FCPS comprehensive boundary review

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they move a whole elementary school, how is that breaking up the community?

I feel that the formerly-zoned Lewis families are throwing every excuse out there.

You can't claim South County is ok, but not Lewis on the basis of community. Especially if they move the whole neighborhood or school.

You seriously think each little elementary school is a sealed community with no interaction with anyone outside of it? My kids are friends with kids from all over our pyramid, not just kids from our elementary school. My kids are now in HS and I do have a 2028 kid who'd be moved his junior year, which I desperately do not want. My older kid is in her junior year and it's a crucial year in the college application timeline. They've literally had a a decade of engagement with other kids from across schools in our pyramid, through church, sports, and other activities. You would indeed be breaking up a community by moving just one elementary school.

What about the kids that can't afford a 4-year school? Your privilege is showing with this response. Just like another poster that complains about the drive the kids have to make in their own cars. Another privilege complaint.

What about them? What does that have to do with the topic? It's not anyone's responsibility to get other people's kids to 4- year colleges. Strange post.

Not a strange post. Why should one family's concern over getting accepted into a 4 year school trump another family's concern about getting access to higher level math classes and more elective options. The kid worried about getting into a 4 year school still has that option; the latter doesn't. You can't create a class.

DP. Do you really want or expect the exact same offerings at every school regardless of demand or preparedness? Perhaps we need to disband the Marshall Academy because Langley kids don’t have the same on-site access to cosmetology and auto mechanics classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they move a whole elementary school, how is that breaking up the community?

I feel that the formerly-zoned Lewis families are throwing every excuse out there.

You can't claim South County is ok, but not Lewis on the basis of community. Especially if they move the whole neighborhood or school.

You seriously think each little elementary school is a sealed community with no interaction with anyone outside of it? My kids are friends with kids from all over our pyramid, not just kids from our elementary school. My kids are now in HS and I do have a 2028 kid who'd be moved his junior year, which I desperately do not want. My older kid is in her junior year and it's a crucial year in the college application timeline. They've literally had a a decade of engagement with other kids from across schools in our pyramid, through church, sports, and other activities. You would indeed be breaking up a community by moving just one elementary school.

What about the kids that can't afford a 4-year school? Your privilege is showing with this response. Just like another poster that complains about the drive the kids have to make in their own cars. Another privilege complaint.

What about them? What does that have to do with the topic? It's not anyone's responsibility to get other people's kids to 4- year colleges. Strange post.

Not a strange post. Why should one family's concern over getting accepted into a 4 year school trump another family's concern about getting access to higher level math classes and more elective options. The kid worried about getting into a 4 year school still has that option; the latter doesn't. You can't create a class.

DP. Do you really want or expect the exact same offerings at every school regardless of demand or preparedness? Perhaps we need to disband the Marshall Academy because Langley kids don’t have the same on-site access to cosmetology and auto mechanics classes.

And this is precisely why “access to programming” is a ridiculous and meaningless measure to use when redistricting. It could mean anything depending on how the user wants to use the phrase.

It is this which leads us to cry out for more transparency in this process. They say this phrase over and over without qualifications and it can be used to convert anything they want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they move a whole elementary school, how is that breaking up the community?

I feel that the formerly-zoned Lewis families are throwing every excuse out there.

You can't claim South County is ok, but not Lewis on the basis of community. Especially if they move the whole neighborhood or school.

You seriously think each little elementary school is a sealed community with no interaction with anyone outside of it? My kids are friends with kids from all over our pyramid, not just kids from our elementary school. My kids are now in HS and I do have a 2028 kid who'd be moved his junior year, which I desperately do not want. My older kid is in her junior year and it's a crucial year in the college application timeline. They've literally had a a decade of engagement with other kids from across schools in our pyramid, through church, sports, and other activities. You would indeed be breaking up a community by moving just one elementary school.

What about the kids that can't afford a 4-year school? Your privilege is showing with this response. Just like another poster that complains about the drive the kids have to make in their own cars. Another privilege complaint.

What about them? What does that have to do with the topic? It's not anyone's responsibility to get other people's kids to 4- year colleges. Strange post.

Not a strange post. Why should one family's concern over getting accepted into a 4 year school trump another family's concern about getting access to higher level math classes and more elective options. The kid worried about getting into a 4 year school still has that option; the latter doesn't. You can't create a class.

DP. Do you really want or expect the exact same offerings at every school regardless of demand or preparedness? Perhaps we need to disband the Marshall Academy because Langley kids don’t have the same on-site access to cosmetology and auto mechanics classes.

And this is precisely why “access to programming” is a ridiculous and meaningless measure to use when redistricting. It could mean anything depending on how the user wants to use the phrase.

It is this which leads us to cry out for more transparency in this process. They say this phrase over and over without qualifications and it can be used to convert anything they want.

Transparency to the School Board basically means having four boxes, each of which they can point to as justification for boundary changes. Most hold themselves to no obligation to be consistent or clear as to how they are interpreting the boxes (although I suspect a few members like Moon and McElveen may get frustrated and call their colleagues out as things progress).

[Anonymous]

The Boundary Review Advisory Committee is meeting tonight, right?

How am I able to offer input into the maps that they’ll be drawing on our behalf? Who is my representative? The committee page just says the committee list is “coming soon.”

Can we attend the meetings? If not, why not?

They showed the Committee a study two weeks ago about UAE students and commute time. Have any of the Committee members scrutinized the study or are they just talking fcps’s word on the supposed conclusions from the study?

Something is rotten in the County of Fairfax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they move a whole elementary school, how is that breaking up the community?

I feel that the formerly-zoned Lewis families are throwing every excuse out there.

You can't claim South County is ok, but not Lewis on the basis of community. Especially if they move the whole neighborhood or school.

You seriously think each little elementary school is a sealed community with no interaction with anyone outside of it? My kids are friends with kids from all over our pyramid, not just kids from our elementary school. My kids are now in HS and I do have a 2028 kid who'd be moved his junior year, which I desperately do not want. My older kid is in her junior year and it's a crucial year in the college application timeline. They've literally had a a decade of engagement with other kids from across schools in our pyramid, through church, sports, and other activities. You would indeed be breaking up a community by moving just one elementary school.

What about the kids that can't afford a 4-year school? Your privilege is showing with this response. Just like another poster that complains about the drive the kids have to make in their own cars. Another privilege complaint.

PP here. You don't even know what pyramid we're in. I like how you assume we can afford a 4 year school. Options for my child include community college and then a transfer to a state school because we can't afford 4 years of college.

I don't want my younger child's school interrupted during junior year. He's not an achiever and won't be in honors or AP classes. Let him finish whatever high school he starts. If you think this makes us privileged, I don't care.

[Anonymous]

Eerily quiet on this forum as all of the school board’s hand-selected buddies are at the Boundary Review Advisory Committee pretending to represent all of us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they move a whole elementary school, how is that breaking up the community?

I feel that the formerly-zoned Lewis families are throwing every excuse out there.

You can't claim South County is ok, but not Lewis on the basis of community. Especially if they move the whole neighborhood or school.

You seriously think each little elementary school is a sealed community with no interaction with anyone outside of it? My kids are friends with kids from all over our pyramid, not just kids from our elementary school. My kids are now in HS and I do have a 2028 kid who'd be moved his junior year, which I desperately do not want. My older kid is in her junior year and it's a crucial year in the college application timeline. They've literally had a a decade of engagement with other kids from across schools in our pyramid, through church, sports, and other activities. You would indeed be breaking up a community by moving just one elementary school.

What about the kids that can't afford a 4-year school? Your privilege is showing with this response. Just like another poster that complains about the drive the kids have to make in their own cars. Another privilege complaint.

PP here. You don't even know what pyramid we're in. I like how you assume we can afford a 4 year school. Options for my child include community college and then a transfer to a state school because we can't afford 4 years of college.

I don't want my younger child's school interrupted during junior year. He's not an achiever and won't be in honors or AP classes. Let him finish whatever high school he starts. If you think this makes us privileged, I don't care.

I agree!

I have an over achiever and one B on a good day student.

I am just as concerned, if not more, about my B on a good day kid being pulled from their community Junior year.

They are a kid who leaned towards the trouble makers in middle school, but found a great group of motivated kids through an activity at our neighborhood high school that appear to have influenced my kid for the better. Most of these friends will not move with my kid if they rezoned.

My kid found two very special teacher mentors at our neighborhood high school. One has known my kid since they were in elementary school from the older sibling's involvement in the program. That teacher has provided an amazing example for my kid, looked out for them and reached out to me when they appeared to be on the brink of getting in trouble, and has helped advocate for my kid and their 504.

The other teacher mentor connected with my kid in a subject that they have always struggled with. The teacher worked with my kid daily to help them to understand the subject matter, and to close huge gaps from covid learning. The teacher worked with my kid on other classes. My kid still brings work to this teacher when they need a little extra help. The teacher advocated for my kid personally, and wrote a rec letter for a special program.

Our family has relationships with teachers, coaches, specific principals, counselors and club sponsors, custodians, and support staff, because we have a long term relationship with the community and the high school.

We have let our kid take more rigorous courses than we would have otherwise, taught by specific teachers, because we have relationships with those teachers and know how they teach. This would not happen if my kid were uprooted to a different high school.

Our older kid cultivated those relationships through being an over achiever, but our youngest kid who has struggled in school their whole life until freshman year at this high school is the one who reaps the benefits of those relationships at our neighborhood high school.

Having that connection and community with fellow students, teacher mentors and principals who know our family, have made all the difference on my average kid's trajectory.

Uprooting them from their school community junior year is going to wreck havoc on their life and their grades.

The over achievers might be fine, or they might not.

But the kids in the middle are not going to be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they move a whole elementary school, how is that breaking up the community?

I feel that the formerly-zoned Lewis families are throwing every excuse out there.

You can't claim South County is ok, but not Lewis on the basis of community. Especially if they move the whole neighborhood or school.

You seriously think each little elementary school is a sealed community with no interaction with anyone outside of it? My kids are friends with kids from all over our pyramid, not just kids from our elementary school. My kids are now in HS and I do have a 2028 kid who'd be moved his junior year, which I desperately do not want. My older kid is in her junior year and it's a crucial year in the college application timeline. They've literally had a a decade of engagement with other kids from across schools in our pyramid, through church, sports, and other activities. You would indeed be breaking up a community by moving just one elementary school.

What about the kids that can't afford a 4-year school? Your privilege is showing with this response. Just like another poster that complains about the drive the kids have to make in their own cars. Another privilege complaint.

PP here. You don't even know what pyramid we're in. I like how you assume we can afford a 4 year school. Options for my child include community college and then a transfer to a state school because we can't afford 4 years of college.

I don't want my younger child's school interrupted during junior year. He's not an achiever and won't be in honors or AP classes. Let him finish whatever high school he starts. If you think this makes us privileged, I don't care.

I agree!

I have an over achiever and one B on a good day student.

I am just as concerned, if not more, about my B on a good day kid being pulled from their community Junior year.

They are a kid who leaned towards the trouble makers in middle school, but found a great group of motivated kids through an activity at our neighborhood high school that appear to have influenced my kid for the better. Most of these friends will not move with my kid if they rezoned.

My kid found two very special teacher mentors at our neighborhood high school. One has known my kid since they were in elementary school from the older sibling's involvement in the program. That teacher has provided an amazing example for my kid, looked out for them and reached out to me when they appeared to be on the brink of getting in trouble, and has helped advocate for my kid and their 504.

The other teacher mentor connected with my kid in a subject that they have always struggled with. The teacher worked with my kid daily to help them to understand the subject matter, and to close huge gaps from covid learning. The teacher worked with my kid on other classes. My kid still brings work to this teacher when they need a little extra help. The teacher advocated for my kid personally, and wrote a rec letter for a special program.

Our family has relationships with teachers, coaches, specific principals, counselors and club sponsors, custodians, and support staff, because we have a long term relationship with the community and the high school.

We have let our kid take more rigorous courses than we would have otherwise, taught by specific teachers, because we have relationships with those teachers and know how they teach. This would not happen if my kid were uprooted to a different high school.

Our older kid cultivated those relationships through being an over achiever, but our youngest kid who has struggled in school their whole life until freshman year at this high school is the one who reaps the benefits of those relationships at our neighborhood high school.

Having that connection and community with fellow students, teacher mentors and principals who know our family, have made all the difference on my average kid's trajectory.

Uprooting them from their school community junior year is going to wreck havoc on their life and their grades.

The over achievers might be fine, or they might not.

But the kids in the middle are not going to be fine.

It is very sad when you have a School Board that includes so many members who arrived with grudges they wanted to settle; are in the pocket of families who want redistricting to boost their own housing equity; and/or have no real appreciation or empathy for how kids develop or how disruptive boundary changes would be for many. I do believe there are a couple of School Board members who don't like what the Board as a whole is now doing under Karl Frisch, who is just a total idiot, but the question is whether they will break ranks when doing so may subject them to ostracism in FCDC (Fairfax County Democratic Committee) circles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did FCPS even slightly consider that "selecting" pyramid members for a committee would mean that the members' neighborhoods would have an advantage over others?
Do they not have a lick of common sense?

How else should they select people for a committee spanning this large of an area?

DP. For starters, they shouldn’t populate such a critical committee that will be making recommendations with hand-picked special interest group members. Not that they’ve even disclosed which special interest groups they’ve included.

Democracy dies in the darkness.

Equity warriors are what kill democracy.

[Anonymous]

Any brave soul who attended the BRAC meeting yesterday want to give us a read out? Would love to know what the FCPS secret society is up to now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did FCPS even slightly consider that "selecting" pyramid members for a committee would mean that the members' neighborhoods would have an advantage over others?
Do they not have a lick of common sense?

How else should they select people for a committee spanning this large of an area?

DP. For starters, they shouldn’t populate such a critical committee that will be making recommendations with hand-picked special interest group members. Not that they’ve even disclosed which special interest groups they’ve included.

Democracy dies in the darkness.

Equity warriors are what kill democracy.

LOL at the people throwing around the term "equity warrior" as a slur w/o ever saying what it means. It's the world the politicians have brought us, want to just pit us against each other so they can do whatever they want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did FCPS even slightly consider that "selecting" pyramid members for a committee would mean that the members' neighborhoods would have an advantage over others?
Do they not have a lick of common sense?

How else should they select people for a committee spanning this large of an area?

DP. For starters, they shouldn’t populate such a critical committee that will be making recommendations with hand-picked special interest group members. Not that they’ve even disclosed which special interest groups they’ve included.

Democracy dies in the darkness.

Democracy is dead, but you still didn't answer the question. They limited and selected people who applied from all the various locations. How else do you manage something this big.

I am very skeptical about the claims that it was random. My understanding is that the legal department “randomly” selected participants.

Hmmm, I wonder why they had lawyers do it?

I’d it because the lawyers are the only gatehouse employees who know how to use Excel? Of course not.

Is it because they will try to hide behind attorney client privilege when the public demands documents related to the selection?

A better question than yours is why have the committee in the first place if they are just hand selecting special interest committee members?

Why is this so complicated?

They have a boundary review advisory committee with two categories of members: (1) two representatives from each of 24 pyramids; and (2) additional appointed members consisting of teachers, staff, and other community members (many sitting on other existing FCPS committees or representatives of groups often represented on other committees).

They have said several times that the first group was randomly selected. To date, no one has provided any credible evidence that was not the case and, were those representations revealed to be false, it would clearly be the final nail in the coffin with respect to Reid's tenure as superintendent. It would be an irredeemable breach of trust with FCPS stakeholders. Suggesting that this group was not randomly selected with no evidence to support that assertion is unfair. Claiming that FCPS would somehow hide behind attorney-client privilege with respect to the selection of these members also seems ludicrous, as these members weren't selected to provide legal advice.

They have made no similar claims with respect to the appointed members. You can complain about having some of the "usual suspects" represented on the committee when they may prove to be rubber stamps for FCPS leadership, and that's fair game, but you can't claim FCPS misrepresented how these members were selected.

In any event, the committee isn't really going to making the decisions; they are just one more foil (like Thru Consulting) that FCPS leadership and the School Board will fall back to claim recommendations were developed and vetted with others. But as much as silly Karl Frisch and the other School Board members would like, the buck stops with them. They will have to own every single boundary change they approve.

The only reason to use a law firm to select members is to shield the whole process behind privilege

They have made statements about how members were selected. Just because you involve lawyers in decision-making doesn't mean those communications are privileged (the communications have to relate to seeking legal advice) and when you start making public statements about the subject matter to which the communications relate you run a high risk of waiving any privilege that does exist.

It's a common misperception that a client can claim attorney-client privilege any time a lawyer gets involved. That is not the case.

It makes marking privilege in response to a foia request possible. At that point, it's up to the requester to sue. They may win, but it will take time and money

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't matter. You have 24 pyramids. I checked a couple of pyramids. Each had 6 elementary schools. So, that leaves four neighborhoods without representation. Is this equity?

Each elementary school could serve multiple neighborhoods or School Planning Areas. The SPAs are the smallest components that get tracked and may be potentially reassigned. Do you want a committee member from each SPA? The BRAC would then be somewhere between the size of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Maybe they could exclude community leaders that that don't actually represent the community, they'll have more room for citizens of fairfax county

[Anonymous]

DC recently underwent what appears to be a successful boundary review. I don't know how much consternation the residents had, but:

School boundary changes in Washington, DC are the result of a comprehensive review process led by the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education (DME):
1. Form an Advisory Committee
The DME convenes an Advisory Committee on Student Assignment made up of education stakeholders from all eight wards.
2. Gather feedback
The committee reviews data, listens to the community, and holds public meetings and hearings.
3. Develop recommendations
The committee drafts recommendations for updating school boundaries, feeder patterns, and assignment policies.
4. Get approval
The Mayor and Chancellor approve the recommendations.
The District of Columbia reviews its school boundaries every 10 years. The most recent review took place in 2023-2024, and the recommendations are expected to be approved by Mayor Muriel Bowser in June 2024. The changes will take effect in fall 2025.
The review process aims to:
Reduce overcrowding in some schools
Fill seats at other schools
Foster diversity
Improve access
Increase capacity
Ensure public funds are spent efficiently
The review process includes:
An interactive website for residents to see the impact of various options
A community feedback form on the DME website
A place to leave comments on dcschoolboundaryexplorer.com

[Anonymous]

Did DC have the equivalent of people moving from WSHS to Lewis or Langley to Herndon? Do those people consider the review successful?