Langley/McLean/Marshall Boundaries

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will they conduct public hearings on this topic?

It depends. In theory, FCPS can make administrative boundary adjustments that affect less than 5% of the enrollment of each school without a public hearing in advance. Above 15%, the School Board's policies provide for a separate public hearing. Above 5% but below 15%, the boundary adjustment can be an action item at a regularly scheduled board meeting, where a limited number of public speaking slots are available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

With the principal closing the school to new pupil placements, GCM may not be part of any redistricting.

What does this mean?

We are zoned to Marshall, but I wouldn't have a student there until 2021.

Marshall is an IB school surrounded by AP schools. For many years, Marshall actively courted pupil placements for its IB program from Langley, McLean, Madison and Falls Church, even at the risk of overcrowding the school. More recently, however, FCPS expanded the school (it now says Marshall can accommodate over 2300 kids) and the principal has closed the school to new pupil placements so GCM can concentrate on the students who live within the base boundaries.

This makes it less likely that Marshall would be part of a boundary study involving Langley (clearly under-enrolled) and McLean (clearly over-capacity).

[Anonymous]

I could see them moving the Westbriar island to Langley, especially if the Tysons apartments start throwing more kids to Westbriar. I haven't heard if development has made a big difference in enrollment there, but I know it was a concern at one point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I could see them moving the Westbriar island to Langley, especially if the Tysons apartments start throwing more kids to Westbriar. I haven't heard if development has made a big difference in enrollment there, but I know it was a concern at one point.

How long would that bus ride be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I could see them moving the Westbriar island to Langley, especially if the Tysons apartments start throwing more kids to Westbriar. I haven't heard if development has made a big difference in enrollment there, but I know it was a concern at one point.

How long would that bus ride be?

Shorter than the Great Falls drives I assume

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I could see them moving the Westbriar island to Langley, especially if the Tysons apartments start throwing more kids to Westbriar. I haven't heard if development has made a big difference in enrollment there, but I know it was a concern at one point.

How long would that bus ride be?

Shorter than the Great Falls drives I assume

Just about anything is shorter than the drive from western Great Falls to Langley. It's a shame the school isn't more centrally located.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I could see them moving the Westbriar island to Langley, especially if the Tysons apartments start throwing more kids to Westbriar. I haven't heard if development has made a big difference in enrollment there, but I know it was a concern at one point.

How long would that bus ride be?

Shorter than the Great Falls drives I assume

Just about anything is shorter than the drive from western Great Falls to Langley. It's a shame the school isn't more centrally located.

The school isn't going anywhere. It was just renovated. The boundaries will go somewhere new.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I could see them moving the Westbriar island to Langley, especially if the Tysons apartments start throwing more kids to Westbriar. I haven't heard if development has made a big difference in enrollment there, but I know it was a concern at one point.

How long would that bus ride be?

Shorter than the Great Falls drives I assume

Just about anything is shorter than the drive from western Great Falls to Langley. It's a shame the school isn't more centrally located.

The school isn't going anywhere. It was just renovated. The boundaries will go somewhere new.

Obviously. Given its boundaries, though, it’s too bad it’s not closer to Grest Falls Village. That would make life much easier for the kids who have to schlep there from the western part of the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I could see them moving the Westbriar island to Langley, especially if the Tysons apartments start throwing more kids to Westbriar. I haven't heard if development has made a big difference in enrollment there, but I know it was a concern at one point.

How long would that bus ride be?

Shorter than the Great Falls drives I assume

Just about anything is shorter than the drive from western Great Falls to Langley. It's a shame the school isn't more centrally located.

The school isn't going anywhere. It was just renovated. The boundaries will go somewhere new.

Obviously. Given its boundaries, though, it’s too bad it’s not closer to Grest Falls Village. That would make life much easier for the kids who have to schlep there from the western part of the county.

Don't worry. Soon they'll be schlepping to Herndon High. I'm guessing this has been expedited as a result of their argument on closing an access point to 495.

[Anonymous]

The school board must have lit up when the Georgetown Pike issue came up. Great Falls is such an obvious gerrymander and yet such a political mess to fix. Nice of the residents to make the boundary adjustment so easy to get through approval.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems like there are three options for moving part of McLean to Langley:

1. Move the Franklin Sherman neighborhoods zoned for McLean to Langley. The advantage is those are the closest McLean neighborhoods to Langley. The disadvantage is that it further concentrates the county's wealthiest at Langley.

2. Move the McLean attendance islands along Route 7 in Vienna from McLean to Langley. The advantage is that it eliminates the islands (and could eliminate a split feeder, at least at Colvin Run). The disadvantage is that Langley is further from those neighborhoods than McLean.

3. Move the Spring Hill and Westgate apartments in Tysons from McLean to Langley. The advantage is that it adds some diversity to Langley. The disadvantage is that those neighborhoods are closer to McLean than Langley.

I'd thought Marshall might be part of the discussion, but the latest CIP indicates that Marshall's program capacity has been increased from 2043 to 2300 kids. With the principal closing the school to new pupil placements, GCM may not be part of any redistricting.

Option #1 is acceptable to Langley residents. However, as parents of Franklin Sherman students, I am against it. I want my kids to be exposed to diversity at Mclean HS, have and have not. No diversity in Langley, unless you include Asians

Option #2 and #3 will not sit well with Langley residents. They don't want "poor" students at their beautiful Langley HS

Oh, go away. You're obviously not a Langley parent or you would know that no one feels that way. You simply like having someone to blame. Everyone I know would be fine with a redistricting, regardless of where the kids come from. Grow up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I could see them moving the Westbriar island to Langley, especially if the Tysons apartments start throwing more kids to Westbriar. I haven't heard if development has made a big difference in enrollment there, but I know it was a concern at one point.

How long would that bus ride be?

Shorter than the Great Falls drives I assume

Just about anything is shorter than the drive from western Great Falls to Langley. It's a shame the school isn't more centrally located.

The school isn't going anywhere. It was just renovated. The boundaries will go somewhere new.

Obviously. Given its boundaries, though, it’s too bad it’s not closer to Grest Falls Village. That would make life much easier for the kids who have to schlep there from the western part of the county.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I could see them moving the Westbriar island to Langley, especially if the Tysons apartments start throwing more kids to Westbriar. I haven't heard if development has made a big difference in enrollment there, but I know it was a concern at one point.

How long would that bus ride be?

Shorter than the Great Falls drives I assume

Just about anything is shorter than the drive from western Great Falls to Langley. It's a shame the school isn't more centrally located.

The school isn't going anywhere. It was just renovated. The boundaries will go somewhere new.

Obviously. Given its boundaries, though, it’s too bad it’s not closer to Grest Falls Village. That would make life much easier for the kids who have to schlep there from the western part of the county.

Don't worry. Soon they'll be schlepping to Herndon High. I'm guessing this has been expedited as a result of their argument on closing an access point to 495.

Wow, that's really some wishful thinking on your part!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I could see them moving the Westbriar island to Langley, especially if the Tysons apartments start throwing more kids to Westbriar. I haven't heard if development has made a big difference in enrollment there, but I know it was a concern at one point.

How long would that bus ride be?

Shorter than the Great Falls drives I assume

Just about anything is shorter than the drive from western Great Falls to Langley. It's a shame the school isn't more centrally located.

The school isn't going anywhere. It was just renovated. The boundaries will go somewhere new.

Obviously. Given its boundaries, though, it’s too bad it’s not closer to Grest Falls Village. That would make life much easier for the kids who have to schlep there from the western part of the county.

Don't worry. Soon they'll be schlepping to Herndon High. I'm guessing this has been expedited as a result of their argument on closing an access point to 495.

Wow, that's really some wishful thinking on your part!

Not really. Herndon is the logical HS for that part of the county. When the planned Western HS gets built. It will happen as Herndon will have room from the students moved to the new HS. It is something that has been known since the western HS has been on the table. That would free up more space for Langley to pick up more of the Tysons overflow that inevitably will come. Eventually the same thing will happen on the other side of Tysons. I foresee Falls Church HS and Madison pulling from Marshall to free up space there.

The projected increase in population in Tysons is 100k people. Tysons will have a much lower % of HS in the pop, there will still be some. Even if it is 1/3 the rate of the rest of the county it would be still is enough for one entire HS. No new HS is slated to be built. All nearby HS will be affected.

[Anonymous]

The discussions about moving at least part of Great Falls from Langley to Herndon sometimes come from people who just want to make Langley families uneasy, and sometimes from people who think it makes sense logistically given the distance between western Great Falls and LHS.

But it's a side-show. Langley is under-enrolled, Herndon doesn't have a lot of space, and the new Western high school that might create additional room at Herndon is still at least 5-10 years away. FCPS probably doesn't have the luxury of waiting until the new high school is built and then doing a massive redistricting, at least not when they are projecting 2500 kids in a few years at a school like McLean that is built for about 2000 kids.

Janie Strauss appears to have checked out. She isn't running for re-election, she knows boundary changes are generally unpopular, and she hasn't been keen to foster a potentially divisive debate. But neither has she secured funding for McLean to get an expansion like Madison, even though it needs one more than Madison does. It's going to be up to community members to demand an equitable solution.