FCPS Boundary Review - New Maps

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BRAC meetings on Aug 5th and Sept for latest maps

Updates on new changes

What were the top 3 BRAC priorities by Region and when will the new maps be out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It really does sound like some BRAC members are clueless. That’s a result of FCPS and Thru Consulting not being clear as to the basis for Thru’s June 2025 recommendations and then not providing answers to follow-up questions or requested data.

The ultimate responsibility for this mess doesn’t lie with individual BRAC members but instead with Michelle Reid for orchestrating such a flawed process and with the School Board for allowing it to happen. The incompetence on display is truly staggering.

+1

She has botched this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really does sound like some BRAC members are clueless. That’s a result of FCPS and Thru Consulting not being clear as to the basis for Thru’s June 2025 recommendations and then not providing answers to follow-up questions or requested data.

The ultimate responsibility for this mess doesn’t lie with individual BRAC members but instead with Michelle Reid for orchestrating such a flawed process and with the School Board for allowing it to happen. The incompetence on display is truly staggering.

+1

She has botched this.

Lack of common sense.

Asking for volunteers to be on redistricting committee. Now, tell me, why would people volunteer? Because they are concerned about their own neighborhood boundaries. This is not rocket science. Both of my pyramid reps live on the same outer edge of my pyramid. I live on the opposite end of the boundary (it is a compact boundary compared to many.) But, these people have no idea beyond their own area.

The process made it "seem" fair, but it is basically a lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really does sound like some BRAC members are clueless. That’s a result of FCPS and Thru Consulting not being clear as to the basis for Thru’s June 2025 recommendations and then not providing answers to follow-up questions or requested data.

The ultimate responsibility for this mess doesn’t lie with individual BRAC members but instead with Michelle Reid for orchestrating such a flawed process and with the School Board for allowing it to happen. The incompetence on display is truly staggering.

+1

She has botched this.

Lack of common sense.

Asking for volunteers to be on redistricting committee. Now, tell me, why would people volunteer? Because they are concerned about their own neighborhood boundaries. This is not rocket science. Both of my pyramid reps live on the same outer edge of my pyramid. I live on the opposite end of the boundary (it is a compact boundary compared to many.) But, these people have no idea beyond their own area.

The process made it "seem" fair, but it is basically a lottery.

They wanted random people they could manipulate and hand-picked partisans they could count on to be on the BRAC. Otherwise, the more you knew about the various schools and the existing boundaries, the less they wanted you to volunteer. Reid was very snide at the initial community meetings about people who actually had a lot of existing knowledge.

It’s a good thing a group like FairFACTS Matters was able to get two reps on the BRAC or otherwise its deliberations would be even less transparent than they are (which isn’t very transparent, given the closed meetings and the NDAs).

Reid is a freaking disaster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone from Great Falls just posted this on Nextdoor:

"Active Duty/Retired Navy in Fairfax County. $150M USS Saudi Academy to set sail on Thursday with no inspection, no punch list, no sea trial.
Neighbors, I have been trying to seek those concerned with the fact that on Thursday a $150M check of our taxpayer dollars from Fairfax County Public Schools will go to Saudi Arabia for a building in Herndon that has had no engineering inspection, punch list or ops manual developed for educational capability. What would Adm. Rickover think of this? We do not even know if all the sinks, toilets and showers operate or if the Olympic size swimming pool needs to be drained and replastered for $1M. Yet your county leaders (Fairfax County Scool Board) has authorizef buying, with your dollars, this pig in a poke. Tomorrow is the last day to contact your school board members to request a delay in purchase until these fundamental inspections have taken place and are documented."

OMG, what an idiot. The people doing the purchasing have done their due diligence and KNOW all of these things. Why do they need to share every nitty gritty detail with some random Boomer from Great Falls, an area not even impacted by this purchase? OF COURSE the facility has been inspected, what a forking MORON.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone from Great Falls just posted this on Nextdoor:

"Active Duty/Retired Navy in Fairfax County. $150M USS Saudi Academy to set sail on Thursday with no inspection, no punch list, no sea trial.
Neighbors, I have been trying to seek those concerned with the fact that on Thursday a $150M check of our taxpayer dollars from Fairfax County Public Schools will go to Saudi Arabia for a building in Herndon that has had no engineering inspection, punch list or ops manual developed for educational capability. What would Adm. Rickover think of this? We do not even know if all the sinks, toilets and showers operate or if the Olympic size swimming pool needs to be drained and replastered for $1M. Yet your county leaders (Fairfax County Scool Board) has authorizef buying, with your dollars, this pig in a poke. Tomorrow is the last day to contact your school board members to request a delay in purchase until these fundamental inspections have taken place and are documented."

The responses so far on Next Door are not very sympathetic to her complaints.

I wonder if she realizes that FCPS upped Langley’s expansion back in 2018 by several hundred seats over what had previously been disclosed to county residents in prior CIPs.

At the time Langley parents said that was a smart decision, but some of them sure are agitated over this purchase that will benefit kids in a different part of the county.

Well, I don't care what they do with Forestville, but, since I live in KAA area, I kind of resent the Great Falls people and all their negative comments about the purchase that is so badly needed by this community.

I do not understand why they are so against this. Their new association has strongly objected to it and so has FairFacts matters from what I can tell. THRU made lots of disturbing recommendations about this area and KAA is a wonderful solution to prevent long distant commutes.

We’ve already gone over this ad naseaum , fairfacts matters has taken no position on the new school purchase and it is not a great falls organization.

You shouldn’t lie - it really hurts your credibility.

Well, one of their official reps on BRAC have posted lengthy statements on Nextdoor about this and listed all sorts of objections.
So, who does speak for FairFACTS? Not the person who represents them?

Maybe, your credibility is at risk. I don't lie.

DP. The PP is correct - you are lying. The objections are about the lack of transparency re: the PURCHASE of KAA - not about the school itself. And you know this. No one is begrudging a school to an area of the county that clearly needs it. But once again, you twist any questions about transparency into "They're trying to kill this school!!!" Stop lying.

She literally is telling people to contact their school board reps to delay the purchase.

[Anonymous]

From Ryan McElveen’s email tonight:

“ Finalizing boundary and start time changes: As part of our ongoing boundary change process, this fall a second round of draft boundary maps will be shared with the community for comment. Changes to school start times—with the goal of starting middle schools later—will also be incorporated into the boundary change process to avoid multiple transportation routing changes over several years. A final vote on boundary changes will take place early next calendar year.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FairFACTS Matters posted tonight that they’d met with Region 5 representatives on the BRAC who agreed to withdraw their (already DOA) proposal to move Forestville to Herndon but the explanation for why the recommendation was made in the first place was unclear.

Reading between the lines it sounded like someone from Marshall who was upset about the Thru Consulting proposal to move some kids who can walk to a Region 5 school to another school somehow concluded it had something to do with overcrowding at Langley, but it wasn’t spelled out. It really makes you think that Thru has withheld so much requested information from the BRAC members that some end up drawing really odd inferences on their own. This process is so, so flawed.

EXCUSE ME, why does "just a Facebook group" have this much influence? PP is saying, "oh they're just a Facebook group" but here they are negotiating with members of the BRAC to change their opinion on things. Would "just a Facebook group" really be able to do this? NOPE. NOPE. NOPE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From Ryan McElveen’s email tonight:

“ Finalizing boundary and start time changes: As part of our ongoing boundary change process, this fall a second round of draft boundary maps will be shared with the community for comment. Changes to school start times—with the goal of starting middle schools later—will also be incorporated into the boundary change process to avoid multiple transportation routing changes over several years. A final vote on boundary changes will take place early next calendar year.”

OMG this guy. I really hope they don't f*** over my elementary school kids. I don't want my child coming home after 5:00pm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From Ryan McElveen’s email tonight:

“ Finalizing boundary and start time changes: As part of our ongoing boundary change process, this fall a second round of draft boundary maps will be shared with the community for comment. Changes to school start times—with the goal of starting middle schools later—will also be incorporated into the boundary change process to avoid multiple transportation routing changes over several years. A final vote on boundary changes will take place early next calendar year.”

He also stated "FCPS is in the proces of procuring the former [KAA] property near Dulles to serve as our newest western high school. The property will undergo minimal renovations over the coming year with plans to determine curricular programming decisions in the coming months and open the campus in the 2026-2027 school year."

[Anonymous]

Hey Great Falls Mama/Granny, a school board member just said:

"Purchasing a beautiful school complex: FCPS is in the process of procuring the former King Abdullah Academy property near Dulles to serve as our newest western high school. The property will undergo minimal renovations over the coming year with plans to determine curricular programming decisions in the coming months and open the campus in the 2026-27 school year."

So, lady you are SOL. Not the standardized test kind of SOL, LOL!

[Anonymous]

Oh jinx, PP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FairFACTS Matters posted tonight that they’d met with Region 5 representatives on the BRAC who agreed to withdraw their (already DOA) proposal to move Forestville to Herndon but the explanation for why the recommendation was made in the first place was unclear.

Reading between the lines it sounded like someone from Marshall who was upset about the Thru Consulting proposal to move some kids who can walk to a Region 5 school to another school somehow concluded it had something to do with overcrowding at Langley, but it wasn’t spelled out. It really makes you think that Thru has withheld so much requested information from the BRAC members that some end up drawing really odd inferences on their own. This process is so, so flawed.

EXCUSE ME, why does "just a Facebook group" have this much influence? PP is saying, "oh they're just a Facebook group" but here they are negotiating with members of the BRAC to change their opinion on things. Would "just a Facebook group" really be able to do this? NOPE. NOPE. NOPE.

Yeah, God forbid they meet with some people on the BRAC who clearly were misinformed about non-existent overcrowding at Langley, which they'd mistakenly concluded had something to do with a ill-conceived boundary change affecting a Region 5 school (likely Marshall), educate them on the facts, and mutually agree that a prior BRAC proposal should be withdrawn. Sounds like a real horror show (/s).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FairFACTS Matters posted tonight that they’d met with Region 5 representatives on the BRAC who agreed to withdraw their (already DOA) proposal to move Forestville to Herndon but the explanation for why the recommendation was made in the first place was unclear.

Reading between the lines it sounded like someone from Marshall who was upset about the Thru Consulting proposal to move some kids who can walk to a Region 5 school to another school somehow concluded it had something to do with overcrowding at Langley, but it wasn’t spelled out. It really makes you think that Thru has withheld so much requested information from the BRAC members that some end up drawing really odd inferences on their own. This process is so, so flawed.

EXCUSE ME, why does "just a Facebook group" have this much influence? PP is saying, "oh they're just a Facebook group" but here they are negotiating with members of the BRAC to change their opinion on things. Would "just a Facebook group" really be able to do this? NOPE. NOPE. NOPE.

Yeah, God forbid they meet with some people on the BRAC who clearly were misinformed about non-existent overcrowding at Langley, which they'd mistakenly concluded had something to do with a ill-conceived boundary change affecting a Region 5 school (likely Marshall), educate them on the facts, and mutually agree that a prior BRAC proposal should be withdrawn. Sounds like a real horror show (/s).

\\

YOU are missing the point. You can't claim they're just a Facebook group when they're meeting with BRAC members and convincing them change their proposals. Which one is it? Influential group of people or just a random Facebook group?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hey Great Falls Mama/Granny, a school board member just said:

"Purchasing a beautiful school complex: FCPS is in the process of procuring the former King Abdullah Academy property near Dulles to serve as our newest western high school. The property will undergo minimal renovations over the coming year with plans to determine curricular programming decisions in the coming months and open the campus in the 2026-27 school year."

So, lady you are SOL. Not the standardized test kind of SOL, LOL!

Not a Great Falls poster, but the bolded portion of McElveen's comment certainly leaves open the possibility this school is going to be some type of non-traditional or magnet school. That can't make those who are counting on KAA being converted to a neighborhood school happy. He does call it "our newest western high school," but that can be read to merely refer to the school's location.