Enrollment/Facilities Planning in FCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the big point is that the county really does need to do some sort of mass redistricting we have schools that are bursting at the seams we have schools with hundreds of anti-seats it's just not efficient use of resources to be wasting the space

One thing to keep in mind, however, is that overcrowding and under-enrollment is measured against the current "program capacity," which is lower than the "design capacity" and often reflects space that has been configured for lower-density activity and could, in many cases, be reconfigured.

Yes and that's true in certain pyramids, but the Woodson and West Potomac and Stuart issue is that they are overcrowded beyond design capacity. And Lee, Mount Vernon, Annandale, and Hayfield are way, way below.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the big point is that the county really does need to do some sort of mass redistricting we have schools that are bursting at the seams we have schools with hundreds of anti-seats it's just not efficient use of resources to be wasting the space

One thing to keep in mind, however, is that overcrowding and under-enrollment is measured against the current "program capacity," which is lower than the "design capacity" and often reflects space that has been configured for lower-density activity and could, in many cases, be reconfigured.

Yes and that's true in certain pyramids, but the Woodson and West Potomac and Stuart issue is that they are overcrowded beyond design capacity. And Lee, Mount Vernon, Annandale, and Hayfield are way, way below.

West Potomac is seriously overcrowded and Mount Vernon substantially under-enrolled. It's an easy fix if people get around to it. Historically, the Mount Vernon district representative on the School Board didn't want to take this up. Perhaps Karen Corbett-Sanders (the School Board member first elected in 2015) has a different attitude.

Woodson isn't seriously over-capacity right now; it's just sad that it's overcrowded at all when it's partially a result of FCPS's bone-headed decision over the years to pull so many single-family neighborhoods out of AHS.

Stuart is starting to get seriously over-crowded, but there's no easy fix (as with West Potomac and Mount Vernon) that would not involve changing the boundaries at a bunch of schools, either to the north or to the south.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the big point is that the county really does need to do some sort of mass redistricting we have schools that are bursting at the seams we have schools with hundreds of anti-seats it's just not efficient use of resources to be wasting the space

One thing to keep in mind, however, is that overcrowding and under-enrollment is measured against the current "program capacity," which is lower than the "design capacity" and often reflects space that has been configured for lower-density activity and could, in many cases, be reconfigured.

Yes and that's true in certain pyramids, but the Woodson and West Potomac and Stuart issue is that they are overcrowded beyond design capacity. And Lee, Mount Vernon, Annandale, and Hayfield are way, way below.

West Potomac is seriously overcrowded and Mount Vernon substantially under-enrolled. It's an easy fix if people get around to it. Historically, the Mount Vernon district representative on the School Board didn't want to take this up. Perhaps Karen Corbett-Sanders (the School Board member first elected in 2015) has a different attitude.

Woodson isn't seriously over-capacity right now; it's just sad that it's overcrowded at all when it's partially a result of FCPS's bone-headed decision over the years to pull so many single-family neighborhoods out of AHS.

Stuart is starting to get seriously over-crowded, but there's no easy fix (as with West Potomac and Mount Vernon) that would not involve changing the boundaries at a bunch of schools, either to the north or to the south.

Karen Corbett Sanders does not seem interested in redistricting, although it's desperately needed. She doesn't want to rock the boat politically, but she needs to remember that many of her constituents are very unhappy with the status quo. Lee and Mount Vernon are underperforming because concerned parents won't send their kids there. Test scores are abysmal when compared to neighboring schools. Until boundaries get redrawn, the situation at those underperforming schools won't improve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the big point is that the county really does need to do some sort of mass redistricting we have schools that are bursting at the seams we have schools with hundreds of anti-seats it's just not efficient use of resources to be wasting the space

One thing to keep in mind, however, is that overcrowding and under-enrollment is measured against the current "program capacity," which is lower than the "design capacity" and often reflects space that has been configured for lower-density activity and could, in many cases, be reconfigured.

Yes and that's true in certain pyramids, but the Woodson and West Potomac and Stuart issue is that they are overcrowded beyond design capacity. And Lee, Mount Vernon, Annandale, and Hayfield are way, way below.

West Potomac is seriously overcrowded and Mount Vernon substantially under-enrolled. It's an easy fix if people get around to it. Historically, the Mount Vernon district representative on the School Board didn't want to take this up. Perhaps Karen Corbett-Sanders (the School Board member first elected in 2015) has a different attitude.

Woodson isn't seriously over-capacity right now; it's just sad that it's overcrowded at all when it's partially a result of FCPS's bone-headed decision over the years to pull so many single-family neighborhoods out of AHS.

Stuart is starting to get seriously over-crowded, but there's no easy fix (as with West Potomac and Mount Vernon) that would not involve changing the boundaries at a bunch of schools, either to the north or to the south.

Karen Corbett Sanders does not seem interested in redistricting, although it's desperately needed. She doesn't want to rock the boat politically, but she needs to remember that many of her constituents are very unhappy with the status quo. Lee and Mount Vernon are underperforming because concerned parents won't send their kids there. Test scores are abysmal when compared to neighboring schools. Until boundaries get redrawn, the situation at those underperforming schools won't improve.

Lee is Kaufax's district. She hasn't done anything for Lee - ever - other than making sure it stays named after a Confederate general.

[Anonymous]

Video from the (2+ hour) work session is now posted.

[Anonymous]

True, Lee HS is not in Karen Corbett Sanders' district, but one elementary school in her Mount Vernon district (Saratoga) is part of the Lee HS pyramid. It's one glaring example of why district boundaries should be redrawn. Saratoga parents don't get to vote for the Lee District rep. even though their kids go to Lee HS. Saratoga lacks fair representation on the school board.

[Anonymous]

Interesting video!

One of the biggest takeaways is that the AP/IB shuffle is not as big a deal and moving AP into schools won't fix the capacity issues. There are just more kids in places like Woodson, West Potomac, etc. and less kids in places like Lee, Hayfield and Annandale.

I think there will be a massive redistricting at some point in the next 5-7 years. It's sort of inevitable looking at population trends at the schools. If I was a betting person, I imagine this would happen before they could justify funding the new Western County high school.

It makes it interesting for parents of small children who bought with an eye toward a particular high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:True, Lee HS is not in Karen Corbett Sanders' district, but one elementary school in her Mount Vernon district (Saratoga) is part of the Lee HS pyramid. It's one glaring example of why district boundaries should be redrawn. Saratoga parents don't get to vote for the Lee District rep. even though their kids go to Lee HS. Saratoga lacks fair representation on the school board.

I imagine a few other elementary schools in the West Springfield pyramid will likely be joining Saratoga at Lee in the future. I think that may lead to the change in boundaries in terms of representatives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting video!

One of the biggest takeaways is that the AP/IB shuffle is not as big a deal and moving AP into schools won't fix the capacity issues. There are just more kids in places like Woodson, West Potomac, etc. and less kids in places like Lee, Hayfield and Annandale.

I think there will be a massive redistricting at some point in the next 5-7 years. It's sort of inevitable looking at population trends at the schools. If I was a betting person, I imagine this would happen before they could justify funding the new Western County high school.

It makes it interesting for parents of small children who bought with an eye toward a particular high school.

Apart from Hayfield, whose enrollment plunged when South County opened, the under-enrolled schools are IB: Annandale, Lee and Mount Vernon. Go figure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:True, Lee HS is not in Karen Corbett Sanders' district, but one elementary school in her Mount Vernon district (Saratoga) is part of the Lee HS pyramid. It's one glaring example of why district boundaries should be redrawn. Saratoga parents don't get to vote for the Lee District rep. even though their kids go to Lee HS. Saratoga lacks fair representation on the school board.

I imagine a few other elementary schools in the West Springfield pyramid will likely be joining Saratoga at Lee in the future. I think that may lead to the change in boundaries in terms of representatives.

There's no reason why Lee should have all Title I, high FARMS feeder schools (except for the Springfield Estates AAP center) and West Springfield have none. Major inequity there.

Saratoga, which is on the very far edge of the Lee HS boundary is propping up Lee HS. The school board doesn't want to let Saratoga into another district that makes better geographic sense for them because it would make Lee HS even worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:True, Lee HS is not in Karen Corbett Sanders' district, but one elementary school in her Mount Vernon district (Saratoga) is part of the Lee HS pyramid. It's one glaring example of why district boundaries should be redrawn. Saratoga parents don't get to vote for the Lee District rep. even though their kids go to Lee HS. Saratoga lacks fair representation on the school board.

I imagine a few other elementary schools in the West Springfield pyramid will likely be joining Saratoga at Lee in the future. I think that may lead to the change in boundaries in terms of representatives.

There's no reason why Lee should have all Title I, high FARMS feeder schools (except for the Springfield Estates AAP center) and West Springfield have none. Major inequity there.

Saratoga, which is on the very far edge of the Lee HS boundary is propping up Lee HS. The school board doesn't want to let Saratoga into another district that makes better geographic sense for them because it would make Lee HS even worse.

Why not move North Springfield from Annandale to Lee and move Mason Crest and part of Wakefield Forest to Annandale?

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, nothing will be done in time to help my kids. The school board doesn't want to rock the boat because it's political suicide to move "haves" into the "have not" school or vice versa. There will be study after study to delay a proposed change, and the status quo will remain.

Concerned parents will have to move to the better district, home school, put kids in private, or find a creative way to work the system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:True, Lee HS is not in Karen Corbett Sanders' district, but one elementary school in her Mount Vernon district (Saratoga) is part of the Lee HS pyramid. It's one glaring example of why district boundaries should be redrawn. Saratoga parents don't get to vote for the Lee District rep. even though their kids go to Lee HS. Saratoga lacks fair representation on the school board.

I imagine a few other elementary schools in the West Springfield pyramid will likely be joining Saratoga at Lee in the future. I think that may lead to the change in boundaries in terms of representatives.

There's no reason why Lee should have all Title I, high FARMS feeder schools (except for the Springfield Estates AAP center) and West Springfield have none. Major inequity there.

Saratoga, which is on the very far edge of the Lee HS boundary is propping up Lee HS. The school board doesn't want to let Saratoga into another district that makes better geographic sense for them because it would make Lee HS even worse.

Why not move North Springfield from Annandale to Lee and move Mason Crest and part of Wakefield Forest to Annandale?

Because Annandale is not overcrowded and can handle taking in more students. The biggest issue is Stuart, Oakton, Marshall, and Woodson.

For example, you can fix the Woodson and Oakton issue fairly easily. But to open capacity for those schools, they essentially need to open up capacity at Lake Braddock (Woodson) and Robinson (Oaktown). The only way they can do that is to push the boundaries, so some of Robinson feeds into South County, some of Lake Braddock feeds into West Springfield, and some of West Springfield feeds into Lee. You move more of South County to Hayfield to adjust for the increase in Robinson students.

Similarly, for Marshall, it's pretty easy. You move some of Tysons and Shrevewood to Mclean and Langley. For Stuart, you move the northern elementary feeder that sits next to Falls Church city to McLean, you move some of the lower feeders like Parklawn and Belvedere to Annandale.

On the western side of the county, a similarly shifting would need to take place for Centerville.

I think the amount of fit having about the shifts will be the most interesting. A lot of people who thought they were buying in certain places are going to be surprised.

[Anonymous]

Why is the school board spending $ to renovate and expand capacity at West Springfield when Lee (which was recently renovated) is majorly under capacity?

That is poor stewardship of taxpayer dollars. Students from West Springfield should have been moved to Lee instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is the school board spending $ to renovate and expand capacity at West Springfield when Lee (which was recently renovated) is majorly under capacity?

That is poor stewardship of taxpayer dollars. Students from West Springfield should have been moved to Lee instead.

Exactly. It's is much more efficient to use the space we have instead of spending money to create space. Common sense. But I imagine an Orange Hunt parent would feel differently.