Why does Annandale HS have a bad reputation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're facilitating death spirals. Building more multi-family housing in areas where there is already too much. Strip out the single-Family-homes that provide a critical mass. "Concentrate" services.

It's deliberate.

I've had the same thought, as well, and as an Annandale pyramid parent, it is infuriating. I wonder if there is any action, legal or otherwise, that I can take.

If you are focusing on school boundaries, legal challenges to boundary decisions in FCPS/VA always seem to fail. I think you would be better off trying to speak to the School Board reps in Mason and Braddock, Sandy Evans and Megan McLaughlin, as well as the citizen representatives from those districts on the FPAC, which is an advisory group to the School Board on facilities issues. I might also ask to meet privately with the at-large members on the School Board. Most if not all of the decisions that pulled single-family neighborhoods out of Annandale were made before either Evans or McLaughlin were elected. I don't know that McLaughlin would be any help, because she's a Woodson parent, but I've always sensed that Evans wants to do the right thing. She just gets pulled in a lot of different directions by people telling her that her top priority should be overcrowding at Bailey's and Glen Forest, the use of the Williston facility at Seven Corners, renovations at Falls Church HS, etc. McIlveen might take an interest, too.

In terms of what gets built in Annandale, that's a BOS issue, except to the extent that FCPS gets involved in predicting what the student yields should be and developing estimates as to what types of proffers should be sought from the developers. I know Evans has been pushing to get the Facilities Staff to develop better estimates that would result in higher proffers in areas where more people with kids end up moving into multi-family housing than the current models predict. The bigger issue, of course, is the BOS's decision to approve more multi-family construction without a clearly articulated vision of how they'll affect the surrounding areas. It is one thing to build new MFH within walking distance of the Orange or Silver Line, but another thing to do it in the middle of Annandale. You probably have to get rid of Penny Gross if you want that to change.

PP here - thanks for the reply - I've saved it. I do need to try and do all of this.

And I will certainly not be voting for Penny Gross this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're facilitating death spirals. Building more multi-family housing in areas where there is already too much. Strip out the single-Family-homes that provide a critical mass. "Concentrate" services.

It's deliberate.

I've had the same thought, as well, and as an Annandale pyramid parent, it is infuriating. I wonder if there is any action, legal or otherwise, that I can take.

If you are focusing on school boundaries, legal challenges to boundary decisions in FCPS/VA always seem to fail. I think you would be better off trying to speak to the School Board reps in Mason and Braddock, Sandy Evans and Megan McLaughlin, as well as the citizen representatives from those districts on the FPAC, which is an advisory group to the School Board on facilities issues. I might also ask to meet privately with the at-large members on the School Board. Most if not all of the decisions that pulled single-family neighborhoods out of Annandale were made before either Evans or McLaughlin were elected. I don't know that McLaughlin would be any help, because she's a Woodson parent, but I've always sensed that Evans wants to do the right thing. She just gets pulled in a lot of different directions by people telling her that her top priority should be overcrowding at Bailey's and Glen Forest, the use of the Williston facility at Seven Corners, renovations at Falls Church HS, etc. McIlveen might take an interest, too.

In terms of what gets built in Annandale, that's a BOS issue, except to the extent that FCPS gets involved in predicting what the student yields should be and developing estimates as to what types of proffers should be sought from the developers. I know Evans has been pushing to get the Facilities Staff to develop better estimates that would result in higher proffers in areas where more people with kids end up moving into multi-family housing than the current models predict. The bigger issue, of course, is the BOS's decision to approve more multi-family construction without a clearly articulated vision of how they'll affect the surrounding areas. It is one thing to build new MFH within walking distance of the Orange or Silver Line, but another thing to do it in the middle of Annandale. You probably have to get rid of Penny Gross if you want that to change.

PP here - thanks for the reply - I've saved it. I do need to try and do all of this.

And I will certainly not be voting for Penny Gross this year.

For the record -- Sandy Evans voted against the Annandale changes and Megan McLaughlin was not yet on the School Board.

http://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=8JWMU95CA8FB

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're facilitating death spirals. Building more multi-family housing in areas where there is already too much. Strip out the single-Family-homes that provide a critical mass. "Concentrate" services.

It's deliberate.

I've had the same thought, as well, and as an Annandale pyramid parent, it is infuriating. I wonder if there is any action, legal or otherwise, that I can take.

If you are focusing on school boundaries, legal challenges to boundary decisions in FCPS/VA always seem to fail. I think you would be better off trying to speak to the School Board reps in Mason and Braddock, Sandy Evans and Megan McLaughlin, as well as the citizen representatives from those districts on the FPAC, which is an advisory group to the School Board on facilities issues. I might also ask to meet privately with the at-large members on the School Board. Most if not all of the decisions that pulled single-family neighborhoods out of Annandale were made before either Evans or McLaughlin were elected. I don't know that McLaughlin would be any help, because she's a Woodson parent, but I've always sensed that Evans wants to do the right thing. She just gets pulled in a lot of different directions by people telling her that her top priority should be overcrowding at Bailey's and Glen Forest, the use of the Williston facility at Seven Corners, renovations at Falls Church HS, etc. McIlveen might take an interest, too.

In terms of what gets built in Annandale, that's a BOS issue, except to the extent that FCPS gets involved in predicting what the student yields should be and developing estimates as to what types of proffers should be sought from the developers. I know Evans has been pushing to get the Facilities Staff to develop better estimates that would result in higher proffers in areas where more people with kids end up moving into multi-family housing than the current models predict. The bigger issue, of course, is the BOS's decision to approve more multi-family construction without a clearly articulated vision of how they'll affect the surrounding areas. It is one thing to build new MFH within walking distance of the Orange or Silver Line, but another thing to do it in the middle of Annandale. You probably have to get rid of Penny Gross if you want that to change.

PP here - thanks for the reply - I've saved it. I do need to try and do all of this.

And I will certainly not be voting for Penny Gross this year.

For the record -- Sandy Evans voted against the Annandale changes and Megan McLaughlin was not yet on the School Board.

http://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=8JWMU95CA8FB

Yeah, I tried to give myself wiggle room by saying "most if not all" because I wasn't sure about this one. There were other changes - moving single-family areas north of Columbia Pike and 236 to Falls Church HS and moving the part of Ravensworth that had been at Annandale to Lake Braddock - that happened before Evans was on the board. Evans won a special election in March 2010 after Kaye Kory got elected to the House of Delegates; McLaughlin wasn't elected until November 2011.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're facilitating death spirals. Building more multi-family housing in areas where there is already too much. Strip out the single-Family-homes that provide a critical mass. "Concentrate" services.

It's deliberate.

I've had the same thought, as well, and as an Annandale pyramid parent, it is infuriating. I wonder if there is any action, legal or otherwise, that I can take.

If you are focusing on school boundaries, legal challenges to boundary decisions in FCPS/VA always seem to fail. I think you would be better off trying to speak to the School Board reps in Mason and Braddock, Sandy Evans and Megan McLaughlin, as well as the citizen representatives from those districts on the FPAC, which is an advisory group to the School Board on facilities issues. I might also ask to meet privately with the at-large members on the School Board. Most if not all of the decisions that pulled single-family neighborhoods out of Annandale were made before either Evans or McLaughlin were elected. I don't know that McLaughlin would be any help, because she's a Woodson parent, but I've always sensed that Evans wants to do the right thing. She just gets pulled in a lot of different directions by people telling her that her top priority should be overcrowding at Bailey's and Glen Forest, the use of the Williston facility at Seven Corners, renovations at Falls Church HS, etc. McIlveen might take an interest, too.

In terms of what gets built in Annandale, that's a BOS issue, except to the extent that FCPS gets involved in predicting what the student yields should be and developing estimates as to what types of proffers should be sought from the developers. I know Evans has been pushing to get the Facilities Staff to develop better estimates that would result in higher proffers in areas where more people with kids end up moving into multi-family housing than the current models predict. The bigger issue, of course, is the BOS's decision to approve more multi-family construction without a clearly articulated vision of how they'll affect the surrounding areas. It is one thing to build new MFH within walking distance of the Orange or Silver Line, but another thing to do it in the middle of Annandale. You probably have to get rid of Penny Gross if you want that to change.

PP here - thanks for the reply - I've saved it. I do need to try and do all of this.

And I will certainly not be voting for Penny Gross this year.

For the record -- Sandy Evans voted against the Annandale changes and Megan McLaughlin was not yet on the School Board.

http://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=8JWMU95CA8FB

Maybe you saw this already, but here's one of the key motions that failed at the time:

"I move to amend the staff recommendation by retaining the eastern portion of the Wakefield Forest Elementary School attendance area at Poe Middle School and Annandale High School. (Tina Hone/Sandy Evans)

Motion by Martina A Hone, second by Sandra S Evans.
Motion Fails
Yes: Jane K Strauss - Chairman, Ilryong Moon - Vice Chairman, Sandra S Evans, Martina A Hone, Patricia S Reed, Daniel G Storck
No: Elizabeth T Bradsher, Brad Center, Stuart D Gibson, James L Raney, Kathy L Smith, Judith 'Tessie' Wilson"

I had forgotten that Strauss, Moon, Evans, Reed and Storck - all still on the board - had supported keeping Wakefield Forest at Annandale and were concerned about what it would do to AHS to lose those kids. It was former member Tessie Wilson who really pushed it at the time. The motion failed because it was a 6-6 vote.

[Anonymous]

Great reminder, 13:09! Thank you.