FCPS comprehensive boundary review

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which schools have attendance islands?

A lot. Go on the maps page https://www.fcps.edu/facilities-planning-future/maps And you can see a bunch of non-contiguous boundaries at the elementary level in particular.

If you go on the maps page and choose “elementary school boundaries with high school boundaries” or one of the other maps in that section, you can also see all the schools where some portion of the school goes on to HS A, and some other portion goes on to HS B.

So your map shows that other than the tiny Keene Mill island down near White Oaks elementary, WSHS is one of the few high school boundaries in FCPS with zero gerrymandering and very compact boundaries that make geographic sense and give every household a 10 minute or less commute to their high school.

If you are using the "gerrymandered" argument, it is clear that WSHS is one of the only high schools in FCPS with sensible boundaries, and one of the few high schools where the boundaries should be left untouched (except for the small Keene Mill island).

This is PP and I agree, maybe cut off the Keene Mill island and send it to White Oaks/Lake Braddock and otherwise leave WSHS alone. The boundaries make sense as they are and, to my knowledge, no one is complaining about over crowding.

Who cares if Lewis is at 1600 students to WSHS’s much larger enrollment? What’s that got to do with WS? Some schools are larger and some are smaller on smaller sites. With the overall declining school age population and school enrollment in the county in general and, maybe, upcoming deportations, all the schools will end up losing enrollment to some degree.

Most boundaries make sense when you don't take neighboring schools into account. Langley's absurd stretch down the county line with juts into Herndon is the only one that doesn't. The rest are generally compact or at least have a reason for their odd shapes

Where have you been Langley-vendetta Lady? Haven’t heard from you in a while.

How’s your Herndon property value nowadays? Still looking for a bump off the backs of your neighbors, we see.

[Anonymous]

What makes certain schools desireable? Are families choosing to buy homes close to elementary schools that have amazing principals and teachers? Are those the best schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What makes certain schools desireable? Are families choosing to buy homes close to elementary schools that have amazing principals and teachers? Are those the best schools?

It's easily quantifiable thanks to standardized testing are reporting requirements. A school where kids test well, almost all graduate high school, and sever disciplinary incidents are minimal is desirable.

The state makes access to the data very easy https://schoolquality.virginia.gov/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What makes certain schools desireable? Are families choosing to buy homes close to elementary schools that have amazing principals and teachers? Are those the best schools?

It's easily quantifiable thanks to standardized testing are reporting requirements. A school where kids test well, almost all graduate high school, and sever disciplinary incidents are minimal is desirable.

The state makes access to the data very easy https://schoolquality.virginia.gov/

Are ELL included in the standardized test results?. My kid would fail any standardized test in a language other than English, for sure, but she is in honors and AP classes now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What makes certain schools desireable? Are families choosing to buy homes close to elementary schools that have amazing principals and teachers? Are those the best schools?

It's easily quantifiable thanks to standardized testing are reporting requirements. A school where kids test well, almost all graduate high school, and sever disciplinary incidents are minimal is desirable.

The state makes access to the data very easy https://schoolquality.virginia.gov/

Are ELL included in the standardized test results?. My kid would fail any standardized test in a language other than English, for sure, but she is in honors and AP classes now.

OK? School is taught in English. My kid would slow class to a crawl if it was taught in German or Japanese. Likewise, a class where the teacher has kids who don't understand the language is not going to keep pace with a class where every kid is fluent and literate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which schools have attendance islands?

A lot. Go on the maps page https://www.fcps.edu/facilities-planning-future/maps And you can see a bunch of non-contiguous boundaries at the elementary level in particular.

If you go on the maps page and choose “elementary school boundaries with high school boundaries” or one of the other maps in that section, you can also see all the schools where some portion of the school goes on to HS A, and some other portion goes on to HS B.

So your map shows that other than the tiny Keene Mill island down near White Oaks elementary, WSHS is one of the few high school boundaries in FCPS with zero gerrymandering and very compact boundaries that make geographic sense and give every household a 10 minute or less commute to their high school.

If you are using the "gerrymandered" argument, it is clear that WSHS is one of the only high schools in FCPS with sensible boundaries, and one of the few high schools where the boundaries should be left untouched (except for the small Keene Mill island).

This is PP and I agree, maybe cut off the Keene Mill island and send it to White Oaks/Lake Braddock and otherwise leave WSHS alone. The boundaries make sense as they are and, to my knowledge, no one is complaining about over crowding.

Who cares if Lewis is at 1600 students to WSHS’s much larger enrollment? What’s that got to do with WS? Some schools are larger and some are smaller on smaller sites. With the overall declining school age population and school enrollment in the county in general and, maybe, upcoming deportations, all the schools will end up losing enrollment to some degree.

Most boundaries make sense when you don't take neighboring schools into account. Langley's absurd stretch down the county line with juts into Herndon is the only one that doesn't. The rest are generally compact or at least have a reason for their odd shapes

Where have you been Langley-vendetta Lady? Haven’t heard from you in a while.

How’s your Herndon property value nowadays? Still looking for a bump off the backs of your neighbors, we see.

What do you mean by “neighbors”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What makes certain schools desireable? Are families choosing to buy homes close to elementary schools that have amazing principals and teachers? Are those the best schools?

It’s the test scores, which are ac result of the students who show up. Some families put more into educating their children. Some put less in. Some are stretched so thin that they can’t put more in. I taught in a low-performing school and a high performing school. My test scores were a function of the students who showed up and to a lesser extent the years of experience I had. I learned more every year, so my test scores went up over time. The low-income school children never performed as well as the high-income children, even though I was a demonstrably better teacher when I was working at the low-income school. Some kids just need more.

[Anonymous]

So basically if you have more money, you will move to a school district where more wealthy people live. Low income students will continue to rot in poorly rated schools. I didn’t grow up here, so the PUBLIC school system here seems to benefit high income families for the most part. I wish this system could be fixed in the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So basically if you have more money, you will move to a school district where more wealthy people live. Low income students will continue to rot in poorly rated schools. I didn’t grow up here, so the PUBLIC school system here seems to benefit high income families for the most part. I wish this system could be fixed in the future.

You have it wrong, the school board says all the schools are the same.

But in reality, the county pumps a ton of money into the poorer performing schools, so you are just misinformed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So basically if you have more money, you will move to a school district where more wealthy people live. Low income students will continue to rot in poorly rated schools. I didn’t grow up here, so the PUBLIC school system here seems to benefit high income families for the most part. I wish this system could be fixed in the future.

Isn't that the system everywhere? FCPS cannot fix kids' home life or socioeconomic status.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So basically if you have more money, you will move to a school district where more wealthy people live. Low income students will continue to rot in poorly rated schools. I didn’t grow up here, so the PUBLIC school system here seems to benefit high income families for the most part. I wish this system could be fixed in the future.

I've taught in "poor" schools. With effort and work, students will learn and scores will rise. I have witnessed this.

Throwing up hands and pouring in more wealthy students will not help the struggling students. It will make the scores look better.
That is the goal of the School Board. All their talk of "equity" is not helping anyone. They refuse to look at the situation and come up with a strategy.

Sadly, the FCPS "average" will go down with their plan.

They are undermining the support of the community. Because they "know what's best."

We need a decent local news media that informs the community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So basically if you have more money, you will move to a school district where more wealthy people live. Low income students will continue to rot in poorly rated schools. I didn’t grow up here, so the PUBLIC school system here seems to benefit high income families for the most part. I wish this system could be fixed in the future.

That's a weird bottom line insofar as FCPS is concerned.

FCPS is a single district, which means the wealthiest residents subsidize the schools that serve more low-income students on an ongoing basis. Furthermore, many operating and capital decisions made in FCPS benefit lower-rated schools if they are attracting or starting to have more students (the expansions of West Potomac and Justice, and the current renovation/expansion of Falls Church, are but three examples).

What you are positing might more accurately describe the situation in a state like New Jersey or New York, where there are far more town or borough-based school systems rather than county-wide systems. There, you might make a point to make sure to live in a particular town so you're only paying for schools that serve wealthy kids, and the poorer communities have fewer resources to fund their own, less attractive schools.

In general, wealthier residents in FCPS have long accepted that they are subsidizing the less fortunate in the county, and that their schools may end up unrenovated for years or with larger classroom sizes because resources are pooled and often flow to poorer schools. All they've asked for in return is that they not be overtly discriminated against or attacked, and that school boundaries only be adjusted when there are truly compelling reasons. It's unclear any such compelling reasons exist when FCPS is now projecting enrollment declines generally over the next five years and has only a few situations (in particular Coates and Parklawn ES) where there is or expected to be acute overcrowding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So basically if you have more money, you will move to a school district where more wealthy people live. Low income students will continue to rot in poorly rated schools. I didn’t grow up here, so the PUBLIC school system here seems to benefit high income families for the most part. I wish this system could be fixed in the future.

There is so much more on the family end that influence education that you are not taking into account.

No matter what, it is not the job of other people's kids to fix this issue

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So basically if you have more money, you will move to a school district where more wealthy people live. Low income students will continue to rot in poorly rated schools. I didn’t grow up here, so the PUBLIC school system here seems to benefit high income families for the most part. I wish this system could be fixed in the future.

You have it wrong, the school board says all the schools are the same.

But in reality, the county pumps a ton of money into the poorer performing schools, so you are just misinformed.

Visit Langley and Oakton and then visit Lewis and MVHS. Which two look like they educate rich kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So basically if you have more money, you will move to a school district where more wealthy people live. Low income students will continue to rot in poorly rated schools. I didn’t grow up here, so the PUBLIC school system here seems to benefit high income families for the most part. I wish this system could be fixed in the future.

You have it wrong, the school board says all the schools are the same.

But in reality, the county pumps a ton of money into the poorer performing schools, so you are just misinformed.

Visit Langley and Oakton and then visit Lewis and MVHS. Which two look like they educate rich kids?

DP. Visit West Potomac and Edison and then visit McLean. Which one looks the most neglected?