer is zoned for Marshall. So your situation is different from someone at Stenwood whose kid goes to Thoreau, which only sends 10% of its students to Marshall. Many of those kids pupil place to Madison to stay with their Thoreau friends, but PP said that she can't do that (presumably, she can't arrange for transportation).

In some parts of the county, split feeders are inevitable, but there's no reason other than inertia that the Kilmer/Marshall and Thoreau/Madison boundaries aren't aligned like Frost/Woodson, Cooper/Langley and Longfellow/McLean's are.

We are in the Wolftrap boundary Madison bound wishing our kids could go to Thoreau so that they could have more friends before going onto Madison.

My sense is that the Kilmer students who go to Madison acclimate fairly quickly, because they all live in Vienna and know Thoreau kids from VYS and other activities. It's not quite as easy for the Thoreau kids, who also live in Vienna, to get sent to Marshall in Falls Church.

But, again, the simplest fix is to align the Marshall boundaries with Kilmer's current boundaries (which would mean that all of Wolftrap goes to both Kilmer and Marshall), and align the Madison boundaries with Thoreau's current boundaries. I would tell anyone in the Town who objects to getting reassigned to Marshall tough. Some of them claim that the Town of Vienna has "always" gone to Madison, but part of the Town of Vienna used to be zoned for Oakton.

That fix isn't helpful.. the fix should be all town of Vienna go to Thoreau and then Madison- NOT Marshall (unless they pupil place). Town of Vienna residents pay town of Vienna taxesin addition to Fairfax Cty so saying "tough" isn't the best answer.

Madison and Marshall are both Fairfax County schools. Neither is in, or operated by, the Town of Vienna, and Town of Vienna residents have no right to attend Madison. The taxes they pay to the Town are completely irrelevant.

Because Kilmer and Thoreau are so close to each other, and have to draw a substantial number of their students from areas west of each school, there is no practical way to zone all Town residents to both Thoreau and Madison. As long as Town residents persist with the notion that they are entitled to attend Madison, you'll be stuck with the current, odd split feeders at Kilmer and Thoreau.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are at Wolftrap and majority of Wolftrap students will go to Marshall and some will go to Madison since Wolftrap it's a split feeder. I don't see it as an issue.

The majority of Wolftrap kids are zoned for Madison (63%), not Marshall (37%). However, the split is not an issue for you because they'll go to Kilmer, and 85% of Kilmer is zoned for Marshall. So your situation is different from someone at Stenwood whose kid goes to Thoreau, which only sends 10% of its students to Marshall. Many of those kids pupil place to Madison to stay with their Thoreau friends, but PP said that she can't do that (presumably, she can't arrange for transportation).

In some parts of the county, split feeders are inevitable, but there's no reason other than inertia that the Kilmer/Marshall and Thoreau/Madison boundaries aren't aligned like Frost/Woodson, Cooper/Langley and Longfellow/McLean's are.

We are in the Wolftrap boundary Madison bound wishing our kids could go to Thoreau so that they could have more friends before going onto Madison.

My sense is that the Kilmer students who go to Madison acclimate fairly quickly, because they all live in Vienna and know Thoreau kids from VYS and other activities. It's not quite as easy for the Thoreau kids, who also live in Vienna, to get sent to Marshall in Falls Church.

But, again, the simplest fix is to align the Marshall boundaries with Kilmer's current boundaries (which would mean that all of Wolftrap goes to both Kilmer and Marshall), and align the Madison boundaries with Thoreau's current boundaries. I would tell anyone in the Town who objects to getting reassigned to Marshall tough. Some of them claim that the Town of Vienna has "always" gone to Madison, but part of the Town of Vienna used to be zoned for Oakton.

That fix isn't helpful.. the fix should be all town of Vienna go to Thoreau and then Madison- NOT Marshall (unless they pupil place). Town of Vienna residents pay town of Vienna taxesin addition to Fairfax Cty so saying "tough" isn't the best answer.

Madison and Marshall are both Fairfax County schools. Neither is in, or operated by, the Town of Vienna, and Town of Vienna residents have no right to attend Madison. The taxes they pay to the Town are completely irrelevant.

Because Kilmer and Thoreau are so close to each other, and have to draw a substantial number of their students from areas west of each school, there is no practical way to zone all Town residents to both Thoreau and Madison. As long as Town residents persist with the notion that they are entitled to attend Madison, you'll be stuck with the current, odd split feeders at Kilmer and Thoreau.

Then you know that there are no "logical" boundaries in FCPS so why should drawing the line in the town of Vienna to split up town residents (and yes TAXES do count- since when is anything not driven based on revenue generation?) be the first place where your "logic" prevails? If you have no skin in this game, then why do you care?

[Anonymous]

I've listened to people whine about the split feeders at Thoreau (90% Madison/10% Marshall) and Kilmer (85% Marshall/15% Madison) for years, and looked closely at the school locations and boundaries. At the end of the day, the only reason why the boundaries aren't aligned is that some people zoned for Madison would have a hissy fit if they were redistricted to Marshall, and don't care if the current split feeders tear some kids away from the vast majority of their middle school classmates.

It is what it is. It would be easy to align Madison's boundaries with Thoreau's, and Marshall's with Kilmer's. It would mean that some Town residents in NE Vienna already at Kilmer would get moved out of Madison, while Marshall would lose a couple of neighborhoods in the county like Dunn Loring Woods. But it would eliminate the split feeders.

On the other hand, it would be nonsensical to align Thoreau's boundaries with Madison's, and Kilmer's with Marshall's, as this would mean that the kids living closest to Thoreau would attend Kilmer. It would also be very difficult to send all the Town students to Thoreau without creating incredibly convoluted boundaries for Kilmer. Certainly there's nothing about the taxes that Town residents pay for other Town services that would warrant such an effort on the part of FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've listened to people whine about the split feeders at Thoreau (90% Madison/10% Marshall) and Kilmer (85% Marshall/15% Madison) for years, and looked closely at the school locations and boundaries. At the end of the day, the only reason why the boundaries aren't aligned is that some people zoned for Madison would have a hissy fit if they were redistricted to Marshall, and don't care if the current split feeders tear some kids away from the vast majority of their middle school classmates.

It is what it is. It would be easy to align Madison's boundaries with Thoreau's, and Marshall's with Kilmer's. It would mean that some Town residents in NE Vienna already at Kilmer would get moved out of Madison, while Marshall would lose a couple of neighborhoods in the county like Dunn Loring Woods. But it would eliminate the split feeders.

On the other hand, it would be nonsensical to align Thoreau's boundaries with Madison's, and Kilmer's with Marshall's, as this would mean that the kids living closest to Thoreau would attend Kilmer. It would also be very difficult to send all the Town students to Thoreau without creating incredibly convoluted boundaries for Kilmer. Certainly there's nothing about the taxes that Town residents pay for other Town services that would warrant such an effort on the part of FCPS.

Fortunately, you are not driving this bus. Again- what skin do you have in this to even act like president for a day? Where are you zoned/live etc?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've listened to people whine about the split feeders at Thoreau (90% Madison/10% Marshall) and Kilmer (85% Marshall/15% Madison) for years, and looked closely at the school locations and boundaries. At the end of the day, the only reason why the boundaries aren't aligned is that some people zoned for Madison would have a hissy fit if they were redistricted to Marshall, and don't care if the current split feeders tear some kids away from the vast majority of their middle school classmates.

It is what it is. It would be easy to align Madison's boundaries with Thoreau's, and Marshall's with Kilmer's. It would mean that some Town residents in NE Vienna already at Kilmer would get moved out of Madison, while Marshall would lose a couple of neighborhoods in the county like Dunn Loring Woods. But it would eliminate the split feeders.

On the other hand, it would be nonsensical to align Thoreau's boundaries with Madison's, and Kilmer's with Marshall's, as this would mean that the kids living closest to Thoreau would attend Kilmer. It would also be very difficult to send all the Town students to Thoreau without creating incredibly convoluted boundaries for Kilmer. Certainly there's nothing about the taxes that Town residents pay for other Town services that would warrant such an effort on the part of FCPS.

Fortunately, you are not driving this bus. Again- what skin do you have in this to even act like president for a day? Where are you zoned/live etc?

And are you ignoring that ALL boundaries don't make sense per say. So why are you hell bent on being president for a day on this boundary change?

[Anonymous]

Fortunately, you are not driving this bus. Again- what skin do you have in this to even act like president for a day? Where are you zoned/live etc?

And are you ignoring that ALL boundaries don't make sense per say. So why are you hell bent on being president for a day on this boundary change?

This time when you post - please post your school zoning so maybe this makes sense (for all your posts)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Fortunately, you are not driving this bus. Again- what skin do you have in this to even act like president for a day? Where are you zoned/live etc?

And are you ignoring that ALL boundaries don't make sense per say. So why are you hell bent on being president for a day on this boundary change?

This time when you post - please post your school zoning so maybe this makes sense (for all your posts)

I'm not hell-bent on anything. I'm just familiar enough with those boundaries to know it's highly unlikely that you're going to keep all Town of Vienna kids at Madison and eliminate the split feeders at the two middle schools. You can have one or the other, but not both.

The only exception might be if FCPS did a county-wide boundary study (which it hasn't done since the mid-1980s, since the last one was so contentious) and treated your personal preferences as guiding principles. That seems rather unlikely as well.

In comparison, it would be easy to move the portion of Vienna ES that feeds into Marshall to Freedom Hill ES, and move the portion of Freedom Hill ES that feeds into Madison to Vienna ES.

[Anonymous]

Madison is the whitest school in the area. They Don't want to go to Marshall despite it having superior services, facilities and very good scores despite the minority population. Marshall was never supposed to be a high scoring school but it managed to excel and beat back the naysayers bad mouthing it as ghetto as recent as the late 90s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Fortunately, you are not driving this bus. Again- what skin do you have in this to even act like president for a day? Where are you zoned/live etc?

And are you ignoring that ALL boundaries don't make sense per say. So why are you hell bent on being president for a day on this boundary change?

This time when you post - please post your school zoning so maybe this makes sense (for all your posts)

I'm not hell-bent on anything. I'm just familiar enough with those boundaries to know it's highly unlikely that you're going to keep all Town of Vienna kids at Madison and eliminate the split feeders at the two middle schools. You can have one or the other, but not both.

The only exception might be if FCPS did a county-wide boundary study (which it hasn't done since the mid-1980s, since the last one was so contentious) and treated your personal preferences as guiding principles. That seems rather unlikely as well.

In comparison, it would be easy to move the portion of Vienna ES that feeds into Marshall to Freedom Hill ES, and move the portion of Freedom Hill ES that feeds into Madison to Vienna ES.

So- no answer as to this poster lives, why they think they know so much etc. So just ignore these comments- she/he knows nothing since they haven't identified themselves as to where they live (nor how they are the Vienna expert). Bye bye.

[Anonymous]

...and what makes you a Vienna expert, either? bye, bye back at you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

So- no answer as to this poster lives, why they think they know so much etc. So just ignore these comments- she/he knows nothing since they haven't identified themselves as to where they live (nor how they are the Vienna expert). Bye bye.

PP seems to know a lot more than you. I can't imagine thinking that living in the town of Vienna gives you any special say about boundaries when all the kids go to county schools!

[Anonymous]

Why does the town of vienna look like a soviet era strip mall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are at Wolftrap and majority of Wolftrap students will go to Marshall and some will go to Madison since Wolftrap it's a split feeder. I don't see it as an issue.

The majority of Wolftrap kids are zoned for Madison (63%), not Marshall (37%). However, the split is not an issue for you because they'll go to Kilmer, and 85% of Kilmer is zoned for Marshall. So your situation is different from someone at Stenwood whose kid goes to Thoreau, which only sends 10% of its students to Marshall. Many of those kids pupil place to Madison to stay with their Thoreau friends, but PP said that she can't do that (presumably, she can't arrange for transportation).

In some parts of the county, split feeders are inevitable, but there's no reason other than inertia that the Kilmer/Marshall and Thoreau/Madison boundaries aren't aligned like Frost/Woodson, Cooper/Langley and Longfellow/McLean's are.

We are in the Wolftrap boundary Madison bound wishing our kids could go to Thoreau so that they could have more friends before going onto Madison.

My sense is that the Kilmer students who go to Madison acclimate fairly quickly, because they all live in Vienna and know Thoreau kids from VYS and other activities. It's not quite as easy for the Thoreau kids, who also live in Vienna, to get sent to Marshall in Falls Church.

But, again, the simplest fix is to align the Marshall boundaries with Kilmer's current boundaries (which would mean that all of Wolftrap goes to both Kilmer and Marshall), and align the Madison boundaries with Thoreau's current boundaries. I would tell anyone in the Town who objects to getting reassigned to Marshall tough. Some of them claim that the Town of Vienna has "always" gone to Madison, but part of the Town of Vienna used to be zoned for Oakton.

Why wouldn't they just align the middle schools with the high school boundaries? This makes much more sense and would balance things well too. People would fight over being sent to a different high school. They wouldn't fight as much about being sent to a different middle school especially if it aligns with their high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are at Wolftrap and majority of Wolftrap students will go to Marshall and some will go to Madison since Wolftrap it's a split feeder. I don't see it as an issue.

The majority of Wolftrap kids are zoned for Madison (63%), not Marshall (37%). However, the split is not an issue for you because they'll go to Kilmer, and 85% of Kilmer is zoned for Marshall. So your situation is different from someone at Stenwood whose kid goes to Thoreau, which only sends 10% of its students to Marshall. Many of those kids pupil place to Madison to stay with their Thoreau friends, but PP said that she can't do that (presumably, she can't arrange for transportation).

In some parts of the county, split feeders are inevitable, but there's no reason other than inertia that the Kilmer/Marshall and Thoreau/Madison boundaries aren't aligned like Frost/Woodson, Cooper/Langley and Longfellow/McLean's are.

We are in the Wolftrap boundary Madison bound wishing our kids could go to Thoreau so that they could have more friends before going onto Madison.

My sense is that the Kilmer students who go to Madison acclimate fairly quickly, because they all live in Vienna and know Thoreau kids from VYS and other activities. It's not quite as easy for the Thoreau kids, who also live in Vienna, to get sent to Marshall in Falls Church.

But, again, the simplest fix is to align the Marshall boundaries with Kilmer's current boundaries (which would mean that all of Wolftrap goes to both Kilmer and Marshall), and align the Madison boundaries with Thoreau's current boundaries. I would tell anyone in the Town who objects to getting reassigned to Marshall tough. Some of them claim that the Town of Vienna has "always" gone to Madison, but part of the Town of Vienna used to be zoned for Oakton.

Why wouldn't they just align the middle schools with the high school boundaries? This makes much more sense and would balance things well too. People would fight over being sent to a different high school. They wouldn't fight as much about being sent to a different middle school especially if it aligns with their high school.

It makes more sense to align the high school boundaries with the middle school boundaries than vice versa because both Kilmer and Thoreau physically sit within the Marshall district. If you align the boundaries as you suggest, people living next door to Thoreau on Cedar would go to Kilmer. People would fight over that, particularly if the justification is to kowtow to Town residents who think their kids should go to the same middle and high school.

You don't have that problem if the high school boundaries are aligned with the middle school boundaries, because Madison is within the Thoreau district and Marshall is within the Kilmer district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are at Wolftrap and majority of Wolftrap students will go to Marshall and some will go to Madison since Wolftrap it's a split feeder. I don't see it as an issue.

The majority of Wolftrap kids are zoned for Madison (63%), not Marshall (37%). However, the split is not an issue for you because they'll go to Kilmer, and 85% of Kilmer is zoned for Marshall. So your situation is different from someone at Stenwood whose kid goes to Thoreau, which only sends 10% of its students to Marshall. Many of those kids pupil place to Madison to stay with their Thoreau friends, but PP said that she can't do that (presumably, she can't arrange for transportation).

In some parts of the county, split feeders are inevitable, but there's no reason other than inertia that the Kilmer/Marshall and Thoreau/Madison boundaries aren't aligned like Frost/Woodson, Cooper/Langley and Longfellow/McLean's are.

We are in the Wolftrap boundary Madison bound wishing our kids could go to Thoreau so that they could have more friends before going onto Madison.

My sense is that the Kilmer students who go to Madison acclimate fairly quickly, because they all live in Vienna and know Thoreau kids from VYS and other activities. It's not quite as easy for the Thoreau kids, who also live in Vienna, to get sent to Marshall in Falls Church.

But, again, the simplest fix is to align the Marshall boundaries with Kilmer's current boundaries (which would mean that all of Wolftrap goes to both Kilmer and Marshall), and align the Madison boundaries with Thoreau's current boundaries. I would tell anyone in the Town who objects to getting reassigned to Marshall tough. Some of them claim that the Town of Vienna has "always" gone to Madison, but part of the Town of Vienna used to be zoned for Oakton.

Why wouldn't they just align the middle schools with the high school boundaries? This makes much more sense and would balance things well too. People would fight over being sent to a different high school. They wouldn't fight as much about being sent to a different middle school especially if it aligns with their high school.

It makes more sense to align the high school boundaries with the middle school boundaries than vice versa because both Kilmer and Thoreau physically sit within the Marshall district. If you align the boundaries as you suggest, people living next door to Thoreau on Cedar would go to Kilmer. People would fight over that, particularly if the justification is to kowtow to Town residents who think their kids should go to the same middle and high school.

You don't have that problem if the high school boundaries are aligned with the middle school boundaries, because Madison is within the Thoreau district and Marshall is within the Kilmer district.

Well they've switched the middle schools for many years for the AAP program, so I'm not sure it would matter. Believe me, people will fight against being moved from Madison to Marshall. It's four years verses 2 and there is no AAP program to where you can go to a different school. Maybe they should just make some of those kids around Thoreau go to Cunningham Park and then go to Madison since Marshall will get more kids from Tysons.