FCPS' plans to address concerns at under-enrolled and over-enrolled schools.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What about the homeowners and non-ESL students that live in the Lewis boundaries? They should be forced to move to other schools and see their home values suffer? Doesn't seem right to me.

Wtf are you babbling about? How would their home values suffer going to a better performing school with more kids? Seems like it would be a win for them.

But, to be fair, I don’t think they should have to move if they don’t want to. 1,500 students is only a critical shortfall if you are trying to make a blatant equity play. It’s the people in Lewis pyramid trying to bolster their own house value at the expense of their neighbors.

I'm asking why people in the Lewis pyramid who are not ESL should have to transfer to other schools to find similar cohorts and challenging classes. That is the situation now and will continue to be unless something is done to help the school. Why are some pyramids designated as the permanent home of the poor and ESL populations? That is how FCPS is treating them. How is that fair to the homeowners in the Lewis pyramid? They moved higher income areas from Gambrill Road and Daventry to West Springfield. That helped their property values. Was that fair to the homeowners still zoned to Lewis? Maybe some people are tired of being dumped on.

Did you not know your school pyramid before you bought your house?

And as for being dumped on, yeah, FCPS families are overwhelmingly tired of this boundary change crap. The school board wasted years on it instead of working to improve the school system. The opportunity cost is through the roof on boundary changes, and they’re going to run it back in four years. It’s insanity.

I’m so tired of this argument. So the “poors” should be the ones that suffer and their kids get a worse education than others?
Things will never be truly equal, but comparing Lewis to say Langley is a huge difference. Why should people in the Lewis pyramid have their backs turned on them by the school board because “they’re too poor to buy a house in a better neighborhood”

And by example, we bought our house in the Lewis pyramid in 2020 thinking we’d move when our kids are older, or things could change in the next ten-ish years. Fast forward to now, we’ve got a kid in kindergarten at Springfield Estates, which is a very good school, but it looks like the school board gives zero Fs about Key and Lewis. We have a very low interest rate on our mortgage, one spouse is fed, and one is a contractor. Mortgage rates are now high, prices are high, gas is expensive, food is expensive. Fed feels like they could be RIFed at any moment. But I guess according to DCUM trolls we should just move in order to have our kids get an equitable education? Noted, sounds so easy I’ll hop right on that. /s

Yes, this is exactly what you can expect to hear from this crowd…

“Suck it up”
“You knew what schools you were zoned for 15 years ago when you bought and should not have expected any improvement”
“Lewis is thriving as a small school!”
“It shouldn’t matter that the school can’t fill basic sports, academic programs”
“ MENTAL HEALTH!”
“Just give it a few more years…”

We pulled our kid last year and are in the process of moving.

Make sure you check out the schools that your new home is zoned for so that you don’t have to continue to try to mooch off your neighbors there. Life is easier when you put in the effort on the front end.

Bon voyage!

+1. The PP took a gamble on buying a house zoned for the worst high school in Fairfax County. They could have either purchased less house in a more well regarded school, but they chose not too. They even acknowledge that they knew about the issues with the school when they purchased. Sorry, let me get out my violin for you. My house has downsides, but when we purchased the number 1 consideration was the schools. That area of Fairfax County was a nonstarter.

I’m not disputing your points. I also didn’t ask for sympathy, and the “we win, you lose” tone isn’t helpful.

We live in a 1200 sq ft townhouse, which is what we could afford. The idea that we should have “downgraded” more, or somehow predicted this, isn’t realistic.

We moved to the county expecting access to good schools. Instead, we’re watching our assigned school fall continue to fall behind with little action to address it. That’s the issue.

If your kids are in a good position, great for you. But dismissing other families’ concerns instead of pushing for better across the board is part of the problem.

DP. Here’s the thing - if you seek to improve your schools by messing with my kids, I will fight you every damn step of the way. I don’t dismiss your concerns, but boundary changes just hurt a lot of people AND degrades the entire school system. If the school system wanted to fix your school without using our kids as their resource, then it would have my full support.

Equity redistricting just doesn’t work.

I like a lot of Lewis parents are advocating to fix problems at the school first without any redistricting involved. The problem is that the school board is turning their backs on them.

But also to play devils advocate, since apparently DCUM is under the impression that you need to pick your home 20 years in advance in a good school district, if you think your kids have a chance of being moved, then maybe you should have foreseen this possibility and moved within an inch of your favored high school. Boundaries are never set in stone. Sorry you’re one of the poors that picked a house on the edge of your boundary.

DP - if you share what the Lewis parents want the school board to do, maybe we can help advocate on your behalf.

Literally read through this thread. Big things are remove IB at Lewis and add AAP to Key.

Are you the Lewis parent? I know this may be what other people think Lewis needs, but what I asked was what Lewis parents think Lewis needs.

Lewis parents and staff told the district what they wanted/needed in a new principal and were flatly ignored.

What did you tell them? Misery loves company?

Wouldn’t it be better to try to improve the school instead? If you build it, they will come.

We told them we specifically wanted someone with classroom experience, not just another admin lifer. So they gave us an admin lifer, one who was handpicked by central even though they claimed a nationwide search.

Didn't Lewis just get a new principal? People are raving about her.

Define “people” please. She was the initial committee’s last choice, so they restarted a “nationwide” search and put her and 2 even worse candidates up.

She’s exactly the same as the previous principal, except she speaks Spanish. Zero classroom experience. Plus ca change…

Sorry, but Lewis parents on the big neighborhood fb page are raving about her. They are over the moon excited to have her as the new Lewis principal.

[Anonymous]

Anyone planning to attend/listen to the boundary review meeting tonight regarding WSHS?

[Anonymous]

Tonight's meeting at WSHS discusses the following:

Boundary Study #5 focuses on the pyramid alignment for certain students assigned to Rolling Valley ES. This study is led by Marcy Kneale, Assistant Superintendent (Strategy, Planning, and Learning) for FCPS.

During the comprehensive boundary review, FCPS sought to eliminate as many split feeders as possible, to include the split feeder at Rolling Valley ES. Historically, some students were assigned to the Lewis HS pyramid and others to the West Springfield HS pyramid. To eliminate the split feeder, FCPS established a new school boundary along the Fairfax County Parkway. Students living south of the Parkway were reassigned to Saratoga ES, which is part of the Lewis HS pyramid. With the exception of a single Student Planning Area (SPA), students living north of the Parkway were assigned to the West Springfield HS pyramid. Boundary Study #5 focuses on the remaining SPA north of the Parkway, which is assigned to the Lewis HS pyramid.

Through community meetings, local residents raised a host of concerns, to include:

- Overcrowding at Irving MS (108%) and West Springfield HS (114%); and
- Underenrollment at Key MS (72%) and Lewis HS (81%).

These issues necessitated additional time to conduct a thorough study, develop options for potential boundary changes and/or pyramid realignments, and hold additional community meetings.

[Anonymous]

So what is the point of the meeting? Are they really going to take students from very unenrolled schools to move them into schools that are over enrolled???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So what is the point of the meeting? Are they really going to take students from very unenrolled schools to move them into schools that are over enrolled???

Yup, the point of the whole meeting is to move kids from under-enrolled Lewis to over-enrolled West Springfield. It defies all logic, but that's what they're going to talk about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what is the point of the meeting? Are they really going to take students from very unenrolled schools to move them into schools that are over enrolled???

Yup, the point of the whole meeting is to move kids from under-enrolled Lewis to over-enrolled West Springfield. It defies all logic, but that's what they're going to talk about.

And move other kids out of WSHS to make room for them. Because no one thinks they'll continued to have 16-17 kids or whatever coming from 150+ townhomes if the neighborhood gets rezoned to WSHS.

[Anonymous]

Except they didn’t even really talk about that. Just a bunch of parents saying show us you understand our community and the guy saying “add it to the comment link”. It felt like a major waste of time - just more people
Airing grievances so FCPS can say they had the opportunity to be heard

[Anonymous]

There was someone who mentioned the BRAC. I totally forgot about them. Are they the same people? What are they doing now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone planning to attend/listen to the boundary review meeting tonight regarding WSHS?

It’s pretty much the same as the last year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was someone who mentioned the BRAC. I totally forgot about them. Are they the same people? What are they doing now?

From The former BRAC members I spoke to, they all got as far away from this as possible and hope to never be involved again. Not bc they didn’t want to help their community but bc It was not worth it for their mental health to deal with parents personally attacking them. I guess a few stayed on for this 5 year cycle but probably not from “hot spot” areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was someone who mentioned the BRAC. I totally forgot about them. Are they the same people? What are they doing now?

From The former BRAC members I spoke to, they all got as far away from this as possible and hope to never be involved again. Not bc they didn’t want to help their community but bc It was not worth it for their mental health to deal with parents personally attacking them. I guess a few stayed on for this 5 year cycle but probably not from “hot spot” areas.

I saw the two from the LB were present. Maybe others? Is there a list with the current BRAC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was someone who mentioned the BRAC. I totally forgot about them. Are they the same people? What are they doing now?

From The former BRAC members I spoke to, they all got as far away from this as possible and hope to never be involved again. Not bc they didn’t want to help their community but bc It was not worth it for their mental health to deal with parents personally attacking them. I guess a few stayed on for this 5 year cycle but probably not from “hot spot” areas.

Someone commented that for this iteration they need to get new BRAC to represent the affected communities.

[Anonymous]

The idea that two people from each pyramid could represent their pyramid without bias is flawed.

[Anonymous]

The last I heard, the BRAC was down to a “skeleton crew” of a smaller number of permanent committee members. I’d assume that means that all the community volunteers are off it in favor of the Gatehouse staff only.

[Anonymous]

Did it sound like they were going to move those Rolling Valley townhouses to WSHS (from Key/Lewis)? I think in the approved boundary version they were at RV/Key/Lewis.