When are Herndon Middle and Herndon High going to get a break?!??

[Anonymous]

Herndon middle school parents and teachers: how did banning cell phones work out this year? Did all students keep their cell phones in their lockers? And then how did students do online work if not enough laptops for all?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Herndon middle school parents and teachers: how did banning cell phones work out this year? Did all students keep their cell phones in their lockers? And then how did students do online work if not enough laptops for all?

I am interested in the answer to this as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where is the law that says FCPS has to protect your property values?

The school board is elected. I feel sure that none of them ran on the "I am going to take a giant shit on the value of your home because fairness" platform.

Yes, because that should be the school board’s #1 priority - your property values

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Herndon middle school parents and teachers: how did banning cell phones work out this year? Did all students keep their cell phones in their lockers? And then how did students do online work if not enough laptops for all?

Laptops are one per two students. The cell phone ban was the best thing that happened at HMS (and any middle school in my opinion!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where is the law that says FCPS has to protect your property values?

The school board is elected. I feel sure that none of them ran on the "I am going to take a giant shit on the value of your home because fairness" platform.

No, they wait until they're in office and then do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where is the law that says FCPS has to protect your property values?

The school board is elected. I feel sure that none of them ran on the "I am going to take a giant shit on the value of your home because fairness" platform.

No, they wait until they're in office and then do it.

Depends on the pressure from the BOS. They hold the purse strings. Boundary adjustments cost money--especially when there is a large increase in funds needed for transportation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Just took this from another thread from another poster:

In 2002-2003 Herndon's F/R lunch rate was 13.8%. In 2017-2018 it was 39.6%. A change of 25.8%.

In 2002-2003 Langley's F/R lunch rate was 0.7%. In 2017-2018 it was 1.9%. A change of 1.2%.

Gap between the two schools in 2002-2003 - 13.1%. Gap in 2017-2018 - 37.7%.

Do you think this is fair? Honestly? What do you honestly think about these statistics and what do you think (if anything) FCPS should do about it?

Where in the Golden Rule of Life does it say that schools are supposed to have the same percentages of FARMS kids?




Is it fair that all the schools weren't renovated at the same time?
Is it fair that some kids have two married parents and others are children of divorce?
Is it fair that some kids eat home-cooking most nights and others eat out of the microwave?
Is it fair that some kids grew up in homes with over a hundred books and others had ten?

I don't think FCPS needs to do anything about some schools having more FARMS students than others.

Where is the law that says FCPS has to protect your property values?

I'm not the one laboring under the delusion that life is fair and everyone gets a sticker.

In any case, I'm not worrying about my property values.

I do wonder why anyone thinks that it is the duty of FCPS to equalize the percentages of FARMS kids. To what end? If some schools are being deprived of maintenance (field turfing/grass maintenance, cleaning staff, everyday repairs etc) while others always have employees to keep the grass perfect and fix broken faucets, or School A always gets timely delivery of lunch foods while School B is often left without lunch, that's a matter to be rectified.

Spreading the kids out may change the overall performance of the school on certain metrics, but it will never equalize the lives of the students. Kids with two middle class or higher parents at home will continue to have all the advantages associated with that structure, and kids with one parent or two lower-income parents will continue to have all the disadvantages associated with that.

My high school was around 20% FARMS, maybe 30. The gifted and talented classes were dominated by the upper-middle class and middle class kids with two parents. They ate home cooking. Some were taught to read by their moms before enrolling in school. They traveled around the country and some took trips to Europe during the summer.

Being in the same school with them helped the working class, FARMS kids not a bit. They dominated Special Ed and the lower levels. Some of them went on to college or successful working class (or higher) jobs/careers. Others had less desirable outcomes.

It was a perfectly nice school and I had a good experience. My middle class two-parent household with a wall of books and a mom who cooked at home were unaffected by the FARMS kids. My household without enough funds to travel very often was unaffected by the kids who went skiiing in Colorado on Spring break every year. They had the money for SAT prep courses, I just studied and pulled a good score. Sitting next to them in AP English didn't give me the funds for Kaplan.

What exactly is the problem with one school having a higher percentage than others of FARMS? Have property values in Herndon tanked in the last decade with the FARMS increase? Are we saying that FCPS needs to spread low-income children around to raise home values in Herndon? (No where is it written that FCPS has a duty to protect or increase property values) Is the understanding that FARMS kids are more likely to be physically violent with teachers and other students so lets spread the lack of safety around a bit so all schools can feel the pain?

Have the FARMS parents been asking to have their kids dispersed so that there would be fewer people like them in any given school? Or do parents of the non-FARMS kids simply want to get rid of most of them?

What is behind the precipitous increase of FARMS kids? Did the crash of ten years ago put long-time Herndon residents into long-term poverty? If so, what is FCPS supposed to do about that? Is Herndon more of a magnet for lower income people with children than nearby areas such as Sterling, Reston,etc.? If so, what is FCPS supposed to do about that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Just took this from another thread from another poster:

In 2002-2003 Herndon's F/R lunch rate was 13.8%. In 2017-2018 it was 39.6%. A change of 25.8%.

In 2002-2003 Langley's F/R lunch rate was 0.7%. In 2017-2018 it was 1.9%. A change of 1.2%.

Gap between the two schools in 2002-2003 - 13.1%. Gap in 2017-2018 - 37.7%.

Do you think this is fair? Honestly? What do you honestly think about these statistics and what do you think (if anything) FCPS should do about it?

Where in the Golden Rule of Life does it say that schools are supposed to have the same percentages of FARMS kids?




Is it fair that all the schools weren't renovated at the same time?
Is it fair that some kids have two married parents and others are children of divorce?
Is it fair that some kids eat home-cooking most nights and others eat out of the microwave?
Is it fair that some kids grew up in homes with over a hundred books and others had ten?

I don't think FCPS needs to do anything about some schools having more FARMS students than others.

Where is the law that says FCPS has to protect your property values?

I'm not the one laboring under the delusion that life is fair and everyone gets a sticker.

In any case, I'm not worrying about my property values.

I do wonder why anyone thinks that it is the duty of FCPS to equalize the percentages of FARMS kids. To what end? If some schools are being deprived of maintenance (field turfing/grass maintenance, cleaning staff, everyday repairs etc) while others always have employees to keep the grass perfect and fix broken faucets, or School A always gets timely delivery of lunch foods while School B is often left without lunch, that's a matter to be rectified.

Spreading the kids out may change the overall performance of the school on certain metrics, but it will never equalize the lives of the students. Kids with two middle class or higher parents at home will continue to have all the advantages associated with that structure, and kids with one parent or two lower-income parents will continue to have all the disadvantages associated with that.

My high school was around 20% FARMS, maybe 30. The gifted and talented classes were dominated by the upper-middle class and middle class kids with two parents. They ate home cooking. Some were taught to read by their moms before enrolling in school. They traveled around the country and some took trips to Europe during the summer.

Being in the same school with them helped the working class, FARMS kids not a bit. They dominated Special Ed and the lower levels. Some of them went on to college or successful working class (or higher) jobs/careers. Others had less desirable outcomes.

It was a perfectly nice school and I had a good experience. My middle class two-parent household with a wall of books and a mom who cooked at home were unaffected by the FARMS kids. My household without enough funds to travel very often was unaffected by the kids who went skiiing in Colorado on Spring break every year. They had the money for SAT prep courses, I just studied and pulled a good score. Sitting next to them in AP English didn't give me the funds for Kaplan.

What exactly is the problem with one school having a higher percentage than others of FARMS? Have property values in Herndon tanked in the last decade with the FARMS increase? Are we saying that FCPS needs to spread low-income children around to raise home values in Herndon? (No where is it written that FCPS has a duty to protect or increase property values) Is the understanding that FARMS kids are more likely to be physically violent with teachers and other students so lets spread the lack of safety around a bit so all schools can feel the pain?

Have the FARMS parents been asking to have their kids dispersed so that there would be fewer people like them in any given school? Or do parents of the non-FARMS kids simply want to get rid of most of them?

What is behind the precipitous increase of FARMS kids? Did the crash of ten years ago put long-time Herndon residents into long-term poverty? If so, what is FCPS supposed to do about that? Is Herndon more of a magnet for lower income people with children than nearby areas such as Sterling, Reston,etc.? If so, what is FCPS supposed to do about that?

Let me ask you a question: if your high school was 99% FARM would that have impacted your high school experience? Why or why not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where is the law that says FCPS has to protect your property values?

The school board is elected. I feel sure that none of them ran on the "I am going to take a giant shit on the value of your home because fairness" platform.

No, they wait until they're in office and then do it.

Depends on the pressure from the BOS. They hold the purse strings. Boundary adjustments cost money--especially when there is a large increase in funds needed for transportation.

Like the money spent to bus the western GF kids 16+ miles to Langley when they live 6 miles from Herndon?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Just took this from another thread from another poster:

In 2002-2003 Herndon's F/R lunch rate was 13.8%. In 2017-2018 it was 39.6%. A change of 25.8%.

In 2002-2003 Langley's F/R lunch rate was 0.7%. In 2017-2018 it was 1.9%. A change of 1.2%.

Gap between the two schools in 2002-2003 - 13.1%. Gap in 2017-2018 - 37.7%.

Do you think this is fair? Honestly? What do you honestly think about these statistics and what do you think (if anything) FCPS should do about it?

Where in the Golden Rule of Life does it say that schools are supposed to have the same percentages of FARMS kids?




Is it fair that all the schools weren't renovated at the same time?
Is it fair that some kids have two married parents and others are children of divorce?
Is it fair that some kids eat home-cooking most nights and others eat out of the microwave?
Is it fair that some kids grew up in homes with over a hundred books and others had ten?

I don't think FCPS needs to do anything about some schools having more FARMS students than others.

Where is the law that says FCPS has to protect your property values?

I'm not the one laboring under the delusion that life is fair and everyone gets a sticker.

In any case, I'm not worrying about my property values.

I do wonder why anyone thinks that it is the duty of FCPS to equalize the percentages of FARMS kids. To what end? If some schools are being deprived of maintenance (field turfing/grass maintenance, cleaning staff, everyday repairs etc) while others always have employees to keep the grass perfect and fix broken faucets, or School A always gets timely delivery of lunch foods while School B is often left without lunch, that's a matter to be rectified.

Spreading the kids out may change the overall performance of the school on certain metrics, but it will never equalize the lives of the students. Kids with two middle class or higher parents at home will continue to have all the advantages associated with that structure, and kids with one parent or two lower-income parents will continue to have all the disadvantages associated with that.

My high school was around 20% FARMS, maybe 30. The gifted and talented classes were dominated by the upper-middle class and middle class kids with two parents. They ate home cooking. Some were taught to read by their moms before enrolling in school. They traveled around the country and some took trips to Europe during the summer.

Being in the same school with them helped the working class, FARMS kids not a bit. They dominated Special Ed and the lower levels. Some of them went on to college or successful working class (or higher) jobs/careers. Others had less desirable outcomes.

It was a perfectly nice school and I had a good experience. My middle class two-parent household with a wall of books and a mom who cooked at home were unaffected by the FARMS kids. My household without enough funds to travel very often was unaffected by the kids who went skiiing in Colorado on Spring break every year. They had the money for SAT prep courses, I just studied and pulled a good score. Sitting next to them in AP English didn't give me the funds for Kaplan.

What exactly is the problem with one school having a higher percentage than others of FARMS? Have property values in Herndon tanked in the last decade with the FARMS increase? Are we saying that FCPS needs to spread low-income children around to raise home values in Herndon? (No where is it written that FCPS has a duty to protect or increase property values) Is the understanding that FARMS kids are more likely to be physically violent with teachers and other students so lets spread the lack of safety around a bit so all schools can feel the pain?

Have the FARMS parents been asking to have their kids dispersed so that there would be fewer people like them in any given school? Or do parents of the non-FARMS kids simply want to get rid of most of them?

What is behind the precipitous increase of FARMS kids? Did the crash of ten years ago put long-time Herndon residents into long-term poverty? If so, what is FCPS supposed to do about that? Is Herndon more of a magnet for lower income people with children than nearby areas such as Sterling, Reston,etc.? If so, what is FCPS supposed to do about that?

Let me ask you a question: if your high school was 99% FARM would that have impacted your high school experience? Why or why not?

Heck with 99%. 25 to 30% FARMS is manageable. All ES' in Herndon are now at or above 45% and that has quite an impact in the way of expectations and offerings. When you get to the middle school level, there is a big difference in what HMS offers after school (county paid for activities) compared to Carson. I love hearing about all the great things Carson and Longfellow students are doing and the math and science competitions they're winning. Guess what? They're not offered where we are or other poor schools!

[Anonymous]

Depends on the pressure from the BOS. They hold the purse strings. Boundary adjustments cost money--especially when there is a large increase in funds needed for transportation.


Like the money spent to bus the western GF kids 16+ miles to Langley when they live 6 miles from Herndon?

One more time. Because of the location of Langley, any adjustment would require busing kids from long distances. At least, currently, the boundaries are contiguous and the kids are not isolated from the school or other kids who go there. They come from families who can provide transportation in emergencies and allow their kids to attend after school activities.

I don't know the details, but I assume that area was full of kids when Langley was built. I guess it must have made sense at the time. The location is unfortunate for FCPS. It appears to me that the logical option is what they have. Otherwise, it would require leapfrogging kids past other schools. It does seem to me that they should pick up nearby kids from McLean--I am guessing the only reason they don't do that is because of "One Fairfax."

[Anonymous]

Heck with 99%. 25 to 30% FARMS is manageable. All ES' in Herndon are now at or above 45% and that has quite an impact in the way of expectations and offerings. When you get to the middle school level, there is a big difference in what HMS offers after school (county paid for activities) compared to Carson. I love hearing about all the great things Carson and Longfellow students are doing and the math and science competitions they're winning. Guess what? They're not offered where we are or other poor schools!

I am not familiar with Longfellow, but Carson sends more kids to TJ than any other school. The afterschool activities are likely driven by that--not money. The parents want their kids to have those activities. I think it's doubtful too many other middle schools offer as much. A lot of this could be helped by reducing the AAP centers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Just took this from another thread from another poster:

In 2002-2003 Herndon's F/R lunch rate was 13.8%. In 2017-2018 it was 39.6%. A change of 25.8%.

In 2002-2003 Langley's F/R lunch rate was 0.7%. In 2017-2018 it was 1.9%. A change of 1.2%.

Gap between the two schools in 2002-2003 - 13.1%. Gap in 2017-2018 - 37.7%.

Do you think this is fair? Honestly? What do you honestly think about these statistics and what do you think (if anything) FCPS should do about it?

Where in the Golden Rule of Life does it say that schools are supposed to have the same percentages of FARMS kids?




Is it fair that all the schools weren't renovated at the same time?
Is it fair that some kids have two married parents and others are children of divorce?
Is it fair that some kids eat home-cooking most nights and others eat out of the microwave?
Is it fair that some kids grew up in homes with over a hundred books and others had ten?

I don't think FCPS needs to do anything about some schools having more FARMS students than others.

Where is the law that says FCPS has to protect your property values?

I'm not the one laboring under the delusion that life is fair and everyone gets a sticker.

In any case, I'm not worrying about my property values.

I do wonder why anyone thinks that it is the duty of FCPS to equalize the percentages of FARMS kids. To what end? If some schools are being deprived of maintenance (field turfing/grass maintenance, cleaning staff, everyday repairs etc) while others always have employees to keep the grass perfect and fix broken faucets, or School A always gets timely delivery of lunch foods while School B is often left without lunch, that's a matter to be rectified.

Spreading the kids out may change the overall performance of the school on certain metrics, but it will never equalize the lives of the students. Kids with two middle class or higher parents at home will continue to have all the advantages associated with that structure, and kids with one parent or two lower-income parents will continue to have all the disadvantages associated with that.

My high school was around 20% FARMS, maybe 30. The gifted and talented classes were dominated by the upper-middle class and middle class kids with two parents. They ate home cooking. Some were taught to read by their moms before enrolling in school. They traveled around the country and some took trips to Europe during the summer.

Being in the same school with them helped the working class, FARMS kids not a bit. They dominated Special Ed and the lower levels. Some of them went on to college or successful working class (or higher) jobs/careers. Others had less desirable outcomes.

It was a perfectly nice school and I had a good experience. My middle class two-parent household with a wall of books and a mom who cooked at home were unaffected by the FARMS kids. My household without enough funds to travel very often was unaffected by the kids who went skiiing in Colorado on Spring break every year. They had the money for SAT prep courses, I just studied and pulled a good score. Sitting next to them in AP English didn't give me the funds for Kaplan.

What exactly is the problem with one school having a higher percentage than others of FARMS? Have property values in Herndon tanked in the last decade with the FARMS increase? Are we saying that FCPS needs to spread low-income children around to raise home values in Herndon? (No where is it written that FCPS has a duty to protect or increase property values) Is the understanding that FARMS kids are more likely to be physically violent with teachers and other students so lets spread the lack of safety around a bit so all schools can feel the pain?

Have the FARMS parents been asking to have their kids dispersed so that there would be fewer people like them in any given school? Or do parents of the non-FARMS kids simply want to get rid of most of them?

What is behind the precipitous increase of FARMS kids? Did the crash of ten years ago put long-time Herndon residents into long-term poverty? If so, what is FCPS supposed to do about that? Is Herndon more of a magnet for lower income people with children than nearby areas such as Sterling, Reston,etc.? If so, what is FCPS supposed to do about that?

Let me ask you a question: if your high school was 99% FARM would that have impacted your high school experience? Why or why not?

An excellent question. I will answer if you answer the ones I already posed.

[Anonymous]

What is behind the precipitous increase of FARMS kids? Did the crash of ten years ago put long-time Herndon residents into long-term poverty? If so, what is FCPS supposed to do about that? Is Herndon more of a magnet for lower income people with children than nearby areas such as Sterling, Reston,etc.? If so, what is FCPS supposed to do about that?

It's not the crash. It's DACA and the surge that it caused. Herndon has an extremely high undocumented immigrant population. I'm guessing that is the case in most of the other high FARMS schools, too.

Just look at the stats. Around 5000 unaccompanied minors since Obama signed DACA in Fairfax alone. And, that doesn't count the new families flowing in.

[Anonymous]

https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr/resource/unaccompanied-alien-children-released-to-sponsors-by-county


818 unaccompanied minors in Fairfax--just through May for this Fiscal Year alone.

Write your congressman. Connolly just threw a fit at a hearing today because they are holding some at the border. He wants them all released now.