FCPS comprehensive boundary review

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When the SB spends funds that could be used to help poor students on renaming a school, the priorities are screwed up. They could have taken away all the honorariums of Lee and references to him without changing the name. They could have just called it "Lee" and saved a lot of money.

Then, adding insult to injury, they spent money on a program that no one really understands and doesn't help kids who cannot speak English or read.

Certainly, we don't need to be naming schools after Confederate generals, but we can easily adjust the names without honoring anyone.

It's called priorities. The top priority should be educating the students.

Absolutely this. And it’s not like the boundary changes are actually going to help any of the kids in these schools.

Have you spoken to anyone in Reston about whether they feel South Lakes HS is a stronger school now than it was in 2008, before a redistricting, when it had 1375 kids and was seen as a school to avoid. Now it has about 2400 kids and gets many pupil placements every year.

Yes. I have friends whose kids go there. They would much prefer the school be AP over IB.

And, Westfield was considered better than Chantilly before South Lakes took the 2 (1 and a half schools) of their more affluent students. They also took a good elementary schneiool from Oakton, but Oakton received replacements of more affluent neighborhood. So, there are winners and losers. South Lakes PTA got what they wanted. The PTA selected the neighborhoods. This is a fact. The PTA had a website that published their plans--untili Fairfax Underground revealed it. Then, the website went away. They had maps and demographics and everything. They wanted Armstrong and Aldrin, but Herndon threw a fit. It was ugly.

Didn’t South Lakes also get affluent neighborhoods from Madison? South Lakes was centrally located, so redistricting wasn’t terribly difficult there.

I think there was a neighborhood picked by the PTA from Wolf Trap. The parents were not happy as I recall. There were tons of speakers at the meetings. They were all ignored. The SB would not even look at them. In those days, the speakers stood at a podium to the side and you could see the SB and the speakers. The SB was rude. That was probably why they changed it to put the focus on the speaker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When the SB spends funds that could be used to help poor students on renaming a school, the priorities are screwed up. They could have taken away all the honorariums of Lee and references to him without changing the name. They could have just called it "Lee" and saved a lot of money.

Then, adding insult to injury, they spent money on a program that no one really understands and doesn't help kids who cannot speak English or read.

Certainly, we don't need to be naming schools after Confederate generals, but we can easily adjust the names without honoring anyone.

It's called priorities. The top priority should be educating the students.

Absolutely this. And it’s not like the boundary changes are actually going to help any of the kids in these schools.

Have you spoken to anyone in Reston about whether they feel South Lakes HS is a stronger school now than it was in 2008, before a redistricting, when it had 1375 kids and was seen as a school to avoid. Now it has about 2400 kids and gets many pupil placements every year.

Yes. I have friends whose kids go there. They would much prefer the school be AP over IB.

And, Westfield was considered better than Chantilly before South Lakes took the 2 (1 and a half schools) of their more affluent students. They also took a good elementary schneiool from Oakton, but Oakton received replacements of more affluent neighborhood. So, there are winners and losers. South Lakes PTA got what they wanted. The PTA selected the neighborhoods. This is a fact. The PTA had a website that published their plans--untili Fairfax Underground revealed it. Then, the website went away. They had maps and demographics and everything. They wanted Armstrong and Aldrin, but Herndon threw a fit. It was ugly.

Didn’t say everyone was happy with the process or the result. But South Lakes emerged a stronger school, so blanket insinuations that no kids or no lower-income kids ever benefit from a boundary change are off the mark.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When the SB spends funds that could be used to help poor students on renaming a school, the priorities are screwed up. They could have taken away all the honorariums of Lee and references to him without changing the name. They could have just called it "Lee" and saved a lot of money.

Then, adding insult to injury, they spent money on a program that no one really understands and doesn't help kids who cannot speak English or read.

Certainly, we don't need to be naming schools after Confederate generals, but we can easily adjust the names without honoring anyone.

It's called priorities. The top priority should be educating the students.

Absolutely this. And it’s not like the boundary changes are actually going to help any of the kids in these schools.

Have you spoken to anyone in Reston about whether they feel South Lakes HS is a stronger school now than it was in 2008, before a redistricting, when it had 1375 kids and was seen as a school to avoid. Now it has about 2400 kids and gets many pupil placements every year.

Yes. I have friends whose kids go there. They would much prefer the school be AP over IB.

And, Westfield was considered better than Chantilly before South Lakes took the 2 (1 and a half schools) of their more affluent students. They also took a good elementary schneiool from Oakton, but Oakton received replacements of more affluent neighborhood. So, there are winners and losers. South Lakes PTA got what they wanted. The PTA selected the neighborhoods. This is a fact. The PTA had a website that published their plans--untili Fairfax Underground revealed it. Then, the website went away. They had maps and demographics and everything. They wanted Armstrong and Aldrin, but Herndon threw a fit. It was ugly.

I am 19:19. There is another poster who also responded. The ones I know also have higher performers. From what I hear, there is still a strong gang presence, but, like other large schools, there are essentially two schools there.
The reason there is a large PP there is from Herndon.

South Lakes cannibalizing driven Herndon students? Seems like an obvious fix to Herndon High under capacity is staring them in the face.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When the SB spends funds that could be used to help poor students on renaming a school, the priorities are screwed up. They could have taken away all the honorariums of Lee and references to him without changing the name. They could have just called it "Lee" and saved a lot of money.

Then, adding insult to injury, they spent money on a program that no one really understands and doesn't help kids who cannot speak English or read.

Certainly, we don't need to be naming schools after Confederate generals, but we can easily adjust the names without honoring anyone.

It's called priorities. The top priority should be educating the students.

Absolutely this. And it’s not like the boundary changes are actually going to help any of the kids in these schools.

Have you spoken to anyone in Reston about whether they feel South Lakes HS is a stronger school now than it was in 2008, before a redistricting, when it had 1375 kids and was seen as a school to avoid. Now it has about 2400 kids and gets many pupil placements every year.

Yes. I have friends whose kids go there. They would much prefer the school be AP over IB.

And, Westfield was considered better than Chantilly before South Lakes took the 2 (1 and a half schools) of their more affluent students. They also took a good elementary schneiool from Oakton, but Oakton received replacements of more affluent neighborhood. So, there are winners and losers. South Lakes PTA got what they wanted. The PTA selected the neighborhoods. This is a fact. The PTA had a website that published their plans--untili Fairfax Underground revealed it. Then, the website went away. They had maps and demographics and everything. They wanted Armstrong and Aldrin, but Herndon threw a fit. It was ugly.

Didn’t South Lakes also get affluent neighborhoods from Madison? South Lakes was centrally located, so redistricting wasn’t terribly difficult there.

I think there was a neighborhood picked by the PTA from Wolf Trap. The parents were not happy as I recall. There were tons of speakers at the meetings. They were all ignored. The SB would not even look at them. In those days, the speakers stood at a podium to the side and you could see the SB and the speakers. The SB was rude. That was probably why they changed it to put the focus on the speaker.

The Madison area was a small Wolftrap/Thoreau/Madison attendance island with a Vienna mailing address but closer to Reston than downtown Vienna. They were the only kids at Wolftrap who went to Thoreau rather than Kilmer, and they got moved to Sunrise Valley/Hughes/South Lakes. They weren’t happy at the time but it was years ago. They probably could have gotten moved to Marshall if they’d tried but they opposed any move and ended up at South Lakes.

[Anonymous]

Didn’t say everyone was happy with the process or the result. But South Lakes emerged a stronger school, so blanket insinuations that no kids or no lower-income kids ever benefit from a boundary change are off the mark.

South Lakes took SEVERAL affluent neighborhoods. This was not just one neighborhood or elementary school. Parts of Wolf Trap from Madison. Most of Floris from Westfield. Fox Mill from Oakton. Parts of Crossfield from Oakton. These were all high achieving neighborhoods. And, one of the high schools involved lost two affluent areas and were left with a growing low socioeconomic neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Didn’t say everyone was happy with the process or the result. But South Lakes emerged a stronger school, so blanket insinuations that no kids or no lower-income kids ever benefit from a boundary change are off the mark.

South Lakes took SEVERAL affluent neighborhoods. This was not just one neighborhood or elementary school. Parts of Wolf Trap from Madison. Most of Floris from Westfield. Fox Mill from Oakton. Parts of Crossfield from Oakton. These were all high achieving neighborhoods. And, one of the high schools involved lost two affluent areas and were left with a growing low socioeconomic neighborhood.

Herndon? Because it sounds like they then take hundreds more through IB transfers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Didn’t say everyone was happy with the process or the result. But South Lakes emerged a stronger school, so blanket insinuations that no kids or no lower-income kids ever benefit from a boundary change are off the mark.

South Lakes took SEVERAL affluent neighborhoods. This was not just one neighborhood or elementary school. Parts of Wolf Trap from Madison. Most of Floris from Westfield. Fox Mill from Oakton. Parts of Crossfield from Oakton. These were all high achieving neighborhoods. And, one of the high schools involved lost two affluent areas and were left with a growing low socioeconomic neighborhood.

Herndon? Because it sounds like they then take hundreds more through IB transfers.

No, Herndon was excluded completely from those boundary changes. I think she’s saying Westfield took a hit when some Westfield neighborhoods got moved to South Lakes. It was really a wash for Oakton since Oakton picked up part of Chantilly and the number of Madison kids moved to South Lakes was quite small.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Didn’t say everyone was happy with the process or the result. But South Lakes emerged a stronger school, so blanket insinuations that no kids or no lower-income kids ever benefit from a boundary change are off the mark.

South Lakes took SEVERAL affluent neighborhoods. This was not just one neighborhood or elementary school. Parts of Wolf Trap from Madison. Most of Floris from Westfield. Fox Mill from Oakton. Parts of Crossfield from Oakton. These were all high achieving neighborhoods. And, one of the high schools involved lost two affluent areas and were left with a growing low socioeconomic neighborhood.

Herndon? Because it sounds like they then take hundreds more through IB transfers.

No, Herndon was excluded completely from those boundary changes. I think she’s saying Westfield took a hit when some Westfield neighborhoods got moved to South Lakes. It was really a wash for Oakton since Oakton picked up part of Chantilly and the number of Madison kids moved to South Lakes was quite small.

Yes. South Lakes PTA especially wanted Armstrong and Aldrin from Herndon since they are in Reston. But, Herndon said "no way." Then South Lakes wanted them to take Coates (I can't remember if Coates was open yet--so it might have been McNair) but Herndon said "no."

It was amazing that one group of women (South Lakes PTA) was given so much power by Stu Gibson.

I fear that this boundary study is going to give committee members that kind of power. We've already heard about one of the members fighting to keep her neighborhood put.

[Anonymous]

And, one more thing, the SB decided that all high schools should be 2000 in order to justify the South Lakes adjustment. This is right after they had expanded Westfield to hold more than 3000, like the year before. Kind of likethe kind of thing they are doing with capacity projections in the CIP.

Since they took a whole elementary school from Oakton, they backfilled it from Chantilly--and the neighborhood was not happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Didn’t say everyone was happy with the process or the result. But South Lakes emerged a stronger school, so blanket insinuations that no kids or no lower-income kids ever benefit from a boundary change are off the mark.

South Lakes took SEVERAL affluent neighborhoods. This was not just one neighborhood or elementary school. Parts of Wolf Trap from Madison. Most of Floris from Westfield. Fox Mill from Oakton. Parts of Crossfield from Oakton. These were all high achieving neighborhoods. And, one of the high schools involved lost two affluent areas and were left with a growing low socioeconomic neighborhood.

Herndon? Because it sounds like they then take hundreds more through IB transfers.

No, Herndon was excluded completely from those boundary changes. I think she’s saying Westfield took a hit when some Westfield neighborhoods got moved to South Lakes. It was really a wash for Oakton since Oakton picked up part of Chantilly and the number of Madison kids moved to South Lakes was quite small.

Yes. South Lakes PTA especially wanted Armstrong and Aldrin from Herndon since they are in Reston. But, Herndon said "no way." Then South Lakes wanted them to take Coates (I can't remember if Coates was open yet--so it might have been McNair) but Herndon said "no."

It was amazing that one group of women (South Lakes PTA) was given so much power by Stu Gibson.

I fear that this boundary study is going to give committee members that kind of power. We've already heard about one of the members fighting to keep her neighborhood put.

There are always groups that seem to have an outsized influence. FCPS staff made a proposal for the Langley/McLean boundary change in 2021 and the Great Falls Citizens Association leaned on Elaine Tholen to move a different area that only included single-family homes and no apartments. She did what they asked and they said publicly afterwards it was the best of the possible options from their perspective. It's not unique to the South Lakes situation and, if they push forward with more boundary changes, some people are going to get heard and others ignored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When the SB spends funds that could be used to help poor students on renaming a school, the priorities are screwed up. They could have taken away all the honorariums of Lee and references to him without changing the name. They could have just called it "Lee" and saved a lot of money.

Then, adding insult to injury, they spent money on a program that no one really understands and doesn't help kids who cannot speak English or read.

Certainly, we don't need to be naming schools after Confederate generals, but we can easily adjust the names without honoring anyone.

It's called priorities. The top priority should be educating the students.

Absolutely this. And it’s not like the boundary changes are actually going to help any of the kids in these schools.

Have you spoken to anyone in Reston about whether they feel South Lakes HS is a stronger school now than it was in 2008, before a redistricting, when it had 1375 kids and was seen as a school to avoid. Now it has about 2400 kids and gets many pupil placements every year.

Are there enough middle/upper middle class/wealthy, mostly high performing kids to go around nearly two decades later to bring up metrics at all the undesirable schools such that they will no longer be avoided?

Maybe so, even if it lowers metrics at the top ranked schools.

The board may achieve all schools being the same, plus or minus a few points in any given category/metric.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Didn’t say everyone was happy with the process or the result. But South Lakes emerged a stronger school, so blanket insinuations that no kids or no lower-income kids ever benefit from a boundary change are off the mark.

South Lakes took SEVERAL affluent neighborhoods. This was not just one neighborhood or elementary school. Parts of Wolf Trap from Madison. Most of Floris from Westfield. Fox Mill from Oakton. Parts of Crossfield from Oakton. These were all high achieving neighborhoods. And, one of the high schools involved lost two affluent areas and were left with a growing low socioeconomic neighborhood.

Herndon? Because it sounds like they then take hundreds more through IB transfers.

No, Herndon was excluded completely from those boundary changes. I think she’s saying Westfield took a hit when some Westfield neighborhoods got moved to South Lakes. It was really a wash for Oakton since Oakton picked up part of Chantilly and the number of Madison kids moved to South Lakes was quite small.

Yes. South Lakes PTA especially wanted Armstrong and Aldrin from Herndon since they are in Reston. But, Herndon said "no way." Then South Lakes wanted them to take Coates (I can't remember if Coates was open yet--so it might have been McNair) but Herndon said "no."

It was amazing that one group of women (South Lakes PTA) was given so much power by Stu Gibson.

I fear that this boundary study is going to give committee members that kind of power. We've already heard about one of the members fighting to keep her neighborhood put.

There are always groups that seem to have an outsized influence. FCPS staff made a proposal for the Langley/McLean boundary change in 2021 and the Great Falls Citizens Association leaned on Elaine Tholen to move a different area that only included single-family homes and no apartments. She did what they asked and they said publicly afterwards it was the best of the possible options from their perspective. It's not unique to the South Lakes situation and, if they push forward with more boundary changes, some people are going to get heard and others ignored.

Pffft. GFCA didn't "lean on" Tholen. You don't even know them. They don't have the disposition to exert that kind of pressure, although they did obviously express an opinion. It is true that they are on record saying that they favored the outcome since it moved an area with no future planned developments and was so unlikely to cause an overcrowding that would eventually justify removing part of Great Falls from Langley. Elaine does have an easygoing disposition but that doesn't mean she jumps everytime someone frowns at her a little.

I know she's glad she finished serving her time on the school board for the democrats and is now out of that whole ridiculous scene.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Didn’t say everyone was happy with the process or the result. But South Lakes emerged a stronger school, so blanket insinuations that no kids or no lower-income kids ever benefit from a boundary change are off the mark.

South Lakes took SEVERAL affluent neighborhoods. This was not just one neighborhood or elementary school. Parts of Wolf Trap from Madison. Most of Floris from Westfield. Fox Mill from Oakton. Parts of Crossfield from Oakton. These were all high achieving neighborhoods. And, one of the high schools involved lost two affluent areas and were left with a growing low socioeconomic neighborhood.

Herndon? Because it sounds like they then take hundreds more through IB transfers.

No, Herndon was excluded completely from those boundary changes. I think she’s saying Westfield took a hit when some Westfield neighborhoods got moved to South Lakes. It was really a wash for Oakton since Oakton picked up part of Chantilly and the number of Madison kids moved to South Lakes was quite small.

Yes. South Lakes PTA especially wanted Armstrong and Aldrin from Herndon since they are in Reston. But, Herndon said "no way." Then South Lakes wanted them to take Coates (I can't remember if Coates was open yet--so it might have been McNair) but Herndon said "no."

It was amazing that one group of women (South Lakes PTA) was given so much power by Stu Gibson.

I fear that this boundary study is going to give committee members that kind of power. We've already heard about one of the members fighting to keep her neighborhood put.

There are always groups that seem to have an outsized influence. FCPS staff made a proposal for the Langley/McLean boundary change in 2021 and the Great Falls Citizens Association leaned on Elaine Tholen to move a different area that only included single-family homes and no apartments. She did what they asked and they said publicly afterwards it was the best of the possible options from their perspective. It's not unique to the South Lakes situation and, if they push forward with more boundary changes, some people are going to get heard and others ignored.

Since this is public record, everyone can see your lie. There were three potential maps, and one was chosen. The FCPS proposal was the three different scenarios, and one was chosen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Didn’t say everyone was happy with the process or the result. But South Lakes emerged a stronger school, so blanket insinuations that no kids or no lower-income kids ever benefit from a boundary change are off the mark.

South Lakes took SEVERAL affluent neighborhoods. This was not just one neighborhood or elementary school. Parts of Wolf Trap from Madison. Most of Floris from Westfield. Fox Mill from Oakton. Parts of Crossfield from Oakton. These were all high achieving neighborhoods. And, one of the high schools involved lost two affluent areas and were left with a growing low socioeconomic neighborhood.

Herndon? Because it sounds like they then take hundreds more through IB transfers.

No, Herndon was excluded completely from those boundary changes. I think she’s saying Westfield took a hit when some Westfield neighborhoods got moved to South Lakes. It was really a wash for Oakton since Oakton picked up part of Chantilly and the number of Madison kids moved to South Lakes was quite small.

Yes. South Lakes PTA especially wanted Armstrong and Aldrin from Herndon since they are in Reston. But, Herndon said "no way." Then South Lakes wanted them to take Coates (I can't remember if Coates was open yet--so it might have been McNair) but Herndon said "no."

It was amazing that one group of women (South Lakes PTA) was given so much power by Stu Gibson.

I fear that this boundary study is going to give committee members that kind of power. We've already heard about one of the members fighting to keep her neighborhood put.

There are always groups that seem to have an outsized influence. FCPS staff made a proposal for the Langley/McLean boundary change in 2021 and the Great Falls Citizens Association leaned on Elaine Tholen to move a different area that only included single-family homes and no apartments. She did what they asked and they said publicly afterwards it was the best of the possible options from their perspective. It's not unique to the South Lakes situation and, if they push forward with more boundary changes, some people are going to get heard and others ignored.

Since this is public record, everyone can see your lie. There were three potential maps, and one was chosen. The FCPS proposal was the three different scenarios, and one was chosen.

Yes, they started out with three options for discussion, FCPS staff then made a specific recommendation, the GFCA lobbied Tholen hard to advocate for a different option consisting entirely of single-family homes, she did just that, and a GFCA spokesperson then said this was the best possible outcome from their perspective.

They lobbied for what they wanted just like the South Lakes PTA did years earlier, and just like others are doing now.

[Anonymous]

Do we have a timeline as to when the final decisions will be made?