Boundary Review Meetings

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if they are making space at Fairfax to avoid ticking off Fairfax City. I'm wondering if the plan is to send the ATT redevlopment homes to Johnson/Fairfax. Johnson you would send down Rosehaven to Arrowhead, left at the Oakmont REc light and down Jermantown to KJ. THat small neighborhood already goes to Providence/KJ/Fairfax it was proposed to move but I think they backed off it. It's also barely further to Fairfax than Oakton and closer to Fairfax than the neighborhoods being moved out were. Big issue is the ES no room at Providence, but talk to Karl Frisch about that since he got the Blake Lane School killed that a bond was voted on for back in 2010.

I think they are punting lots to the next cycle to see how some major redevelopments play out, and also if enrollment continues to decline and is it concentrated in particular areas. Also putting AAP on all middle schools is an issue, not sure why AAP even goes to middle school when there are honors and Advanced math options and languages. Whether to keep Elementary AAP centers versus just all local AAP is another big monkey wrench but if they got rid of ES AAP centers maybe then could fix middle school start times.

Definitely think this is part of it, I think they were caught off guard by the federal and contractor workforce cuts at the beginning of this administration leading to job losses. They’re also in denial about the natural demographic changes. Peak birth rate was in 2007 and those kids are largely in college now, some are seniors in HS. Interestingly the enrollment has remained steady even with the lower birth rates, Covid siphoning off some students to private, and increased homeschooling, mostly because the number of kids in pre-K (whether income based or special needs) has increased.

Peak birth rate is class of 2026, which contains kids born in both 2007 and 2008, the two top birth years.

Current seniors class of 2026 are the top of the cliff, based on FCPS own stats. Class of 2025 and 2027 are both smaller than class of 2026.

Enrollment drops gradually for the next 2-3 years after class of 2026 graduates, then sharply after the current freshmen graduate.

FCPS also lost thousands of students this summer, due to current events

The district is shrinking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t explain why they decided to not make a decision. Halley still has an attendance island. Are they too afraid to make a decision?

They got a lot of push back. I think for some areas they’re waiting and hoping the temperature drops? I don’t see that happening but whatever.

I think they really wanted them at Gunston, but due to the efforts of the Mason Neck Citizens Group, and probably also the physical state of Gunston ES, that’s not going to be feasible without big renovations to the school. So now it’s a big hot potato of do they move kids out of Gunston to I guess Island Creek to make room at Gunston? (That’s a long bus ride). Do they add Hagel to Lorton Station and then try to make moves to get LSES as a SC feeder? Not really possible right now without overcrowding South County MS and HS though. Do they add it to Lorton Station/Hayfield and then wash their hands of the whole thing? Do they try to add it to Laurel Hill which makes a nice border on paper but still ends up with a long bus ride? (And another overcrowded school at Laurel Hill as well). Are they ok with potentially taking LSES, which is a big feeder school, out of Hayfield and leaving Hayfield under-enrolled, assuming they’ll need the capacity at Hayfield to relieve Edison? But if Edison needs relief, the first places to look should be under-enrolled Lewis and over-expanded West Potomac.

I really think to solve the South County overcrowding, they should send kids from Springfield to Lewis. Anyways that bus ride for them is about 10-15 minutes so they might as well go to Lewis and let Lorton Students stay in Lorton.

Lorton station elementary students are closest to South County while some Springfield students go to south county. Not right. They should be at Lewis and they’ve got plenty of capacity

The only Springfield kids at SC are in Newington Forest, in which case they’d be bussed the whole way down the parkway to Key and Lewis, past the attendance areas for both Hunt Valley and Rolling Valley, which both go to West Springfield. That would be a gigantic border gerrymander. And at that point people would rightly wonder why it wasn’t at least part of Hunt Valley at Lewis and we’re suddenly back on that nonsense again. South County is fine as is and doesn’t need to lose any students. It’s just if they want it to gain a few hundred from Lorton Station that’s where the problem comes in.

Isn't Newington Forest in Lorton?

Thet would also go past Daventry and West Springfield Elementary.

Daventry is the neighborhood you should be focused on. They were recently zoned to Lewis, and are part of the Franconia magesterial district, not the Springfield district. Daventry and Keene Mill elementary are the closest West Springfield areas to Lewis by a long shot.

Whoever is saying that Newington should attend Lewis is not looking at maps.

Maybe they had Daventry mixed up with Gambrill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t explain why they decided to not make a decision. Halley still has an attendance island. Are they too afraid to make a decision?

They got a lot of push back. I think for some areas they’re waiting and hoping the temperature drops? I don’t see that happening but whatever.

I think they really wanted them at Gunston, but due to the efforts of the Mason Neck Citizens Group, and probably also the physical state of Gunston ES, that’s not going to be feasible without big renovations to the school. So now it’s a big hot potato of do they move kids out of Gunston to I guess Island Creek to make room at Gunston? (That’s a long bus ride). Do they add Hagel to Lorton Station and then try to make moves to get LSES as a SC feeder? Not really possible right now without overcrowding South County MS and HS though. Do they add it to Lorton Station/Hayfield and then wash their hands of the whole thing? Do they try to add it to Laurel Hill which makes a nice border on paper but still ends up with a long bus ride? (And another overcrowded school at Laurel Hill as well). Are they ok with potentially taking LSES, which is a big feeder school, out of Hayfield and leaving Hayfield under-enrolled, assuming they’ll need the capacity at Hayfield to relieve Edison? But if Edison needs relief, the first places to look should be under-enrolled Lewis and over-expanded West Potomac.

I really think to solve the South County overcrowding, they should send kids from Springfield to Lewis. Anyways that bus ride for them is about 10-15 minutes so they might as well go to Lewis and let Lorton Students stay in Lorton.

Lorton station elementary students are closest to South County while some Springfield students go to south county. Not right. They should be at Lewis and they’ve got plenty of capacity

The only Springfield kids at SC are in Newington Forest, in which case they’d be bussed the whole way down the parkway to Key and Lewis, past the attendance areas for both Hunt Valley and Rolling Valley, which both go to West Springfield. That would be a gigantic border gerrymander. And at that point people would rightly wonder why it wasn’t at least part of Hunt Valley at Lewis and we’re suddenly back on that nonsense again. South County is fine as is and doesn’t need to lose any students. It’s just if they want it to gain a few hundred from Lorton Station that’s where the problem comes in.

Isn't Newington Forest in Lorton?

Thet would also go past Daventry and West Springfield Elementary.

Daventry is the neighborhood you should be focused on. They were recently zoned to Lewis, and are part of the Franconia magesterial district, not the Springfield district. Daventry and Keene Mill elementary are the closest West Springfield areas to Lewis by a long shot.

Whoever is saying that Newington should attend Lewis is not looking at maps.

Maybe they had Daventry mixed up with Gambrill.

I think so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t explain why they decided to not make a decision. Halley still has an attendance island. Are they too afraid to make a decision?

They got a lot of push back. I think for some areas they’re waiting and hoping the temperature drops? I don’t see that happening but whatever.

Note they backpedaled on changes to the Bren Mar Park split feeder by sending it to Key/Lewis from Holmes/Edison and giving it back it’s 59 sixth graders at Edison.

This is because Beech Tree and Belvedere would have split fed into Poe and Holmes from Glasgow, with Beech Tree having a High School split feeder.

But do note Poe is going to become an AAP center for itself and Holmes, which might result in Glasgow Easing out without needing to lose in boundary students.

When Glasgow was replaced in 2009 or so, wasn’t it built to hold 1500 students?

Only asking because I don’t know that school very well or how many AAP students it holds that would transfer over to Poe.

I also think that Annandale Terrace, Braddock, or Columbia should hold AAP to form greater continuity at that level so that Canterbury Woods’ 5th grade AAP students don’t suddenly have to transfer over to Poe (if they have the capacity to do so).

But Beech Tree is still slated to be a double split feeder.

Addressed this earlier. More split feeders is the sacrifice they are prepared to make to accommodate Ricardy Anderson’s years-long quest to reduce the enrollment at Glasgow. That has wide community support, although there may be some backlash when they realize how it’s going to further concentrate poverty at Glasgow and Justice.

Except that is estimated to be addressed simply by making Poe an AAP school, by FCPS's estimates.

[Anonymous]

Town of vienna

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t explain why they decided to not make a decision. Halley still has an attendance island. Are they too afraid to make a decision?

They got a lot of push back. I think for some areas they’re waiting and hoping the temperature drops? I don’t see that happening but whatever.

I think they really wanted them at Gunston, but due to the efforts of the Mason Neck Citizens Group, and probably also the physical state of Gunston ES, that’s not going to be feasible without big renovations to the school. So now it’s a big hot potato of do they move kids out of Gunston to I guess Island Creek to make room at Gunston? (That’s a long bus ride). Do they add Hagel to Lorton Station and then try to make moves to get LSES as a SC feeder? Not really possible right now without overcrowding South County MS and HS though. Do they add it to Lorton Station/Hayfield and then wash their hands of the whole thing? Do they try to add it to Laurel Hill which makes a nice border on paper but still ends up with a long bus ride? (And another overcrowded school at Laurel Hill as well). Are they ok with potentially taking LSES, which is a big feeder school, out of Hayfield and leaving Hayfield under-enrolled, assuming they’ll need the capacity at Hayfield to relieve Edison? But if Edison needs relief, the first places to look should be under-enrolled Lewis and over-expanded West Potomac.

I really think to solve the South County overcrowding, they should send kids from Springfield to Lewis. Anyways that bus ride for them is about 10-15 minutes so they might as well go to Lewis and let Lorton Students stay in Lorton.

Lorton station elementary students are closest to South County while some Springfield students go to south county. Not right. They should be at Lewis and they’ve got plenty of capacity

The only Springfield kids at SC are in Newington Forest, in which case they’d be bussed the whole way down the parkway to Key and Lewis, past the attendance areas for both Hunt Valley and Rolling Valley, which both go to West Springfield. That would be a gigantic border gerrymander. And at that point people would rightly wonder why it wasn’t at least part of Hunt Valley at Lewis and we’re suddenly back on that nonsense again. South County is fine as is and doesn’t need to lose any students. It’s just if they want it to gain a few hundred from Lorton Station that’s where the problem comes in.

Isn't Newington Forest in Lorton?

Thet would also go past Daventry and West Springfield Elementary.

Daventry is the neighborhood you should be focused on. They were recently zoned to Lewis, and are part of the Franconia magesterial district, not the Springfield district. Daventry and Keene Mill elementary are the closest West Springfield areas to Lewis by a long shot.

Whoever is saying that Newington should attend Lewis is not looking at maps.

There are no Springfield kids at South County. OP is confused. It’s entirely Lorton, Mason Neck, and Fairfax Station.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t explain why they decided to not make a decision. Halley still has an attendance island. Are they too afraid to make a decision?

They got a lot of push back. I think for some areas they’re waiting and hoping the temperature drops? I don’t see that happening but whatever.

I think they really wanted them at Gunston, but due to the efforts of the Mason Neck Citizens Group, and probably also the physical state of Gunston ES, that’s not going to be feasible without big renovations to the school. So now it’s a big hot potato of do they move kids out of Gunston to I guess Island Creek to make room at Gunston? (That’s a long bus ride). Do they add Hagel to Lorton Station and then try to make moves to get LSES as a SC feeder? Not really possible right now without overcrowding South County MS and HS though. Do they add it to Lorton Station/Hayfield and then wash their hands of the whole thing? Do they try to add it to Laurel Hill which makes a nice border on paper but still ends up with a long bus ride? (And another overcrowded school at Laurel Hill as well). Are they ok with potentially taking LSES, which is a big feeder school, out of Hayfield and leaving Hayfield under-enrolled, assuming they’ll need the capacity at Hayfield to relieve Edison? But if Edison needs relief, the first places to look should be under-enrolled Lewis and over-expanded West Potomac.

I really think to solve the South County overcrowding, they should send kids from Springfield to Lewis. Anyways that bus ride for them is about 10-15 minutes so they might as well go to Lewis and let Lorton Students stay in Lorton.

Lorton station elementary students are closest to South County while some Springfield students go to south county. Not right. They should be at Lewis and they’ve got plenty of capacity

The only Springfield kids at SC are in Newington Forest, in which case they’d be bussed the whole way down the parkway to Key and Lewis, past the attendance areas for both Hunt Valley and Rolling Valley, which both go to West Springfield. That would be a gigantic border gerrymander. And at that point people would rightly wonder why it wasn’t at least part of Hunt Valley at Lewis and we’re suddenly back on that nonsense again. South County is fine as is and doesn’t need to lose any students. It’s just if they want it to gain a few hundred from Lorton Station that’s where the problem comes in.

Isn't Newington Forest in Lorton?

Thet would also go past Daventry and West Springfield Elementary.

Daventry is the neighborhood you should be focused on. They were recently zoned to Lewis, and are part of the Franconia magesterial district, not the Springfield district. Daventry and Keene Mill elementary are the closest West Springfield areas to Lewis by a long shot.

Whoever is saying that Newington should attend Lewis is not looking at maps.

There are no Springfield kids at South County. OP is confused. It’s entirely Lorton, Mason Neck, and Fairfax Station.

I don't understand the above comment.... Newington Forest ES is Springfield and they go to SoCo....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t explain why they decided to not make a decision. Halley still has an attendance island. Are they too afraid to make a decision?

They got a lot of push back. I think for some areas they’re waiting and hoping the temperature drops? I don’t see that happening but whatever.

I think they really wanted them at Gunston, but due to the efforts of the Mason Neck Citizens Group, and probably also the physical state of Gunston ES, that’s not going to be feasible without big renovations to the school. So now it’s a big hot potato of do they move kids out of Gunston to I guess Island Creek to make room at Gunston? (That’s a long bus ride). Do they add Hagel to Lorton Station and then try to make moves to get LSES as a SC feeder? Not really possible right now without overcrowding South County MS and HS though. Do they add it to Lorton Station/Hayfield and then wash their hands of the whole thing? Do they try to add it to Laurel Hill which makes a nice border on paper but still ends up with a long bus ride? (And another overcrowded school at Laurel Hill as well). Are they ok with potentially taking LSES, which is a big feeder school, out of Hayfield and leaving Hayfield under-enrolled, assuming they’ll need the capacity at Hayfield to relieve Edison? But if Edison needs relief, the first places to look should be under-enrolled Lewis and over-expanded West Potomac.

I really think to solve the South County overcrowding, they should send kids from Springfield to Lewis. Anyways that bus ride for them is about 10-15 minutes so they might as well go to Lewis and let Lorton Students stay in Lorton.

Lorton station elementary students are closest to South County while some Springfield students go to south county. Not right. They should be at Lewis and they’ve got plenty of capacity

The only Springfield kids at SC are in Newington Forest, in which case they’d be bussed the whole way down the parkway to Key and Lewis, past the attendance areas for both Hunt Valley and Rolling Valley, which both go to West Springfield. That would be a gigantic border gerrymander. And at that point people would rightly wonder why it wasn’t at least part of Hunt Valley at Lewis and we’re suddenly back on that nonsense again. South County is fine as is and doesn’t need to lose any students. It’s just if they want it to gain a few hundred from Lorton Station that’s where the problem comes in.

Isn't Newington Forest in Lorton?

Thet would also go past Daventry and West Springfield Elementary.

Daventry is the neighborhood you should be focused on. They were recently zoned to Lewis, and are part of the Franconia magesterial district, not the Springfield district. Daventry and Keene Mill elementary are the closest West Springfield areas to Lewis by a long shot.

Whoever is saying that Newington should attend Lewis is not looking at maps.

There are no Springfield kids at South County. OP is confused. It’s entirely Lorton, Mason Neck, and Fairfax Station.

Technically Newington Forest elementary and the neighborhood has a Springfield 22153 address, same as Hunt Valley. But South County is definitely our closest school. Even West Springfield is a bit of a hike from here but is still closer than Lewis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t explain why they decided to not make a decision. Halley still has an attendance island. Are they too afraid to make a decision?

They got a lot of push back. I think for some areas they’re waiting and hoping the temperature drops? I don’t see that happening but whatever.

I think they really wanted them at Gunston, but due to the efforts of the Mason Neck Citizens Group, and probably also the physical state of Gunston ES, that’s not going to be feasible without big renovations to the school. So now it’s a big hot potato of do they move kids out of Gunston to I guess Island Creek to make room at Gunston? (That’s a long bus ride). Do they add Hagel to Lorton Station and then try to make moves to get LSES as a SC feeder? Not really possible right now without overcrowding South County MS and HS though. Do they add it to Lorton Station/Hayfield and then wash their hands of the whole thing? Do they try to add it to Laurel Hill which makes a nice border on paper but still ends up with a long bus ride? (And another overcrowded school at Laurel Hill as well). Are they ok with potentially taking LSES, which is a big feeder school, out of Hayfield and leaving Hayfield under-enrolled, assuming they’ll need the capacity at Hayfield to relieve Edison? But if Edison needs relief, the first places to look should be under-enrolled Lewis and over-expanded West Potomac.

I really think to solve the South County overcrowding, they should send kids from Springfield to Lewis. Anyways that bus ride for them is about 10-15 minutes so they might as well go to Lewis and let Lorton Students stay in Lorton.

Lorton station elementary students are closest to South County while some Springfield students go to south county. Not right. They should be at Lewis and they’ve got plenty of capacity

The only Springfield kids at SC are in Newington Forest, in which case they’d be bussed the whole way down the parkway to Key and Lewis, past the attendance areas for both Hunt Valley and Rolling Valley, which both go to West Springfield. That would be a gigantic border gerrymander. And at that point people would rightly wonder why it wasn’t at least part of Hunt Valley at Lewis and we’re suddenly back on that nonsense again. South County is fine as is and doesn’t need to lose any students. It’s just if they want it to gain a few hundred from Lorton Station that’s where the problem comes in.

Isn't Newington Forest in Lorton?

Thet would also go past Daventry and West Springfield Elementary.

Daventry is the neighborhood you should be focused on. They were recently zoned to Lewis, and are part of the Franconia magesterial district, not the Springfield district. Daventry and Keene Mill elementary are the closest West Springfield areas to Lewis by a long shot.

Whoever is saying that Newington should attend Lewis is not looking at maps.

There are no Springfield kids at South County. OP is confused. It’s entirely Lorton, Mason Neck, and Fairfax Station.

Technically Newington Forest elementary and the neighborhood has a Springfield 22153 address, same as Hunt Valley. But South County is definitely our closest school. Even West Springfield is a bit of a hike from here but is still closer than Lewis.

Newington Forrest is so close to SC middle and high schools. It would make no sense at all to change those neighborhoods to Lewis, LBSS or WSHS. At least if you care about proximity to the school and transportation times.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if there are changes that she is suggesting to At we don’t see in these maps , maybe things she consider “minor changes”
Are the oakmar area people not moving to Oakton elementary and high school anymore ?

So confusing. So if we were at to
Move in scenario 4 and not mentioned in these new documents are we not up for movement anymore ?

[Anonymous]

They should also make Marshall road elementary school an Oakton only high school feeder like they did wolftrap. Everything is so mixed up. They really should have done a real comprehensive boundary review with western high school boundary in the mix before making any changes.

[Anonymous]

Correct if not mentioned here - it is no longer proposal. The only scenario is this one (scenario 4 is no more).

[Anonymous]

Let me sign up to speak ? Do you all think I’m wasting my time to request a move she keeps rejecting ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t explain why they decided to not make a decision. Halley still has an attendance island. Are they too afraid to make a decision?

They got a lot of push back. I think for some areas they’re waiting and hoping the temperature drops? I don’t see that happening but whatever.

Note they backpedaled on changes to the Bren Mar Park split feeder by sending it to Key/Lewis from Holmes/Edison and giving it back it’s 59 sixth graders at Edison.

This is because Beech Tree and Belvedere would have split fed into Poe and Holmes from Glasgow, with Beech Tree having a High School split feeder.

But do note Poe is going to become an AAP center for itself and Holmes, which might result in Glasgow Easing out without needing to lose in boundary students.

When Glasgow was replaced in 2009 or so, wasn’t it built to hold 1500 students?

Only asking because I don’t know that school very well or how many AAP students it holds that would transfer over to Poe.

I also think that Annandale Terrace, Braddock, or Columbia should hold AAP to form greater continuity at that level so that Canterbury Woods’ 5th grade AAP students don’t suddenly have to transfer over to Poe (if they have the capacity to do so).

But Beech Tree is still slated to be a double split feeder.

Addressed this earlier. More split feeders is the sacrifice they are prepared to make to accommodate Ricardy Anderson’s years-long quest to reduce the enrollment at Glasgow. That has wide community support, although there may be some backlash when they realize how it’s going to further concentrate poverty at Glasgow and Justice.

Except that is estimated to be addressed simply by making Poe an AAP school, by FCPS's estimates.

Their goal isn’t just to get Glasgow to 100% capacity. It’s to get the total enrollment down to the level of other middle schools, even if Glasgow has three grades and most other middle schools have two.

You can say that’s just creating excess capacity at Glasgow but FCPS does that elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the Kilmer / Thoreau issue they need to modify so that Wolftrap splits at the middle school level - those assigned to Madison go to Thoreau and those assigned to Marshall go to Kilmer. They would then move the <5 percent group you reference at Kilmer to Thoreau and those students would feed into Madison.

Why? They did what you said and also eliminated the split at middle school. All of Wolftrap now goes to Thoreau then Madison, which addresses your point about Thoreau to Madison consistency. Why do you say they need to split Wolftrap? That community is clearly very against the middle school split, as opposed to the Town of Vienna people at Westbriar who like their split.

DP. Most of the Marshall people in Falls Church at Shrevewood and Lemon Road did not want to move to McLean, apart from that group of Pimmit Hills parents at Lemon Road, but most of the Marshall families at Wolftrap want to move to Madison. They live in Vienna and identify with Madison being the “Vienna high school.”

It’s not positive for Marshall in terms of the demographic impact, but they wanted to bring down the Kilmer enrollment and they did listen to the feedback.

A lot of changes could have been avoided if they’d prioritized additions to Kilmer MS and McLean HS over expansions of random elementary schools (and Herndon HS) but that’s never happened.

What’s really odd is that Kilmer does have building capacity. In 2023-24 it had 1227 seats, but then last year it was abruptly cut to 1023. It would be at 98% capacity (with modular) if that change hadn’t been made. Even before the modular was installed, capacity was 1143 which would put it at 106% without the modular. I’m not sure why they’re so keen to fill Thoreau with over 1400 kids. Seems like a nightmare for middle school.

I saw that as well but I’m also sure it was raised with FCPS by BRAC and other community members. I don’t know but one possibility could be that Kilmer Center space had been included with Kilmer MS space and then that square footage got backed out?

Thoreau is going to end up around the size of Carson and Longfellow at their peak but it did get a sizable expansion and at some point it seems inevitable that Oakton kids will be sent back to Jackson.