FCPS HS Boundary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For a blue county (and it is VERY blue) you people sure are pretty intolerant of diversity. Keep those immigrant children away!

FCPS leadership has been held in low regard for a long time; however, people do tend in many cases to like their existing schools and school-based administrators and teachers.

Now the School Board is poised to do away with the one aspect of the system that people still like.

The point is that the county votes blue - overwhelmingly supporting very relaxed (if any) enforcement of border security. Some county schools (Herndon, Justice, Lewis, Mt. Vernon, Annandale) have absorbed the brunt of this policy. So other schools and neighborhoods don't see the impact. It is time they shared in the difficult situation in which this puts schools. Essentially like Governors Abbott and DeSantis sending migrants to the big cities and Martha's Vineyard - these places need to understand the impact.

As long as the residents in Langley, McLean, Oakton, West Springfield, Robinson, Madison don't see the true impact they will continue voting blue.

DP. I’m a resident in one of those areas and I definitely don’t vote blue. For exactly the reasons you listed. And many others in these areas feel the same way. We are largely NOT the people voting for the disastrous border policies of the current administration.

I don't want to make this all about politics, but politics do have an impact on schools.

Fairfax County

One Republican Board of Supervisors member
Zero Conservative or Republican endorsed School Board members
All Democrat State Delegates
All Democrat State Senators
All Democrat Congress members
Vote for Democrat Senators
Vote Democrat for President

You and SOME of your neighbors may not vote for these border policies, but the MAJORITY of your neighbors do. Every level can have an effect on schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The School Board helped to make this mess. They should help fix it. Lewis will not be in any way equivalent to the other schools if they let the enrollment drop to 1425. With neighboring WS at 2900, twice the size of Lewis and over its design capacity - this is why a boundary change is needed.

Alternatively, close down Lewis and distribute the students if it approaches 1425. Boundaries would need to be shuffled to make room. It would probably involve schools from West Potomac to Robinson east and west and from Annandale to South County north to South.

Closing it down may make sense. And the School Board can turn the former Lewis/Lee into a Governors Academy for Global Leadership. Imagine, a sought after governors school with no attendance boundary could thrive there. It could be modeled after the successful Maggie Walker HS in Richmond.

So that was actually rumored to be on the table maybe 8-10 years ago. Closing Lewis as a neighborhood school and turning it into the IB magnet for the entire eastern/central county. I want to say ending IB at all the area schools that have it (Edison, MV, Annandale, Justice at the very least) was also in the tentative plans. This was all because under the old rules for accreditation in VA, Lewis was on the brink of losing full accreditation and dropping down a level, I don’t know if that’s considered “partial” or “with conditions” or what. FCPS, at that time, was deeply concerned about the optics of having a not fully accredited HIGH SCHOOL. Elementaries were less concerning and they had a few that were on and off full accreditation back then - I think both the schools on Fort Belvoir and another one on the Rt. 1 corridor at the very least. It got to the point that studies were done on it and they even mapped out where Lewis’s current feeders would go, which I’m sure you can imagine. And they assumed an IB magnet school would be such a draw that it didn’t matter that each surrounding HS pyramid was being asked to absorb another feeder ES worth of students because in their assumptions, enough HS students (and I think even MS because closing Key MS was also on the table) would choose the IB magnet that it would all even out. But it didn’t end up happening because the accreditation standards were changed/relaxed and Lewis was no longer on an immediate path to losing accreditation, so they punted on it.

[Anonymous]

Oh and all THAT ^^^ goes back to FCPS having closed an adult education/alternative school site during the Recession. A lot of recent arrival kids went to the alternative school that closed. I want to say it was Pimmit Hills Alternative HS, but all that stuff predated me having kids and paying attention to FCPS. I know there’s still an adult education center there, but a lot of recent arrival immigrants age 18+ were directed to the now closed program for school. And when it closed a lot of them just ended up at their base school instead, which was Lewis (Lee at the time).

[Anonymous]

It actually would be very helpful if the Commonwealth would sponsor a magnet Governor’s School for Arts & Letters somewhere in NoVA. It will not happen in my lifetime though, so just a dream.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It actually would be very helpful if the Commonwealth would sponsor a magnet Governor’s School for Arts & Letters somewhere in NoVA. It will not happen in my lifetime though, so just a dream.

TJ is a big enough PITA and it chews up way too much time and attention. The last thing FCPS needs is another magnet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't the Keene Mill AAP students come from all over the West Springfield pyramid? Only some of them would have Keene Mill as their base school. So only a portion would end up at Lewis if it were rezoned.

And the old Daventry and HV kids probably make more sense. The distance from HV is not significant. Especially when you consider how far some of the Langley kids go to get to school. Or for that matter, some of the more remote Robinson kids in Clifton or Mason Neck kids (Hayfield?).

Hunt Valley to Lewis makes the least sense.

Look at geography.

Daventry or Keene Mill are the onky areas that make sense geographically.

If you want to move the Hunt Valley kids out of West Springfield, then send them to South County. It's about the same distance. Particularly the neighborhoods off Gambrill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, the Springfield district folks were fools in the past school board election when they voted Schultz out of office over national issues.

Schultz was the one who helped and supported the Daventry parents with their split feeder elimination. She worked diligently with them, even though they were mostly not from her political party, because she treated them as her constituents even though they were from opposing political groups. She worked for her constituents on school issues, and would have been counted on to fight like a bobcat if the school board started pushing to rezone her neighborhoods out of the pyramid to use the kids as political pawns. She was awfully trumpy, but on school issues, particularly rezoning issues, Schultz put constituency over party. Fighting political rezoning was one of her issues.

Now they lost that kind of representation on the school board, followed by redistricting thanks to McKay and the board of supervisors, that split their representation from Springfield district to Providence, where the primary school board representation is on Lewis and not their zoned high school, West Springfield.

I think many in that part of West Springfield are going to end up regretting the day they voted on local offices because of national politics. They basically voted against their own interests, particularly with regards to school rezoning.

Fair enough, but, just to reiterate:

Not a single school board candidate ran on a redistricting platform. That they feel they somehow have a mandate to do this is very misplaced.

Are you not familiar with how politicians a la sB members operate? Especially these days — they take orders from their party leaders not the people. Whenever the FCPS SB ‘asks’ for input you find out later a decision was already made.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't the Keene Mill AAP students come from all over the West Springfield pyramid? Only some of them would have Keene Mill as their base school. So only a portion would end up at Lewis if it were rezoned.

And the old Daventry and HV kids probably make more sense. The distance from HV is not significant. Especially when you consider how far some of the Langley kids go to get to school. Or for that matter, some of the more remote Robinson kids in Clifton or Mason Neck kids (Hayfield?).

Hunt Valley to Lewis makes the least sense.

Look at geography.

Daventry or Keene Mill are the onky areas that make sense geographically.

If you want to move the Hunt Valley kids out of West Springfield, then send them to South County. It's about the same distance. Particularly the neighborhoods off Gambrill.

The emphasis will be on adding kids to Lewis.

Still, a boundary change is premature. Lewis has six ES feeders (Crestwood, Lynbrook, Garfield, Springfield Estates, Forestdale, and Saratoga), and part of a seventh (Rolling Valley). That ought to be enough feeders to populate a MS/HS. The fact that Key and Lewis have such low enrollments evidences some systemic problems that can't be addressed by simply redistricting kids into those schools. If Kyle McDaniel feels otherwise, Kyle should move his own kids there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, the Springfield district folks were fools in the past school board election when they voted Schultz out of office over national issues.

Schultz was the one who helped and supported the Daventry parents with their split feeder elimination. She worked diligently with them, even though they were mostly not from her political party, because she treated them as her constituents even though they were from opposing political groups. She worked for her constituents on school issues, and would have been counted on to fight like a bobcat if the school board started pushing to rezone her neighborhoods out of the pyramid to use the kids as political pawns. She was awfully trumpy, but on school issues, particularly rezoning issues, Schultz put constituency over party. Fighting political rezoning was one of her issues.

Now they lost that kind of representation on the school board, followed by redistricting thanks to McKay and the board of supervisors, that split their representation from Springfield district to Providence, where the primary school board representation is on Lewis and not their zoned high school, West Springfield.

I think many in that part of West Springfield are going to end up regretting the day they voted on local offices because of national politics. They basically voted against their own interests, particularly with regards to school rezoning.

Fair enough, but, just to reiterate:

Not a single school board candidate ran on a redistricting platform. That they feel they somehow have a mandate to do this is very misplaced.

Nah.
The board has been “equity is the focus” for awhile now and the public must want that because they keep electing them.
They have BEEN going in this direction, justifiably gloating after the 2019 election that “One Fairfax won.”

Don’t order the turkey club and complain it doesn’t taste like steak au jus.

Bon appetit!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, the Springfield district folks were fools in the past school board election when they voted Schultz out of office over national issues.

Schultz was the one who helped and supported the Daventry parents with their split feeder elimination. She worked diligently with them, even though they were mostly not from her political party, because she treated them as her constituents even though they were from opposing political groups. She worked for her constituents on school issues, and would have been counted on to fight like a bobcat if the school board started pushing to rezone her neighborhoods out of the pyramid to use the kids as political pawns. She was awfully trumpy, but on school issues, particularly rezoning issues, Schultz put constituency over party. Fighting political rezoning was one of her issues.

Now they lost that kind of representation on the school board, followed by redistricting thanks to McKay and the board of supervisors, that split their representation from Springfield district to Providence, where the primary school board representation is on Lewis and not their zoned high school, West Springfield.

I think many in that part of West Springfield are going to end up regretting the day they voted on local offices because of national politics. They basically voted against their own interests, particularly with regards to school rezoning.

Fair enough, but, just to reiterate:

Not a single school board candidate ran on a redistricting platform. That they feel they somehow have a mandate to do this is very misplaced.

No school board candidate anywhere would get elected by running on a redistricting platform. It is a necessary evil that school boards loathe to do - everywhere. FCPS punting it down the road for so many decades, it is now needed. An overall comprehensive change makes the most sense. It will not be popular - they never are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, the Springfield district folks were fools in the past school board election when they voted Schultz out of office over national issues.

Schultz was the one who helped and supported the Daventry parents with their split feeder elimination. She worked diligently with them, even though they were mostly not from her political party, because she treated them as her constituents even though they were from opposing political groups. She worked for her constituents on school issues, and would have been counted on to fight like a bobcat if the school board started pushing to rezone her neighborhoods out of the pyramid to use the kids as political pawns. She was awfully trumpy, but on school issues, particularly rezoning issues, Schultz put constituency over party. Fighting political rezoning was one of her issues.

Now they lost that kind of representation on the school board, followed by redistricting thanks to McKay and the board of supervisors, that split their representation from Springfield district to Providence, where the primary school board representation is on Lewis and not their zoned high school, West Springfield.

I think many in that part of West Springfield are going to end up regretting the day they voted on local offices because of national politics. They basically voted against their own interests, particularly with regards to school rezoning.

Fair enough, but, just to reiterate:

Not a single school board candidate ran on a redistricting platform. That they feel they somehow have a mandate to do this is very misplaced.

No school board candidate anywhere would get elected by running on a redistricting platform. It is a necessary evil that school boards loathe to do - everywhere. FCPS punting it down the road for so many decades, it is now needed. An overall comprehensive change makes the most sense. It will not be popular - they never are.

Kids are not playthings for political gerrymandering.

We paid a premium to live in a particular schools zone. If fcps redistricts my kids to a failing high school, we will tighten our belts and move them to Catholic high school. Many of our neighbors feel the same way.

Then we will work like crazy to get our school board rep voted out.

Remember, Elizabeth Schultz was elected over rezoning of an elementary school, in the same district that is being talked about here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, the Springfield district folks were fools in the past school board election when they voted Schultz out of office over national issues.

Schultz was the one who helped and supported the Daventry parents with their split feeder elimination. She worked diligently with them, even though they were mostly not from her political party, because she treated them as her constituents even though they were from opposing political groups. She worked for her constituents on school issues, and would have been counted on to fight like a bobcat if the school board started pushing to rezone her neighborhoods out of the pyramid to use the kids as political pawns. She was awfully trumpy, but on school issues, particularly rezoning issues, Schultz put constituency over party. Fighting political rezoning was one of her issues.

Now they lost that kind of representation on the school board, followed by redistricting thanks to McKay and the board of supervisors, that split their representation from Springfield district to Providence, where the primary school board representation is on Lewis and not their zoned high school, West Springfield.

I think many in that part of West Springfield are going to end up regretting the day they voted on local offices because of national politics. They basically voted against their own interests, particularly with regards to school rezoning.

Fair enough, but, just to reiterate:

Not a single school board candidate ran on a redistricting platform. That they feel they somehow have a mandate to do this is very misplaced.

No school board candidate anywhere would get elected by running on a redistricting platform. It is a necessary evil that school boards loathe to do - everywhere. FCPS punting it down the road for so many decades, it is now needed. An overall comprehensive change makes the most sense. It will not be popular - they never are.

We should ask Terry McAuliffe how successful your line of thinking is: Parents and constituents don’t want redistricting? Well, I’m smarter than they are and I know better than they do, so I’m just going to do it anyway.

Also, you say redistricting is now needed. Your view is in the extreme minority in the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, the Springfield district folks were fools in the past school board election when they voted Schultz out of office over national issues.

Schultz was the one who helped and supported the Daventry parents with their split feeder elimination. She worked diligently with them, even though they were mostly not from her political party, because she treated them as her constituents even though they were from opposing political groups. She worked for her constituents on school issues, and would have been counted on to fight like a bobcat if the school board started pushing to rezone her neighborhoods out of the pyramid to use the kids as political pawns. She was awfully trumpy, but on school issues, particularly rezoning issues, Schultz put constituency over party. Fighting political rezoning was one of her issues.

Now they lost that kind of representation on the school board, followed by redistricting thanks to McKay and the board of supervisors, that split their representation from Springfield district to Providence, where the primary school board representation is on Lewis and not their zoned high school, West Springfield.

I think many in that part of West Springfield are going to end up regretting the day they voted on local offices because of national politics. They basically voted against their own interests, particularly with regards to school rezoning.

Fair enough, but, just to reiterate:

Not a single school board candidate ran on a redistricting platform. That they feel they somehow have a mandate to do this is very misplaced.

No school board candidate anywhere would get elected by running on a redistricting platform. It is a necessary evil that school boards loathe to do - everywhere. FCPS punting it down the road for so many decades, it is now needed. An overall comprehensive change makes the most sense. It will not be popular - they never are.

Kids are not playthings for political gerrymandering.

We paid a premium to live in a particular schools zone. If fcps redistricts my kids to a failing high school, we will tighten our belts and move them to Catholic high school. Many of our neighbors feel the same way.

Then we will work like crazy to get our school board rep voted out.

Remember, Elizabeth Schultz was elected over rezoning of an elementary school, in the same district that is being talked about here.

the lines currently do not make sense - we see some schools way over crowded and others well under utilized. It is not gerrymandering to make the lines fit where the students actually are and utilize our resources efficiently. We have the capacity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, the Springfield district folks were fools in the past school board election when they voted Schultz out of office over national issues.

Schultz was the one who helped and supported the Daventry parents with their split feeder elimination. She worked diligently with them, even though they were mostly not from her political party, because she treated them as her constituents even though they were from opposing political groups. She worked for her constituents on school issues, and would have been counted on to fight like a bobcat if the school board started pushing to rezone her neighborhoods out of the pyramid to use the kids as political pawns. She was awfully trumpy, but on school issues, particularly rezoning issues, Schultz put constituency over party. Fighting political rezoning was one of her issues.

Now they lost that kind of representation on the school board, followed by redistricting thanks to McKay and the board of supervisors, that split their representation from Springfield district to Providence, where the primary school board representation is on Lewis and not their zoned high school, West Springfield.

I think many in that part of West Springfield are going to end up regretting the day they voted on local offices because of national politics. They basically voted against their own interests, particularly with regards to school rezoning.

Fair enough, but, just to reiterate:

Not a single school board candidate ran on a redistricting platform. That they feel they somehow have a mandate to do this is very misplaced.

No school board candidate anywhere would get elected by running on a redistricting platform. It is a necessary evil that school boards loathe to do - everywhere. FCPS punting it down the road for so many decades, it is now needed. An overall comprehensive change makes the most sense. It will not be popular - they never are.

We should ask Terry McAuliffe how successful your line of thinking is: Parents and constituents don’t want redistricting? Well, I’m smarter than they are and I know better than they do, so I’m just going to do it anyway.

Also, you say redistricting is now needed. Your view is in the extreme minority in the county.

Let's assume that parents keep stuffing their kids into West Springfield (already over capacity). Should we expand WS again before using the available
Space at Lewis? That is not a reasonable thing to do and parents don't get everything they want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, the Springfield district folks were fools in the past school board election when they voted Schultz out of office over national issues.

Schultz was the one who helped and supported the Daventry parents with their split feeder elimination. She worked diligently with them, even though they were mostly not from her political party, because she treated them as her constituents even though they were from opposing political groups. She worked for her constituents on school issues, and would have been counted on to fight like a bobcat if the school board started pushing to rezone her neighborhoods out of the pyramid to use the kids as political pawns. She was awfully trumpy, but on school issues, particularly rezoning issues, Schultz put constituency over party. Fighting political rezoning was one of her issues.

Now they lost that kind of representation on the school board, followed by redistricting thanks to McKay and the board of supervisors, that split their representation from Springfield district to Providence, where the primary school board representation is on Lewis and not their zoned high school, West Springfield.

I think many in that part of West Springfield are going to end up regretting the day they voted on local offices because of national politics. They basically voted against their own interests, particularly with regards to school rezoning.

Fair enough, but, just to reiterate:

Not a single school board candidate ran on a redistricting platform. That they feel they somehow have a mandate to do this is very misplaced.

No school board candidate anywhere would get elected by running on a redistricting platform. It is a necessary evil that school boards loathe to do - everywhere. FCPS punting it down the road for so many decades, it is now needed. An overall comprehensive change makes the most sense. It will not be popular - they never are.

Kids are not playthings for political gerrymandering.

We paid a premium to live in a particular schools zone. If fcps redistricts my kids to a failing high school, we will tighten our belts and move them to Catholic high school. Many of our neighbors feel the same way.

Then we will work like crazy to get our school board rep voted out.

Remember, Elizabeth Schultz was elected over rezoning of an elementary school, in the same district that is being talked about here.

the lines currently do not make sense - we see some schools way over crowded and others well under utilized. It is not gerrymandering to make the lines fit where the students actually are and utilize our resources efficiently. We have the capacity.

DP. Which pyramid are you in, out of curiosity?