When are Herndon Middle and Herndon High going to get a break?!??

[Anonymous]

Herndon fought tooth and nail to stay out of the South Lakes redistricting in 2008. Now that their own demographics have changed, they see things differently.

However, South Lakes had plenty of capacity in 2008, while Herndon does not in 2019, so why are we having this discussion now?

[Anonymous]

Here is a fact: when you have lots of impoverished people living in close proximity to one another, one school is going to have more poor people than another. That is not going to change. Especially, when some of these people are living multi-family in single family apartments.

It sounds like PP wants to "sprinkle" people around the county by busing everyone until we get equity.

It won't work.

Deal with the hand you have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This comes up periodically but realistically there is a difference between busing kids whose families suppprt their attending an AAP center or TJ and busing Hispanic kids further away from schools closer to their residences because whites in Herndon think there are too many poor Hispanics in their pyramid.

And this is how you pressure people to keep the status quo. Racists whites want the Hispanics gone!
I just sat in a meeting in Great Falls the other night where Jane Strauss soothed the parents of Forestville who were extremely concerned about a rumor that they were going to be rezoned into Herndon. Person after person got up to talk about how they did not want to be zoned from a top performing school to a low performing one. The problem needs to be addressed as to why Herndon's performance is so low and what can be done about it. Concentrated poverty (regardless of race) is a big issue. When you have schools in close proximity (3-4 miles of one another) where one has < 20% poverty and the other has 83% or one has 10% and the other has 50%, there are huge disparities on what each of those schools can offer their students.

It sounds like those parents were painfully honest about their wishes.

As opposed to using “equity” as a cover for seeking a redistribution of brown kids and/or a subsidy whereby wealth is transferred - although with some wealth simply disappearing - from Langley to Herndon pyramid residents.

Of course, you could be specific about the disparities in opportunity that you believe exist, rather than just make the assertion. I think the burden is also on you to establish you want to expand the opportunities available to some, as opposed to merely shrinking an achievement gap by bringing down the top achievers.

Kind of hard to condemn them when the schools are one of the things that drive the home purchase. I don't live there or in a community with that affluence, but I'd be ticked off, too. We chose our home based on the proximity of the school--but my kids were preschoolers and test scores and ratings were not what drove us. I wanted them to be able to walk to school in a neighborhood with lots of young kids. Fortunately, it turned out to be a good school. I just was going by proximity. I could have cared less about middle and high school. Those turned out fine, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I want to know is how do families in the Sugarland Run area of Herndon get zoned for Cooper/Langley (~10-12 miles away) instead of Herndon (a mile away), or even Reston? What the heck?

That is surprising. I am not that familiar with the area, but I checked the boundary maps. They are Forestville Elementary and it makes sense for that reason to avoid the split feeder.
But, I suspect that the developer got that when the neighborhood was built. Is it an affluent neighborhood?

Not all of that area is affluent. Most are middle class homes built quite a while ago. It's about the feeder, i.e. they like to keep kids together from elementary through high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This comes up periodically but realistically there is a difference between busing kids whose families suppprt their attending an AAP center or TJ and busing Hispanic kids further away from schools closer to their residences because whites in Herndon think there are too many poor Hispanics in their pyramid.

And this is how you pressure people to keep the status quo. Racists whites want the Hispanics gone!
I just sat in a meeting in Great Falls the other night where Jane Strauss soothed the parents of Forestville who were extremely concerned about a rumor that they were going to be rezoned into Herndon. Person after person got up to talk about how they did not want to be zoned from a top performing school to a low performing one. The problem needs to be addressed as to why Herndon's performance is so low and what can be done about it. Concentrated poverty (regardless of race) is a big issue. When you have schools in close proximity (3-4 miles of one another) where one has < 20% poverty and the other has 83% or one has 10% and the other has 50%, there are huge disparities on what each of those schools can offer their students.

WHY is there concentrated poverty - I notice you want to skip over that. A county or town cannot invite illegal immigrants to reside in their county, then complain about concentrated poverty. What did they THINK was going to happen when they threw open the doors? The reason folks in Great Falls are pissed is because the county plans to fix what they broke by using their kids and their property values.

Are you completely tone deaf to the reality of your own generous policies or are you just thinking it's ok to take other people's money to fund it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This comes up periodically but realistically there is a difference between busing kids whose families suppprt their attending an AAP center or TJ and busing Hispanic kids further away from schools closer to their residences because whites in Herndon think there are too many poor Hispanics in their pyramid.

And this is how you pressure people to keep the status quo. Racists whites want the Hispanics gone!
I just sat in a meeting in Great Falls the other night where Jane Strauss soothed the parents of Forestville who were extremely concerned about a rumor that they were going to be rezoned into Herndon. Person after person got up to talk about how they did not want to be zoned from a top performing school to a low performing one. The problem needs to be addressed as to why Herndon's performance is so low and what can be done about it. Concentrated poverty (regardless of race) is a big issue. When you have schools in close proximity (3-4 miles of one another) where one has < 20% poverty and the other has 83% or one has 10% and the other has 50%, there are huge disparities on what each of those schools can offer their students.

Where do you live? Did you see how many different ethnicities sat in that room stating the same thing? Did you miss the Iranian physician? How about the Chinese immigrant who's brother survived communist China only to be killed by an illegal immigrant here? How about the Muslim individuals in the room? African Americans? Folks of Indian decent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This comes up periodically but realistically there is a difference between busing kids whose families suppprt their attending an AAP center or TJ and busing Hispanic kids further away from schools closer to their residences because whites in Herndon think there are too many poor Hispanics in their pyramid.

It's not ideal, sure. But there are not many other solutions. It is a solution and it will help alleviate the burden on Herndon middle and Herndon high.

Taking kids from an underenrolled school and putting them into an overcrowded school will help alleviate the burden?

Please tell me how that helps. I guess I don't understand.

Read Robin Hood

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I want to know is how do families in the Sugarland Run area of Herndon get zoned for Cooper/Langley (~10-12 miles away) instead of Herndon (a mile away), or even Reston? What the heck?

That is surprising. I am not that familiar with the area, but I checked the boundary maps. They are Forestville Elementary and it makes sense for that reason to avoid the split feeder.
But, I suspect that the developer got that when the neighborhood was built. Is it an affluent neighborhood?

Not all of that area is affluent. Most are middle class homes built quite a while ago. It's about the feeder, i.e. they like to keep kids together from elementary through high school.

The median sale price in a SFH over the past year in the Forestville ES district was $980K. Not really middle class. Dranesville ES in the adjacent Herndon pyramid is $553K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This comes up periodically but realistically there is a difference between busing kids whose families suppprt their attending an AAP center or TJ and busing Hispanic kids further away from schools closer to their residences because whites in Herndon think there are too many poor Hispanics in their pyramid.

And this is how you pressure people to keep the status quo. Racists whites want the Hispanics gone!
I just sat in a meeting in Great Falls the other night where Jane Strauss soothed the parents of Forestville who were extremely concerned about a rumor that they were going to be rezoned into Herndon. Person after person got up to talk about how they did not want to be zoned from a top performing school to a low performing one. The problem needs to be addressed as to why Herndon's performance is so low and what can be done about it. Concentrated poverty (regardless of race) is a big issue. When you have schools in close proximity (3-4 miles of one another) where one has < 20% poverty and the other has 83% or one has 10% and the other has 50%, there are huge disparities on what each of those schools can offer their students.

It sounds like those parents were painfully honest about their wishes.

As opposed to using “equity” as a cover for seeking a redistribution of brown kids and/or a subsidy whereby wealth is transferred - although with some wealth simply disappearing - from Langley to Herndon pyramid residents.

Of course, you could be specific about the disparities in opportunity that you believe exist, rather than just make the assertion. I think the burden is also on you to establish you want to expand the opportunities available to some, as opposed to merely shrinking an achievement gap by bringing down the top achievers.

Kind of hard to condemn them when the schools are one of the things that drive the home purchase. I don't live there or in a community with that affluence, but I'd be ticked off, too. We chose our home based on the proximity of the school--but my kids were preschoolers and test scores and ratings were not what drove us. I wanted them to be able to walk to school in a neighborhood with lots of young kids. Fortunately, it turned out to be a good school. I just was going by proximity. I could have cared less about middle and high school. Those turned out fine, too.

There is no law that says boundaries can’t change.

[Anonymous]

Most people don’t care how poor or rich are the kids sitting next to their kid, nor what race they are, but people do care very much about the quality of education their kids are receiving. If you try to put my kid in a bad school, I’ll switch him to private school and will vote “no” on every school bond vote to come, since you literally forced my hand. How would that help a school with poor performance? If you are so interested in improving a school by rezoning other people’s kids, put your own kid in a bad school and then discuss how the quality of his education is unchanged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most people don’t care how poor or rich are the kids sitting next to their kid, nor what race they are, but people do care very much about the quality of education their kids are receiving. If you try to put my kid in a bad school, I’ll switch him to private school and will vote “no” on every school bond vote to come, since you literally forced my hand. How would that help a school with poor performance? If you are so interested in improving a school by rezoning other people’s kids, put your own kid in a bad school and then discuss how the quality of his education is unchanged.

Then you will pay for private while subsidizing the public education of children other than your own, and the bond referenda will still pass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most people don’t care how poor or rich are the kids sitting next to their kid, nor what race they are, but people do care very much about the quality of education their kids are receiving. If you try to put my kid in a bad school, I’ll switch him to private school and will vote “no” on every school bond vote to come, since you literally forced my hand. How would that help a school with poor performance? If you are so interested in improving a school by rezoning other people’s kids, put your own kid in a bad school and then discuss how the quality of his education is unchanged.

I love these threats! Please go! You’re kid is not some gift to the world.

I invite all the angry great falls parents to leave for private school. I DARE YOU. Hahaha. You’ll never do it. Most of you are waaaaaay too cheap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most people don’t care how poor or rich are the kids sitting next to their kid, nor what race they are, but people do care very much about the quality of education their kids are receiving. If you try to put my kid in a bad school, I’ll switch him to private school and will vote “no” on every school bond vote to come, since you literally forced my hand. How would that help a school with poor performance? If you are so interested in improving a school by rezoning other people’s kids, put your own kid in a bad school and then discuss how the quality of his education is unchanged.

Then you will pay for private while subsidizing the public education of children other than your own, and the bond referenda will still pass.

Yes, I’ll subsidize, but to a lesser extent than I do now, since my property value tanked. And ‘no,’ you are delusional to think that people vote irrespective of what the elected officials do. Finally, I still do not see how that helps kids at an underperforming school. Education is not a disease that spreads by sitting next to someone. Even if my kid were to stay in a bad school, he won’t help the kid sitting next to him in any measurable way, but SOL pass rates may slightly improve. This still does not help that kid sitting next to mine, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most people don’t care how poor or rich are the kids sitting next to their kid, nor what race they are, but people do care very much about the quality of education their kids are receiving. If you try to put my kid in a bad school, I’ll switch him to private school and will vote “no” on every school bond vote to come, since you literally forced my hand. How would that help a school with poor performance? If you are so interested in improving a school by rezoning other people’s kids, put your own kid in a bad school and then discuss how the quality of his education is unchanged.

I love these threats! Please go! You’re kid is not some gift to the world.

I beg to differ. All you liberals who want to move the FARM kids to other schools - because "equity" - are doing so precisely because you think my kid (and the other intelligent white kids) are going to give the FARM kids the magical gift of better grades and test scores through osmosis or something. I don't know why you think it's my kid's job to make poor kid's lives better, but I certainly don't agree that it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most people don’t care how poor or rich are the kids sitting next to their kid, nor what race they are, but people do care very much about the quality of education their kids are receiving. If you try to put my kid in a bad school, I’ll switch him to private school and will vote “no” on every school bond vote to come, since you literally forced my hand. How would that help a school with poor performance? If you are so interested in improving a school by rezoning other people’s kids, put your own kid in a bad school and then discuss how the quality of his education is unchanged.

I love these threats! Please go! You’re kid is not some gift to the world.

I beg to differ. All you liberals who want to move the FARM kids to other schools - because "equity" - are doing so precisely because you think my kid (and the other intelligent white kids) are going to give the FARM kids the magical gift of better grades and test scores through osmosis or something. I don't know why you think it's my kid's job to make poor kid's lives better, but I certainly don't agree that it is.

And of course, as soon as the UMC white parents start putting their kids in private schools, the liberals will whine about the racists "abandoning" the public school system...