FCPS Boundary Review Updates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where do you find the Student Planning Areas (SPAs) for the various neighborhoods/school zones around the county? It keeps getting referenced in the BRAC pdfs but I can't seem to find them on the FCPS site. Thank you!

You have to cobble them together through various boundary study reports. The only ones I’m aware of are McLean, Justice, and the Coates study, so only small pockets of the county are available.

DP. Just to elaborate, when FCPS staff was primarily responsible for other boundary studies (Kent Gardens in the McLean pyramid, Parklawn in the Justice pyramid, and Coates in the Westfield pyramid), they shared maps that allowed people to see the SPAs in those areas.

It's somewhat telling that the maps that Thru is releasing in connection with the comprehensive review don't show the SPAs, although it's clear the proposals to move certain areas reflect proposals to move SPAs.

The bottom line is we're paying a consultant more to do things staff could do, and in return the public gets less information about what's going on. And, if you've been attention you can see that BRAC members are frustrated with the information they are (and aren't) being provided, and then you end up with people confused, for example, about whether the Thru proposals would involve sending kids from Chantilly to South Lakes (as opposed to Westfield and Oakton).

It's what you'd expect from Reid. She makes a big show about pretending she wants to be transparent, but she really isn't.

That's so interesting. Because they say they're trying to keep kids in their SPAs, but we can't see where the SPAs are. They'll be able to provide this information at those next meetings, maybe?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where do you find the Student Planning Areas (SPAs) for the various neighborhoods/school zones around the county? It keeps getting referenced in the BRAC pdfs but I can't seem to find them on the FCPS site. Thank you!

You have to cobble them together through various boundary study reports. The only ones I’m aware of are McLean, Justice, and the Coates study, so only small pockets of the county are available.

DP. Just to elaborate, when FCPS staff was primarily responsible for other boundary studies (Kent Gardens in the McLean pyramid, Parklawn in the Justice pyramid, and Coates in the Westfield pyramid), they shared maps that allowed people to see the SPAs in those areas.

It's somewhat telling that the maps that Thru is releasing in connection with the comprehensive review don't show the SPAs, although it's clear the proposals to move certain areas reflect proposals to move SPAs.

The bottom line is we're paying a consultant more to do things staff could do, and in return the public gets less information about what's going on. And, if you've been attention you can see that BRAC members are frustrated with the information they are (and aren't) being provided, and then you end up with people confused, for example, about whether the Thru proposals would involve sending kids from Chantilly to South Lakes (as opposed to Westfield and Oakton).

It's what you'd expect from Reid. She makes a big show about pretending she wants to be transparent, but she really isn't.

That's so interesting. Because they say they're trying to keep kids in their SPAs, but we can't see where the SPAs are. They'll be able to provide this information at those next meetings, maybe?

There’s going to be an online tool that allows you to click through the maps, but I don’t see it posted yet. Presumably it’ll be up before the first community engagement meeting scheduled for next week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where do you find the Student Planning Areas (SPAs) for the various neighborhoods/school zones around the county? It keeps getting referenced in the BRAC pdfs but I can't seem to find them on the FCPS site. Thank you!

You have to cobble them together through various boundary study reports. The only ones I’m aware of are McLean, Justice, and the Coates study, so only small pockets of the county are available.

DP. Just to elaborate, when FCPS staff was primarily responsible for other boundary studies (Kent Gardens in the McLean pyramid, Parklawn in the Justice pyramid, and Coates in the Westfield pyramid), they shared maps that allowed people to see the SPAs in those areas.

It's somewhat telling that the maps that Thru is releasing in connection with the comprehensive review don't show the SPAs, although it's clear the proposals to move certain areas reflect proposals to move SPAs.

The bottom line is we're paying a consultant more to do things staff could do, and in return the public gets less information about what's going on. And, if you've been attention you can see that BRAC members are frustrated with the information they are (and aren't) being provided, and then you end up with people confused, for example, about whether the Thru proposals would involve sending kids from Chantilly to South Lakes (as opposed to Westfield and Oakton).

It's what you'd expect from Reid. She makes a big show about pretending she wants to be transparent, but she really isn't.

That's so interesting. Because they say they're trying to keep kids in their SPAs, but we can't see where the SPAs are. They'll be able to provide this information at those next meetings, maybe?

It's possible that the now much-touted interactive tool will show the SPAs.

"Phase 2 Community Boundary Review Meetings

We invite you to participate in a series of community meetings in order to review and reflect on the initial draft scenarios before the start of summer break. Another round of community meetings will be held in the fall.

As part of these community meetings, families, staff, and community members will be able to explore and visualize potential boundary scenarios using a customized Boundary Explorer Tool. The tool will also be accessible from our website.

Thursday, May 15, 6:30-8 p.m., Oakton High School
Friday, May 16 , 6:30-8 p.m., Robinson Secondary School
Monday, May 19, 6:30-8 p.m., Herndon High School
Friday, May 23, 7-8:30 p.m., Lewis High School
Wednesday, May 28, 7-8:30 p.m., Annandale High School
Thursday, May 29, 6:30-8 p.m., Whitman Middle School
Friday, May 30 , 6:30-8 p.m., Chantilly High School
Friday, June 6, 6:30–8 p.m., Glasgow Middle School

Each meeting will be hybrid, meaning that you may attend in person or via Zoom. Childcare for in-person participants and language interpretation/translation for all participants will be available as needed. Registration links will be shared soon."

This approach to community meetings is suspect. Every meeting is county-wide, just at a different location, with no suggestion that people in a particular pyramid or region attend a specific session to coordinate. That means everything will be on the table at every meeting, which sounds like a free-for-all. These people work for us and it would not have been too much to ask that they schedule at meeting in every pyramid, or at least at every pyramid where changes are being proposed.

[Anonymous]

+1 - Wish they would have the meetings by pyramid to have a more focused discussion

[Anonymous]

Childcare at the meetings? I've never seen them do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Childcare at the meetings? I've never seen them do that.

They did it for the first round of community meetings. I made my kid do it and she was not happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But I bet Mississippi has a more stable student population. In FCPS, we have students moving into the system at all grades at a very high rate. So many students are not here at a young age to get them on the right track.

Fairfax County is one of the wealthiest parts of the country.

Fairfax County median income is $150,000.

The Fairfax County poverty rate is 6%

The Mississippi median income is $55,000.

The Mississippi poverty rate is 18%


Fairfax County has one of the most educated populations in America. Mississippi has one of the least educated populations in the country.

93% of Fairfax residents have a high school diploma and 64% have a higher degree.

86% of Mississippi residents graduated from high school and only 24% have a college degree.



Mississippi has a very diverse population. It is 59% white, 38% black and 4% hispanic.

Fairfax County is 63% white, 11% black. 21% asian and 18% hispanic.


With its extensive resources, FCPS should be able to effectively educate all of its students, including the ESOL students.

FCPS should adopt the Mississippi model in its low performing school pyramids.


https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/fairfaxcountyvirginia/PST045223

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/MS/BZA010222

Sweet summer child. You think teaching a kid who already speaks English and is low income is the same as teaching a child who:
1. Mom wasn’t educated beyond 4th grade
2. The child was effectively raised without a language for the first 4 years because the parents speak broken English to them AND their Spanish isn’t very high level either
3. Is very low income and the parents struggle to provide food, shelter and housing.

[Anonymous]

Not sure what to make of the fact that they are scheduling meetings at Herndon and Lewis, when Thru hasn't proposed any changes to move kids in or out of those pyramids, but not at West Springfield and McLean, where some significant changes are proposed.

Another example of FCPS's passive-aggressive behavior? "Your feedback is very important to us, so we've scheduled a meeting that starts during the evening rush hour 10 miles from your neighborhood."

[Anonymous]

Sweet summer child. You think teaching a kid who already speaks English and is low income is the same as teaching a child who:
1. Mom wasn’t educated beyond 4th grade
2. The child was effectively raised without a language for the first 4 years because the parents speak broken English to them AND their Spanish isn’t very high level either
3. Is very low income and the parents struggle to provide food, shelter and housing.

You'd be surprised. Yes, it is difficult--impossible? NO.

Go read about Ben Carson's mom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Childcare at the meetings? I've never seen them do that.

They’ve done it for community meetings for years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Sweet summer child. You think teaching a kid who already speaks English and is low income is the same as teaching a child who:
1. Mom wasn’t educated beyond 4th grade
2. The child was effectively raised without a language for the first 4 years because the parents speak broken English to them AND their Spanish isn’t very high level either
3. Is very low income and the parents struggle to provide food, shelter and housing.

You'd be surprised. Yes, it is difficult--impossible? NO.

Go read about Ben Carson's mom.

I’m not saying ESL/immigrant kids can’t learn or do well. I’m saying the posters using Mississippi as an example for what would work in FCPS is not a good comparison. Those two children (low income English speaking and new immigrant/low income) are not the same and have different needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But I bet Mississippi has a more stable student population. In FCPS, we have students moving into the system at all grades at a very high rate. So many students are not here at a young age to get them on the right track.

Fairfax County is one of the wealthiest parts of the country.

Fairfax County median income is $150,000.

The Fairfax County poverty rate is 6%

The Mississippi median income is $55,000.

The Mississippi poverty rate is 18%


Fairfax County has one of the most educated populations in America. Mississippi has one of the least educated populations in the country.

93% of Fairfax residents have a high school diploma and 64% have a higher degree.

86% of Mississippi residents graduated from high school and only 24% have a college degree.



Mississippi has a very diverse population. It is 59% white, 38% black and 4% hispanic.

Fairfax County is 63% white, 11% black. 21% asian and 18% hispanic.


With its extensive resources, FCPS should be able to effectively educate all of its students, including the ESOL students.

FCPS should adopt the Mississippi model in its low performing school pyramids.


https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/fairfaxcountyvirginia/PST045223

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/MS/BZA010222

Sweet summer child. You think teaching a kid who already speaks English and is low income is the same as teaching a child who:
1. Mom wasn’t educated beyond 4th grade
2. The child was effectively raised without a language for the first 4 years because the parents speak broken English to them AND their Spanish isn’t very high level either
3. Is very low income and the parents struggle to provide food, shelter and housing.

It is hard to take as credible anyone who uses the slur "sweet summer child" and who thinks huge swaths of children cannot learn due to their ethnic background.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1 - Wish they would have the meetings by pyramid to have a more focused discussion

I agree.

Or at the minimum, have them in a school pyramid that is getting rezoned.

Why have it at Robinson and Lewis?

It should be at WSHS or South County for their pyramid and Edison or Annandale for the other pyramid.

It is almost as if FCPS doesn't want any feedback from the people being rezoned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Sweet summer child. You think teaching a kid who already speaks English and is low income is the same as teaching a child who:
1. Mom wasn’t educated beyond 4th grade
2. The child was effectively raised without a language for the first 4 years because the parents speak broken English to them AND their Spanish isn’t very high level either
3. Is very low income and the parents struggle to provide food, shelter and housing.

You'd be surprised. Yes, it is difficult--impossible? NO.

Go read about Ben Carson's mom.

I’m not saying ESL/immigrant kids can’t learn or do well. I’m saying the posters using Mississippi as an example for what would work in FCPS is not a good comparison. Those two children (low income English speaking and new immigrant/low income) are not the same and have different needs.

Phonics instruction and holding back illiterate kids to give them small group intensive language instruction doesn't work?

Especially if the kids are Spanish speaking immigrants?

Mmmk.

Your arguments are just wrong and a bit anti immigrant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 - Wish they would have the meetings by pyramid to have a more focused discussion

I agree.

Or at the minimum, have them in a school pyramid that is getting rezoned.

Why have it at Robinson and Lewis?

It should be at WSHS or South County for their pyramid and Edison or Annandale for the other pyramid.

It is almost as if FCPS doesn't want any feedback from the people being rezoned.

That really is the message being conveyed. They pretend to value feedback, and then make it inconvenient and structure the discussion so it won't be focused.

Will we EVER have competent people in senior positions in FCPS?