FCPS High School Poverty and Enrollment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I also think there are more problems than just the demographics at Lewis.

I have been wondering this. I live nowhere near that area, but I do know that something is wrong when all other races are leaving the school. Black, White, and Asian are leaving in numbers, while Hispanic population is going up.

Herndon has 51% Hispanic, but it still manages well. It also has about 50% free lunch.

Get rid of IB at Lewis ASAP.

It doesn't help that Key Middle school is a disaster by all accounts. The behavior issues there and disruptions to learning mean that any family that can flees before high school. They seem to really need new leadership. I have many friends who have tried Key and been so dismayed that they've found other alternatives for high school - moving, private school, getting into the STEM program at Edison, etc.

Key has been a disaster since the early 2000's. I interviewed/observed there cops were called three times just in the morning. I told them no thank you on the job.
I just looked at the demographic history of Key. (I don't live near there) It is very interesting that numbers are dropping with all races. Percentages remain pretty stable, but it does appear people are leaving.

That is a big red flag.

Why doesn't Gatehouse do something? SB? crickets

Because Gatehouse....well does anyone know what people do their all day?! They don't care and if parents are really honest the SB doesn't care either. It's been an issue for years and has nothing to do with republican or Democrats. FCPS has been a mess for many years now....and it's at a tipping point where students, teachers, and parents are really feeling and seeing it fall apart.

sorry there not their

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe electing more men to the School Board this fall will make a difference. The last time the School Board had any guts was when Stuart Gibson pushed through the boundary change in 2008 that moved kids to South Lakes.

Stu Gibson has so much guts he let the SL PTSA run the show and make the decisions. And, it was composed of IB moms.

They didn’t take the heat from the people insisting they had a God-given right to stay at their then-current schools. He did.

In comparison, current SB members are spineless ninnies.

They did not say that. If you had watched the public hearings and citizen participation--as I did--you would have seen the majority of parents begging for South Lakes to switch to AP. Many of those parents still feel that way.

Other parents were upset that this was their third switch in a very short period of time. Some parents ended up with kids who went to three different high schools--without moving.

And, if you really followed it, you would have seen the SLPTA postings on their website that outlined their plans. They took it down when the link was posted on FairfaxUnderground. But, they spelled out exactly what they wanted and did not want. They wanted NO poor neighborhoods. They made that perfectly clear. This was not about numbers, it was all about demographics. The SL PTA was a perfect example of "limousine liberals." They wanted to be at South Lakes so they could claim they were tolerant. They wanted to keep IB so they could be progressive and they wanted wealthier kids so their kids could remain isolated from the poor kids.

Of course it was also about numbers. South Lakes was at about 1400 kids at the time. Westfield had about 2900 back then.

So maybe Lewis has to lose a couple more hundred before some of these lazy SB members do something (though most of the schools had lower enrollments in 2008 so 1400 them is about like 1600-1700 now).

SL was saved from a potential "death spiral" where it would have lost its middle and upper middle class support in the surrounding neighborhoods. It is a robust and popular school today thanks to the parents who pushed for the boundary change to bring in more wealthy residential areas. However, the promised AP courses were never adopted, and that's on the school board. Regarding Lewis, I don't think the school board will do anything unless the Lewis PTA or parent groups make it an issue.

Saving one school from a death spiral doesn't make the kids you don't want at the school disappear. They end up concentrated and no schools want them and no parents want their neighborhoods zoned for those schools. But hooray for keeping poors out of South Lakes and allowing it to thrive.

What is stopping Lewis from thriving.

Look at the assessments

https://schoolquality.virginia.gov/schools/lewis-high#fndtn-desktopTabs-assessments

50% of the school is farms, and fcps's own study has 40% as a tipping point past which a school can't really succeed.

But why is this? Why does FARMs mean no success?

It does not mean that. But, when you have hundreds of new students in a year who do not speak English and, perhaps, have not been in school at all, there is a problem. This problem will not be solved by adding more affluent neighborhoods to the boundary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe electing more men to the School Board this fall will make a difference. The last time the School Board had any guts was when Stuart Gibson pushed through the boundary change in 2008 that moved kids to South Lakes.

Stu Gibson has so much guts he let the SL PTSA run the show and make the decisions. And, it was composed of IB moms.

They didn’t take the heat from the people insisting they had a God-given right to stay at their then-current schools. He did.

In comparison, current SB members are spineless ninnies.

They did not say that. If you had watched the public hearings and citizen participation--as I did--you would have seen the majority of parents begging for South Lakes to switch to AP. Many of those parents still feel that way.

Other parents were upset that this was their third switch in a very short period of time. Some parents ended up with kids who went to three different high schools--without moving.

And, if you really followed it, you would have seen the SLPTA postings on their website that outlined their plans. They took it down when the link was posted on FairfaxUnderground. But, they spelled out exactly what they wanted and did not want. They wanted NO poor neighborhoods. They made that perfectly clear. This was not about numbers, it was all about demographics. The SL PTA was a perfect example of "limousine liberals." They wanted to be at South Lakes so they could claim they were tolerant. They wanted to keep IB so they could be progressive and they wanted wealthier kids so their kids could remain isolated from the poor kids.

Of course it was also about numbers. South Lakes was at about 1400 kids at the time. Westfield had about 2900 back then.

So maybe Lewis has to lose a couple more hundred before some of these lazy SB members do something (though most of the schools had lower enrollments in 2008 so 1400 them is about like 1600-1700 now).

SL was saved from a potential "death spiral" where it would have lost its middle and upper middle class support in the surrounding neighborhoods. It is a robust and popular school today thanks to the parents who pushed for the boundary change to bring in more wealthy residential areas. However, the promised AP courses were never adopted, and that's on the school board. Regarding Lewis, I don't think the school board will do anything unless the Lewis PTA or parent groups make it an issue.

Saving one school from a death spiral doesn't make the kids you don't want at the school disappear. They end up concentrated and no schools want them and no parents want their neighborhoods zoned for those schools. But hooray for keeping poors out of South Lakes and allowing it to thrive.

What is stopping Lewis from thriving.

Look at the assessments

https://schoolquality.virginia.gov/schools/lewis-high#fndtn-desktopTabs-assessments

50% of the school is farms, and fcps's own study has 40% as a tipping point past which a school can't really succeed.

But why is this? Why does FARMs mean no success?

It does not mean that. But, when you have hundreds of new students in a year who do not speak English and, perhaps, have not been in school at all, there is a problem. This problem will not be solved by adding more affluent neighborhoods to the boundary.

It does mean that. The resources that the school has go to meeting more basic needs and to remedial instruction.

Here is a study that FCPS commissioned laying it out.

https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/9DG4KP71B0DB/$file/fcps_tipping-point.pdf

The gist is that "almost all schools with poverty levels of 45 percent or higher were unable to reach expected pass rate levels in reading or math. Follow‐up statistical analyses found statistical evidence that two tipping points exist in FCPS. The reading data provided the most consistent findings as it indicated two tipping points occurring at 20 and 40‐45 percent school‐level poverty. Thus, FCPS schools with greater than 20 percent poverty are much less likely to meet performance expectations than those with less than 20 percent poverty. And, once poverty levels at a school reach 40 percent or more, FCPS schools are unlikely to meet expectations for school performance."

By their own numbers, Lewis, MVHs, Annandale, West Potomac, Falls Church and Justice are all at or past the 40% tipping point and Herndon and Edison are close. Most of those schools have lower FARMs rate schools bordering them, but that would mean unpopular redistricting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe electing more men to the School Board this fall will make a difference. The last time the School Board had any guts was when Stuart Gibson pushed through the boundary change in 2008 that moved kids to South Lakes.

Stu Gibson has so much guts he let the SL PTSA run the show and make the decisions. And, it was composed of IB moms.

They didn’t take the heat from the people insisting they had a God-given right to stay at their then-current schools. He did.

In comparison, current SB members are spineless ninnies.

They did not say that. If you had watched the public hearings and citizen participation--as I did--you would have seen the majority of parents begging for South Lakes to switch to AP. Many of those parents still feel that way.

Other parents were upset that this was their third switch in a very short period of time. Some parents ended up with kids who went to three different high schools--without moving.

And, if you really followed it, you would have seen the SLPTA postings on their website that outlined their plans. They took it down when the link was posted on FairfaxUnderground. But, they spelled out exactly what they wanted and did not want. They wanted NO poor neighborhoods. They made that perfectly clear. This was not about numbers, it was all about demographics. The SL PTA was a perfect example of "limousine liberals." They wanted to be at South Lakes so they could claim they were tolerant. They wanted to keep IB so they could be progressive and they wanted wealthier kids so their kids could remain isolated from the poor kids.

Of course it was also about numbers. South Lakes was at about 1400 kids at the time. Westfield had about 2900 back then.

So maybe Lewis has to lose a couple more hundred before some of these lazy SB members do something (though most of the schools had lower enrollments in 2008 so 1400 them is about like 1600-1700 now).

SL was saved from a potential "death spiral" where it would have lost its middle and upper middle class support in the surrounding neighborhoods. It is a robust and popular school today thanks to the parents who pushed for the boundary change to bring in more wealthy residential areas. However, the promised AP courses were never adopted, and that's on the school board. Regarding Lewis, I don't think the school board will do anything unless the Lewis PTA or parent groups make it an issue.

Saving one school from a death spiral doesn't make the kids you don't want at the school disappear. They end up concentrated and no schools want them and no parents want their neighborhoods zoned for those schools. But hooray for keeping poors out of South Lakes and allowing it to thrive.

What is stopping Lewis from thriving.

Look at the assessments

https://schoolquality.virginia.gov/schools/lewis-high#fndtn-desktopTabs-assessments

50% of the school is farms, and fcps's own study has 40% as a tipping point past which a school can't really succeed.

But why is this? Why does FARMs mean no success?

It does not mean that. But, when you have hundreds of new students in a year who do not speak English and, perhaps, have not been in school at all, there is a problem. This problem will not be solved by adding more affluent neighborhoods to the boundary.

I wish the county had a program for ESL kids with limited education. They should not be thrust into a gen ed classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe electing more men to the School Board this fall will make a difference. The last time the School Board had any guts was when Stuart Gibson pushed through the boundary change in 2008 that moved kids to South Lakes.

Stu Gibson has so much guts he let the SL PTSA run the show and make the decisions. And, it was composed of IB moms.

They didn’t take the heat from the people insisting they had a God-given right to stay at their then-current schools. He did.

In comparison, current SB members are spineless ninnies.

They did not say that. If you had watched the public hearings and citizen participation--as I did--you would have seen the majority of parents begging for South Lakes to switch to AP. Many of those parents still feel that way.

Other parents were upset that this was their third switch in a very short period of time. Some parents ended up with kids who went to three different high schools--without moving.

And, if you really followed it, you would have seen the SLPTA postings on their website that outlined their plans. They took it down when the link was posted on FairfaxUnderground. But, they spelled out exactly what they wanted and did not want. They wanted NO poor neighborhoods. They made that perfectly clear. This was not about numbers, it was all about demographics. The SL PTA was a perfect example of "limousine liberals." They wanted to be at South Lakes so they could claim they were tolerant. They wanted to keep IB so they could be progressive and they wanted wealthier kids so their kids could remain isolated from the poor kids.

Of course it was also about numbers. South Lakes was at about 1400 kids at the time. Westfield had about 2900 back then.

So maybe Lewis has to lose a couple more hundred before some of these lazy SB members do something (though most of the schools had lower enrollments in 2008 so 1400 them is about like 1600-1700 now).

SL was saved from a potential "death spiral" where it would have lost its middle and upper middle class support in the surrounding neighborhoods. It is a robust and popular school today thanks to the parents who pushed for the boundary change to bring in more wealthy residential areas. However, the promised AP courses were never adopted, and that's on the school board. Regarding Lewis, I don't think the school board will do anything unless the Lewis PTA or parent groups make it an issue.

Saving one school from a death spiral doesn't make the kids you don't want at the school disappear. They end up concentrated and no schools want them and no parents want their neighborhoods zoned for those schools. But hooray for keeping poors out of South Lakes and allowing it to thrive.

What is stopping Lewis from thriving.

Look at the assessments

https://schoolquality.virginia.gov/schools/lewis-high#fndtn-desktopTabs-assessments

50% of the school is farms, and fcps's own study has 40% as a tipping point past which a school can't really succeed.

But why is this? Why does FARMs mean no success?

It does not mean that. But, when you have hundreds of new students in a year who do not speak English and, perhaps, have not been in school at all, there is a problem. This problem will not be solved by adding more affluent neighborhoods to the boundary.

High-ESOL schools are not all-ESOL schools, and ESOL students can also progress to a level where they can benefit from additional challenges. Balancing enrollments so that schools can support both their ESOL and non-ESOL populations does not mean covering up the issues that the ESOL kids face.

[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:Maybe electing more men to the School Board this fall will make a difference. The last time the School Board had any guts was when Stuart Gibson pushed through the boundary change in 2008 that moved kids to South Lakes.

Stu Gibson has so much guts he let the SL PTSA run the show and make the decisions. And, it was composed of IB moms.

They didn’t take the heat from the people insisting they had a God-given right to stay at their then-current schools. He did.

In comparison, current SB members are spineless ninnies.

They did not say that. If you had watched the public hearings and citizen participation--as I did--you would have seen the majority of parents begging for South Lakes to switch to AP. Many of those parents still feel that way.

Other parents were upset that this was their third switch in a very short period of time. Some parents ended up with kids who went to three different high schools--without moving.

And, if you really followed it, you would have seen the SLPTA postings on their website that outlined their plans. They took it down when the link was posted on FairfaxUnderground. But, they spelled out exactly what they wanted and did not want. They wanted NO poor neighborhoods. They made that perfectly clear. This was not about numbers, it was all about demographics. The SL PTA was a perfect example of "limousine liberals." They wanted to be at South Lakes so they could claim they were tolerant. They wanted to keep IB so they could be progressive and they wanted wealthier kids so their kids could remain isolated from the poor kids.

Of course it was also about numbers. South Lakes was at about 1400 kids at the time. Westfield had about 2900 back then.

So maybe Lewis has to lose a couple more hundred before some of these lazy SB members do something (though most of the schools had lower enrollments in 2008 so 1400 them is about like 1600-1700 now).

SL was saved from a potential "death spiral" where it would have lost its middle and upper middle class support in the surrounding neighborhoods. It is a robust and popular school today thanks to the parents who pushed for the boundary change to bring in more wealthy residential areas. However, the promised AP courses were never adopted, and that's on the school board. Regarding Lewis, I don't think the school board will do anything unless the Lewis PTA or parent groups make it an issue.

Saving one school from a death spiral doesn't make the kids you don't want at the school disappear. They end up concentrated and no schools want them and no parents want their neighborhoods zoned for those schools. But hooray for keeping poors out of South Lakes and allowing it to thrive.

What is stopping Lewis from thriving.

Look at the assessments

https://schoolquality.virginia.gov/schools/lewis-high#fndtn-desktopTabs-assessments

50% of the school is farms, and fcps's own study has 40% as a tipping point past which a school can't really succeed.

But why is this? Why does FARMs mean no success?

It does not mean that. But, when you have hundreds of new students in a year who do not speak English and, perhaps, have not been in school at all, there is a problem. This problem will not be solved by adding more affluent neighborhoods to the boundary.

It does mean that. The resources that the school has go to meeting more basic needs and to remedial instruction.

Here is a study that FCPS commissioned laying it out.

https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/9DG4KP71B0DB/$file/fcps_tipping-point.pdf

The gist is that "almost all schools with poverty levels of 45 percent or higher were unable to reach expected pass rate levels in reading or math. Follow‐up statistical analyses found statistical evidence that two tipping points exist in FCPS. The reading data provided the most consistent findings as it indicated two tipping points occurring at 20 and 40‐45 percent school‐level poverty. Thus, FCPS schools with greater than 20 percent poverty are much less likely to meet performance expectations than those with less than 20 percent poverty. And, once poverty levels at a school reach 40 percent or more, FCPS schools are unlikely to meet expectations for school performance."

By their own numbers, Lewis, MVHs, Annandale, West Potomac, Falls Church and Justice are all at or past the 40% tipping point and Herndon and Edison are close. Most of those schools have lower FARMs rate schools bordering them, but that would mean unpopular redistricting

But does this mean that other kids are needed to bring the performance expectation averages up? That really doesn’t change anything for the students at Lewis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I also think there are more problems than just the demographics at Lewis.

I have been wondering this. I live nowhere near that area, but I do know that something is wrong when all other races are leaving the school. Black, White, and Asian are leaving in numbers, while Hispanic population is going up.

Herndon has 51% Hispanic, but it still manages well. It also has about 50% free lunch.

Get rid of IB at Lewis ASAP.

It doesn't help that Key Middle school is a disaster by all accounts. The behavior issues there and disruptions to learning mean that any family that can flees before high school. They seem to really need new leadership. I have many friends who have tried Key and been so dismayed that they've found other alternatives for high school - moving, private school, getting into the STEM program at Edison, etc.

Key has been a disaster since the early 2000's. I interviewed/observed there cops were called three times just in the morning. I told them no thank you on the job.
I just looked at the demographic history of Key. (I don't live near there) It is very interesting that numbers are dropping with all races. Percentages remain pretty stable, but it does appear people are leaving.

That is a big red flag.

Why doesn't Gatehouse do something? SB? crickets

Because Gatehouse....well does anyone know what people do their all day?! They don't care and if parents are really honest the SB doesn't care either. It's been an issue for years and has nothing to do with republican or Democrats. FCPS has been a mess for many years now....and it's at a tipping point where students, teachers, and parents are really feeling and seeing it fall apart.

This is inaccurate. Fwiw, there was talk for years of closing Lee because it was in danger of losing its accreditation. Then Richmond changed the rules and saved it from that fate. This was years before the pandemic.

The point is, Lewis has been struggling for decades. The SB and Gatehouse didn't cause 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:Maybe electing more men to the School Board this fall will make a difference. The last time the School Board had any guts was when Stuart Gibson pushed through the boundary change in 2008 that moved kids to South Lakes.

Stu Gibson has so much guts he let the SL PTSA run the show and make the decisions. And, it was composed of IB moms.

They didn’t take the heat from the people insisting they had a God-given right to stay at their then-current schools. He did.

In comparison, current SB members are spineless ninnies.

They did not say that. If you had watched the public hearings and citizen participation--as I did--you would have seen the majority of parents begging for South Lakes to switch to AP. Many of those parents still feel that way.

Other parents were upset that this was their third switch in a very short period of time. Some parents ended up with kids who went to three different high schools--without moving.

And, if you really followed it, you would have seen the SLPTA postings on their website that outlined their plans. They took it down when the link was posted on FairfaxUnderground. But, they spelled out exactly what they wanted and did not want. They wanted NO poor neighborhoods. They made that perfectly clear. This was not about numbers, it was all about demographics. The SL PTA was a perfect example of "limousine liberals." They wanted to be at South Lakes so they could claim they were tolerant. They wanted to keep IB so they could be progressive and they wanted wealthier kids so their kids could remain isolated from the poor kids.

Of course it was also about numbers. South Lakes was at about 1400 kids at the time. Westfield had about 2900 back then.

So maybe Lewis has to lose a couple more hundred before some of these lazy SB members do something (though most of the schools had lower enrollments in 2008 so 1400 them is about like 1600-1700 now).

SL was saved from a potential "death spiral" where it would have lost its middle and upper middle class support in the surrounding neighborhoods. It is a robust and popular school today thanks to the parents who pushed for the boundary change to bring in more wealthy residential areas. However, the promised AP courses were never adopted, and that's on the school board. Regarding Lewis, I don't think the school board will do anything unless the Lewis PTA or parent groups make it an issue.

Saving one school from a death spiral doesn't make the kids you don't want at the school disappear. They end up concentrated and no schools want them and no parents want their neighborhoods zoned for those schools. But hooray for keeping poors out of South Lakes and allowing it to thrive.

What is stopping Lewis from thriving.

Look at the assessments

https://schoolquality.virginia.gov/schools/lewis-high#fndtn-desktopTabs-assessments

50% of the school is farms, and fcps's own study has 40% as a tipping point past which a school can't really succeed.

But why is this? Why does FARMs mean no success?

It does not mean that. But, when you have hundreds of new students in a year who do not speak English and, perhaps, have not been in school at all, there is a problem. This problem will not be solved by adding more affluent neighborhoods to the boundary.

High-ESOL schools are not all-ESOL schools, and ESOL students can also progress to a level where they can benefit from additional challenges. Balancing enrollments so that schools can support both their ESOL and non-ESOL populations does not mean covering up the issues that the ESOL kids face.

How can you possibly 'balance" when there are schools with 100 new ESOL students in a year.

Go through the profiles and add up the numbers. I cannot find it for the whole division--perhaps someone else can.

However, in high schools alone, there are more 1000 new ESOL students this year. You will never be able to "balance" this. Are you going to take these kids and parcel them out school by 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:Maybe electing more men to the School Board this fall will make a difference. The last time the School Board had any guts was when Stuart Gibson pushed through the boundary change in 2008 that moved kids to South Lakes.

Stu Gibson has so much guts he let the SL PTSA run the show and make the decisions. And, it was composed of IB moms.

They didn’t take the heat from the people insisting they had a God-given right to stay at their then-current schools. He did.

In comparison, current SB members are spineless ninnies.

They did not say that. If you had watched the public hearings and citizen participation--as I did--you would have seen the majority of parents begging for South Lakes to switch to AP. Many of those parents still feel that way.

Other parents were upset that this was their third switch in a very short period of time. Some parents ended up with kids who went to three different high schools--without moving.

And, if you really followed it, you would have seen the SLPTA postings on their website that outlined their plans. They took it down when the link was posted on FairfaxUnderground. But, they spelled out exactly what they wanted and did not want. They wanted NO poor neighborhoods. They made that perfectly clear. This was not about numbers, it was all about demographics. The SL PTA was a perfect example of "limousine liberals." They wanted to be at South Lakes so they could claim they were tolerant. They wanted to keep IB so they could be progressive and they wanted wealthier kids so their kids could remain isolated from the poor kids.

Of course it was also about numbers. South Lakes was at about 1400 kids at the time. Westfield had about 2900 back then.

So maybe Lewis has to lose a couple more hundred before some of these lazy SB members do something (though most of the schools had lower enrollments in 2008 so 1400 them is about like 1600-1700 now).

SL was saved from a potential "death spiral" where it would have lost its middle and upper middle class support in the surrounding neighborhoods. It is a robust and popular school today thanks to the parents who pushed for the boundary change to bring in more wealthy residential areas. However, the promised AP courses were never adopted, and that's on the school board. Regarding Lewis, I don't think the school board will do anything unless the Lewis PTA or parent groups make it an issue.

Saving one school from a death spiral doesn't make the kids you don't want at the school disappear. They end up concentrated and no schools want them and no parents want their neighborhoods zoned for those schools. But hooray for keeping poors out of South Lakes and allowing it to thrive.

What is stopping Lewis from thriving.

Look at the assessments

https://schoolquality.virginia.gov/schools/lewis-high#fndtn-desktopTabs-assessments

50% of the school is farms, and fcps's own study has 40% as a tipping point past which a school can't really succeed.

But why is this? Why does FARMs mean no success?

It does not mean that. But, when you have hundreds of new students in a year who do not speak English and, perhaps, have not been in school at all, there is a problem. This problem will not be solved by adding more affluent neighborhoods to the boundary.

It does mean that. The resources that the school has go to meeting more basic needs and to remedial instruction.

Here is a study that FCPS commissioned laying it out.

https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/9DG4KP71B0DB/$file/fcps_tipping-point.pdf

The gist is that "almost all schools with poverty levels of 45 percent or higher were unable to reach expected pass rate levels in reading or math. Follow‐up statistical analyses found statistical evidence that two tipping points exist in FCPS. The reading data provided the most consistent findings as it indicated two tipping points occurring at 20 and 40‐45 percent school‐level poverty. Thus, FCPS schools with greater than 20 percent poverty are much less likely to meet performance expectations than those with less than 20 percent poverty. And, once poverty levels at a school reach 40 percent or more, FCPS schools are unlikely to meet expectations for school performance."

By their own numbers, Lewis, MVHs, Annandale, West Potomac, Falls Church and Justice are all at or past the 40% tipping point and Herndon and Edison are close. Most of those schools have lower FARMs rate schools bordering them, but that would mean unpopular redistricting

Also, the poverty rate of the county is above 20%. Moving students around won't fix this problem. It's mathematically impossible.

You want homogenous school district. Well, we don't have one.

[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:Maybe electing more men to the School Board this fall will make a difference. The last time the School Board had any guts was when Stuart Gibson pushed through the boundary change in 2008 that moved kids to South Lakes.

Stu Gibson has so much guts he let the SL PTSA run the show and make the decisions. And, it was composed of IB moms.

They didn’t take the heat from the people insisting they had a God-given right to stay at their then-current schools. He did.

In comparison, current SB members are spineless ninnies.

They did not say that. If you had watched the public hearings and citizen participation--as I did--you would have seen the majority of parents begging for South Lakes to switch to AP. Many of those parents still feel that way.

Other parents were upset that this was their third switch in a very short period of time. Some parents ended up with kids who went to three different high schools--without moving.

And, if you really followed it, you would have seen the SLPTA postings on their website that outlined their plans. They took it down when the link was posted on FairfaxUnderground. But, they spelled out exactly what they wanted and did not want. They wanted NO poor neighborhoods. They made that perfectly clear. This was not about numbers, it was all about demographics. The SL PTA was a perfect example of "limousine liberals." They wanted to be at South Lakes so they could claim they were tolerant. They wanted to keep IB so they could be progressive and they wanted wealthier kids so their kids could remain isolated from the poor kids.

Of course it was also about numbers. South Lakes was at about 1400 kids at the time. Westfield had about 2900 back then.

So maybe Lewis has to lose a couple more hundred before some of these lazy SB members do something (though most of the schools had lower enrollments in 2008 so 1400 them is about like 1600-1700 now).

SL was saved from a potential "death spiral" where it would have lost its middle and upper middle class support in the surrounding neighborhoods. It is a robust and popular school today thanks to the parents who pushed for the boundary change to bring in more wealthy residential areas. However, the promised AP courses were never adopted, and that's on the school board. Regarding Lewis, I don't think the school board will do anything unless the Lewis PTA or parent groups make it an issue.

Saving one school from a death spiral doesn't make the kids you don't want at the school disappear. They end up concentrated and no schools want them and no parents want their neighborhoods zoned for those schools. But hooray for keeping poors out of South Lakes and allowing it to thrive.

What is stopping Lewis from thriving.

Look at the assessments

https://schoolquality.virginia.gov/schools/lewis-high#fndtn-desktopTabs-assessments

50% of the school is farms, and fcps's own study has 40% as a tipping point past which a school can't really succeed.

But why is this? Why does FARMs mean no success?

It does not mean that. But, when you have hundreds of new students in a year who do not speak English and, perhaps, have not been in school at all, there is a problem. This problem will not be solved by adding more affluent neighborhoods to the boundary.

It does mean that. The resources that the school has go to meeting more basic needs and to remedial instruction.

Here is a study that FCPS commissioned laying it out.

https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/9DG4KP71B0DB/$file/fcps_tipping-point.pdf

The gist is that "almost all schools with poverty levels of 45 percent or higher were unable to reach expected pass rate levels in reading or math. Follow‐up statistical analyses found statistical evidence that two tipping points exist in FCPS. The reading data provided the most consistent findings as it indicated two tipping points occurring at 20 and 40‐45 percent school‐level poverty. Thus, FCPS schools with greater than 20 percent poverty are much less likely to meet performance expectations than those with less than 20 percent poverty. And, once poverty levels at a school reach 40 percent or more, FCPS schools are unlikely to meet expectations for school performance."

By their own numbers, Lewis, MVHs, Annandale, West Potomac, Falls Church and Justice are all at or past the 40% tipping point and Herndon and Edison are close. Most of those schools have lower FARMs rate schools bordering them, but that would mean unpopular redistricting

It’s all a bit circular if the expectations about pass rates in that “tipping point” study from years ago were based on assumptions that in turn were based on lower state-wide ESOL and FARMS rates.

[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:Maybe electing more men to the School Board this fall will make a difference. The last time the School Board had any guts was when Stuart Gibson pushed through the boundary change in 2008 that moved kids to South Lakes.

Stu Gibson has so much guts he let the SL PTSA run the show and make the decisions. And, it was composed of IB moms.

They didn’t take the heat from the people insisting they had a God-given right to stay at their then-current schools. He did.

In comparison, current SB members are spineless ninnies.

They did not say that. If you had watched the public hearings and citizen participation--as I did--you would have seen the majority of parents begging for South Lakes to switch to AP. Many of those parents still feel that way.

Other parents were upset that this was their third switch in a very short period of time. Some parents ended up with kids who went to three different high schools--without moving.

And, if you really followed it, you would have seen the SLPTA postings on their website that outlined their plans. They took it down when the link was posted on FairfaxUnderground. But, they spelled out exactly what they wanted and did not want. They wanted NO poor neighborhoods. They made that perfectly clear. This was not about numbers, it was all about demographics. The SL PTA was a perfect example of "limousine liberals." They wanted to be at South Lakes so they could claim they were tolerant. They wanted to keep IB so they could be progressive and they wanted wealthier kids so their kids could remain isolated from the poor kids.

Of course it was also about numbers. South Lakes was at about 1400 kids at the time. Westfield had about 2900 back then.

So maybe Lewis has to lose a couple more hundred before some of these lazy SB members do something (though most of the schools had lower enrollments in 2008 so 1400 them is about like 1600-1700 now).

SL was saved from a potential "death spiral" where it would have lost its middle and upper middle class support in the surrounding neighborhoods. It is a robust and popular school today thanks to the parents who pushed for the boundary change to bring in more wealthy residential areas. However, the promised AP courses were never adopted, and that's on the school board. Regarding Lewis, I don't think the school board will do anything unless the Lewis PTA or parent groups make it an issue.

Saving one school from a death spiral doesn't make the kids you don't want at the school disappear. They end up concentrated and no schools want them and no parents want their neighborhoods zoned for those schools. But hooray for keeping poors out of South Lakes and allowing it to thrive.

What is stopping Lewis from thriving.

Look at the assessments

https://schoolquality.virginia.gov/schools/lewis-high#fndtn-desktopTabs-assessments

50% of the school is farms, and fcps's own study has 40% as a tipping point past which a school can't really succeed.

But why is this? Why does FARMs mean no success?

It does not mean that. But, when you have hundreds of new students in a year who do not speak English and, perhaps, have not been in school at all, there is a problem. This problem will not be solved by adding more affluent neighborhoods to the boundary.

It does mean that. The resources that the school has go to meeting more basic needs and to remedial instruction.

Here is a study that FCPS commissioned laying it out.

https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/9DG4KP71B0DB/$file/fcps_tipping-point.pdf

The gist is that "almost all schools with poverty levels of 45 percent or higher were unable to reach expected pass rate levels in reading or math. Follow‐up statistical analyses found statistical evidence that two tipping points exist in FCPS. The reading data provided the most consistent findings as it indicated two tipping points occurring at 20 and 40‐45 percent school‐level poverty. Thus, FCPS schools with greater than 20 percent poverty are much less likely to meet performance expectations than those with less than 20 percent poverty. And, once poverty levels at a school reach 40 percent or more, FCPS schools are unlikely to meet expectations for school performance."

By their own numbers, Lewis, MVHs, Annandale, West Potomac, Falls Church and Justice are all at or past the 40% tipping point and Herndon and Edison are close. Most of those schools have lower FARMs rate schools bordering them, but that would mean unpopular redistricting

But does this mean that other kids are needed to bring the performance expectation averages up? That really doesn’t change anything for the students at Lewis.

It creates cohorts and raises expectations across the student body.

[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:Maybe electing more men to the School Board this fall will make a difference. The last time the School Board had any guts was when Stuart Gibson pushed through the boundary change in 2008 that moved kids to South Lakes.

Stu Gibson has so much guts he let the SL PTSA run the show and make the decisions. And, it was composed of IB moms.

They didn’t take the heat from the people insisting they had a God-given right to stay at their then-current schools. He did.

In comparison, current SB members are spineless ninnies.

They did not say that. If you had watched the public hearings and citizen participation--as I did--you would have seen the majority of parents begging for South Lakes to switch to AP. Many of those parents still feel that way.

Other parents were upset that this was their third switch in a very short period of time. Some parents ended up with kids who went to three different high schools--without moving.

And, if you really followed it, you would have seen the SLPTA postings on their website that outlined their plans. They took it down when the link was posted on FairfaxUnderground. But, they spelled out exactly what they wanted and did not want. They wanted NO poor neighborhoods. They made that perfectly clear. This was not about numbers, it was all about demographics. The SL PTA was a perfect example of "limousine liberals." They wanted to be at South Lakes so they could claim they were tolerant. They wanted to keep IB so they could be progressive and they wanted wealthier kids so their kids could remain isolated from the poor kids.

Of course it was also about numbers. South Lakes was at about 1400 kids at the time. Westfield had about 2900 back then.

So maybe Lewis has to lose a couple more hundred before some of these lazy SB members do something (though most of the schools had lower enrollments in 2008 so 1400 them is about like 1600-1700 now).

SL was saved from a potential "death spiral" where it would have lost its middle and upper middle class support in the surrounding neighborhoods. It is a robust and popular school today thanks to the parents who pushed for the boundary change to bring in more wealthy residential areas. However, the promised AP courses were never adopted, and that's on the school board. Regarding Lewis, I don't think the school board will do anything unless the Lewis PTA or parent groups make it an issue.

Saving one school from a death spiral doesn't make the kids you don't want at the school disappear. They end up concentrated and no schools want them and no parents want their neighborhoods zoned for those schools. But hooray for keeping poors out of South Lakes and allowing it to thrive.

What is stopping Lewis from thriving.

Look at the assessments

https://schoolquality.virginia.gov/schools/lewis-high#fndtn-desktopTabs-assessments

50% of the school is farms, and fcps's own study has 40% as a tipping point past which a school can't really succeed.

But why is this? Why does FARMs mean no success?

It does not mean that. But, when you have hundreds of new students in a year who do not speak English and, perhaps, have not been in school at all, there is a problem. This problem will not be solved by adding more affluent neighborhoods to the boundary.

It does mean that. The resources that the school has go to meeting more basic needs and to remedial instruction.

Here is a study that FCPS commissioned laying it out.

https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/9DG4KP71B0DB/$file/fcps_tipping-point.pdf

The gist is that "almost all schools with poverty levels of 45 percent or higher were unable to reach expected pass rate levels in reading or math. Follow‐up statistical analyses found statistical evidence that two tipping points exist in FCPS. The reading data provided the most consistent findings as it indicated two tipping points occurring at 20 and 40‐45 percent school‐level poverty. Thus, FCPS schools with greater than 20 percent poverty are much less likely to meet performance expectations than those with less than 20 percent poverty. And, once poverty levels at a school reach 40 percent or more, FCPS schools are unlikely to meet expectations for school performance."

By their own numbers, Lewis, MVHs, Annandale, West Potomac, Falls Church and Justice are all at or past the 40% tipping point and Herndon and Edison are close. Most of those schools have lower FARMs rate schools bordering them, but that would mean unpopular redistricting

It’s all a bit circular if the expectations about pass rates in that “tipping point” study from years ago were based on assumptions that in turn were based on lower state-wide ESOL and FARMS rates.

I agree, no reason at all to redraw boundaries. Build the wall

[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:Maybe electing more men to the School Board this fall will make a difference. The last time the School Board had any guts was when Stuart Gibson pushed through the boundary change in 2008 that moved kids to South Lakes.

Stu Gibson has so much guts he let the SL PTSA run the show and make the decisions. And, it was composed of IB moms.

They didn’t take the heat from the people insisting they had a God-given right to stay at their then-current schools. He did.

In comparison, current SB members are spineless ninnies.

They did not say that. If you had watched the public hearings and citizen participation--as I did--you would have seen the majority of parents begging for South Lakes to switch to AP. Many of those parents still feel that way.

Other parents were upset that this was their third switch in a very short period of time. Some parents ended up with kids who went to three different high schools--without moving.

And, if you really followed it, you would have seen the SLPTA postings on their website that outlined their plans. They took it down when the link was posted on FairfaxUnderground. But, they spelled out exactly what they wanted and did not want. They wanted NO poor neighborhoods. They made that perfectly clear. This was not about numbers, it was all about demographics. The SL PTA was a perfect example of "limousine liberals." They wanted to be at South Lakes so they could claim they were tolerant. They wanted to keep IB so they could be progressive and they wanted wealthier kids so their kids could remain isolated from the poor kids.

Of course it was also about numbers. South Lakes was at about 1400 kids at the time. Westfield had about 2900 back then.

So maybe Lewis has to lose a couple more hundred before some of these lazy SB members do something (though most of the schools had lower enrollments in 2008 so 1400 them is about like 1600-1700 now).

SL was saved from a potential "death spiral" where it would have lost its middle and upper middle class support in the surrounding neighborhoods. It is a robust and popular school today thanks to the parents who pushed for the boundary change to bring in more wealthy residential areas. However, the promised AP courses were never adopted, and that's on the school board. Regarding Lewis, I don't think the school board will do anything unless the Lewis PTA or parent groups make it an issue.

Saving one school from a death spiral doesn't make the kids you don't want at the school disappear. They end up concentrated and no schools want them and no parents want their neighborhoods zoned for those schools. But hooray for keeping poors out of South Lakes and allowing it to thrive.

What is stopping Lewis from thriving.

Look at the assessments

https://schoolquality.virginia.gov/schools/lewis-high#fndtn-desktopTabs-assessments

50% of the school is farms, and fcps's own study has 40% as a tipping point past which a school can't really succeed.

But why is this? Why does FARMs mean no success?

It does not mean that. But, when you have hundreds of new students in a year who do not speak English and, perhaps, have not been in school at all, there is a problem. This problem will not be solved by adding more affluent neighborhoods to the boundary.

It does mean that. The resources that the school has go to meeting more basic needs and to remedial instruction.

Here is a study that FCPS commissioned laying it out.

https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/9DG4KP71B0DB/$file/fcps_tipping-point.pdf

The gist is that "almost all schools with poverty levels of 45 percent or higher were unable to reach expected pass rate levels in reading or math. Follow‐up statistical analyses found statistical evidence that two tipping points exist in FCPS. The reading data provided the most consistent findings as it indicated two tipping points occurring at 20 and 40‐45 percent school‐level poverty. Thus, FCPS schools with greater than 20 percent poverty are much less likely to meet performance expectations than those with less than 20 percent poverty. And, once poverty levels at a school reach 40 percent or more, FCPS schools are unlikely to meet expectations for school performance."

By their own numbers, Lewis, MVHs, Annandale, West Potomac, Falls Church and Justice are all at or past the 40% tipping point and Herndon and Edison are close. Most of those schools have lower FARMs rate schools bordering them, but that would mean unpopular redistricting

Also, the poverty rate of the county is above 20%. Moving students around won't fix this problem. It's mathematically impossible.

You want homogenous school district. Well, we don't have one.

The county poverty rate is below 40% and some schools have rates well below 10% including schools that border high poverty schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I also think there are more problems than just the demographics at Lewis.

I have been wondering this. I live nowhere near that area, but I do know that something is wrong when all other races are leaving the school. Black, White, and Asian are leaving in numbers, while Hispanic population is going up.

Herndon has 51% Hispanic, but it still manages well. It also has about 50% free lunch.

Get rid of IB at Lewis ASAP.

It doesn't help that Key Middle school is a disaster by all accounts. The behavior issues there and disruptions to learning mean that any family that can flees before high school. They seem to really need new leadership. I have many friends who have tried Key and been so dismayed that they've found other alternatives for high school - moving, private school, getting into the STEM program at Edison, etc.

So, close it and send them to other schools. Is Edison full? Hayfield?

Key has been a disaster since the early 2000's. I interviewed/observed there cops were called three times just in the morning. I told them no thank you on the job.
I just looked at the demographic history of Key. (I don't live near there) It is very interesting that numbers are dropping with all races. Percentages remain pretty stable, but it does appear people are leaving.

That is a big red flag.

Why doesn't Gatehouse do something? SB? crickets

Because Gatehouse....well does anyone know what people do their all day?! They don't care and if parents are really honest the SB doesn't care either. It's been an issue for years and has nothing to do with republican or Democrats. FCPS has been a mess for many years now....and it's at a tipping point where students, teachers, and parents are really feeling and seeing it fall apart.

This is inaccurate. Fwiw, there was talk for years of closing Lee because it was in danger of losing its accreditation. Then Richmond changed the rules and saved it from that fate. This was years before the pandemic.

The point is, Lewis has been struggling for decades. The SB and Gatehouse didn't cause 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:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe electing more men to the School Board this fall will make a difference. The last time the School Board had any guts was when Stuart Gibson pushed through the boundary change in 2008 that moved kids to South Lakes.

Stu Gibson has so much guts he let the SL PTSA run the show and make the decisions. And, it was composed of IB moms.

They didn’t take the heat from the people insisting they had a God-given right to stay at their then-current schools. He did.

In comparison, current SB members are spineless ninnies.

They did not say that. If you had watched the public hearings and citizen participation--as I did--you would have seen the majority of parents begging for South Lakes to switch to AP. Many of those parents still feel that way.

Other parents were upset that this was their third switch in a very short period of time. Some parents ended up with kids who went to three different high schools--without moving.

And, if you really followed it, you would have seen the SLPTA postings on their website that outlined their plans. They took it down when the link was posted on FairfaxUnderground. But, they spelled out exactly what they wanted and did not want. They wanted NO poor neighborhoods. They made that perfectly clear. This was not about numbers, it was all about demographics. The SL PTA was a perfect example of "limousine liberals." They wanted to be at South Lakes so they could claim they were tolerant. They wanted to keep IB so they could be progressive and they wanted wealthier kids so their kids could remain isolated from the poor kids.

Of course it was also about numbers. South Lakes was at about 1400 kids at the time. Westfield had about 2900 back then.

So maybe Lewis has to lose a couple more hundred before some of these lazy SB members do something (though most of the schools had lower enrollments in 2008 so 1400 them is about like 1600-1700 now).

SL was saved from a potential "death spiral" where it would have lost its middle and upper middle class support in the surrounding neighborhoods. It is a robust and popular school today thanks to the parents who pushed for the boundary change to bring in more wealthy residential areas. However, the promised AP courses were never adopted, and that's on the school board. Regarding Lewis, I don't think the school board will do anything unless the Lewis PTA or parent groups make it an issue.

Saving one school from a death spiral doesn't make the kids you don't want at the school disappear. They end up concentrated and no schools want them and no parents want their neighborhoods zoned for those schools. But hooray for keeping poors out of South Lakes and allowing it to thrive.

What is stopping Lewis from thriving.

Look at the assessments

https://schoolquality.virginia.gov/schools/lewis-high#fndtn-desktopTabs-assessments

50% of the school is farms, and fcps's own study has 40% as a tipping point past which a school can't really succeed.

But why is this? Why does FARMs mean no success?

It does not mean that. But, when you have hundreds of new students in a year who do not speak English and, perhaps, have not been in school at all, there is a problem. This problem will not be solved by adding more affluent neighborhoods to the boundary.

It does mean that. The resources that the school has go to meeting more basic needs and to remedial instruction.

Here is a study that FCPS commissioned laying it out.

https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/9DG4KP71B0DB/$file/fcps_tipping-point.pdf

The gist is that "almost all schools with poverty levels of 45 percent or higher were unable to reach expected pass rate levels in reading or math. Follow‐up statistical analyses found statistical evidence that two tipping points exist in FCPS. The reading data provided the most consistent findings as it indicated two tipping points occurring at 20 and 40‐45 percent school‐level poverty. Thus, FCPS schools with greater than 20 percent poverty are much less likely to meet performance expectations than those with less than 20 percent poverty. And, once poverty levels at a school reach 40 percent or more, FCPS schools are unlikely to meet expectations for school performance."

By their own numbers, Lewis, MVHs, Annandale, West Potomac, Falls Church and Justice are all at or past the 40% tipping point and Herndon and Edison are close. Most of those schools have lower FARMs rate schools bordering them, but that would mean unpopular redistricting

Also, the poverty rate of the county is above 20%. Moving students around won't fix this problem. It's mathematically impossible.

You want homogenous school district. Well, we don't have one.

The county poverty rate is below 40% and some schools have rates well below 10% including schools that border high poverty schools.

Which schools below 10% border high poverty schools?