Did Lewis Cancel Its Softball Season?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am from the area.

They need to get rid of IB and that stupid new social justice magnet dreamed up by the school board that zero people within a reasonable driving distance are interested in, make Lewis a magnet for something desireable to that cohort, like a centralized technical/trades academy (moving the academy classes from far off, overcrowded WestPo to centrally located, just off the beltway Lewis. There are plenty of WSHS, LB, SoCo and surrounding kids who drive all the way to WPo who would love to be able to attend Academy classes in a convenient, centralized location. (ie NOT inconvenient WestPo) There are also a lot of recent immigrant and non-college bound kids at Lewis who whould strongly benefit from having academy classes that are easy to attend and not an insurmountable hardship which they currently are due to location.

OR

Keep IB and make Lewis the only IB magnet in that part of the country. Then, ditch the stupid social justice program, and make Lewis a centralized magnet for all the languages that are hard to get in that half of the county. Keep German, Spanish and French at WSHS, but offer Spanish, plus Korean, Arabic, Japanese, Latin, Korean, Russian, etc as a magnet specific to Lewis. And with the classical focus of IB and languages, dump some money into the fine arts department, specifically orchestra, band and choir, so the activities that appeal to the IB cohort are robust and top of the line.

This would fix their issues without messing with a single boundary, save money on IB, and gix the West Po crowding an renovation waste issue.

That is what I would do with Lewis if I were king of the day for FCPS.

People use language availability as an excuse to get to better schools. No one is transferring into Lewis for a language. Likewise, people tolerate IB, no one is transferring to get to in IB school (unless they are using it as an excuse for a transfer that they would already make).

IB has enough appeal so that if Lewis were the only IB school surrounded by AP schools it would benefit from net pupil placements. Years ago before it and other schools further north got crowded Marshall was surrounded by AP schools (Langley, McLean, Madison, Falls Church), three of which were higher rated, and it still was a net beneficiary of pupil placements because most of the kids at the four AP schools who wanted IB went to Marshall (some went to South Lakes). So even though more kids were transferring out of Marshall than were transferring out of each of Langley, Madison, and McLean, on balance it was more kids transferring into Marshall. The same thing could happen at Lewis but for the fact that its part of the county is over-saturated with IB (Annandale, Edison, Justice, Mount Vernon are also IB).

The academy program, on the other hand, won't be a draw, assuming its focus is on "leadership" or "social justice." It won't be a credentialed program, like IB, nor will be it be a practical one, like the academy at West Potomac.

There is a large difference between Marshall vs Madison and Lake Braddock vs Lewis. There is nothing that Lewis can offer that will draw students from Lake Braddock, West Springfield, South County or even Hayfield.

We mean long term. IB has been an issue discussed in front of the school board for years. There are too many schools with IB and they have not intergrated more expensive neighborhoods better into their low performing schools. If they were to make Lewis a magnet school, eventually, not now, it would rise to the level of attracting new students into it that would help the school from underperforming. New families are moving into the area all the time.

[Anonymous]

The problem with Lewis not being able to field a softball team is just one minor example of how students are victims of failed School Board policies. The ACLU should examine how policies like redistricting and expansion of “better” schools (WSHS, West Po) have negatively impacted education for many students at schools like Lewis and Mount Vernon. Students at those schools don’t have the same access to courses or extracurricular activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am from the area.

They need to get rid of IB and that stupid new social justice magnet dreamed up by the school board that zero people within a reasonable driving distance are interested in, make Lewis a magnet for something desireable to that cohort, like a centralized technical/trades academy (moving the academy classes from far off, overcrowded WestPo to centrally located, just off the beltway Lewis. There are plenty of WSHS, LB, SoCo and surrounding kids who drive all the way to WPo who would love to be able to attend Academy classes in a convenient, centralized location. (ie NOT inconvenient WestPo) There are also a lot of recent immigrant and non-college bound kids at Lewis who whould strongly benefit from having academy classes that are easy to attend and not an insurmountable hardship which they currently are due to location.

OR

Keep IB and make Lewis the only IB magnet in that part of the country. Then, ditch the stupid social justice program, and make Lewis a centralized magnet for all the languages that are hard to get in that half of the county. Keep German, Spanish and French at WSHS, but offer Spanish, plus Korean, Arabic, Japanese, Latin, Korean, Russian, etc as a magnet specific to Lewis. And with the classical focus of IB and languages, dump some money into the fine arts department, specifically orchestra, band and choir, so the activities that appeal to the IB cohort are robust and top of the line.

This would fix their issues without messing with a single boundary, save money on IB, and gix the West Po crowding an renovation waste issue.

That is what I would do with Lewis if I were king of the day for FCPS.

People use language availability as an excuse to get to better schools. No one is transferring into Lewis for a language. Likewise, people tolerate IB, no one is transferring to get to in IB school (unless they are using it as an excuse for a transfer that they would already make).

IB has enough appeal so that if Lewis were the only IB school surrounded by AP schools it would benefit from net pupil placements. Years ago before it and other schools further north got crowded Marshall was surrounded by AP schools (Langley, McLean, Madison, Falls Church), three of which were higher rated, and it still was a net beneficiary of pupil placements because most of the kids at the four AP schools who wanted IB went to Marshall (some went to South Lakes). So even though more kids were transferring out of Marshall than were transferring out of each of Langley, Madison, and McLean, on balance it was more kids transferring into Marshall. The same thing could happen at Lewis but for the fact that its part of the county is over-saturated with IB (Annandale, Edison, Justice, Mount Vernon are also IB).

The academy program, on the other hand, won't be a draw, assuming its focus is on "leadership" or "social justice." It won't be a credentialed program, like IB, nor will be it be a practical one, like the academy at West Potomac.

There is a large difference between Marshall vs Madison and Lake Braddock vs Lewis. There is nothing that Lewis can offer that will draw students from Lake Braddock, West Springfield, South County or even Hayfield.

We mean long term. IB has been an issue discussed in front of the school board for years. There are too many schools with IB and they have not intergrated more expensive neighborhoods better into their low performing schools. If they were to make Lewis a magnet school, eventually, not now, it would rise to the level of attracting new students into it that would help the school from underperforming. New families are moving into the area all the time.

IB is an escape valve, if it goes away parents will find another way to transfer. Most people with options don't want their kids to attend failing schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are 199 'white' students at Lewis this year. Cut that in half to get 100 'white' girls. If your pony-tailed European descent white girl is what you are looking for to fill out a softball team, then you have to reduce this number even further because 'white' includes people of Middle Eastern descent. There may not be 70 European white girls in all of Lewis. How many of them enjoy softball?

Why aren't the feeders to Lewis introducing the non-White girls to sports like softball at Key, Springfield Estates, etc. There is a recruited Hispanic softball player at Madison headed to the Ivy League next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are 199 'white' students at Lewis this year. Cut that in half to get 100 'white' girls. If your pony-tailed European descent white girl is what you are looking for to fill out a softball team, then you have to reduce this number even further because 'white' includes people of Middle Eastern descent. There may not be 70 European white girls in all of Lewis. How many of them enjoy softball?

Why aren't the feeders to Lewis introducing the non-White girls to sports like softball at Key, Springfield Estates, etc. There is a recruited Hispanic softball player at Madison headed to the Ivy League next year.

Ivy League isn’t exactly a softball powerhouse conference

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are 199 'white' students at Lewis this year. Cut that in half to get 100 'white' girls. If your pony-tailed European descent white girl is what you are looking for to fill out a softball team, then you have to reduce this number even further because 'white' includes people of Middle Eastern descent. There may not be 70 European white girls in all of Lewis. How many of them enjoy softball?

Why aren't the feeders to Lewis introducing the non-White girls to sports like softball at Key, Springfield Estates, etc. There is a recruited Hispanic softball player at Madison headed to the Ivy League next year.

Ivy League isn’t exactly a softball powerhouse conference

Did you just miss the point, or did you do so on purpose? The recruited player was one the top players on a team that won the state championship for Madison last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are 199 'white' students at Lewis this year. Cut that in half to get 100 'white' girls. If your pony-tailed European descent white girl is what you are looking for to fill out a softball team, then you have to reduce this number even further because 'white' includes people of Middle Eastern descent. There may not be 70 European white girls in all of Lewis. How many of them enjoy softball?

Why aren't the feeders to Lewis introducing the non-White girls to sports like softball at Key, Springfield Estates, etc. There is a recruited Hispanic softball player at Madison headed to the Ivy League next year.

The wealthier elementary schools have sports? Who knew

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are 199 'white' students at Lewis this year. Cut that in half to get 100 'white' girls. If your pony-tailed European descent white girl is what you are looking for to fill out a softball team, then you have to reduce this number even further because 'white' includes people of Middle Eastern descent. There may not be 70 European white girls in all of Lewis. How many of them enjoy softball?

Why aren't the feeders to Lewis introducing the non-White girls to sports like softball at Key, Springfield Estates, etc. There is a recruited Hispanic softball player at Madison headed to the Ivy League next year.

There’s a pretty large socioeconomic disparity between Madison and Lewis. There are plenty of local leagues near Lewis with Softball, SYC, NVGSA, for example. But they can’t force people to play if they aren’t interested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem with Lewis not being able to field a softball team is just one minor example of how students are victims of failed School Board policies. The ACLU should examine how policies like redistricting and expansion of “better” schools (WSHS, West Po) have negatively impacted education for many students at schools like Lewis and Mount Vernon. Students at those schools don’t have the same access to courses or extracurricular activities.

I agree with those expansions. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix (rezone) it; build upon, literally, what already works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am from the area.

They need to get rid of IB and that stupid new social justice magnet dreamed up by the school board that zero people within a reasonable driving distance are interested in, make Lewis a magnet for something desireable to that cohort, like a centralized technical/trades academy (moving the academy classes from far off, overcrowded WestPo to centrally located, just off the beltway Lewis. There are plenty of WSHS, LB, SoCo and surrounding kids who drive all the way to WPo who would love to be able to attend Academy classes in a convenient, centralized location. (ie NOT inconvenient WestPo) There are also a lot of recent immigrant and non-college bound kids at Lewis who whould strongly benefit from having academy classes that are easy to attend and not an insurmountable hardship which they currently are due to location.

OR

Keep IB and make Lewis the only IB magnet in that part of the country. Then, ditch the stupid social justice program, and make Lewis a centralized magnet for all the languages that are hard to get in that half of the county. Keep German, Spanish and French at WSHS, but offer Spanish, plus Korean, Arabic, Japanese, Latin, Korean, Russian, etc as a magnet specific to Lewis. And with the classical focus of IB and languages, dump some money into the fine arts department, specifically orchestra, band and choir, so the activities that appeal to the IB cohort are robust and top of the line.

This would fix their issues without messing with a single boundary, save money on IB, and gix the West Po crowding an renovation waste issue.

That is what I would do with Lewis if I were king of the day for FCPS.

People use language availability as an excuse to get to better schools. No one is transferring into Lewis for a language. Likewise, people tolerate IB, no one is transferring to get to in IB school (unless they are using it as an excuse for a transfer that they would already make).

IB has enough appeal so that if Lewis were the only IB school surrounded by AP schools it would benefit from net pupil placements. Years ago before it and other schools further north got crowded Marshall was surrounded by AP schools (Langley, McLean, Madison, Falls Church), three of which were higher rated, and it still was a net beneficiary of pupil placements because most of the kids at the four AP schools who wanted IB went to Marshall (some went to South Lakes). So even though more kids were transferring out of Marshall than were transferring out of each of Langley, Madison, and McLean, on balance it was more kids transferring into Marshall. The same thing could happen at Lewis but for the fact that its part of the county is over-saturated with IB (Annandale, Edison, Justice, Mount Vernon are also IB).

The academy program, on the other hand, won't be a draw, assuming its focus is on "leadership" or "social justice." It won't be a credentialed program, like IB, nor will be it be a practical one, like the academy at West Potomac.

There is a large difference between Marshall vs Madison and Lake Braddock vs Lewis. There is nothing that Lewis can offer that will draw students from Lake Braddock, West Springfield, South County or even Hayfield.

We mean long term. IB has been an issue discussed in front of the school board for years. There are too many schools with IB and they have not intergrated more expensive neighborhoods better into their low performing schools. If they were to make Lewis a magnet school, eventually, not now, it would rise to the level of attracting new students into it that would help the school from underperforming. New families are moving into the area all the time.

IB is an escape valve, if it goes away parents will find another way to transfer. Most people with options don't want their kids to attend failing schools

If the school was AP instead, more families with options would be willing to move to & stay in its catchment and it wouldn’t be a failing school anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with Lewis not being able to field a softball team is just one minor example of how students are victims of failed School Board policies. The ACLU should examine how policies like redistricting and expansion of “better” schools (WSHS, West Po) have negatively impacted education for many students at schools like Lewis and Mount Vernon. Students at those schools don’t have the same access to courses or extracurricular activities.

I agree with those expansions. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix (rezone) it; build upon, literally, what already works.

A-holes like you (and Jeff Platenberg, the slimeball who used to head Facilities and made sure West Springfield got a huge expansion while seats at Lewis went unfilled and the school cratered) are responsible for the gaping disparities within FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Are any of the school board candidates talking about the IB problem and promising to take action?

[Anonymous]

Middle school sports at schools like Lewis would go a long way. They would be a chance to introduce kids to the sport who weren’t in rec leagues like some of their peers across the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lewis HS is nearly 50% Latino/Hispanic.

Latino/Hispanic girls don't tend to play sports, much less softball.

I used to be involved with softball in Arlington and we tried a lot of outreach to that community to no avail. There were myriad reasons -- cultural, fear of immigration, etc.

The high school softball programs are fed by robust rec and travel leagues. Spend any time at a complex during a tournament and you'll see about 90% of the girls playing are white. A few black girls and a few Asian girls. Almost no Hispanic/Latino.

So it follows that a 50% Hispanic school probably isn't going to be able to field a varsity softball team.

Justice, Herndon, and Falls Church all field varsity softball teams and have similar percentages of Hispanic students as Lewis.

Travel programs around there, populated by white girls, feed those programs.

Hahaha, I wish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with Lewis not being able to field a softball team is just one minor example of how students are victims of failed School Board policies. The ACLU should examine how policies like redistricting and expansion of “better” schools (WSHS, West Po) have negatively impacted education for many students at schools like Lewis and Mount Vernon. Students at those schools don’t have the same access to courses or extracurricular activities.

I agree with those expansions. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix (rezone) it; build upon, literally, what already works.

A-holes like you (and Jeff Platenberg, the slimeball who used to head Facilities and made sure West Springfield got a huge expansion while seats at Lewis went unfilled and the school cratered) are responsible for the gaping disparities within FCPS.

You can’t force parents to send their kid to a particular school, particularly a failing one. I think rezoning schools should be extremely rare and an absolute last resort. It’s better to have high-performing “mega schools” (3k+ kids in one building) than to try to shuffle kids around.