Boundary Review Meetings

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ya'll need to wave the white flag, and accept whatever school the school board wants to send your kids to.

They received a resounding mandate last night to do whatever they want to do to your kids education (or lack thereof) however they want to do it, under any timeline, without grandfathering if need be.

They know that there will be zero consequences in the next election for rezoning anyone.

Read the tea leaves and save your energy.

What is: How to totally misread last night’s results for a thousand, Alex.

Now, in a couple of years if they clean sweep the school board elections, that would be a better signal.

Of course they will clean sweep the school board elections.

They know after last night that they have support to do whatever they want to do however they want to do it.

You all know you will vote them back into office no matter who runs, and they know it too.

Anyone who is fighting the rezoning is fairly delusional that their opinion matters to the school board. They know and you know that they will either get reelected, or someone far worse/more extreme/more left than them will get elected, no matter which neighborhoods get rezoned.

I don’t buy that for a second. There are areas that have successfully fought boundary changes through each turn of the map. And don’t forget, the puppet masters of the school board is the Democratic Party, and margins statewide are much much closer. Sure, maybe the bond passes 70-30 in Fairfax, but push too hard and vouchers statewide become a real possibility.

There are still 3 more map revisions coming.

Map 5 is the last BRAC map. Reid initially said that map 3 was no longer under consideration, but by the end of the WSHS meeting she said Map 3 was back on the table, so parents who successfully fought for revisions to the early maps, such as Hunt Valley, might be out of luck as changes are made to accommodate the Sangster split feeder that has an irrational hatred of Lake Braddock.

Map 6 will be Reid's changes and map 7 will be all the school board pet projects added into the maps, such as Sandy Anderson's Rolling Valley to WSHS/moving other neighborhoods out to accomodate the changes. Other areas will get surprise rezonings in that round too.

There is no community feedback opportunity for Reids map 6 or the school board's map 7. There is only public notice required.

If you think after last night that the school board fears any election backlash over unpopular rezoning, you are not paying attention. They know that they or people more extreme than them will win in the next school board election, so they have zero motivation to do anything but what they wanted to do when they first started revising policy 8130 under One Fairfax 2 years ago.

Let’s ask San Francisco how that turned out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ya'll need to wave the white flag, and accept whatever school the school board wants to send your kids to.

They received a resounding mandate last night to do whatever they want to do to your kids education (or lack thereof) however they want to do it, under any timeline, without grandfathering if need be.

They know that there will be zero consequences in the next election for rezoning anyone.

Read the tea leaves and save your energy.

What is: How to totally misread last night’s results for a thousand, Alex.

Now, in a couple of years if they clean sweep the school board elections, that would be a better signal.

Of course they will clean sweep the school board elections.

They know after last night that they have support to do whatever they want to do however they want to do it.

You all know you will vote them back into office no matter who runs, and they know it too.

Anyone who is fighting the rezoning is fairly delusional that their opinion matters to the school board. They know and you know that they will either get reelected, or someone far worse/more extreme/more left than them will get elected, no matter which neighborhoods get rezoned.

I don’t buy that for a second. There are areas that have successfully fought boundary changes through each turn of the map. And don’t forget, the puppet masters of the school board is the Democratic Party, and margins statewide are much much closer. Sure, maybe the bond passes 70-30 in Fairfax, but push too hard and vouchers statewide become a real possibility.

There are still 3 more map revisions coming.

Map 5 is the last BRAC map. Reid initially said that map 3 was no longer under consideration, but by the end of the WSHS meeting she said Map 3 was back on the table, so parents who successfully fought for revisions to the early maps, such as Hunt Valley, might be out of luck as changes are made to accommodate the Sangster split feeder that has an irrational hatred of Lake Braddock.

Map 6 will be Reid's changes and map 7 will be all the school board pet projects added into the maps, such as Sandy Anderson's Rolling Valley to WSHS/moving other neighborhoods out to accomodate the changes. Other areas will get surprise rezonings in that round too.

There is no community feedback opportunity for Reids map 6 or the school board's map 7. There is only public notice required.

If you think after last night that the school board fears any election backlash over unpopular rezoning, you are not paying attention. They know that they or people more extreme than them will win in the next school board election, so they have zero motivation to do anything but what they wanted to do when they first started revising policy 8130 under One Fairfax 2 years ago.

If they didn't fear the backlash, they wouldn't be rushing this through in January. They want this in the rearview mirror in hopes people forget before they're on the ballot. And yes, while northern Virginia is very Democratic, let's not forget that there were plenty of independents in this part of the state, which is why we ended up with Glen Younkin for four years. You really shouldn't take voters for granted. Pushing unpopular policies, particularly at a local level, can hurt local politicans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ya'll need to wave the white flag, and accept whatever school the school board wants to send your kids to.

They received a resounding mandate last night to do whatever they want to do to your kids education (or lack thereof) however they want to do it, under any timeline, without grandfathering if need be.

They know that there will be zero consequences in the next election for rezoning anyone.

Read the tea leaves and save your energy.

What is: How to totally misread last night’s results for a thousand, Alex.

Now, in a couple of years if they clean sweep the school board elections, that would be a better signal.

Of course they will clean sweep the school board elections.

They know after last night that they have support to do whatever they want to do however they want to do it.

You all know you will vote them back into office no matter who runs, and they know it too.

Anyone who is fighting the rezoning is fairly delusional that their opinion matters to the school board. They know and you know that they will either get reelected, or someone far worse/more extreme/more left than them will get elected, no matter which neighborhoods get rezoned.

I don’t buy that for a second. There are areas that have successfully fought boundary changes through each turn of the map. And don’t forget, the puppet masters of the school board is the Democratic Party, and margins statewide are much much closer. Sure, maybe the bond passes 70-30 in Fairfax, but push too hard and vouchers statewide become a real possibility.

There are still 3 more map revisions coming.

Map 5 is the last BRAC map. Reid initially said that map 3 was no longer under consideration, but by the end of the WSHS meeting she said Map 3 was back on the table, so parents who successfully fought for revisions to the early maps, such as Hunt Valley, might be out of luck as changes are made to accommodate the Sangster split feeder that has an irrational hatred of Lake Braddock.

Map 6 will be Reid's changes and map 7 will be all the school board pet projects added into the maps, such as Sandy Anderson's Rolling Valley to WSHS/moving other neighborhoods out to accomodate the changes. Other areas will get surprise rezonings in that round too.

There is no community feedback opportunity for Reids map 6 or the school board's map 7. There is only public notice required.

If you think after last night that the school board fears any election backlash over unpopular rezoning, you are not paying attention. They know that they or people more extreme than them will win in the next school board election, so they have zero motivation to do anything but what they wanted to do when they first started revising policy 8130 under One Fairfax 2 years ago.

If they didn't fear the backlash, they wouldn't be rushing this through in January. They want this in the rearview mirror in hopes people forget before they're on the ballot. And yes, while northern Virginia is very Democratic, let's not forget that there were plenty of independents in this part of the state, which is why we ended up with Glen Younkin for four years. You really shouldn't take voters for granted. Pushing unpopular policies, particularly at a local level, can hurt local politicans.

Nope.

Any random moderate who thinks that there will be voting backlash against the all dem school board who just witnessed their far left neighbors elect a man who cheated his way through driving over double the speedl limit that would have gotten any one of tge rest of us to lose their license or thrown in jail, and who advocated for the death of someone's preschool children over political disagreements, is just not payung attention.

There will be no voting backlash over rezoning, and if there is, it will be the election of people farther left than the current school board, not moderates.

The moderation ship has sailed for ffx.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was Crestwood.

Listening on line and the Board seems to not know what is going on or even to have any power. The consultants appear to be running the show.

That’s shocking. That wasn’t on any of the maps and they are pretty close to Lewis (well, all of Lewis’s boundaries are fairly close except perhaps the furthest ends of Saratoga).

Do we think this is some kind of move of Crestwood to WSHS and Hunt Valley to Lewis?

makes sense. HV is 200 more students than crestwood. so that adds students to Lewis which is underenrolled and reduces WSHS by 200 which is overenrolled. crestwood is also 50% FARMs and ESL while HV is like 10%. this helps with equitable outcomes between the schools.

Can someone explain how what they’re proposing to Halley and Gunston is equitable? They’re moving the Hagel Circle attendance island from Halley to Gunston (even though it’s still going to technically be an island). Hagel Circle is almost entirely FARMS. Halley will lose the majority of FARMS kids while Gunston will likely become a Title 1 school. In exchange for the increased students from Hagel Circle, they’re planning to move out a middle class neighborhood to Island Creek.

Bussing a low income neighborhood to a higher income school doesn’t work. Every neighborhood should be attending its closest school and this is extra true for lower income areas. Transportation is a real concern in high FARMS areas because not every household has a car, or maybe they only have 1 car for the whole household with multiple adults working in different areas. So if your kid misses the bus, there’s no way for them to get to school if walking isn’t realistic (which it absolutely is not from Hagel Circle to Halley). Parents are less likely to come to school conferences or events. Kids feel disconnected from the larger school community and it creates absenteeism.

I’m a South County parent although my kids are still in ES. If they move in Sangster’s small attendance island and most of HV south of the Parkway and don’t make any moves out, SCMS and HS are going to be overcrowded. No, I don’t really care which areas stay or go or come in to our boundaries in terms of the SES and which could give our school more “prestige,” I knew how the demographics were here when I bought and knew that it was a much larger income range compared to WS or Burke which seem more uniformly middle and UMC. But we can’t have a move in of a few hundred kids from WS and LB without a move out. Also worth noting there is significant room for development in Lorton - so a big new neighborhood could pop up at any moment, making the schools even more crowded and leading to “oops we need to make another boundary adjustment in 5-10 years” and a lot of instability.

The only elementary school within walking distance to Halley is Lorton Station. The Halley attendance island is carved from Lorton Station borders. Wouldn’t the solution be to send Halley to Lorton Station?

Walking distance, oh you mean a 40 min walk for an elementary kid? Oh and overcrowding, makes sense.. smh

It wouldn’t overcrowd Lorton Station ES, that school was built large with a capacity of close to 900 and right now has only 83% utilization. They could pick up another neighborhood. Gunston is smaller (capacity 650, also currently 83% utilization), older - built in the 1950s, someone upthread said it was also on well and septic which is typical of the Mason Neck area so you definitely don’t want to overcrowd it. And to pick up a large neighborhood like Hagel Circle they have to move some of their current neighborhoods out to Island Creek, which is much more associated with the Kingstowne area, would be a longer bus ride for the neighborhoods getting moved, and puts Island Creek at close to capacity as well. You end up with Island Creek and Gunston between 95-100% and leave the larger, newer Lorton Station still at only 83%.

So that makes sense huh, scenario 4 removed certain neighborhoods to make room for Hagel Circle at Gunston Elementary yet you are saying without any backing that it won't work? Most Lorton Station homes are assigned to Hayfield which is a 15 minute drive no traffic versus South County which is about a 7 minute drive. That is mainly because of the overcrowding.

Hagel Circle has always been associated with the Gunston Area, not Lorton Station. Lorton Station already serves three apartment complexes and most of the students come from Woods of Fairfax and Fields at Lorton Station. Adding 146 students would overcrowd it!

You really don't know what you are talking about. They will need to add trailers to accommodate that many students. If you look on the FCPS map, Lorton Station elementary serves a small area compared to other schools because of the large amount of students in the area. In addition, it currently has the most students compared to the other Lorton schools.

Please do more research prior to holding a certain position. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was Crestwood.

Listening on line and the Board seems to not know what is going on or even to have any power. The consultants appear to be running the show.

That’s shocking. That wasn’t on any of the maps and they are pretty close to Lewis (well, all of Lewis’s boundaries are fairly close except perhaps the furthest ends of Saratoga).

Do we think this is some kind of move of Crestwood to WSHS and Hunt Valley to Lewis?

makes sense. HV is 200 more students than crestwood. so that adds students to Lewis which is underenrolled and reduces WSHS by 200 which is overenrolled. crestwood is also 50% FARMs and ESL while HV is like 10%. this helps with equitable outcomes between the schools.

Can someone explain how what they’re proposing to Halley and Gunston is equitable? They’re moving the Hagel Circle attendance island from Halley to Gunston (even though it’s still going to technically be an island). Hagel Circle is almost entirely FARMS. Halley will lose the majority of FARMS kids while Gunston will likely become a Title 1 school. In exchange for the increased students from Hagel Circle, they’re planning to move out a middle class neighborhood to Island Creek.

Bussing a low income neighborhood to a higher income school doesn’t work. Every neighborhood should be attending its closest school and this is extra true for lower income areas. Transportation is a real concern in high FARMS areas because not every household has a car, or maybe they only have 1 car for the whole household with multiple adults working in different areas. So if your kid misses the bus, there’s no way for them to get to school if walking isn’t realistic (which it absolutely is not from Hagel Circle to Halley). Parents are less likely to come to school conferences or events. Kids feel disconnected from the larger school community and it creates absenteeism.

I’m a South County parent although my kids are still in ES. If they move in Sangster’s small attendance island and most of HV south of the Parkway and don’t make any moves out, SCMS and HS are going to be overcrowded. No, I don’t really care which areas stay or go or come in to our boundaries in terms of the SES and which could give our school more “prestige,” I knew how the demographics were here when I bought and knew that it was a much larger income range compared to WS or Burke which seem more uniformly middle and UMC. But we can’t have a move in of a few hundred kids from WS and LB without a move out. Also worth noting there is significant room for development in Lorton - so a big new neighborhood could pop up at any moment, making the schools even more crowded and leading to “oops we need to make another boundary adjustment in 5-10 years” and a lot of instability.

Moving the kids from Halley to Gunston will not move a single kid out of SCMS or HS, so not sure what point you’re trying to make. Gunston is already a split feeder with the Mason Neck students going to SCMS/HS since it opened. Moving the Hagel Circle attendance island to Lorton Station would move those students to Hayfield. Additionally, there is a walking path in the back of Hagel Circle that leads to Lorton Station - getting to Gunston involves crossing Route 1 and walking down Gunston Road which doesn’t have sidewalks.

Hagel circle is fenced in. There is no proper path from the back of Hagel Circle. There are no trespassing signs posted all along there sir

FCPS adds entrances to fences to allow elementary kids to walk to their neighborhood schools.

Surely FCPS could work with that development to find a way to create a safe walking path from Hagel Circle to Lorton Station.

Have you visited Hagel Circle yet? There is no path because there is a fence covering three sides. Trespassing signs posted everywhere. Those fence have been there for at least 20 years. Sidewalks can always be added but as of yet, there is no plan. Permits, permission from HOA, ect which is not an easy process would need to be given. Again, that is not an easy job.

Bus transportation is there and maybe the county could provide transportation for students who miss the bus. That might be an option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was Crestwood.

Listening on line and the Board seems to not know what is going on or even to have any power. The consultants appear to be running the show.

That’s shocking. That wasn’t on any of the maps and they are pretty close to Lewis (well, all of Lewis’s boundaries are fairly close except perhaps the furthest ends of Saratoga).

Do we think this is some kind of move of Crestwood to WSHS and Hunt Valley to Lewis?

makes sense. HV is 200 more students than crestwood. so that adds students to Lewis which is underenrolled and reduces WSHS by 200 which is overenrolled. crestwood is also 50% FARMs and ESL while HV is like 10%. this helps with equitable outcomes between the schools.

Can someone explain how what they’re proposing to Halley and Gunston is equitable? They’re moving the Hagel Circle attendance island from Halley to Gunston (even though it’s still going to technically be an island). Hagel Circle is almost entirely FARMS. Halley will lose the majority of FARMS kids while Gunston will likely become a Title 1 school. In exchange for the increased students from Hagel Circle, they’re planning to move out a middle class neighborhood to Island Creek.

Bussing a low income neighborhood to a higher income school doesn’t work. Every neighborhood should be attending its closest school and this is extra true for lower income areas. Transportation is a real concern in high FARMS areas because not every household has a car, or maybe they only have 1 car for the whole household with multiple adults working in different areas. So if your kid misses the bus, there’s no way for them to get to school if walking isn’t realistic (which it absolutely is not from Hagel Circle to Halley). Parents are less likely to come to school conferences or events. Kids feel disconnected from the larger school community and it creates absenteeism.

I’m a South County parent although my kids are still in ES. If they move in Sangster’s small attendance island and most of HV south of the Parkway and don’t make any moves out, SCMS and HS are going to be overcrowded. No, I don’t really care which areas stay or go or come in to our boundaries in terms of the SES and which could give our school more “prestige,” I knew how the demographics were here when I bought and knew that it was a much larger income range compared to WS or Burke which seem more uniformly middle and UMC. But we can’t have a move in of a few hundred kids from WS and LB without a move out. Also worth noting there is significant room for development in Lorton - so a big new neighborhood could pop up at any moment, making the schools even more crowded and leading to “oops we need to make another boundary adjustment in 5-10 years” and a lot of instability.

Moving the kids from Halley to Gunston will not move a single kid out of SCMS or HS, so not sure what point you’re trying to make. Gunston is already a split feeder with the Mason Neck students going to SCMS/HS since it opened. Moving the Hagel Circle attendance island to Lorton Station would move those students to Hayfield. Additionally, there is a walking path in the back of Hagel Circle that leads to Lorton Station - getting to Gunston involves crossing Route 1 and walking down Gunston Road which doesn’t have sidewalks.

Hagel circle is fenced in. There is no proper path from the back of Hagel Circle. There are no trespassing signs posted all along there sir

FCPS adds entrances to fences to allow elementary kids to walk to their neighborhood schools.

Surely FCPS could work with that development to find a way to create a safe walking path from Hagel Circle to Lorton Station.

DP, and I don’t know that that’s a walkable distance BUT it’s certainly closer than Halley, and probably a little easier on the bus than the trip to Gunston. I’d imagine the bus would go from Hagel Cir. a little down Rt. 1 to Gunston Cove/Lorton Market, which never seems to be a hugely busy road, and then onto Lorton Road and Lorton Station Elementary is right there.

Distance wise, there are both about the same from Hagel Circle. Easier to get to Gunston since you just take a left and it leads you right to Gunston Elementary. But the main point made at the last boundary meeting and parents from Gunston was that Hagel Circle was walkable. Dr. Reid was misled and the board members are being made aware that it is a 30-40 minute walk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ya'll need to wave the white flag, and accept whatever school the school board wants to send your kids to.

They received a resounding mandate last night to do whatever they want to do to your kids education (or lack thereof) however they want to do it, under any timeline, without grandfathering if need be.

They know that there will be zero consequences in the next election for rezoning anyone.

Read the tea leaves and save your energy.

What is: How to totally misread last night’s results for a thousand, Alex.

Now, in a couple of years if they clean sweep the school board elections, that would be a better signal.

Of course they will clean sweep the school board elections.

They know after last night that they have support to do whatever they want to do however they want to do it.

You all know you will vote them back into office no matter who runs, and they know it too.

Anyone who is fighting the rezoning is fairly delusional that their opinion matters to the school board. They know and you know that they will either get reelected, or someone far worse/more extreme/more left than them will get elected, no matter which neighborhoods get rezoned.

I don’t buy that for a second. There are areas that have successfully fought boundary changes through each turn of the map. And don’t forget, the puppet masters of the school board is the Democratic Party, and margins statewide are much much closer. Sure, maybe the bond passes 70-30 in Fairfax, but push too hard and vouchers statewide become a real possibility.

The schools with the most money and really loud voices are able to impact things. No one else.

The parents who vote with their feet, either moving to private or moving out of the county, over time, will significantly impact the school systems performance. It’s a slow but steady drip

Maybe, or perhaps the Forestville parents will just rent apartments in Tysons in 2031 when part of Langley gets moved to Herndon and claim it's their primary residence.

I suspect that's an empty threat, but even if they did the extra taxes paid for two residences without the burden of educating more kids and providing more services would be a nice bonus for the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was Crestwood.

Listening on line and the Board seems to not know what is going on or even to have any power. The consultants appear to be running the show.

That’s shocking. That wasn’t on any of the maps and they are pretty close to Lewis (well, all of Lewis’s boundaries are fairly close except perhaps the furthest ends of Saratoga).

Do we think this is some kind of move of Crestwood to WSHS and Hunt Valley to Lewis?

makes sense. HV is 200 more students than crestwood. so that adds students to Lewis which is underenrolled and reduces WSHS by 200 which is overenrolled. crestwood is also 50% FARMs and ESL while HV is like 10%. this helps with equitable outcomes between the schools.

Can someone explain how what they’re proposing to Halley and Gunston is equitable? They’re moving the Hagel Circle attendance island from Halley to Gunston (even though it’s still going to technically be an island). Hagel Circle is almost entirely FARMS. Halley will lose the majority of FARMS kids while Gunston will likely become a Title 1 school. In exchange for the increased students from Hagel Circle, they’re planning to move out a middle class neighborhood to Island Creek.

Bussing a low income neighborhood to a higher income school doesn’t work. Every neighborhood should be attending its closest school and this is extra true for lower income areas. Transportation is a real concern in high FARMS areas because not every household has a car, or maybe they only have 1 car for the whole household with multiple adults working in different areas. So if your kid misses the bus, there’s no way for them to get to school if walking isn’t realistic (which it absolutely is not from Hagel Circle to Halley). Parents are less likely to come to school conferences or events. Kids feel disconnected from the larger school community and it creates absenteeism.

I’m a South County parent although my kids are still in ES. If they move in Sangster’s small attendance island and most of HV south of the Parkway and don’t make any moves out, SCMS and HS are going to be overcrowded. No, I don’t really care which areas stay or go or come in to our boundaries in terms of the SES and which could give our school more “prestige,” I knew how the demographics were here when I bought and knew that it was a much larger income range compared to WS or Burke which seem more uniformly middle and UMC. But we can’t have a move in of a few hundred kids from WS and LB without a move out. Also worth noting there is significant room for development in Lorton - so a big new neighborhood could pop up at any moment, making the schools even more crowded and leading to “oops we need to make another boundary adjustment in 5-10 years” and a lot of instability.

Moving the kids from Halley to Gunston will not move a single kid out of SCMS or HS, so not sure what point you’re trying to make. Gunston is already a split feeder with the Mason Neck students going to SCMS/HS since it opened. Moving the Hagel Circle attendance island to Lorton Station would move those students to Hayfield. Additionally, there is a walking path in the back of Hagel Circle that leads to Lorton Station - getting to Gunston involves crossing Route 1 and walking down Gunston Road which doesn’t have sidewalks.

Hagel circle is fenced in. There is no proper path from the back of Hagel Circle. There are no trespassing signs posted all along there sir

FCPS adds entrances to fences to allow elementary kids to walk to their neighborhood schools.

Surely FCPS could work with that development to find a way to create a safe walking path from Hagel Circle to Lorton Station.

DP, and I don’t know that that’s a walkable distance BUT it’s certainly closer than Halley, and probably a little easier on the bus than the trip to Gunston. I’d imagine the bus would go from Hagel Cir. a little down Rt. 1 to Gunston Cove/Lorton Market, which never seems to be a hugely busy road, and then onto Lorton Road and Lorton Station Elementary is right there.

Distance wise, there are both about the same from Hagel Circle. Easier to get to Gunston since you just take a left and it leads you right to Gunston Elementary. But the main point made at the last boundary meeting and parents from Gunston was that Hagel Circle was walkable. Dr. Reid was misled and the board members are being made aware that it is a 30-40 minute walk.

Lorton Station is a much larger school than Gunston. The Gunston parents being forced out of Gunston to make room for the Hagel Circle by being moved to Island Creek are not happy. Halley’s Capacity will be at 68% without the Hagel Circle kids.

Suggestions:
1.) Add a gate to the back of Hagel Circle for the students to easily reach Lorton Station. This turns a 40 minute walk to 10 minutes. FCPS can facilitate this with the county.

2) Create an AAP center at Halley for the South County schools using Lorton Station. This will provide Lorton Station with the necessary capacity (despite them already currently having enough capacity without moving a single student) to accept the Hagel Circle students to their own neighborhood school.

Gunston families should not be sent to an elementary school much further away when Lorton Station is an option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was Crestwood.

Listening on line and the Board seems to not know what is going on or even to have any power. The consultants appear to be running the show.

That’s shocking. That wasn’t on any of the maps and they are pretty close to Lewis (well, all of Lewis’s boundaries are fairly close except perhaps the furthest ends of Saratoga).

Do we think this is some kind of move of Crestwood to WSHS and Hunt Valley to Lewis?

makes sense. HV is 200 more students than crestwood. so that adds students to Lewis which is underenrolled and reduces WSHS by 200 which is overenrolled. crestwood is also 50% FARMs and ESL while HV is like 10%. this helps with equitable outcomes between the schools.

Can someone explain how what they’re proposing to Halley and Gunston is equitable? They’re moving the Hagel Circle attendance island from Halley to Gunston (even though it’s still going to technically be an island). Hagel Circle is almost entirely FARMS. Halley will lose the majority of FARMS kids while Gunston will likely become a Title 1 school. In exchange for the increased students from Hagel Circle, they’re planning to move out a middle class neighborhood to Island Creek.

Bussing a low income neighborhood to a higher income school doesn’t work. Every neighborhood should be attending its closest school and this is extra true for lower income areas. Transportation is a real concern in high FARMS areas because not every household has a car, or maybe they only have 1 car for the whole household with multiple adults working in different areas. So if your kid misses the bus, there’s no way for them to get to school if walking isn’t realistic (which it absolutely is not from Hagel Circle to Halley). Parents are less likely to come to school conferences or events. Kids feel disconnected from the larger school community and it creates absenteeism.

I’m a South County parent although my kids are still in ES. If they move in Sangster’s small attendance island and most of HV south of the Parkway and don’t make any moves out, SCMS and HS are going to be overcrowded. No, I don’t really care which areas stay or go or come in to our boundaries in terms of the SES and which could give our school more “prestige,” I knew how the demographics were here when I bought and knew that it was a much larger income range compared to WS or Burke which seem more uniformly middle and UMC. But we can’t have a move in of a few hundred kids from WS and LB without a move out. Also worth noting there is significant room for development in Lorton - so a big new neighborhood could pop up at any moment, making the schools even more crowded and leading to “oops we need to make another boundary adjustment in 5-10 years” and a lot of instability.

Moving the kids from Halley to Gunston will not move a single kid out of SCMS or HS, so not sure what point you’re trying to make. Gunston is already a split feeder with the Mason Neck students going to SCMS/HS since it opened. Moving the Hagel Circle attendance island to Lorton Station would move those students to Hayfield. Additionally, there is a walking path in the back of Hagel Circle that leads to Lorton Station - getting to Gunston involves crossing Route 1 and walking down Gunston Road which doesn’t have sidewalks.

Hagel circle is fenced in. There is no proper path from the back of Hagel Circle. There are no trespassing signs posted all along there sir

FCPS adds entrances to fences to allow elementary kids to walk to their neighborhood schools.

Surely FCPS could work with that development to find a way to create a safe walking path from Hagel Circle to Lorton Station.

DP, and I don’t know that that’s a walkable distance BUT it’s certainly closer than Halley, and probably a little easier on the bus than the trip to Gunston. I’d imagine the bus would go from Hagel Cir. a little down Rt. 1 to Gunston Cove/Lorton Market, which never seems to be a hugely busy road, and then onto Lorton Road and Lorton Station Elementary is right there.

Distance wise, there are both about the same from Hagel Circle. Easier to get to Gunston since you just take a left and it leads you right to Gunston Elementary. But the main point made at the last boundary meeting and parents from Gunston was that Hagel Circle was walkable. Dr. Reid was misled and the board members are being made aware that it is a 30-40 minute walk.

Lorton Station is a much larger school than Gunston. The Gunston parents being forced out of Gunston to make room for the Hagel Circle by being moved to Island Creek are not happy. Halley’s Capacity will be at 68% without the Hagel Circle kids.

Suggestions:
1.) Add a gate to the back of Hagel Circle for the students to easily reach Lorton Station. This turns a 40 minute walk to 10 minutes. FCPS can facilitate this with the county.

2) Create an AAP center at Halley for the South County schools using Lorton Station. This will provide Lorton Station with the necessary capacity (despite them already currently having enough capacity without moving a single student) to accept the Hagel Circle students to their own neighborhood school.

Gunston families should not be sent to an elementary school much further away when Lorton Station is an option.

Go visit Hagel Circle before you make a suggestion.

1. The fence there separates Hagel Circle property from private property, not County Property. Good luck getting around that!
2. The fence also separates the businesses, good luck getting them to cooperate. That is also private property, not county property.
3. My child is in the AAP program, I’d like to keep him there. Why should Lorton station lose that because Gunston Parents don’t want Hagel Circle at Gunston Elementary?
4. Why do you keep mentioning “their own neighborhood school”? Hagel Circle has never been a part of Lorton Station, it’s still technically on what is referred to as Gunston land. Even the homes in Hagel Circle are called, “Terrace Town Homes of Gunston”. Half of Lorton Station is newly developed. Hagel Circle was zoned for Gunston Elementary before the change to Halley Elementary for many years so they have much more ties to Gunston Elementary than Lorton Station.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ya'll need to wave the white flag, and accept whatever school the school board wants to send your kids to.

They received a resounding mandate last night to do whatever they want to do to your kids education (or lack thereof) however they want to do it, under any timeline, without grandfathering if need be.

They know that there will be zero consequences in the next election for rezoning anyone.

Read the tea leaves and save your energy.

What is: How to totally misread last night’s results for a thousand, Alex.

Now, in a couple of years if they clean sweep the school board elections, that would be a better signal.

Of course they will clean sweep the school board elections.

They know after last night that they have support to do whatever they want to do however they want to do it.

You all know you will vote them back into office no matter who runs, and they know it too.

Anyone who is fighting the rezoning is fairly delusional that their opinion matters to the school board. They know and you know that they will either get reelected, or someone far worse/more extreme/more left than them will get elected, no matter which neighborhoods get rezoned.

I don’t buy that for a second. There are areas that have successfully fought boundary changes through each turn of the map. And don’t forget, the puppet masters of the school board is the Democratic Party, and margins statewide are much much closer. Sure, maybe the bond passes 70-30 in Fairfax, but push too hard and vouchers statewide become a real possibility.

The schools with the most money and really loud voices are able to impact things. No one else.

The parents who vote with their feet, either moving to private or moving out of the county, over time, will significantly impact the school systems performance. It’s a slow but steady drip

Maybe, or perhaps the Forestville parents will just rent apartments in Tysons in 2031 when part of Langley gets moved to Herndon and claim it's their primary residence.

I suspect that's an empty threat, but even if they did the extra taxes paid for two residences without the burden of educating more kids and providing more services would be a nice bonus for the county.

Given the drive-by murder of the Herndon high student after receiving death threats at Herndon High from his classmates, I think any sane parent whose kid was moved to the school would do whatever they could to make sure there kid doesn’t go to HHS. That coincidentally, is probably why enrollment is decreasing at the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was Crestwood.

Listening on line and the Board seems to not know what is going on or even to have any power. The consultants appear to be running the show.

That’s shocking. That wasn’t on any of the maps and they are pretty close to Lewis (well, all of Lewis’s boundaries are fairly close except perhaps the furthest ends of Saratoga).

Do we think this is some kind of move of Crestwood to WSHS and Hunt Valley to Lewis?

makes sense. HV is 200 more students than crestwood. so that adds students to Lewis which is underenrolled and reduces WSHS by 200 which is overenrolled. crestwood is also 50% FARMs and ESL while HV is like 10%. this helps with equitable outcomes between the schools.

Can someone explain how what they’re proposing to Halley and Gunston is equitable? They’re moving the Hagel Circle attendance island from Halley to Gunston (even though it’s still going to technically be an island). Hagel Circle is almost entirely FARMS. Halley will lose the majority of FARMS kids while Gunston will likely become a Title 1 school. In exchange for the increased students from Hagel Circle, they’re planning to move out a middle class neighborhood to Island Creek.

Bussing a low income neighborhood to a higher income school doesn’t work. Every neighborhood should be attending its closest school and this is extra true for lower income areas. Transportation is a real concern in high FARMS areas because not every household has a car, or maybe they only have 1 car for the whole household with multiple adults working in different areas. So if your kid misses the bus, there’s no way for them to get to school if walking isn’t realistic (which it absolutely is not from Hagel Circle to Halley). Parents are less likely to come to school conferences or events. Kids feel disconnected from the larger school community and it creates absenteeism.

I’m a South County parent although my kids are still in ES. If they move in Sangster’s small attendance island and most of HV south of the Parkway and don’t make any moves out, SCMS and HS are going to be overcrowded. No, I don’t really care which areas stay or go or come in to our boundaries in terms of the SES and which could give our school more “prestige,” I knew how the demographics were here when I bought and knew that it was a much larger income range compared to WS or Burke which seem more uniformly middle and UMC. But we can’t have a move in of a few hundred kids from WS and LB without a move out. Also worth noting there is significant room for development in Lorton - so a big new neighborhood could pop up at any moment, making the schools even more crowded and leading to “oops we need to make another boundary adjustment in 5-10 years” and a lot of instability.

Moving the kids from Halley to Gunston will not move a single kid out of SCMS or HS, so not sure what point you’re trying to make. Gunston is already a split feeder with the Mason Neck students going to SCMS/HS since it opened. Moving the Hagel Circle attendance island to Lorton Station would move those students to Hayfield. Additionally, there is a walking path in the back of Hagel Circle that leads to Lorton Station - getting to Gunston involves crossing Route 1 and walking down Gunston Road which doesn’t have sidewalks.

Hagel circle is fenced in. There is no proper path from the back of Hagel Circle. There are no trespassing signs posted all along there sir

FCPS adds entrances to fences to allow elementary kids to walk to their neighborhood schools.

Surely FCPS could work with that development to find a way to create a safe walking path from Hagel Circle to Lorton Station.

DP, and I don’t know that that’s a walkable distance BUT it’s certainly closer than Halley, and probably a little easier on the bus than the trip to Gunston. I’d imagine the bus would go from Hagel Cir. a little down Rt. 1 to Gunston Cove/Lorton Market, which never seems to be a hugely busy road, and then onto Lorton Road and Lorton Station Elementary is right there.

Distance wise, there are both about the same from Hagel Circle. Easier to get to Gunston since you just take a left and it leads you right to Gunston Elementary. But the main point made at the last boundary meeting and parents from Gunston was that Hagel Circle was walkable. Dr. Reid was misled and the board members are being made aware that it is a 30-40 minute walk.

Lorton Station is a much larger school than Gunston. The Gunston parents being forced out of Gunston to make room for the Hagel Circle by being moved to Island Creek are not happy. Halley’s Capacity will be at 68% without the Hagel Circle kids.

Suggestions:
1.) Add a gate to the back of Hagel Circle for the students to easily reach Lorton Station. This turns a 40 minute walk to 10 minutes. FCPS can facilitate this with the county.

2) Create an AAP center at Halley for the South County schools using Lorton Station. This will provide Lorton Station with the necessary capacity (despite them already currently having enough capacity without moving a single student) to accept the Hagel Circle students to their own neighborhood school.

Gunston families should not be sent to an elementary school much further away when Lorton Station is an option.

Go visit Hagel Circle before you make a suggestion.

1. The fence there separates Hagel Circle property from private property, not County Property. Good luck getting around that!
2. The fence also separates the businesses, good luck getting them to cooperate. That is also private property, not county property.
3. My child is in the AAP program, I’d like to keep him there. Why should Lorton station lose that because Gunston Parents don’t want Hagel Circle at Gunston Elementary?
4. Why do you keep mentioning “their own neighborhood school”? Hagel Circle has never been a part of Lorton Station, it’s still technically on what is referred to as Gunston land. Even the homes in Hagel Circle are called, “Terrace Town Homes of Gunston”. Half of Lorton Station is newly developed. Hagel Circle was zoned for Gunston Elementary before the change to Halley Elementary for many years so they have much more ties to Gunston Elementary than Lorton Station.

No one is saying that the AAP center at Lorton Station should be taken away. It’s a shared center for Hayfield/SoCo. Give SoCo its own with the extra capacity at Halley. Or better yet get rid of AAP centers entirely so that you don’t have this capacity nonsense.

Also, the only reason Hagel Circle was zoned for Gunston was because it’s an older neighborhood that existed prior to Lorton Station being built. It’s physically part of the Lorton Station area. Gunston is the oldest elementary school in Lorton, it used to be the only school for Lorton so your argument holds little weight. The school board knows this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was Crestwood.

Listening on line and the Board seems to not know what is going on or even to have any power. The consultants appear to be running the show.

That’s shocking. That wasn’t on any of the maps and they are pretty close to Lewis (well, all of Lewis’s boundaries are fairly close except perhaps the furthest ends of Saratoga).

Do we think this is some kind of move of Crestwood to WSHS and Hunt Valley to Lewis?

makes sense. HV is 200 more students than crestwood. so that adds students to Lewis which is underenrolled and reduces WSHS by 200 which is overenrolled. crestwood is also 50% FARMs and ESL while HV is like 10%. this helps with equitable outcomes between the schools.

Can someone explain how what they’re proposing to Halley and Gunston is equitable? They’re moving the Hagel Circle attendance island from Halley to Gunston (even though it’s still going to technically be an island). Hagel Circle is almost entirely FARMS. Halley will lose the majority of FARMS kids while Gunston will likely become a Title 1 school. In exchange for the increased students from Hagel Circle, they’re planning to move out a middle class neighborhood to Island Creek.

Bussing a low income neighborhood to a higher income school doesn’t work. Every neighborhood should be attending its closest school and this is extra true for lower income areas. Transportation is a real concern in high FARMS areas because not every household has a car, or maybe they only have 1 car for the whole household with multiple adults working in different areas. So if your kid misses the bus, there’s no way for them to get to school if walking isn’t realistic (which it absolutely is not from Hagel Circle to Halley). Parents are less likely to come to school conferences or events. Kids feel disconnected from the larger school community and it creates absenteeism.

I’m a South County parent although my kids are still in ES. If they move in Sangster’s small attendance island and most of HV south of the Parkway and don’t make any moves out, SCMS and HS are going to be overcrowded. No, I don’t really care which areas stay or go or come in to our boundaries in terms of the SES and which could give our school more “prestige,” I knew how the demographics were here when I bought and knew that it was a much larger income range compared to WS or Burke which seem more uniformly middle and UMC. But we can’t have a move in of a few hundred kids from WS and LB without a move out. Also worth noting there is significant room for development in Lorton - so a big new neighborhood could pop up at any moment, making the schools even more crowded and leading to “oops we need to make another boundary adjustment in 5-10 years” and a lot of instability.

Moving the kids from Halley to Gunston will not move a single kid out of SCMS or HS, so not sure what point you’re trying to make. Gunston is already a split feeder with the Mason Neck students going to SCMS/HS since it opened. Moving the Hagel Circle attendance island to Lorton Station would move those students to Hayfield. Additionally, there is a walking path in the back of Hagel Circle that leads to Lorton Station - getting to Gunston involves crossing Route 1 and walking down Gunston Road which doesn’t have sidewalks.

Hagel circle is fenced in. There is no proper path from the back of Hagel Circle. There are no trespassing signs posted all along there sir

FCPS adds entrances to fences to allow elementary kids to walk to their neighborhood schools.

Surely FCPS could work with that development to find a way to create a safe walking path from Hagel Circle to Lorton Station.

DP, and I don’t know that that’s a walkable distance BUT it’s certainly closer than Halley, and probably a little easier on the bus than the trip to Gunston. I’d imagine the bus would go from Hagel Cir. a little down Rt. 1 to Gunston Cove/Lorton Market, which never seems to be a hugely busy road, and then onto Lorton Road and Lorton Station Elementary is right there.

Distance wise, there are both about the same from Hagel Circle. Easier to get to Gunston since you just take a left and it leads you right to Gunston Elementary. But the main point made at the last boundary meeting and parents from Gunston was that Hagel Circle was walkable. Dr. Reid was misled and the board members are being made aware that it is a 30-40 minute walk.

Lorton Station is a much larger school than Gunston. The Gunston parents being forced out of Gunston to make room for the Hagel Circle by being moved to Island Creek are not happy. Halley’s Capacity will be at 68% without the Hagel Circle kids.

Suggestions:
1.) Add a gate to the back of Hagel Circle for the students to easily reach Lorton Station. This turns a 40 minute walk to 10 minutes. FCPS can facilitate this with the county.

2) Create an AAP center at Halley for the South County schools using Lorton Station. This will provide Lorton Station with the necessary capacity (despite them already currently having enough capacity without moving a single student) to accept the Hagel Circle students to their own neighborhood school.

Gunston families should not be sent to an elementary school much further away when Lorton Station is an option.

Go visit Hagel Circle before you make a suggestion.

1. The fence there separates Hagel Circle property from private property, not County Property. Good luck getting around that!
2. The fence also separates the businesses, good luck getting them to cooperate. That is also private property, not county property.
3. My child is in the AAP program, I’d like to keep him there. Why should Lorton station lose that because Gunston Parents don’t want Hagel Circle at Gunston Elementary?
4. Why do you keep mentioning “their own neighborhood school”? Hagel Circle has never been a part of Lorton Station, it’s still technically on what is referred to as Gunston land. Even the homes in Hagel Circle are called, “Terrace Town Homes of Gunston”. Half of Lorton Station is newly developed. Hagel Circle was zoned for Gunston Elementary before the change to Halley Elementary for many years so they have much more ties to Gunston Elementary than Lorton Station.

No one is saying that the AAP center at Lorton Station should be taken away. It’s a shared center for Hayfield/SoCo. Give SoCo its own with the extra capacity at Halley. Or better yet get rid of AAP centers entirely so that you don’t have this capacity nonsense.

Also, the only reason Hagel Circle was zoned for Gunston was because it’s an older neighborhood that existed prior to Lorton Station being built. It’s physically part of the Lorton Station area. Gunston is the oldest elementary school in Lorton, it used to be the only school for Lorton so your argument holds little weight. The school board knows this.

If you study your response, or anyone that is reasonable, you can see your argument makes no sense. What does “physically a part of the Lorton Station area” mean? Look on the map and you will see exactly where Lorton Station is, it’s not part of or connected to Hagel Circle.

You’re missing the point, Hagel Circle is fenced in. There is no way there except for a long walk between 30-40 min.

Stop dragging this nonsense by trying to push Hagel Circle out of Gunston Elementary. It’s not right and actually it’s discriminatory. You know the real reason why it’s being done and once again, if analyzed, not one of the arguments made on the 22nd of October held any weight. Dr. Reid, parents, and other FCPS officials were misled about the walkability aspect of it.

[Anonymous]

What is next step on boundaries so we will see revisions to scenario 4?

[Anonymous]

When are the next meetings?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When are the next meetings?

There aren't any. The next maps will come out and if you want to comment on them, you'll probably have to use that boundary tool. They didn't promise meetings after every iteration of the map came out. I think there will be one last meeting in Dec. or Jan. when the school board accepts feedback on the final map and that's it.