FCPS HS Boundary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of assumptions being made about who does and doesn't support adjustments. This is going to be akin to the common "boomer" vs. new generation conflict. As usual, older folks want to maintain what they feel they rightfully deserve, and younger families want a slice of the same pie.

There are a lot of young, very well-educated families who are completely priced out of top 10 schools. You bet they support boundary changes that make more schools acceptable and affordable. You'd be crazy not to in that position.

spot on! Especially in 22153 (Saratoga/Newington). I’ve talked to many families over the years who either moved or are planning to move/pupil place/private school before HS. Unfortunately our little community of students isn’t large enough to help Lewis get on equal footing with other FCPS schools. Geographically, im not even sure why we are in the Lewis pyramid given that South County is closer in distance and ease of transportation. I wholeheartedly support the SB’s efforts to reasses boundaries and bring more kids to Lewis.

Why would you want people to suffer with you? You gotta sell. Luckily Saratoga is fairly desirable - decent housing stock, community pools and amenities, and convenient. And there’s plenty of “dog mom/dad” DINK buyers who like having more space vs. a condo in Arlington, as well as empty nesters, families with babies who will move out when their kid hits 1st grade, and Catholic school families, not to mention FCPS teachers who pupil place where mom or dad works. Or you could list for rent and get a nice military family to rent for a few years. Just sell and move to the other side of Pohick and your kids could be in bounds for Newington Forest and South County. Or move up the parkway to West Springfield! There’s nothing much that can help Lewis at this point as almost every other school surrounding it is high poverty or also under enrolled.

The only way Saratoga is getting out of Lewis is if ALL the development zoned for Edison comes to pass, and they decide to revisit the Lewis/Edison borders and end up shunting off Saratoga to South County, or if Lewis is closed entirely. Either scenario is AT LEAST 10 years off, conservatively.

I don’t view this as us “suffering together” rather bringing in more students and families like us, to help bring more balance (and thus, opportunities) to Lewis.

Our kids aren’t close to HS age yet, but this boundary assessment will definitely influence whether we join our neighbors in moving/pupil place/go private or if stick around and see if anything can be done to improve Lewis.

This seems like a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation for the SB. If they move kids, people will leave. If they don’t move kids, people will move. They can’t win either way.

Aha.

Well, first, you need to disabuse yourself of the notion that those being redistricted to Lewis are "families like us." They aren't, because they prioritized finding a house zoned to West Springfield rather than settling for Lewis.

Second, you need to anticipate that there will be a lot of attrition, because just because someone gets redistricted to Lewis doesn't mean they will passively accept this and not explore other options.

Third, you need to acknowledge that there are possibilities other than the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario you outlined. Schools can improve if the county encourages development in the surrounding area, or the school does a better job of meeting the needs of the kids who are already zoned for the school. Rezoning - just like adding IB - can be a very crude and not necessarily effective tool for trying to enhance a school's perceived quality.

Oh I see. So, because we were priced out of neighborhoods zoned for WS, our kids don’t deserve an equivalent education? Got it.

To your second point, I guess you missed the part where I suggested that families like mine also have options, and we will continue to exercise them if the SB continues to neglect the needs of the students at Lewis. Trying to stop pupil placements as a retention method ain’t gonna fly!

And as to your third point, there is quite literally no action that the SB can take that will appease everyone. So yes, damned if you do/don’t still applies.

No one buys "priced out" of an entire pyramid area, much less the pyramids of several outstanding high schools in the county. 99% of us can't have it all when we make decisions about buying and renting. In my case we compromised on townhouse size so kids share rooms. In your case you chose to compromise on schools. Something made you choose to live in the Lewis pyramid, and you feel entitled to "options" for your kids to attend school elsewhere.

You have no idea what our living situation is or what we sacrificed to live here. Just more foaming at the mouth from someone worried about protecting their property value.

Yes, what a travesty that you were forced to live in Springfield, VA, in the Lewis pyramid. There were clearly no other options within Fairfax county, in adjacent counties, or in other parts of Virginia or the DMV.

Huh? We chose the best pyramid we could afford with the shortest commute to our jobs. But if I’m following your logic, since we couldn’t afford to be in your perfect community, we should simply accept our crappy high school and shouldn’t get excited about the possibility of improvements to it. Did I get that right?

Other peoples kids are not "improvements" for you to move around at will.

The SB seems to think otherwise. 🤷‍♂️ You should direct that energy towards the them, though fortunately, it seems that our new board is prepared to take the hits and make the tough decisions. I wish them all the best (and you too!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP - I get what the Lewis parent is saying (and no, my kids are not in the Lewis boundaries nor is it possible they’ll go there). I think what s/he is saying is all FCPS schools should be good by meeting a minimum threshold. And in the case of Lewis, what it needs is a larger number of students so that it can offer a range of APs like other schools. The SB seems to want all of the schools to be desirable and successful, which is admirable and what they should be doing. I would hope we can all agree on that. Likewise, if there are schools that are overcrowded, it makes sense to draw new boundaries to relieve that overcrowding. Thing is, I would guess most would agree with this - until they think it might affect their kid in what they perceive to be a negative way. We can’t just keep building additions when there is space. Any money available should be spent on renovations so that all schools are on similar footing. And re-drawing boundaries makes that possible.

This exactly, thank you PP!

Um... Lewis is an IB school.

They aren't going to have a full slate of AP classes no matter how many WSHS students you pull from their neighborhood school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

DP - I get what the Lewis parent is saying (and no, my kids are not in the Lewis boundaries nor is it possible they’ll go there). I think what s/he is saying is all FCPS schools should be good by meeting a minimum threshold. And in the case of Lewis, what it needs is a larger number of students so that it can offer a range of APs like other schools. The SB seems to want all of the schools to be desirable and successful, which is admirable and what they should be doing. I would hope we can all agree on that. Likewise, if there are schools that are overcrowded, it makes sense to draw new boundaries to relieve that overcrowding. Thing is, I would guess most would agree with this - until they think it might affect their kid in what they perceive to be a negative way. We can’t just keep building additions when there is space. Any money available should be spent on renovations so that all schools are on similar footing. And re-drawing boundaries makes that possible.

This. I have no dog in this fight. This makes the most sense to me as a taxpayer.

Lewis is an IB school.

IB schools don't offer many AP classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2003
Lee - 2092 students
Roughly 23% F/R lunch, 42% white, medium ESL rate (17.3%)

WS - 2259 students
Roughly 7% F/R lunch, 64% white, low ESL rate (7.5%)

2024
Lewis - 1675 students
Roughly 63% F/R lunch, 12% white, high ESL rate (30%)

WS - 2761 students
Roughly 17% F/R lunch, 48% white, low ESL rate (5%)

In 2003 Lee was middle of the road in FCPS. What happened?

IB put into Lee and several other schools

IB actually enabled easier transfer out with the liberal pupil placement policy

Immigrants concentrated in certain schools

2005 boundary change - removed hundreds of students from Lee just as it was getting expanded - some to South County, some to West Springfield; students that departed were on the wealthier end of the spectrum. FCPS knew this was the case

Pupil placement accelerated - FCPS refuses to budge on dropping IB and Lee

2015 boundary change - removed Daventry students - a relatively wealthy neighborhood

In the middle of all of this Great Schools came along and created winners and losers - English speaking Americans, particularly white, just stopped choosing houses in the Lee/Lewis boundary

That is how we got here. Notice the total number of students in 2003 at the two schools. Only different by 167 students. Now in 2024 - different by 1086 students.

Lewis is much smaller, much poorer, and has many more ESL students. The ESL rate at WS actually went down over the years.

The quality of the school (teachers, admin) is not necessarily different or subpar, but the demographics of the students is much different.

How should this be resolved? Long time homeowner wants to know.

It really can’t be easily resolved. It’s not like Lewis is an island of poor performance surrounded by a bunch of WSHS equivalents. Annandale is quickly going down the same path. Mount Vernon is worse, Justice might be too. Edison is so-so and small but stable with more solid middle class neighborhoods and some troubled areas, Hayfield and South County are medium but not really desirable. West Potomac is only hanging on by virtue of its size and some gerrymandering to get middle class areas in its boundaries. Apart from Edison which is small and sits on a small lot, they are all under-enrolled. The growth is not in that area of the county. I say that as a resident of that area of the county. They want to bring more development to Springfield but it seems mostly commercial and small apartments aimed at DINKS and young people.

If the board’s projections really do come to pass by 5-10 years, you could close an entire HS in that region and distribute its students to the surrounding schools without much if any pain from sudden over enrollment. Of course, I don’t believe the board’s projections because how on Earth would WSHS be that over capacity when there’s no new development happening in WS? It’s not exactly Tysons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP - I get what the Lewis parent is saying (and no, my kids are not in the Lewis boundaries nor is it possible they’ll go there). I think what s/he is saying is all FCPS schools should be good by meeting a minimum threshold. And in the case of Lewis, what it needs is a larger number of students so that it can offer a range of APs like other schools. The SB seems to want all of the schools to be desirable and successful, which is admirable and what they should be doing. I would hope we can all agree on that. Likewise, if there are schools that are overcrowded, it makes sense to draw new boundaries to relieve that overcrowding. Thing is, I would guess most would agree with this - until they think it might affect their kid in what they perceive to be a negative way. We can’t just keep building additions when there is space. Any money available should be spent on renovations so that all schools are on similar footing. And re-drawing boundaries makes that possible.

This exactly, thank you PP!

Um... Lewis is an IB school.

They aren't going to have a full slate of AP classes no matter how many WSHS students you pull from their neighborhood school.

Well yes, that’s true as of right now. But more kids will translate to additional offerings. Plenty of runway between now and the 2026/2027 school year to make some positive changes at Lewis (don’t see how this could be accomplished any sooner, but I guess we will see)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will be interesting to watch the musical chairs.

As a school/neighborhood is rezoned for a pyramid like Lewis, prospective buyers with kids will probably avoid buying in those zones and inevitably enrollments will plummet.

I guess FCPS will adjust boundaries again?

Throw in the increasing poverty that appears to be centralized in few areas and the problem will continue to be exacerbated.

+1. The problem is that they’ve only taken a few baby steps at best to make a school like Lewis marginally more attractive. The general inference is that it’s just the presence of redistricted kids who would do that work for FCPS, and redistricted families can frustrate that goal by refusing to send their kids there.

There are several families in the neighborhoods potentially getting rezoned to Lewis who are sending their rising 9th graders to Catholic or private high schools, even though their older siblings are at WSHS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2003
Lee - 2092 students
Roughly 23% F/R lunch, 42% white, medium ESL rate (17.3%)

WS - 2259 students
Roughly 7% F/R lunch, 64% white, low ESL rate (7.5%)

2024
Lewis - 1675 students
Roughly 63% F/R lunch, 12% white, high ESL rate (30%)

WS - 2761 students
Roughly 17% F/R lunch, 48% white, low ESL rate (5%)

In 2003 Lee was middle of the road in FCPS. What happened?

IB put into Lee and several other schools

IB actually enabled easier transfer out with the liberal pupil placement policy

Immigrants concentrated in certain schools

2005 boundary change - removed hundreds of students from Lee just as it was getting expanded - some to South County, some to West Springfield; students that departed were on the wealthier end of the spectrum. FCPS knew this was the case

Pupil placement accelerated - FCPS refuses to budge on dropping IB and Lee

2015 boundary change - removed Daventry students - a relatively wealthy neighborhood

In the middle of all of this Great Schools came along and created winners and losers - English speaking Americans, particularly white, just stopped choosing houses in the Lee/Lewis boundary

That is how we got here. Notice the total number of students in 2003 at the two schools. Only different by 167 students. Now in 2024 - different by 1086 students.

Lewis is much smaller, much poorer, and has many more ESL students. The ESL rate at WS actually went down over the years.

The quality of the school (teachers, admin) is not necessarily different or subpar, but the demographics of the students is much different.

How should this be resolved? Long time homeowner wants to know.

If you sent the 230 Lewis students pupil placing to other high schools back to Lewis, Lewis would have over 1900 students, without rezoning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of assumptions being made about who does and doesn't support adjustments. This is going to be akin to the common "boomer" vs. new generation conflict. As usual, older folks want to maintain what they feel they rightfully deserve, and younger families want a slice of the same pie.

There are a lot of young, very well-educated families who are completely priced out of top 10 schools. You bet they support boundary changes that make more schools acceptable and affordable. You'd be crazy not to in that position.

spot on! Especially in 22153 (Saratoga/Newington). I’ve talked to many families over the years who either moved or are planning to move/pupil place/private school before HS. Unfortunately our little community of students isn’t large enough to help Lewis get on equal footing with other FCPS schools. Geographically, im not even sure why we are in the Lewis pyramid given that South County is closer in distance and ease of transportation. I wholeheartedly support the SB’s efforts to reasses boundaries and bring more kids to Lewis.

Why would you want people to suffer with you? You gotta sell. Luckily Saratoga is fairly desirable - decent housing stock, community pools and amenities, and convenient. And there’s plenty of “dog mom/dad” DINK buyers who like having more space vs. a condo in Arlington, as well as empty nesters, families with babies who will move out when their kid hits 1st grade, and Catholic school families, not to mention FCPS teachers who pupil place where mom or dad works. Or you could list for rent and get a nice military family to rent for a few years. Just sell and move to the other side of Pohick and your kids could be in bounds for Newington Forest and South County. Or move up the parkway to West Springfield! There’s nothing much that can help Lewis at this point as almost every other school surrounding it is high poverty or also under enrolled.

The only way Saratoga is getting out of Lewis is if ALL the development zoned for Edison comes to pass, and they decide to revisit the Lewis/Edison borders and end up shunting off Saratoga to South County, or if Lewis is closed entirely. Either scenario is AT LEAST 10 years off, conservatively.

I don’t view this as us “suffering together” rather bringing in more students and families like us, to help bring more balance (and thus, opportunities) to Lewis.

Our kids aren’t close to HS age yet, but this boundary assessment will definitely influence whether we join our neighbors in moving/pupil place/go private or if stick around and see if anything can be done to improve Lewis.

This seems like a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation for the SB. If they move kids, people will leave. If they don’t move kids, people will move. They can’t win either way.

Aha.

Well, first, you need to disabuse yourself of the notion that those being redistricted to Lewis are "families like us." They aren't, because they prioritized finding a house zoned to West Springfield rather than settling for Lewis.

Second, you need to anticipate that there will be a lot of attrition, because just because someone gets redistricted to Lewis doesn't mean they will passively accept this and not explore other options.

Third, you need to acknowledge that there are possibilities other than the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario you outlined. Schools can improve if the county encourages development in the surrounding area, or the school does a better job of meeting the needs of the kids who are already zoned for the school. Rezoning - just like adding IB - can be a very crude and not necessarily effective tool for trying to enhance a school's perceived quality.

Oh I see. So, because we were priced out of neighborhoods zoned for WS, our kids don’t deserve an equivalent education? Got it.

To your second point, I guess you missed the part where I suggested that families like mine also have options, and we will continue to exercise them if the SB continues to neglect the needs of the students at Lewis. Trying to stop pupil placements as a retention method ain’t gonna fly!

And as to your third point, there is quite literally no action that the SB can take that will appease everyone. So yes, damned if you do/don’t still applies.

No one buys "priced out" of an entire pyramid area, much less the pyramids of several outstanding high schools in the county. 99% of us can't have it all when we make decisions about buying and renting. In my case we compromised on townhouse size so kids share rooms. In your case you chose to compromise on schools. Something made you choose to live in the Lewis pyramid, and you feel entitled to "options" for your kids to attend school elsewhere.

You have no idea what our living situation is or what we sacrificed to live here. Just more foaming at the mouth from someone worried about protecting their property value.

Yes, what a travesty that you were forced to live in Springfield, VA, in the Lewis pyramid. There were clearly no other options within Fairfax county, in adjacent counties, or in other parts of Virginia or the DMV.

Huh? We chose the best pyramid we could afford with the shortest commute to our jobs. But if I’m following your logic, since we couldn’t afford to be in your perfect community, we should simply accept our crappy high school and shouldn’t get excited about the possibility of improvements to it. Did I get that right?

PP. So there it is. You prioritized commute. No one forced you accept a crappy high school- you made that decision. There are plenty of parents who sacrificed their commute or other things to make sure they did not compromise on their kids' high school. You are not one of them. No one is arguing about you celebrating the prospect of the SB moving better performing populations into your high school boundary, but don't expect others to agree with your expectation that you should be entitled to options other than the high school zone that you chose so you could have an easy commute.

Yes, we prioritized short commutes to preserve family time. So that means we are dammed to a sucky school foreve, amirite?

Trust me, I have zero expectation that the people on this board would agree with anything I have to say. But like you, I have an opinion and the right to express it.

What’s really got you upset is that there are ppl who actually support what the board is doing.

No, the PP is calling out your blatant hypocrisy and trying to mooch off of your neighbors. You should have to give up your nice commute, because other people in the county have longer commutes. See what I did there? Equity.

Mooch off my neighbors? Lol. Otay. Well, I guess you got me. I guess we’ll both be the losers in this fight. How’s that for equity?

Oh no, you have it wrong, my dear. My kids are not in danger of having to go to school with your kids. I’m not anywhere close to your school.

Sounds like a win for us both!

I guess, but you are trying to bring other families like mine into your school system to help your kids. You can’t have it both ways. Do you love me or hate me?

I know, I know, you hate me and people like me, but man doesn’t that just show how gross you’re being?

And therein lies the problem. It’s OUR school system, and yes, I support moving kids from overcrowded schools to under crowded ones.

I don’t know you and don’t care to, so I most certainly couldn’t hate you or hate on you. Stop being weird, if you can help it.

No one from WSHS is asking to be rezoned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2003
Lee - 2092 students
Roughly 23% F/R lunch, 42% white, medium ESL rate (17.3%)

WS - 2259 students
Roughly 7% F/R lunch, 64% white, low ESL rate (7.5%)

2024
Lewis - 1675 students
Roughly 63% F/R lunch, 12% white, high ESL rate (30%)

WS - 2761 students
Roughly 17% F/R lunch, 48% white, low ESL rate (5%)

In 2003 Lee was middle of the road in FCPS. What happened?

IB put into Lee and several other schools

IB actually enabled easier transfer out with the liberal pupil placement policy

Immigrants concentrated in certain schools

2005 boundary change - removed hundreds of students from Lee just as it was getting expanded - some to South County, some to West Springfield; students that departed were on the wealthier end of the spectrum. FCPS knew this was the case

Pupil placement accelerated - FCPS refuses to budge on dropping IB and Lee

2015 boundary change - removed Daventry students - a relatively wealthy neighborhood

In the middle of all of this Great Schools came along and created winners and losers - English speaking Americans, particularly white, just stopped choosing houses in the Lee/Lewis boundary

That is how we got here. Notice the total number of students in 2003 at the two schools. Only different by 167 students. Now in 2024 - different by 1086 students.

Lewis is much smaller, much poorer, and has many more ESL students. The ESL rate at WS actually went down over the years.

The quality of the school (teachers, admin) is not necessarily different or subpar, but the demographics of the students is much different.

How should this be resolved? Long time homeowner wants to know.

If you sent the 230 Lewis students pupil placing to other high schools back to Lewis, Lewis would have over 1900 students, without rezoning.

Maybe. But this doesn’t do anything to alleviate the overcrowding at WS.

And until there is a good faith effort to make Lewis more attractive, parents in my community will continue to pupil place to higher rated schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP - I get what the Lewis parent is saying (and no, my kids are not in the Lewis boundaries nor is it possible they’ll go there). I think what s/he is saying is all FCPS schools should be good by meeting a minimum threshold. And in the case of Lewis, what it needs is a larger number of students so that it can offer a range of APs like other schools. The SB seems to want all of the schools to be desirable and successful, which is admirable and what they should be doing. I would hope we can all agree on that. Likewise, if there are schools that are overcrowded, it makes sense to draw new boundaries to relieve that overcrowding. Thing is, I would guess most would agree with this - until they think it might affect their kid in what they perceive to be a negative way. We can’t just keep building additions when there is space. Any money available should be spent on renovations so that all schools are on similar footing. And re-drawing boundaries makes that possible.

This exactly, thank you PP!

Um... Lewis is an IB school.

They aren't going to have a full slate of AP classes no matter how many WSHS students you pull from their neighborhood school.

Well yes, that’s true as of right now. But more kids will translate to additional offerings. Plenty of runway between now and the 2026/2027 school year to make some positive changes at Lewis (don’t see how this could be accomplished any sooner, but I guess we will see)

So basically, you want to screw the WSHS 9th, 10th and 11th graders who lose the draw and have to move to IB Lewis, then in 5 years do it again.

WSHS has one of the most compact boundaries in all of FCPS. In 2 rezoning cycles, you could end up with only 3 feeders to WSHS if you get your way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2003
Lee - 2092 students
Roughly 23% F/R lunch, 42% white, medium ESL rate (17.3%)

WS - 2259 students
Roughly 7% F/R lunch, 64% white, low ESL rate (7.5%)

2024
Lewis - 1675 students
Roughly 63% F/R lunch, 12% white, high ESL rate (30%)

WS - 2761 students
Roughly 17% F/R lunch, 48% white, low ESL rate (5%)

In 2003 Lee was middle of the road in FCPS. What happened?

IB put into Lee and several other schools

IB actually enabled easier transfer out with the liberal pupil placement policy

Immigrants concentrated in certain schools

2005 boundary change - removed hundreds of students from Lee just as it was getting expanded - some to South County, some to West Springfield; students that departed were on the wealthier end of the spectrum. FCPS knew this was the case

Pupil placement accelerated - FCPS refuses to budge on dropping IB and Lee

2015 boundary change - removed Daventry students - a relatively wealthy neighborhood

In the middle of all of this Great Schools came along and created winners and losers - English speaking Americans, particularly white, just stopped choosing houses in the Lee/Lewis boundary

That is how we got here. Notice the total number of students in 2003 at the two schools. Only different by 167 students. Now in 2024 - different by 1086 students.

Lewis is much smaller, much poorer, and has many more ESL students. The ESL rate at WS actually went down over the years.

The quality of the school (teachers, admin) is not necessarily different or subpar, but the demographics of the students is much different.

How should this be resolved? Long time homeowner wants to know.

If you sent the 230 Lewis students pupil placing to other high schools back to Lewis, Lewis would have over 1900 students, without rezoning.

Maybe. But this doesn’t do anything to alleviate the overcrowding at WS.

And until there is a good faith effort to make Lewis more attractive, parents in my community will continue to pupil place to higher rated schools.

WSHS doesn't need to alleviate any overcrowding.

They still have empty classrooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of assumptions being made about who does and doesn't support adjustments. This is going to be akin to the common "boomer" vs. new generation conflict. As usual, older folks want to maintain what they feel they rightfully deserve, and younger families want a slice of the same pie.

There are a lot of young, very well-educated families who are completely priced out of top 10 schools. You bet they support boundary changes that make more schools acceptable and affordable. You'd be crazy not to in that position.

spot on! Especially in 22153 (Saratoga/Newington). I’ve talked to many families over the years who either moved or are planning to move/pupil place/private school before HS. Unfortunately our little community of students isn’t large enough to help Lewis get on equal footing with other FCPS schools. Geographically, im not even sure why we are in the Lewis pyramid given that South County is closer in distance and ease of transportation. I wholeheartedly support the SB’s efforts to reasses boundaries and bring more kids to Lewis.

Why would you want people to suffer with you? You gotta sell. Luckily Saratoga is fairly desirable - decent housing stock, community pools and amenities, and convenient. And there’s plenty of “dog mom/dad” DINK buyers who like having more space vs. a condo in Arlington, as well as empty nesters, families with babies who will move out when their kid hits 1st grade, and Catholic school families, not to mention FCPS teachers who pupil place where mom or dad works. Or you could list for rent and get a nice military family to rent for a few years. Just sell and move to the other side of Pohick and your kids could be in bounds for Newington Forest and South County. Or move up the parkway to West Springfield! There’s nothing much that can help Lewis at this point as almost every other school surrounding it is high poverty or also under enrolled.

The only way Saratoga is getting out of Lewis is if ALL the development zoned for Edison comes to pass, and they decide to revisit the Lewis/Edison borders and end up shunting off Saratoga to South County, or if Lewis is closed entirely. Either scenario is AT LEAST 10 years off, conservatively.

I don’t view this as us “suffering together” rather bringing in more students and families like us, to help bring more balance (and thus, opportunities) to Lewis.

Our kids aren’t close to HS age yet, but this boundary assessment will definitely influence whether we join our neighbors in moving/pupil place/go private or if stick around and see if anything can be done to improve Lewis.

This seems like a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation for the SB. If they move kids, people will leave. If they don’t move kids, people will move. They can’t win either way.

Aha.

Well, first, you need to disabuse yourself of the notion that those being redistricted to Lewis are "families like us." They aren't, because they prioritized finding a house zoned to West Springfield rather than settling for Lewis.

Second, you need to anticipate that there will be a lot of attrition, because just because someone gets redistricted to Lewis doesn't mean they will passively accept this and not explore other options.

Third, you need to acknowledge that there are possibilities other than the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario you outlined. Schools can improve if the county encourages development in the surrounding area, or the school does a better job of meeting the needs of the kids who are already zoned for the school. Rezoning - just like adding IB - can be a very crude and not necessarily effective tool for trying to enhance a school's perceived quality.

Oh I see. So, because we were priced out of neighborhoods zoned for WS, our kids don’t deserve an equivalent education? Got it.

To your second point, I guess you missed the part where I suggested that families like mine also have options, and we will continue to exercise them if the SB continues to neglect the needs of the students at Lewis. Trying to stop pupil placements as a retention method ain’t gonna fly!

And as to your third point, there is quite literally no action that the SB can take that will appease everyone. So yes, damned if you do/don’t still applies.

No one buys "priced out" of an entire pyramid area, much less the pyramids of several outstanding high schools in the county. 99% of us can't have it all when we make decisions about buying and renting. In my case we compromised on townhouse size so kids share rooms. In your case you chose to compromise on schools. Something made you choose to live in the Lewis pyramid, and you feel entitled to "options" for your kids to attend school elsewhere.

You have no idea what our living situation is or what we sacrificed to live here. Just more foaming at the mouth from someone worried about protecting their property value.

Yes, what a travesty that you were forced to live in Springfield, VA, in the Lewis pyramid. There were clearly no other options within Fairfax county, in adjacent counties, or in other parts of Virginia or the DMV.

Huh? We chose the best pyramid we could afford with the shortest commute to our jobs. But if I’m following your logic, since we couldn’t afford to be in your perfect community, we should simply accept our crappy high school and shouldn’t get excited about the possibility of improvements to it. Did I get that right?

PP. So there it is. You prioritized commute. No one forced you accept a crappy high school- you made that decision. There are plenty of parents who sacrificed their commute or other things to make sure they did not compromise on their kids' high school. You are not one of them. No one is arguing about you celebrating the prospect of the SB moving better performing populations into your high school boundary, but don't expect others to agree with your expectation that you should be entitled to options other than the high school zone that you chose so you could have an easy commute.

Yes, we prioritized short commutes to preserve family time. So that means we are dammed to a sucky school foreve, amirite?

Trust me, I have zero expectation that the people on this board would agree with anything I have to say. But like you, I have an opinion and the right to express it.

What’s really got you upset is that there are ppl who actually support what the board is doing.

No, the PP is calling out your blatant hypocrisy and trying to mooch off of your neighbors. You should have to give up your nice commute, because other people in the county have longer commutes. See what I did there? Equity.

Mooch off my neighbors? Lol. Otay. Well, I guess you got me. I guess we’ll both be the losers in this fight. How’s that for equity?

Oh no, you have it wrong, my dear. My kids are not in danger of having to go to school with your kids. I’m not anywhere close to your school.

Sounds like a win for us both!

I guess, but you are trying to bring other families like mine into your school system to help your kids. You can’t have it both ways. Do you love me or hate me?

I know, I know, you hate me and people like me, but man doesn’t that just show how gross you’re being?

And therein lies the problem. It’s OUR school system, and yes, I support moving kids from overcrowded schools to under crowded ones.

I don’t know you and don’t care to, so I most certainly couldn’t hate you or hate on you. Stop being weird, if you can help it.

No one from WSHS is asking to be rezoned.

Maybe not out loud, but you should read the posts from
a few pages back. It seems that some of your neighbors are secretly in support of the move to reduce overcrowding and give them a little bump in their property value.

You clearly don’t speak for the whole community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP - I get what the Lewis parent is saying (and no, my kids are not in the Lewis boundaries nor is it possible they’ll go there). I think what s/he is saying is all FCPS schools should be good by meeting a minimum threshold. And in the case of Lewis, what it needs is a larger number of students so that it can offer a range of APs like other schools. The SB seems to want all of the schools to be desirable and successful, which is admirable and what they should be doing. I would hope we can all agree on that. Likewise, if there are schools that are overcrowded, it makes sense to draw new boundaries to relieve that overcrowding. Thing is, I would guess most would agree with this - until they think it might affect their kid in what they perceive to be a negative way. We can’t just keep building additions when there is space. Any money available should be spent on renovations so that all schools are on similar footing. And re-drawing boundaries makes that possible.

This exactly, thank you PP!

Um... Lewis is an IB school.

They aren't going to have a full slate of AP classes no matter how many WSHS students you pull from their neighborhood school.

Well yes, that’s true as of right now. But more kids will translate to additional offerings. Plenty of runway between now and the 2026/2027 school year to make some positive changes at Lewis (don’t see how this could be accomplished any sooner, but I guess we will see)

So basically, you want to screw the WSHS 9th, 10th and 11th graders who lose the draw and have to move to IB Lewis, then in 5 years do it again.

WSHS has one of the most compact boundaries in all of FCPS. In 2 rezoning cycles, you could end up with only 3 feeders to WSHS if you get your way.

They are not changing boundaries every 5 years. They are reviewing them every 5 years. Big difference.

[Anonymous]

This forum feels like it has spiraled into a panic. You will feel better if you stop yelling into the void and do something.

They are passing the new policy next Thursday. Show up to the board meeting to protest.

Call your member.

Call the at large members.

Call your board of supervisors member and let them know that you are a life-long democrat that is going to turn on the party in local elections if this happens.

Call the Fairfax Dems and tell them and let them know it is because their SB endorse candidates are playing with dynamite.

They are reasonably easy to reach in my limited experience.

You won’t stop the policy change but the more vocal you are the more likely the members (and the superintendent) will receive the message that this is politically dangerous for them.

Insist that the communities have to have a say and can’t just be rolled over.

Then do it all again.

Thank you for coming to my Tedtalk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP - I get what the Lewis parent is saying (and no, my kids are not in the Lewis boundaries nor is it possible they’ll go there). I think what s/he is saying is all FCPS schools should be good by meeting a minimum threshold. And in the case of Lewis, what it needs is a larger number of students so that it can offer a range of APs like other schools. The SB seems to want all of the schools to be desirable and successful, which is admirable and what they should be doing. I would hope we can all agree on that. Likewise, if there are schools that are overcrowded, it makes sense to draw new boundaries to relieve that overcrowding. Thing is, I would guess most would agree with this - until they think it might affect their kid in what they perceive to be a negative way. We can’t just keep building additions when there is space. Any money available should be spent on renovations so that all schools are on similar footing. And re-drawing boundaries makes that possible.

This exactly, thank you PP!

Um... Lewis is an IB school.

They aren't going to have a full slate of AP classes no matter how many WSHS students you pull from their neighborhood school.

Well yes, that’s true as of right now. But more kids will translate to additional offerings. Plenty of runway between now and the 2026/2027 school year to make some positive changes at Lewis (don’t see how this could be accomplished any sooner, but I guess we will see)

So basically, you want to screw the WSHS 9th, 10th and 11th graders who lose the draw and have to move to IB Lewis, then in 5 years do it again.

WSHS has one of the most compact boundaries in all of FCPS. In 2 rezoning cycles, you could end up with only 3 feeders to WSHS if you get your way.

They are not changing boundaries every 5 years. They are reviewing them every 5 years. Big difference.

Agree. No one here seems to comprehend this.