FCPS comprehensive boundary review

[Anonymous]

Just curious: are new high density developments suddenly having the school overcrowding impacts or projections that the county brushes off when approving these developments each time?

[Anonymous]

Why does Woodson have three reps?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why does Woodson have three reps?

Because they had to find a place for one of their pet suck ups of course! I invite you to do a search on your preferred search engine for each person + Fairfax and then realize one of these things is not like the other, as the old song goes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So it appears this GIS tool is designed to play around with boundaries on a map to "capture" the right amount of non-poor kids just outside of an existing low-SES HS boundary.

The options to make this whole thing work appear to be:
1) cut over entire high SES elementary schools to adjacent low-SES pyramid
pros: only affects a concentrated localized population
cons: maximum disruption to that population
2) adjust the majority of ES boundaries across multiple pyramids to 'equitize' two adjacent high schools
pros: maintains proximity, community, transportation
cons: highest level of disruption, potentially affects all not living a stone's throw from elementary school
3) low-SES high school pyramid captures adjacent high-SES high school student population,
pros: minimizes the breadth of population disruption within donor pyramids
cons: maximizes negative impact on that population (proximity, community, transportation)

The unspoken con for each of these options is that it results in papering up the low-SES high school to mask instead of help its failing student population.

I am in the WSHS pyramid and am thinking how terrible the consequences could be for a Hunt Valley family that is told either Saratoga is their new ES, or HVES is now cutover to Lewis.

This just made it more obvious that HVES will shift to Lewis.

Didn’t HVES go to Lewis before South County opened, or at least a portion of it? I was researching the redistricting that occurred when South County was built and HV had been pushing to be included in South County. It was ultimately decided that Mason Neck would be zoned to South County instead because the kids had close to an hour long one way bus ride to get to Hayfield and South County is much closer geographically to Mason Neck. However, as a compromise to HV (either the whole school or a neighborhood- they were rezoned from Lewis to WSHS.) This situation has been created over the past 20 years by continuing to move middle class areas out of Lewis.

All of Hunt Valley was an original WSHS school since HV opened in 1969. WSHS opened in 1966 and HV 3 years later.

All of HV has always been zoned for WSHS, except for a short stint when a small portion of it off Gambrill was a split feeder to Lewis.

The split feeder was corrected in the early 2000s when South County opened.

The vast majority of Hunt Valley remained a WSHS feeder, as it always has been since it opened over 50 years ago.

Most of Hunt Valley has spent the entirety of its 55 year existence zoned for WSHS.

A small portion of Hunt Valley off Gambrill road has spent the majority of its time, more than 40 years, zoned for WSHS and a small portion as a split feeder to Lee, around 15 years.

Saratoga Mom claiming that Hunt Valley is historically a Lewis feeder is just wrong and spreading mistruths.

Those Gambrill neighborhoods weren't a small portion. Gambrill mom is nervous. Those kids didn't shift because of South County. They didn't want to go to Lee anymore because it was starting its downward trajectory with a certain demographic moving in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Committee members are up!

https://www.fcps.edu/members-superintendents-boundary-review-advisory-committee

Anyone see anything particularly interesting?

BOTH of the picks from WSHS are from Hunt Valley

Haha. I bet they are.

As a HVES parent I would like to personally thank the fake news article that lit a fire within our community.

Hopefully, some other WSHS parents will catch on and stop the process. It can’t possibly be fair when 2 people from the same school will push the rest of us out.

I don't know - I would hope they'd advocate for no one to have to leave WSHS.

Nope. Those HVES moms will push to save themselves, but push out WSES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Committee members are up!

https://www.fcps.edu/members-superintendents-boundary-review-advisory-committee

Anyone see anything particularly interesting?

BOTH of the picks from WSHS are from Hunt Valley

Haha. I bet they are.

As a HVES parent I would like to personally thank the fake news article that lit a fire within our community.

Hopefully, some other WSHS parents will catch on and stop the process. It can’t possibly be fair when 2 people from the same school will push the rest of us out.

I don't know - I would hope they'd advocate for no one to have to leave WSHS.

Nope. Those HVES moms will push to save themselves, but push out WSES.

But neither of those moves makes sense when they could take the Keene Mill attendance island and give the whole thing to White Oaks/Lake Braddock. Some of the island already goes KM-LBSS anyway! It’s a much less disruptive move even if there is some cascading on LB’s other elementary schools. (And I’m not firmly convinced anyone needs to be moved out of WSHS - I don’t have kids there or in the WS pyramid, but my friends who do say the school doesn’t feel overcrowded due to the renovations.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think the committee was chosen at random.

It is clear that there is an agenda--and it is not academic excellence.

That's why they had a law firm involved. You'll never know because they'll claim privilege in response to any FOIA requests for the selection process documents

[Anonymous]

Serious question: Do they not understand that their tax base will go down? They cry for more money, but use it in foolish ways that do not help. This is going to pit neighborhood against neighborhood. Property values will start dropping because people like certainty and will look for other options--other counties or move out of the area totally. And, this will be before a decision is made.

The Board of Supervisors needs to get on board right away and stop this fiasco.

I'm not even sure what they hope to accomplish with this mess. It appears that there will be a massive shift. I live in Western Fairfax, but can read the tea leaves. They will start with Langley and the dominoes will start falling around the beltway and Fairfax County Parkway. In order to fill Langley without Great Falls, this will be necessary.
With IB Schools/AP schools and no grandfathering of current students, a huge mess will be created. At the other end, they will do something with West Potomac/Mount Vernon and I am not sure what happens when the dominoes fall against one another in the Annandale/Falls Church area.

On the outer areas, Herndon to South County, there is less extreme poverty as you go around the outer edge. So, I assume they will have to go inward. Do these people designing this have any idea of traffic patterns? Doubt it.

The problem is--as I see it--that they cannot move some of the very poor neighborhoods to successful schools without huge busing issues.

WAPO is reporting today that Youngkin is pushing vouchers. Will he succeed? I've no idea. I've always been a proponent of public education. However, I also have experience in busing and I know it seldom works.

Where is the common sense in this?

I think we all want ALL of the schools to succeed. This is NOT the answer.

What a mess!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Serious question: Do they not understand that their tax base will go down? They cry for more money, but use it in foolish ways that do not help. This is going to pit neighborhood against neighborhood. Property values will start dropping because people like certainty and will look for other options--other counties or move out of the area totally. And, this will be before a decision is made.

The Board of Supervisors needs to get on board right away and stop this fiasco.

I'm not even sure what they hope to accomplish with this mess. It appears that there will be a massive shift. I live in Western Fairfax, but can read the tea leaves. They will start with Langley and the dominoes will start falling around the beltway and Fairfax County Parkway. In order to fill Langley without Great Falls, this will be necessary.
With IB Schools/AP schools and no grandfathering of current students, a huge mess will be created. At the other end, they will do something with West Potomac/Mount Vernon and I am not sure what happens when the dominoes fall against one another in the Annandale/Falls Church area.

On the outer areas, Herndon to South County, there is less extreme poverty as you go around the outer edge. So, I assume they will have to go inward. Do these people designing this have any idea of traffic patterns? Doubt it.

The problem is--as I see it--that they cannot move some of the very poor neighborhoods to successful schools without huge busing issues.

WAPO is reporting today that Youngkin is pushing vouchers. Will he succeed? I've no idea. I've always been a proponent of public education. However, I also have experience in busing and I know it seldom works.

Where is the common sense in this?

I think we all want ALL of the schools to succeed. This is NOT the answer.

What a mess!

All of this seems crazy. As for the Falls Church piece, they have the Camelot island (should go to Woodson but props Falls Church HS) - I think that islands will be kept at poor performing schools but not at the high performing schools. Langley is most certainly the focal point. I think a lot of other schools will be fall out.

[Anonymous]

If vouchers were allowed not sure how that would impact all of this in FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If vouchers were allowed not sure how that would impact all of this in FCPS.

There will be growth in private schools, I suspect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If vouchers were allowed not sure how that would impact all of this in FCPS.

There will be growth in private schools, I suspect.

The vouchers proposed are not a lot and only for low income. The public schools are up in arms, that it will eventually mean less money for them down the road.

But, FCPS appears to be wasting money on attorneys, private firms, etc. instead of focusing on the education. There are some items that should be worked into the boundary review.

1. Address confirmation. There are many families that are using fake addresses for a variety of reasons (not just sports).
2. Evaluate IB programs - cost/benefit and the transfers it allows.
3. I would also say look at TJ, but that is their former success story that they are currently destroying
4. AP Centers should be evaluated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If vouchers were allowed not sure how that would impact all of this in FCPS.

There will be growth in private schools, I suspect.

The vouchers proposed are not a lot and only for low income. The public schools are up in arms, that it will eventually mean less money for them down the road.

But, FCPS appears to be wasting money on attorneys, private firms, etc. instead of focusing on the education. There are some items that should be worked into the boundary review.

1. Address confirmation. There are many families that are using fake addresses for a variety of reasons (not just sports).
2. Evaluate IB programs - cost/benefit and the transfers it allows.
3. I would also say look at TJ, but that is their former success story that they are currently destroying
4. AP Centers should be evaluated.

Meren concluded the meeting yesterday by asking for support for the bond in November 2025. Maybe she was signaling to the rest of board that the boundary changes and support for school funding are intricately linked.

Will the school board continue down the F around and find out path, or will they take the sensible approach and not alternate voters in advance of an election?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If vouchers were allowed not sure how that would impact all of this in FCPS.

There will be growth in private schools, I suspect.

I think it's hilarious that people think the private schools around here want/will accept their kids. Go ahead and take your voucher and see how far it gets you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does Woodson have three reps?

Because they had to find a place for one of their pet suck ups of course! I invite you to do a search on your preferred search engine for each person + Fairfax and then realize one of these things is not like the other, as the old song goes.

The third Woodson rep has been shilling for boundary changes affecting other pyramids for years while asserting it would be wrong to redistrict Mantua, her own community ES. This process has no credibility when they make space for party hacks with an agenda like her. They can forget about the public ever accepting the results of such an obviously tainted process.