FCPS Boundary Review Updates

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I think connecting the timber lane island with a bit from falls hill so it’s “connected” on map is fine if it’s needed but don’t think we need to extend to 50. My kid went to timber lane. Longfellow, and now is at McLean. We are equal distant to McLean, Marshall, and Falls church but the kids by 50 are much closer to falls church.

They are doing anything to bump capacity up at Cooper and Langley to cut FHES to Herndon.

Sending kids that border Loudoun Co. to Langley is insane.

As insane as sending kids near 50 to McLean? because I looked and it adds the exact same amount of time to their commute.

Like it or not, the difference to HMS is within a couple minutes commute of Cooper and less than ten to HHS vs Langley.

Your equity obsession is showing.

They aren't proposing (yet) to send kids near Route 50 to McLean, just to Longfellow. They would leave these kids at Falls Church. Of course, that's even more bizarre, since about 95% of Longfellow goes to McLean. I guess they left them at Falls Church because they didn't want to add kids to overcrowded McLean, and maybe they even realized Falls Church is getting expanded, but all that should have also suggested leaving these kids at Jackson and maintaining the fairly even split feeder at Timber Lane.

Same analysis holds for Longfellow. The person who thinks it’s insane to send great falls to Langley surely feels the same about busing these poor kids to Longfellow, right?

I don't think that the proposed Timber Lane/Longfellow adjustment to 50 makes any sense. But if you are trying to convince me that Forestville should go anywhere other than Herndon, you'll fail. If I pick a nice central location on Seneca, it is 4 miles and less than 10 min from Herndon. It is 11 miles and 22 minutes (non-rush!) to Langley. There's simply no argument except people want to go to the rich school.

But I'm not just going to call out Forestville. Why is Westbriar the way it is, and why on earth would the western kids go to Marshall? Langley, Marshall, Madison, and McLean need to be more compact and be prepped to divide up any growth in Tysons.

You are picking the furthest point in Forestville intentionally, and it’s clear what your agenda is. The fact is that on average from Forestville you save two minutes to HMS than Cooper, and 9 to HHS from Langley. Those are rounding errors, despite you trying to convince everyone that it’s otherwise.

I already know you’ll call me an “equity warrior” but Katy Perry could have seen that FVES should go to Herndon from her little outer space jaunt.

So, who should go to Langley to replace them?

They are slowly sneaking the over-capacity McLean into Langley. The 4/11 projections are sneaky because the new capacities are WITH modulars. There should be an additional column to show new capacities WITHOUT.

CIP provides these projections and McLean for example, goes from 103% to 118% for 2030 with and then without modulars.

They will re-highlight the need to rid of modulars for the capacity studies even though parents have said it’s fine to have them.

Many of the 4/11 capacities sitting under their new limit of 105% will sky rocket - hence, Franklin Sherman moving into Langley, pushing FVES out. The other Langley ES schools have have some capacity shifts as well towards under-capacity Great Falls ES.

Just pointing out that moving Franklin Sherman elementary moves a number of kids who can walk to McLean High.

Is the actual delta difference of time between McLean and Langley for these kids as it is for most Forestville kids to go to HHS instead of Langley. So much for trying to streamline transportation, though we all know it has never been about that.

They just changed the elementary school boundaries in late 2023 so that 100% of Sherman feeds to McLean. Before then it was a split feeder with Langley, though most kids went to McLean.

I don't see them revisiting the Sherman assignment on 4/25, but they'll likely be taking a look at the two split feeders to McLean that currently split 80% to Marshall and 20% to McLean - Westgate and Lemon Road. The 4/11 scenarios envisioned moving a little bit more of Westgate to McLean, but who knows whether they'll propose something incremental or entirely different on 4/25.

I think their plan to bridge Timber Lane to the rest of the McLean boundary might involve swapping some of Shrevewood and Lemon Road where its boundary dips below 7. That way Shrevewood would remain a single feeder and Lemon Road would be a >25% split.

They can't actually bridge the Timber Lane island to the rest of the Longfellow/McLean area because of the land that Falls Church City now owns near Haycock Road and Route 7 (the area that includes Meridian HS and Maryl Ellen Henderson MS).

The 4/11 presentation pretends they can eliminate the attendance island by moving part of Shrevewood to Longfellow/McLean. It shrinks the distance between the island and the rest of the Longfellow/McLean attendance area, but it doesn't actually eliminate it (the map in the 4/11 presentation appeares to be misleading in this regard) and it creates a new split feeder at Shrevewood, where some kids would go to Longfellow/McLean and most to Kilmer/Marshall.

I'm also not sure how this swap you've described would work. The Lemon Road area is further west of the current Timber Lane island, and the Lemon Road area on the other side of Route 7 is within walking distance of Marshall. The area described above that would shrink but not eliminate the island includes an area within walking distance of Shrevewood. So I'm missing how you swap their boundaries and eliminate the island.

The reality is that if they really care so much about eliminating attendance islands they ought to reassign the Timber Lane island to either Marshall or Falls Church, but they apparently want to bump up the FARMS percentage at Longfellow and/or McLean, as illustrated by the proposal to move the area much further south near Graham Road and Route 50 area to Longfellow. Why they aren't doing this, and then reassigning even more of closer Westgate to Longfellow/McLean escapes me.

Based on their Attendance Island presentation I think they might move the town houses/apartments that are within walking distance to Marshall from Lemon Road/Kilmer/Marshall to Shrevewood/Kilmer/Marshall. They’d then shift the town houses off Idylwood/Rt-7 and carve around the townhouses across from Meridian and along Shreve Rd until connect to the Timber Lane island and send them all to Lemon Road/Longfellow/McLean. That would keep Shrevewood a single feeder and Lemon Road would be more balanced between the Pimmit kids going to Marshall and the Idylwood kids going to McLean.

I agree it makes more sense to send the Timber kids to Marshall or Falls Church and send more Westgate apartments to McLean, but I’m speculating their strategy based off what was presented.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I think connecting the timber lane island with a bit from falls hill so it’s “connected” on map is fine if it’s needed but don’t think we need to extend to 50. My kid went to timber lane. Longfellow, and now is at McLean. We are equal distant to McLean, Marshall, and Falls church but the kids by 50 are much closer to falls church.

They are doing anything to bump capacity up at Cooper and Langley to cut FHES to Herndon.

Sending kids that border Loudoun Co. to Langley is insane.

As insane as sending kids near 50 to McLean? because I looked and it adds the exact same amount of time to their commute.

Like it or not, the difference to HMS is within a couple minutes commute of Cooper and less than ten to HHS vs Langley.

Your equity obsession is showing.

They aren't proposing (yet) to send kids near Route 50 to McLean, just to Longfellow. They would leave these kids at Falls Church. Of course, that's even more bizarre, since about 95% of Longfellow goes to McLean. I guess they left them at Falls Church because they didn't want to add kids to overcrowded McLean, and maybe they even realized Falls Church is getting expanded, but all that should have also suggested leaving these kids at Jackson and maintaining the fairly even split feeder at Timber Lane.

Same analysis holds for Longfellow. The person who thinks it’s insane to send great falls to Langley surely feels the same about busing these poor kids to Longfellow, right?

I don't think that the proposed Timber Lane/Longfellow adjustment to 50 makes any sense. But if you are trying to convince me that Forestville should go anywhere other than Herndon, you'll fail. If I pick a nice central location on Seneca, it is 4 miles and less than 10 min from Herndon. It is 11 miles and 22 minutes (non-rush!) to Langley. There's simply no argument except people want to go to the rich school.

But I'm not just going to call out Forestville. Why is Westbriar the way it is, and why on earth would the western kids go to Marshall? Langley, Marshall, Madison, and McLean need to be more compact and be prepped to divide up any growth in Tysons.

You are picking the furthest point in Forestville intentionally, and it’s clear what your agenda is. The fact is that on average from Forestville you save two minutes to HMS than Cooper, and 9 to HHS from Langley. Those are rounding errors, despite you trying to convince everyone that it’s otherwise.

I already know you’ll call me an “equity warrior” but Katy Perry could have seen that FVES should go to Herndon from her little outer space jaunt.

So, who should go to Langley to replace them?

They are slowly sneaking the over-capacity McLean into Langley. The 4/11 projections are sneaky because the new capacities are WITH modulars. There should be an additional column to show new capacities WITHOUT.

CIP provides these projections and McLean for example, goes from 103% to 118% for 2030 with and then without modulars.

They will re-highlight the need to rid of modulars for the capacity studies even though parents have said it’s fine to have them.

Many of the 4/11 capacities sitting under their new limit of 105% will sky rocket - hence, Franklin Sherman moving into Langley, pushing FVES out. The other Langley ES schools have have some capacity shifts as well towards under-capacity Great Falls ES.

Just pointing out that moving Franklin Sherman elementary moves a number of kids who can walk to McLean High.

Is the actual delta difference of time between McLean and Langley for these kids as it is for most Forestville kids to go to HHS instead of Langley. So much for trying to streamline transportation, though we all know it has never been about that.

They just changed the elementary school boundaries in late 2023 so that 100% of Sherman feeds to McLean. Before then it was a split feeder with Langley, though most kids went to McLean.

I don't see them revisiting the Sherman assignment on 4/25, but they'll likely be taking a look at the two split feeders to McLean that currently split 80% to Marshall and 20% to McLean - Westgate and Lemon Road. The 4/11 scenarios envisioned moving a little bit more of Westgate to McLean, but who knows whether they'll propose something incremental or entirely different on 4/25.

I think their plan to bridge Timber Lane to the rest of the McLean boundary might involve swapping some of Shrevewood and Lemon Road where its boundary dips below 7. That way Shrevewood would remain a single feeder and Lemon Road would be a >25% split.

They can't actually bridge the Timber Lane island to the rest of the Longfellow/McLean area because of the land that Falls Church City now owns near Haycock Road and Route 7 (the area that includes Meridian HS and Maryl Ellen Henderson MS).

The 4/11 presentation pretends they can eliminate the attendance island by moving part of Shrevewood to Longfellow/McLean. It shrinks the distance between the island and the rest of the Longfellow/McLean attendance area, but it doesn't actually eliminate it (the map in the 4/11 presentation appeares to be misleading in this regard) and it creates a new split feeder at Shrevewood, where some kids would go to Longfellow/McLean and most to Kilmer/Marshall.

I'm also not sure how this swap you've described would work. The Lemon Road area is further west of the current Timber Lane island, and the Lemon Road area on the other side of Route 7 is within walking distance of Marshall. The area described above that would shrink but not eliminate the island includes an area within walking distance of Shrevewood. So I'm missing how you swap their boundaries and eliminate the island.

The reality is that if they really care so much about eliminating attendance islands they ought to reassign the Timber Lane island to either Marshall or Falls Church, but they apparently want to bump up the FARMS percentage at Longfellow and/or McLean, as illustrated by the proposal to move the area much further south near Graham Road and Route 50 area to Longfellow. Why they aren't doing this, and then reassigning even more of closer Westgate to Longfellow/McLean escapes me.

Based on their Attendance Island presentation I think they might move the town houses/apartments that are within walking distance to Marshall from Lemon Road/Kilmer/Marshall to Shrevewood/Kilmer/Marshall. They’d then shift the town houses off Idylwood/Rt-7 and carve around the townhouses across from Meridian and along Shreve Rd until connect to the Timber Lane island and send them all to Lemon Road/Longfellow/McLean. That would keep Shrevewood a single feeder and Lemon Road would be more balanced between the Pimmit kids going to Marshall and the Idylwood kids going to McLean.

I agree it makes more sense to send the Timber kids to Marshall or Falls Church and send more Westgate apartments to McLean, but I’m speculating their strategy based off what was presented.

I understand now what you're saying. That's not quite what the 4/11 map suggests, but it could be a convoluted alternative if the goal is to keep Shrevewood a single feeder and get Lemon Road to feed over 25% to McLean. I say it's convoluted because the Lemon Road area on the other side of 7 borders mostly an area assigned to Freedom Hill, not Shrevewood, so it's going to result in convoluted Shrevewood boundaries, especially if some other areas (say, off Idlywood and then north of Gordon Road) are reassigned to Lemon Road.

If they do that, they then have areas on both sides of Idlywood past the area that is part of Falls Church City assigned to Lemon Road/Longfellow/McLean. That would, in fact, technically, get rid of the island, due to the very small stretch between Idlywood and 66 that is in Fairfax County contiguous to the Lemon Road-assigned area on the other side of Route 7. That's kind of convoluted as well.

[Anonymous]

We are a timber lane/longfellow/mclean family and the tone about our kids on here is really sad. We want our kids to stay with their friends and at their schools just like most other people here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are a timber lane/longfellow/mclean family and the tone about our kids on here is really sad. We want our kids to stay with their friends and at their schools just like most other people here.

Get loud! You have a limited window to fight the boundary changes. Let your neighbors know the time to contact your school board reps is now, not after the maps come out.

Despite a steady drum beat of opposition to the comprehensive boundary changes, the school board continues on its path, with an apparent slight detour to a New Orleans strip club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are a timber lane/longfellow/mclean family and the tone about our kids on here is really sad. We want our kids to stay with their friends and at their schools just like most other people here.

McLean families and staff spent a decade advocating for an addition and were lied to and then brushed off repeatedly. It’s the School Board, Thru Consulting, and FCPS staff that declared attendance islands were an affront to nature and drew a big circle around the Timber Lane area. Now they are identifying convoluted changes to the boundaries of other schools to bridge it, or pretend to do so.

We would also prefer they not move kids around like widgets, including anyone already zoned to the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a timber lane/longfellow/mclean family and the tone about our kids on here is really sad. We want our kids to stay with their friends and at their schools just like most other people here.

McLean families and staff spent a decade advocating for an addition and were lied to and then brushed off repeatedly. It’s the School Board, Thru Consulting, and FCPS staff that declared attendance islands were an affront to nature and drew a big circle around the Timber Lane area. Now they are identifying convoluted changes to the boundaries of other schools to bridge it, or pretend to do so.

We would also prefer they not move kids around like widgets, including anyone already zoned to the school.

DP

It’s absolutely mind-boggling that we are allowing an accused embezzler to drive this boundary review process. They really need to halt the review and clawback the funds paid to Thru, since it’s not added any value to the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a timber lane/longfellow/mclean family and the tone about our kids on here is really sad. We want our kids to stay with their friends and at their schools just like most other people here.

McLean families and staff spent a decade advocating for an addition and were lied to and then brushed off repeatedly. It’s the School Board, Thru Consulting, and FCPS staff that declared attendance islands were an affront to nature and drew a big circle around the Timber Lane area. Now they are identifying convoluted changes to the boundaries of other schools to bridge it, or pretend to do so.

We would also prefer they not move kids around like widgets, including anyone already zoned to the school.

+1

McLean area parents have been repeatedly lied to and mistreated by the FCPS school boards headed by Karl Frisch.

Why should we have any faith whatsoever in the current redistricting effort?

[Anonymous]

FCPS does not get that there won’t be any students left in FFX county public schools next year, other than citizens:

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-04-18/immigrants-self-deport-rather-than-risk-being-marched-out-like-criminals

Halt the presses, now!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a timber lane/longfellow/mclean family and the tone about our kids on here is really sad. We want our kids to stay with their friends and at their schools just like most other people here.

McLean families and staff spent a decade advocating for an addition and were lied to and then brushed off repeatedly. It’s the School Board, Thru Consulting, and FCPS staff that declared attendance islands were an affront to nature and drew a big circle around the Timber Lane area. Now they are identifying convoluted changes to the boundaries of other schools to bridge it, or pretend to do so.

We would also prefer they not move kids around like widgets, including anyone already zoned to the school.

I was called a hypocrite but the real problem is FCPS, at large members who don't do their jobs, political shams like the West Potomac addition and land sale to Saudis. Here's an addition in progress for unknown widgets - Dranesville Elementary with 588 going to 1000 capacity. https://www.ffxnow.com/2023/10/06/dranesville-es-renovation-approved-despite-questions-about-its-scope/

And at one meeting Dranesville was presented as over 750 membership...that is near the Langley feed from Herndon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a timber lane/longfellow/mclean family and the tone about our kids on here is really sad. We want our kids to stay with their friends and at their schools just like most other people here.

McLean families and staff spent a decade advocating for an addition and were lied to and then brushed off repeatedly. It’s the School Board, Thru Consulting, and FCPS staff that declared attendance islands were an affront to nature and drew a big circle around the Timber Lane area. Now they are identifying convoluted changes to the boundaries of other schools to bridge it, or pretend to do so.

We would also prefer they not move kids around like widgets, including anyone already zoned to the school.

I was called a hypocrite but the real problem is FCPS, at large members who don't do their jobs, political shams like the West Potomac addition and land sale to Saudis. Here's an addition in progress for unknown widgets - Dranesville Elementary with 588 going to 1000 capacity. https://www.ffxnow.com/2023/10/06/dranesville-es-renovation-approved-despite-questions-about-its-scope/

And at one meeting Dranesville was presented as over 750 membership...that is near the Langley feed from Herndon.

Sounds like your beef is with the school board (also my beef), not with trailers.

Trailer/modular are a symptom of their poor planning, but students shouldn’t have to suffer as a result.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a timber lane/longfellow/mclean family and the tone about our kids on here is really sad. We want our kids to stay with their friends and at their schools just like most other people here.

McLean families and staff spent a decade advocating for an addition and were lied to and then brushed off repeatedly. It’s the School Board, Thru Consulting, and FCPS staff that declared attendance islands were an affront to nature and drew a big circle around the Timber Lane area. Now they are identifying convoluted changes to the boundaries of other schools to bridge it, or pretend to do so.

We would also prefer they not move kids around like widgets, including anyone already zoned to the school.

I was called a hypocrite but the real problem is FCPS, at large members who don't do their jobs, political shams like the West Potomac addition and land sale to Saudis. Here's an addition in progress for unknown widgets - Dranesville Elementary with 588 going to 1000 capacity. https://www.ffxnow.com/2023/10/06/dranesville-es-renovation-approved-despite-questions-about-its-scope/

And at one meeting Dranesville was presented as over 750 membership...that is near the Langley feed from Herndon.

I can't quite figure out what they are doing with Dranesville because the current design capacity is 1080 but purportedly would go down to 1000 because they reassess design capacity when a school gets a major renovation or addition. But at the same time they are proposing to add 44,000 square feet although, as you say, the membership was 588 when the Planning Commission signed off on the addition (and only 606 now). You didn't mention, but also relevant, is that adjacent Armstrong is also slated to get renovated and then to be at only 41% by 2029. But maybe it's of a piece with their wasting over $85 million at Dunn Loring or greases the wheels to reassign part of Forestville to elementary schools in the Herndon pyramid.

Meanwhile, other schools that actually do deserve expansions get shafted.

[Anonymous]

I cant believe FCPS is reshuffling the whole county's school districts to make a statistically insignificant difference in county wide overcrowding. It's like having a deck of bad cards and just reshuffling it. The county needs to acquire more schools. Instead of spending an extra 17 million+ per year on division chiefs and senior management at FCPS that wasnt spent back in 2019, cant those funds be used to acquire land? The study should be a land acquisition study, not a boundary study. And how much is this costing the county?

Also, perhaps if it costs $19,000 per student at FCPS, before accounting for ESOL and IEPs, would it make sense to offer some families $10,000 per student to leave? I'm sure that would solve overcrowding at Langley or McLean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a timber lane/longfellow/mclean family and the tone about our kids on here is really sad. We want our kids to stay with their friends and at their schools just like most other people here.

McLean families and staff spent a decade advocating for an addition and were lied to and then brushed off repeatedly. It’s the School Board, Thru Consulting, and FCPS staff that declared attendance islands were an affront to nature and drew a big circle around the Timber Lane area. Now they are identifying convoluted changes to the boundaries of other schools to bridge it, or pretend to do so.

We would also prefer they not move kids around like widgets, including anyone already zoned to the school.

I was called a hypocrite but the real problem is FCPS, at large members who don't do their jobs, political shams like the West Potomac addition and land sale to Saudis. Here's an addition in progress for unknown widgets - Dranesville Elementary with 588 going to 1000 capacity. https://www.ffxnow.com/2023/10/06/dranesville-es-renovation-approved-despite-questions-about-its-scope/

And at one meeting Dranesville was presented as over 750 membership...that is near the Langley feed from Herndon.

I can't quite figure out what they are doing with Dranesville because the current design capacity is 1080 but purportedly would go down to 1000 because they reassess design capacity when a school gets a major renovation or addition. But at the same time they are proposing to add 44,000 square feet although, as you say, the membership was 588 when the Planning Commission signed off on the addition (and only 606 now). You didn't mention, but also relevant, is that adjacent Armstrong is also slated to get renovated and then to be at only 41% by 2029. But maybe it's of a piece with their wasting over $85 million at Dunn Loring or greases the wheels to reassign part of Forestville to elementary schools in the Herndon pyramid.

Meanwhile, other schools that actually do deserve expansions get shafted.

I’m not in McLean pyramid, but it just strikes me as so ridiculous that they haven’t prioritized that expansion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I cant believe FCPS is reshuffling the whole county's school districts to make a statistically insignificant difference in county wide overcrowding. It's like having a deck of bad cards and just reshuffling it. The county needs to acquire more schools. Instead of spending an extra 17 million+ per year on division chiefs and senior management at FCPS that wasnt spent back in 2019, cant those funds be used to acquire land? The study should be a land acquisition study, not a boundary study. And how much is this costing the county?

Also, perhaps if it costs $19,000 per student at FCPS, before accounting for ESOL and IEPs, would it make sense to offer some families $10,000 per student to leave? I'm sure that would solve overcrowding at Langley or McLean.

In addition to the obvious waste in bold:

- FCPS pays the salaries of 56 full-time DEI officers, plus Nardos King, but:

- FCPS will lose ALL federal funding unless they get rid of their DEI department.

The intentional loss of all that federal money will harm FCPS’ most vulnerable students the most.

To FCPS: this is not a joke. People’s children will suffer if you stubbornly cling to your DEI department.

Just disband it already.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Did community engagement / opposition work during the South Lakes boundary changes?

Sure. Great engagement between Stu Gibson and the South Lakes PTA. He did everything they asked.

+1. It worked great for the people who stood to gain, including Stu Gibson and Kathy Smith.

So what would Melanie Meren do about the Carson three-way split issue?

Would she move Fox Mill students to Hughes or Crossfield students to SLHS?

She won't but she should tear down the Saudi school and build West County HS where it always belonged.