Karl Frisch and the Stupidity of Dunn Loring ES

[Anonymous]

Frisch won by more votes than he did last time because he actually talked about the issues that matter instead of auctioning off assault rifles

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Support for school bonds has been declining in recent years (77% approval in 2019, vs. 70% in 2021 and now 67% in 2023).

That is still a healthy 2-to-1 margin, but when dopes like Frisch basically play fast-and-loose with what the voters originally were asked to approve - and then ignore the schools with the biggest capacity challenges - it starts to erode confidence in FCPS as a sound steward of capital resources.

Shrevewood was the school with the biggest capacity challenge in that part of the county at the time the decision was made. Fairfax/Oakton had been fixed. If you were to make the same decision right now, it might be a different one, which is why I would support a pause on Dunn Loring until we get a better read on future enrollment. But the initial decision to shift from Oakton/Fairfax to Dunn Loring was just fine.

Which decision are you referring to?

The initial decision to re-allocate the bond funds was pushed through by Frisch in January 2021. Shrevewood had 700 students then, in a building with a design capacity of 728 students. Then, as now, it was surrounded by schools that were under-enrolled and projected to remain under-enrolled.

Then the decision was made in March 2022 to extend a contract with the architects. Shrevewood had 704 students then and, as now, was surrounded by schools that were under-enrolled and projected to remain under-enrolled.

Now, it has 645 students and remains surrounded by schools that are under-enrolled and projected to remain under-enrolled.

By January 2021 it should have been clear that the construction of a new school in Dunn Loring was not justified by conditions at Shrevewood; any over-crowding or spike in enrollment easily could have been addressed through boundary changes with Stenwood and Freedom Hill. The decision to double-down on a bad plan in March 2022 was inexcusable and testimony to the School Board's stubbornness - 10 members defiantly ignored information in front of them because supporting Frisch, a member of the same political party, was more important than common sense.

Fortunately, there will be a new School Board soon, including 8 new members who aren't responsible for the mess and can insist on putting this fiasco in the making on pause. Unfortunately, they are all from the same political party, so the instinct to close ranks may yet again take precedence over common sense.

^ all this - someone needs to be an adult and put this project on ice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While other School Board members have embarrassed themselves deeply over the past two years, Karl Frisch may take the cake.

Frisch is responsible for the redirecting of $36 million in taxpayer funds that had been earmarked for the construction of a new elementary school in the Fairfax/Oakton area to the repurposing of the Dunn Loring Administrative Center as a new elementary school.

The stated rationale is to relieve future overcrowding in the "Dunn Loring/Tysons/Falls Church" area, as if these are not distinct area. For FCPS watchers, however, it is well known that the real reason was to make sure the $36 million was not spent to build a new school in the Blake Lane park area, home to a prized dog park for Frisch and some of his childless friends in the Providence District.

So what's in store:

(1) FCPS will dawdle and is expected to open the new Dunn Loring in the fall of 2026.

(2) By 2024, however, almost every nearby elementary school near Dunn Loring is expected to be below capacity - Stenwood at 92%, Shrevewood at 92%, Lemon Road at 69%, Vienna at 69%, Cunningham Park at 67%, and Freedom Hill at 67%.

(3) Given Dunn Loring's location, major boundary changes will be needed to provide a critical mass of students. Most Dunn Loring students will come from Stenwood or Freedom Hill, but some Shrevewood students will then likely move to Stenwood, and student at other schools, perhaps Westbriar (projected to be at 85% capacity in 2024) will need to move to Freedom Hill to avoid gutting Freedom Hill.

(4) None of this will provide immediate relief to Shrevewood, which prior to Covid had been overcrowded for years. Had prompt relief to Shrevewood's overcrowding, rather than saving the Blake Lane dog park, been the goal, a simple boundary change moving some Shrevewood kids to Stenwood and some Stenwood kids to Freedom could have been implemented starting this fall.

(5) Nor will Dunn Loring help with future growth in Tysons, if as expected more housing is built in central Tysons, as Dunn Loring is not especially close to the parts of Tysons slated for the most housing growth. A new elementary school in the southern part of the current Spring Hill ES attendance area would have made much more sense.

(6) And, if some of the schools in the Fairfax/Oakton area that are projected to be closer to full capacity actually see a higher-than-expected increase in enrollment, such as Waples Mill (projected to be at 99% by 2024), Oakton (89%), or Providence (87%), Frisch has nothing in the works for you, except possibly moving you to Mosaic ES, which already has about 900 kids and is itself about to undergo a renovation.

What colossal stupidity, and it was only possible because a 12-0 Democratic School Board blindly went along with Frisch's nonsense. These people have zero common sense and think they can get away with anything because so many people just vote for Democratic-endorsed candidates in School Board elections. But this crowd really is taking us all for a ride.

That's really odd since I lived near Dunn Loring ES and used to walk to Tysons all the time. It's not that far. Gratned back in those days Rt 7 had a lot fewer lanes and there was a goat farm across the street from the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While other School Board members have embarrassed themselves deeply over the past two years, Karl Frisch may take the cake.

Frisch is responsible for the redirecting of $36 million in taxpayer funds that had been earmarked for the construction of a new elementary school in the Fairfax/Oakton area to the repurposing of the Dunn Loring Administrative Center as a new elementary school.

The stated rationale is to relieve future overcrowding in the "Dunn Loring/Tysons/Falls Church" area, as if these are not distinct area. For FCPS watchers, however, it is well known that the real reason was to make sure the $36 million was not spent to build a new school in the Blake Lane park area, home to a prized dog park for Frisch and some of his childless friends in the Providence District.

So what's in store:

(1) FCPS will dawdle and is expected to open the new Dunn Loring in the fall of 2026.

(2) By 2024, however, almost every nearby elementary school near Dunn Loring is expected to be below capacity - Stenwood at 92%, Shrevewood at 92%, Lemon Road at 69%, Vienna at 69%, Cunningham Park at 67%, and Freedom Hill at 67%.

(3) Given Dunn Loring's location, major boundary changes will be needed to provide a critical mass of students. Most Dunn Loring students will come from Stenwood or Freedom Hill, but some Shrevewood students will then likely move to Stenwood, and student at other schools, perhaps Westbriar (projected to be at 85% capacity in 2024) will need to move to Freedom Hill to avoid gutting Freedom Hill.

(4) None of this will provide immediate relief to Shrevewood, which prior to Covid had been overcrowded for years. Had prompt relief to Shrevewood's overcrowding, rather than saving the Blake Lane dog park, been the goal, a simple boundary change moving some Shrevewood kids to Stenwood and some Stenwood kids to Freedom could have been implemented starting this fall.

(5) Nor will Dunn Loring help with future growth in Tysons, if as expected more housing is built in central Tysons, as Dunn Loring is not especially close to the parts of Tysons slated for the most housing growth. A new elementary school in the southern part of the current Spring Hill ES attendance area would have made much more sense.

(6) And, if some of the schools in the Fairfax/Oakton area that are projected to be closer to full capacity actually see a higher-than-expected increase in enrollment, such as Waples Mill (projected to be at 99% by 2024), Oakton (89%), or Providence (87%), Frisch has nothing in the works for you, except possibly moving you to Mosaic ES, which already has about 900 kids and is itself about to undergo a renovation.

What colossal stupidity, and it was only possible because a 12-0 Democratic School Board blindly went along with Frisch's nonsense. These people have zero common sense and think they can get away with anything because so many people just vote for Democratic-endorsed candidates in School Board elections. But this crowd really is taking us all for a ride.

That's really odd since I lived near Dunn Loring ES and used to walk to Tysons all the time. It's not that far. Gratned back in those days Rt 7 had a lot fewer lanes and there was a goat farm across the street from the school.

No kids in Tysons will be walking to an ES at Gallows/Idylwood. And the kids in new Tysons developments who could walk to a new school at the available site there may see that opportunity delayed for many years because of this boondoggle.

No school board in its right mind builds a new 900-seat school surrounded by four under-enrolled schools, yet doesn’t pursue a school where the new development is actually happening. Frisch is an idiot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While other School Board members have embarrassed themselves deeply over the past two years, Karl Frisch may take the cake.

Frisch is responsible for the redirecting of $36 million in taxpayer funds that had been earmarked for the construction of a new elementary school in the Fairfax/Oakton area to the repurposing of the Dunn Loring Administrative Center as a new elementary school.

The stated rationale is to relieve future overcrowding in the "Dunn Loring/Tysons/Falls Church" area, as if these are not distinct area. For FCPS watchers, however, it is well known that the real reason was to make sure the $36 million was not spent to build a new school in the Blake Lane park area, home to a prized dog park for Frisch and some of his childless friends in the Providence District.

So what's in store:

(1) FCPS will dawdle and is expected to open the new Dunn Loring in the fall of 2026.

(2) By 2024, however, almost every nearby elementary school near Dunn Loring is expected to be below capacity - Stenwood at 92%, Shrevewood at 92%, Lemon Road at 69%, Vienna at 69%, Cunningham Park at 67%, and Freedom Hill at 67%.

(3) Given Dunn Loring's location, major boundary changes will be needed to provide a critical mass of students. Most Dunn Loring students will come from Stenwood or Freedom Hill, but some Shrevewood students will then likely move to Stenwood, and student at other schools, perhaps Westbriar (projected to be at 85% capacity in 2024) will need to move to Freedom Hill to avoid gutting Freedom Hill.

(4) None of this will provide immediate relief to Shrevewood, which prior to Covid had been overcrowded for years. Had prompt relief to Shrevewood's overcrowding, rather than saving the Blake Lane dog park, been the goal, a simple boundary change moving some Shrevewood kids to Stenwood and some Stenwood kids to Freedom could have been implemented starting this fall.

(5) Nor will Dunn Loring help with future growth in Tysons, if as expected more housing is built in central Tysons, as Dunn Loring is not especially close to the parts of Tysons slated for the most housing growth. A new elementary school in the southern part of the current Spring Hill ES attendance area would have made much more sense.

(6) And, if some of the schools in the Fairfax/Oakton area that are projected to be closer to full capacity actually see a higher-than-expected increase in enrollment, such as Waples Mill (projected to be at 99% by 2024), Oakton (89%), or Providence (87%), Frisch has nothing in the works for you, except possibly moving you to Mosaic ES, which already has about 900 kids and is itself about to undergo a renovation.

What colossal stupidity, and it was only possible because a 12-0 Democratic School Board blindly went along with Frisch's nonsense. These people have zero common sense and think they can get away with anything because so many people just vote for Democratic-endorsed candidates in School Board elections. But this crowd really is taking us all for a ride.

That's really odd since I lived near Dunn Loring ES and used to walk to Tysons all the time. It's not that far. Gratned back in those days Rt 7 had a lot fewer lanes and there was a goat farm across the street from the school.

No kids in Tysons will be walking to an ES at Gallows/Idylwood. And the kids in new Tysons developments who could walk to a new school at the available site there may see that opportunity delayed for many years because of this boondoggle.

No school board in its right mind builds a new 900-seat school surrounded by four under-enrolled schools, yet doesn’t pursue a school where the new development is actually happening. Frisch is an idiot.

Can’t stop, won’t stop, will you?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While other School Board members have embarrassed themselves deeply over the past two years, Karl Frisch may take the cake.

Frisch is responsible for the redirecting of $36 million in taxpayer funds that had been earmarked for the construction of a new elementary school in the Fairfax/Oakton area to the repurposing of the Dunn Loring Administrative Center as a new elementary school.

The stated rationale is to relieve future overcrowding in the "Dunn Loring/Tysons/Falls Church" area, as if these are not distinct area. For FCPS watchers, however, it is well known that the real reason was to make sure the $36 million was not spent to build a new school in the Blake Lane park area, home to a prized dog park for Frisch and some of his childless friends in the Providence District.

So what's in store:

(1) FCPS will dawdle and is expected to open the new Dunn Loring in the fall of 2026.

(2) By 2024, however, almost every nearby elementary school near Dunn Loring is expected to be below capacity - Stenwood at 92%, Shrevewood at 92%, Lemon Road at 69%, Vienna at 69%, Cunningham Park at 67%, and Freedom Hill at 67%.

(3) Given Dunn Loring's location, major boundary changes will be needed to provide a critical mass of students. Most Dunn Loring students will come from Stenwood or Freedom Hill, but some Shrevewood students will then likely move to Stenwood, and student at other schools, perhaps Westbriar (projected to be at 85% capacity in 2024) will need to move to Freedom Hill to avoid gutting Freedom Hill.

(4) None of this will provide immediate relief to Shrevewood, which prior to Covid had been overcrowded for years. Had prompt relief to Shrevewood's overcrowding, rather than saving the Blake Lane dog park, been the goal, a simple boundary change moving some Shrevewood kids to Stenwood and some Stenwood kids to Freedom could have been implemented starting this fall.

(5) Nor will Dunn Loring help with future growth in Tysons, if as expected more housing is built in central Tysons, as Dunn Loring is not especially close to the parts of Tysons slated for the most housing growth. A new elementary school in the southern part of the current Spring Hill ES attendance area would have made much more sense.

(6) And, if some of the schools in the Fairfax/Oakton area that are projected to be closer to full capacity actually see a higher-than-expected increase in enrollment, such as Waples Mill (projected to be at 99% by 2024), Oakton (89%), or Providence (87%), Frisch has nothing in the works for you, except possibly moving you to Mosaic ES, which already has about 900 kids and is itself about to undergo a renovation.

What colossal stupidity, and it was only possible because a 12-0 Democratic School Board blindly went along with Frisch's nonsense. These people have zero common sense and think they can get away with anything because so many people just vote for Democratic-endorsed candidates in School Board elections. But this crowd really is taking us all for a ride.

That's really odd since I lived near Dunn Loring ES and used to walk to Tysons all the time. It's not that far. Gratned back in those days Rt 7 had a lot fewer lanes and there was a goat farm across the street from the school.

No kids in Tysons will be walking to an ES at Gallows/Idylwood. And the kids in new Tysons developments who could walk to a new school at the available site there may see that opportunity delayed for many years because of this boondoggle.

No school board in its right mind builds a new 900-seat school surrounded by four under-enrolled schools, yet doesn’t pursue a school where the new development is actually happening. Frisch is an idiot.

Can’t stop, won’t stop, will you?!

I notice there's been no real progress on this school. It's pretty obvious there's no compelling need. It was just a place to park the money.

[Anonymous]

will you shut up already? The election is over you can stop fear-mongering now.

[Anonymous]

Now that the election is over maybe Frisch can stop defending this ill-conceived plan. There’s no need for a school in that location and it’s a giant waste of taxpayer money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Now that the election is over maybe Frisch can stop defending this ill-conceived plan. There’s no need for a school in that location and it’s a giant waste of taxpayer money.

Where do you want the school to be instead? Please give the address instead of just saying "Tysons"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now that the election is over maybe Frisch can stop defending this ill-conceived plan. There’s no need for a school in that location and it’s a giant waste of taxpayer money.

Where do you want the school to be instead? Please give the address instead of just saying "Tysons"

Look it up in the CIP, dimwit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now that the election is over maybe Frisch can stop defending this ill-conceived plan. There’s no need for a school in that location and it’s a giant waste of taxpayer money.

Where do you want the school to be instead? Please give the address instead of just saying "Tysons"

Notice how nobody answered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now that the election is over maybe Frisch can stop defending this ill-conceived plan. There’s no need for a school in that location and it’s a giant waste of taxpayer money.

Where do you want the school to be instead? Please give the address instead of just saying "Tysons"

Notice how nobody answered.

The CIP reference to the Tysons site was appropriate. It's a trick question to ask for a street address for a school that hasn't been built.

[Anonymous]

NP... I doubt the county is going to buy a parcel of land large enough for a new ES (even an "urban" style one) in Tysons proper, it's going to be in the broader Tysons vicinity (read: 1 mile radius or so).

A lot of it will likely be existing schools like Spring Hill, either expanding its capacity (vertically?) and/or moving some of the kids farther north to Churchill Road to free up capacity at Spring Hill, etc... or possibly Westgate (again, only place to really grow that site is upwards, there's no real footprint available).

Or, maybe there's a new site somewhere else within a mile where the county already has land available that is appropriate size for an ES, even if the location isn't quite perfect, but at least is within very short bussing distance from the heart of Tysons. Nothing comes to mind though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP... I doubt the county is going to buy a parcel of land large enough for a new ES (even an "urban" style one) in Tysons proper, it's going to be in the broader Tysons vicinity (read: 1 mile radius or so).

A lot of it will likely be existing schools like Spring Hill, either expanding its capacity (vertically?) and/or moving some of the kids farther north to Churchill Road to free up capacity at Spring Hill, etc... or possibly Westgate (again, only place to really grow that site is upwards, there's no real footprint available).

Or, maybe there's a new site somewhere else within a mile where the county already has land available that is appropriate size for an ES, even if the location isn't quite perfect, but at least is within very short bussing distance from the heart of Tysons. Nothing comes to mind though.

The idea of continuing to ship ES kids in Tysons off to elementary schools in what is generously described as the “Tysons periphery” (sites like Dunn Loring and Spring Hill are NOT in Tysons) is completely misaligned with the BOS-approved plans for future schools in Tysons. FCPS already has a call on a site in Tysons off Jones Bridge for an urban ES - it has been mentioned repeatedly in the CIP and should have been advanced rather than the Dunn Loring site, which is surrounded by under-enrolled schools, only one of which (Freedom Hill) pulls at all from Tysons.

And just try to expand Spring Hill, which is already quite large, further. There were serious efforts by some Spring Hill parents 6-7 years ago to get a number of Tysons apartments zoned for Spring Hill administratively reassigned to Westbriar. That plan was chugging along behind the scenes when Scott Brabrand became superintendent in 2017 and it was one of the reasons why he put a halt to administrative boundary changes.

One way or the other the BOS and FCPS need to start coordinating better when it comes to Tysons. Dunn Loring is Exhibit A when it comes to a lack of coordination and FCPS’s continued mismanagement of capital resources at the hands of buffoons like Frisch.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]NP... I doubt the county is going to buy a parcel of land large enough for a new ES (even an "urban" style one) in Tysons proper, it's going to be in the broader Tysons vicinity (read: 1 mile radius or so).

A lot of it will likely be existing schools like Spring Hill, either expanding its capacity (vertically?) and/or moving some of the kids farther north to Churchill Road to free up capacity at Spring Hill, etc... or possibly Westgate (again, only place to really grow that site is upwards, there's no real footprint available).

Or, maybe there's a new site somewhere else within a mile where the county already has land available that is appropriate size for an ES, even if the location isn't quite perfect, but at least is within very short bussing distance from the heart of Tysons. Nothing comes to mind though.[/quote]

BASIS McLean is failing, maybe they can take over its office building?