School Board Forum on "Boundary and Capacity"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Need is still there. Zip code 20171 is a mess. Schools are flooding with students in that zip code and so many new housing developments popping up there with townhomes and apartments. It’s a real disappointment. It’s a vastly ignored community.

Oakton and Herndon were both recently renovated and expanded. South Lakes also got an expansion even though it wasn’t in the renovation queue.

It’s easier to renovate and expand existing schools (or tear down/rebuild) than going through the very long process, sometimes controversial, of opening a new high school.

Also, the FCPS demographers are probably predicting a long term school age population plateau or decline.

Locally, for comparison, only MCPS is building new high schools and reopening closed ones to keep the population of schools below 3,000, except for the largest schools like Montgomery Blair. On the other hand, FCPS has not reopened one closed high school or built a new one in almost 20 years. They prefer to build additions like at West Potomac. It’s just a different philosophy, not a better or worse one.

I'm so surprised by this because I live in 20171 and there are several neighborhoods built in the 90s that have original owners that are getting ready to sell and move out - I foresee a HUGE influx of families into this area as they move out. We were the first family with young children to move into our neighborhood in about 5 years, and after we bought, three houses went on the market, and I've heard there are at least 5 going on the market this spring. I bet this neighborhood turns over into families with babies and toddlers in the next 10 years.

This is one poster spamming this discussion with “20171”, right? I wonder if the motive to redistricting is wanting a property value increase.

No, I only posted twice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why did South Lakes get renovated if it wasn't in the que? Some special pet project of Meren's because she has kids going there or something else?

My guess, it has alarge number of FARMs families, a large number of ELL students, and the Fox Mill ES and some parts of other ES were moved there when they didn’t want to move. Changing the boundaries so that the school had a better balance of kids, even marginally, and then allowing the school to be overcrowded would have been an even bigger slap in the face to those families.

I live in the Fox Mill boundary and there are parents who are miffed with the boundary change. I know some families thinking about moving now that their kids are entering MS because they had wanted the Fox Mill, Carson, Oakton route. Moving after 8th grade would not be all that disruptive to their kids HS career because there are so few kids from Carson that move from Carson to SLHS. The kids are pretty much starting over in HS as it is.

Most the families I know are fine with being at South Lakes, the Honors and IB program are well received. There are some solid clubs and sports teams. I think there would have been a lot of complaints and more kids trying to place out for AP if the school was overcrowded.

Wasn’t the boundary change to South Lakes roughly 15 years ago? How are the current elem and middle school parents even aware of that today?

I get that split feeders aren’t the best, but at least most families are fine with South Lakes. It’s a solid school today, and hopefully won’t get overcrowded in the future. Reston is one of the last bastions of housing affordability in Northern Virginia. Many lakefront townhomes and single family homes are still well under a million.

NP but people move into the neighborhood before they have children. 15 years later, now their kids are entering middle school. Neighbors talk. Obvs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why did South Lakes get renovated if it wasn't in the que? Some special pet project of Meren's because she has kids going there or something else?

My guess, it has alarge number of FARMs families, a large number of ELL students, and the Fox Mill ES and some parts of other ES were moved there when they didn’t want to move. Changing the boundaries so that the school had a better balance of kids, even marginally, and then allowing the school to be overcrowded would have been an even bigger slap in the face to those families.

I live in the Fox Mill boundary and there are parents who are miffed with the boundary change. I know some families thinking about moving now that their kids are entering MS because they had wanted the Fox Mill, Carson, Oakton route. Moving after 8th grade would not be all that disruptive to their kids HS career because there are so few kids from Carson that move from Carson to SLHS. The kids are pretty much starting over in HS as it is.

Most the families I know are fine with being at South Lakes, the Honors and IB program are well received. There are some solid clubs and sports teams. I think there would have been a lot of complaints and more kids trying to place out for AP if the school was overcrowded.

Wasn’t the boundary change to South Lakes roughly 15 years ago? How are the current elem and middle school parents even aware of that today?

I get that split feeders aren’t the best, but at least most families are fine with South Lakes. It’s a solid school today, and hopefully won’t get overcrowded in the future. Reston is one of the last bastions of housing affordability in Northern Virginia. Many lakefront townhomes and single family homes are still well under a million.

Parents bought houses in the area anticipating having kids. The JI program is popular and the area has been more reasonably priced for the area. We bought right when the boundary change happened and started our family a few years later. We were aware of the change when we were buying but were more focused on the ES at that time. Not to mention, there are a good number of parents who grew up here and attended Fox Mill and Oakton HS. We know parents who went through JI as kids in the neighborhood.

In the end, there are plenty of parents who knew about the change. I have been hearing more people wish for AP and want to find away to send their kids to Oakton. The parents of kids at Oak Hill for LIV would prefer Oakton because their kids have been going to ES with kids attending Oakton. So few kids from Carson go to South Lakes and that is really bothering more people I know in the neighborhood but no one wants to move to Langston Hughes for MS. Pretty much the only kids from Carson who will end up at South Lakes are the Fox Mill kids. And Carson does not do a good job prepping parents for IB at South Lakes. The MS info video flat out said that no one needs to take a language in MS, which is not true for anyone interested in the IB program at SL. It was like Carson ignores the Fox Mill kids counseling needs.

You say people don’t want to move to Hughes but wouldn’t Hughes, as the biggest South Lakes feeder, be more attuned to what kids need for IB?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why did South Lakes get renovated if it wasn't in the que? Some special pet project of Meren's because she has kids going there or something else?

My guess, it has alarge number of FARMs families, a large number of ELL students, and the Fox Mill ES and some parts of other ES were moved there when they didn’t want to move. Changing the boundaries so that the school had a better balance of kids, even marginally, and then allowing the school to be overcrowded would have been an even bigger slap in the face to those families.

I live in the Fox Mill boundary and there are parents who are miffed with the boundary change. I know some families thinking about moving now that their kids are entering MS because they had wanted the Fox Mill, Carson, Oakton route. Moving after 8th grade would not be all that disruptive to their kids HS career because there are so few kids from Carson that move from Carson to SLHS. The kids are pretty much starting over in HS as it is.

Most the families I know are fine with being at South Lakes, the Honors and IB program are well received. There are some solid clubs and sports teams. I think there would have been a lot of complaints and more kids trying to place out for AP if the school was overcrowded.

Wasn’t the boundary change to South Lakes roughly 15 years ago? How are the current elem and middle school parents even aware of that today?

I get that split feeders aren’t the best, but at least most families are fine with South Lakes. It’s a solid school today, and hopefully won’t get overcrowded in the future. Reston is one of the last bastions of housing affordability in Northern Virginia. Many lakefront townhomes and single family homes are still well under a million.

Parents bought houses in the area anticipating having kids. The JI program is popular and the area has been more reasonably priced for the area. We bought right when the boundary change happened and started our family a few years later. We were aware of the change when we were buying but were more focused on the ES at that time. Not to mention, there are a good number of parents who grew up here and attended Fox Mill and Oakton HS. We know parents who went through JI as kids in the neighborhood.

In the end, there are plenty of parents who knew about the change. I have been hearing more people wish for AP and want to find away to send their kids to Oakton. The parents of kids at Oak Hill for LIV would prefer Oakton because their kids have been going to ES with kids attending Oakton. So few kids from Carson go to South Lakes and that is really bothering more people I know in the neighborhood but no one wants to move to Langston Hughes for MS. Pretty much the only kids from Carson who will end up at South Lakes are the Fox Mill kids. And Carson does not do a good job prepping parents for IB at South Lakes. The MS info video flat out said that no one needs to take a language in MS, which is not true for anyone interested in the IB program at SL. It was like Carson ignores the Fox Mill kids counseling needs.

You say people don’t want to move to Hughes but wouldn’t Hughes, as the biggest South Lakes feeder, be more attuned to what kids need for IB?

Carson is seen as the better MS, lots of folks see Oakton to South Lakes as a poor trade off and see Carson for Hughes in the same light. Hughes makes more sense for lots of reasons but most don’t want to lose another excellent schools for an ok school. Fox Mill did not want to move to South Lakes but didn’t have the pull to prevent it from happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please fix the school boundaries in and around 20171. Thank you.

What’s broken? There are other zip codes where kids go to multiple schools.

20171 is Herndon.

20171 kids go to four different high schools (Chantily, Oakton, Westfield, and SLHS in Reston) but none of them are assigned to Herndon High.

Something is seriously messed up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please fix the school boundaries in and around 20171. Thank you.

What’s broken? There are other zip codes where kids go to multiple schools.

20171 is Herndon.

20171 kids go to four different high schools (Chantily, Oakton, Westfield, and SLHS in Reston) but none of them are assigned to Herndon High.

Something is seriously messed up.

20171 is Oak Hill, which happens to border Reston and Herndon. It is not Herndon or Reston, we pay extra to use Herndon and Reston services, like the community center, classes, and pools. The commute to SLHS from Fox Mill is a bit faster than the commute to Herndon High. Fox Mill was moved from Oakton to South Lakes to decrease the number of FARMs kids at SLHS. So yeah, we already did the boundary shuffle. Look else where to fill your social justice warrior BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please fix the school boundaries in and around 20171. Thank you.

What’s broken? There are other zip codes where kids go to multiple schools.

20171 is Herndon.

20171 kids go to four different high schools (Chantily, Oakton, Westfield, and SLHS in Reston) but none of them are assigned to Herndon High.

Something is seriously messed up.

20171 is Oak Hill, which happens to border Reston and Herndon. It is not Herndon or Reston, we pay extra to use Herndon and Reston services, like the community center, classes, and pools. The commute to SLHS from Fox Mill is a bit faster than the commute to Herndon High. Fox Mill was moved from Oakton to South Lakes to decrease the number of FARMs kids at SLHS. So yeah, we already did the boundary shuffle. Look else where to fill your social justice warrior BS.

You're still in Herndon... Just as Wolftrap is still in Vienna despite not being in the Town of Vienna. Perhaps if your community welcomed the Herndon name you could be proud of it instead of being embarrassed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please fix the school boundaries in and around 20171. Thank you.

What’s broken? There are other zip codes where kids go to multiple schools.

20171 is Herndon.

20171 kids go to four different high schools (Chantily, Oakton, Westfield, and SLHS in Reston) but none of them are assigned to Herndon High.

Something is seriously messed up.

You could just as easily say things are messed up because two Reston schools go to Herndon - Aldrin and Armstrong.

The point is that zip codes don’t have much to do with school assignments when the areas in question are just unincorporated parts of the county. Kids in 22182 also go to four high schools - it just happens that none of the four has the name “Vienna HS.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please fix the school boundaries in and around 20171. Thank you.

What’s broken? There are other zip codes where kids go to multiple schools.

20171 is Herndon.

20171 kids go to four different high schools (Chantily, Oakton, Westfield, and SLHS in Reston) but none of them are assigned to Herndon High.

Something is seriously messed up.

You could just as easily say things are messed up because two Reston schools go to Herndon - Aldrin and Armstrong.

The point is that zip codes don’t have much to do with school assignments when the areas in question are just unincorporated parts of the county. Kids in 22182 also go to four high schools - it just happens that none of the four has the name “Vienna HS.”

Madison is a de facto Vienna high school while SLHS is a de facto Reston high school. Some kids in 22182 go to Madison and Many kids in 20194 go to SLHS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please fix the school boundaries in and around 20171. Thank you.

What’s broken? There are other zip codes where kids go to multiple schools.

20171 is Herndon.

20171 kids go to four different high schools (Chantily, Oakton, Westfield, and SLHS in Reston) but none of them are assigned to Herndon High.

Something is seriously messed up.

20171 is Oak Hill, which happens to border Reston and Herndon. It is not Herndon or Reston, we pay extra to use Herndon and Reston services, like the community center, classes, and pools. The commute to SLHS from Fox Mill is a bit faster than the commute to Herndon High. Fox Mill was moved from Oakton to South Lakes to decrease the number of FARMs kids at SLHS. So yeah, we already did the boundary shuffle. Look else where to fill your social justice warrior BS.

You're still in Herndon... Just as Wolftrap is still in Vienna despite not being in the Town of Vienna. Perhaps if your community welcomed the Herndon name you could be proud of it instead of being embarrassed.

You want to read your bias into every conversation. I don't care about the population at a high school in its day to day function. I care about the opportunities available to my kid. Herndon, Lewis, Justice, Mt. Vernon, South Lakes simply do not have the same opportunities as Langley, McLean, Oakton, and the like. So yeah, I would prefer to be there. We know that we will have to pursue out of school enrichment and extra curriculars to meet our kids interests and needs, so that is what we will do. That doesn't mean that I think that we screw over other kids by shifting boundaries so that other kids are put on the position that the Fox Mill kids were put in.

Maybe the Herndon families should focus on their school and stop worrying about moving other kids from their schools into Herndon. Take pride in your school and stop thnking that it would be better if you brought in the kids from Great Falls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please fix the school boundaries in and around 20171. Thank you.

What’s broken? There are other zip codes where kids go to multiple schools.

20171 is Herndon.

20171 kids go to four different high schools (Chantily, Oakton, Westfield, and SLHS in Reston) but none of them are assigned to Herndon High.

Something is seriously messed up.

You could just as easily say things are messed up because two Reston schools go to Herndon - Aldrin and Armstrong.

The point is that zip codes don’t have much to do with school assignments when the areas in question are just unincorporated parts of the county. Kids in 22182 also go to four high schools - it just happens that none of the four has the name “Vienna HS.”

Madison is a de facto Vienna high school while SLHS is a de facto Reston high school. Some kids in 22182 go to Madison and Many kids in 20194 go to SLHS.

And Herndon is a de facto Herndon high school, but people with Herndon mailing addresses attend schools besides Herndon, people with Vienna mailing addresses attend schools besides Madison, people with Reston mailing addresses attend schools besides South Lakes, etc.

You seem to want additional areas with Herndon (or Oak Hill) mailing addresses moved to Herndon for demographic reasons, and if that's the case you should just make that argument rather than suggest that Herndon is being treated differently than Vienna, Reston, etc.

[Anonymous]

So what about McLean HS? It clearly needs a renovation and expansion, and yet just marginal fixes is all it gets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please fix the school boundaries in and around 20171. Thank you.

What’s broken? There are other zip codes where kids go to multiple schools.

20171 is Herndon.

20171 kids go to four different high schools (Chantily, Oakton, Westfield, and SLHS in Reston) but none of them are assigned to Herndon High.

Something is seriously messed up.

20171 is Oak Hill, which happens to border Reston and Herndon. It is not Herndon or Reston, we pay extra to use Herndon and Reston services, like the community center, classes, and pools. The commute to SLHS from Fox Mill is a bit faster than the commute to Herndon High. Fox Mill was moved from Oakton to South Lakes to decrease the number of FARMs kids at SLHS. So yeah, we already did the boundary shuffle. Look else where to fill your social justice warrior BS.

You're still in Herndon... Just as Wolftrap is still in Vienna despite not being in the Town of Vienna. Perhaps if your community welcomed the Herndon name you could be proud of it instead of being embarrassed.

You want to read your bias into every conversation. I don't care about the population at a high school in its day to day function. I care about the opportunities available to my kid. Herndon, Lewis, Justice, Mt. Vernon, South Lakes simply do not have the same opportunities as Langley, McLean, Oakton, and the like. So yeah, I would prefer to be there. We know that we will have to pursue out of school enrichment and extra curriculars to meet our kids interests and needs, so that is what we will do. That doesn't mean that I think that we screw over other kids by shifting boundaries so that other kids are put on the position that the Fox Mill kids were put in.

Maybe the Herndon families should focus on their school and stop worrying about moving other kids from their schools into Herndon. Take pride in your school and stop thnking that it would be better if you brought in the kids from Great Falls.

Lewis and South Lakes while both fine schools, are most dissimilar. Lewis is a small high school that lacks the large middle /upper middle class class cohort needed to support sports, extracurriculars, and varied academic offerings. South Lakes on the other hand is a large high school with a large upper middle class cohort with a plethora of course options and strong athletics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please fix the school boundaries in and around 20171. Thank you.

What’s broken? There are other zip codes where kids go to multiple schools.

20171 is Herndon.

20171 kids go to four different high schools (Chantily, Oakton, Westfield, and SLHS in Reston) but none of them are assigned to Herndon High.

Something is seriously messed up.

20171 is Oak Hill, which happens to border Reston and Herndon. It is not Herndon or Reston, we pay extra to use Herndon and Reston services, like the community center, classes, and pools. The commute to SLHS from Fox Mill is a bit faster than the commute to Herndon High. Fox Mill was moved from Oakton to South Lakes to decrease the number of FARMs kids at SLHS. So yeah, we already did the boundary shuffle. Look else where to fill your social justice warrior BS.

You're still in Herndon... Just as Wolftrap is still in Vienna despite not being in the Town of Vienna. Perhaps if your community welcomed the Herndon name you could be proud of it instead of being embarrassed.

You want to read your bias into every conversation. I don't care about the population at a high school in its day to day function. I care about the opportunities available to my kid. Herndon, Lewis, Justice, Mt. Vernon, South Lakes simply do not have the same opportunities as Langley, McLean, Oakton, and the like. So yeah, I would prefer to be there. We know that we will have to pursue out of school enrichment and extra curriculars to meet our kids interests and needs, so that is what we will do. That doesn't mean that I think that we screw over other kids by shifting boundaries so that other kids are put on the position that the Fox Mill kids were put in.

Maybe the Herndon families should focus on their school and stop worrying about moving other kids from their schools into Herndon. Take pride in your school and stop thnking that it would be better if you brought in the kids from Great Falls.

Lewis and South Lakes while both fine schools, are most dissimilar. Lewis is a small high school that lacks the large middle /upper middle class class cohort needed to support sports, extracurriculars, and varied academic offerings. South Lakes on the other hand is a large high school with a large upper middle class cohort with a plethora of course options and strong athletics.

South Lakes is 32% FARMs and would be a higher percentage FARMs without the Fox Mill kids, that is why the boundary was shifted. Let's not pretend that there are not schools within schools at Herndon and South Lakes, where the AP and IB kids are doing their own things with little interaction with the kids in non-honors classes. South Lakes is very much a high FARMs school, the Fox Mill kids do not shift the numbers that significantly. Moving a small group of kids into Herndon or Lewis or any of the other High FARMs schools might make things look better on paper but it really isn't doing much for those FARMs kids. The new students will move to the AP/IB cohort and be isolated from the FARMs population that don't manage to make it into those programs.

Shifting the boundaries will do little to help the kids that need help. All it does is reduce opportunities for kids whose parents will have the money to pay for private school or pay for extra curricular opportunities. It is a bandaid not a fix.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please fix the school boundaries in and around 20171. Thank you.

What’s broken? There are other zip codes where kids go to multiple schools.

20171 is Herndon.

20171 kids go to four different high schools (Chantily, Oakton, Westfield, and SLHS in Reston) but none of them are assigned to Herndon High.

Something is seriously messed up.

20171 is Oak Hill, which happens to border Reston and Herndon. It is not Herndon or Reston, we pay extra to use Herndon and Reston services, like the community center, classes, and pools. The commute to SLHS from Fox Mill is a bit faster than the commute to Herndon High. Fox Mill was moved from Oakton to South Lakes to decrease the number of FARMs kids at SLHS. So yeah, we already did the boundary shuffle. Look else where to fill your social justice warrior BS.

You're still in Herndon... Just as Wolftrap is still in Vienna despite not being in the Town of Vienna. Perhaps if your community welcomed the Herndon name you could be proud of it instead of being embarrassed.

You want to read your bias into every conversation. I don't care about the population at a high school in its day to day function. I care about the opportunities available to my kid. Herndon, Lewis, Justice, Mt. Vernon, South Lakes simply do not have the same opportunities as Langley, McLean, Oakton, and the like. So yeah, I would prefer to be there. We know that we will have to pursue out of school enrichment and extra curriculars to meet our kids interests and needs, so that is what we will do. That doesn't mean that I think that we screw over other kids by shifting boundaries so that other kids are put on the position that the Fox Mill kids were put in.

Maybe the Herndon families should focus on their school and stop worrying about moving other kids from their schools into Herndon. Take pride in your school and stop thnking that it would be better if you brought in the kids from Great Falls.

Lewis and South Lakes while both fine schools, are most dissimilar. Lewis is a small high school that lacks the large middle /upper middle class class cohort needed to support sports, extracurriculars, and varied academic offerings. South Lakes on the other hand is a large high school with a large upper middle class cohort with a plethora of course options and strong athletics.

South Lakes is 32% FARMs and would be a higher percentage FARMs without the Fox Mill kids, that is why the boundary was shifted. Let's not pretend that there are not schools within schools at Herndon and South Lakes, where the AP and IB kids are doing their own things with little interaction with the kids in non-honors classes. South Lakes is very much a high FARMs school, the Fox Mill kids do not shift the numbers that significantly. Moving a small group of kids into Herndon or Lewis or any of the other High FARMs schools might make things look better on paper but it really isn't doing much for those FARMs kids. The new students will move to the AP/IB cohort and be isolated from the FARMs population that don't manage to make it into those programs.

Shifting the boundaries will do little to help the kids that need help. All it does is reduce opportunities for kids whose parents will have the money to pay for private school or pay for extra curricular opportunities. It is a bandaid not a fix.

DP, but South Lakes is absolutely not a high FARMs schools. It's right on the county average. We have many high schools with 50-60%+ FARMs and even more elementary schools at 70%+. Those are actually high-FARMs.