FCPS Boundary Review Updates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I walked it yesterday. 240 steps from my front door to entrance 3 at Marshall, but sure, bring another bus into an already congested area at 7:30am to bus these kids to McLean.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lets talk Timberlane. Is there any realistic chance it stays with McLean? Or gets transitioned into Marshall? Or is it ultimately bound for Falls Church High School?

I will give you my perspective, and it's mine only.

Timber Lane has been bouncing around in the Thru proposals. It's caught in the crossfire for two reasons: (1) it's an attendance island now at Longfellow/McLean and (2) Graham Road ES currently lies within the Timber Lane boundary south of Route 29.

The BRAC slides had them both keeping Timber Lane north of Route 29 at Longfellow/McLean, except for the area off Route 29 west of Hollywood Road, which they were proposing to move to Kilmer but keep at McLean. And then they had Timber Lane south of Route 29 moving to Longfellow but not McLean. The proposals required them to move part of Shrevewood from Marshall to McLean to bridge the island.

The proposals in the tool deal with some of the obvious flaws. They don't have kids going to Kilmer and then McLean any longer, or kids going to Longfellow and then Falls Church. By any reasonable measure, those are improvements. But they now propose to move all of Timber Lane north of Route 29 to Jackson/Falls Church, except for the area west of Hollywood Road, which they'd continue to move to Kilmer, but then also move to Marshall rather than keep it at McLean.

... This alternative would not take advantage of the additional seats at Falls Church, but they aren't proposing to do anything to move kids into expanded Herndon right now, either. So it's not like they have a consistent approach to making sure they are doing something at every high school that's been expanded recently to take advantage of additional seats.

TLDR version - sure, everything is going to remain in play for months, and it's possible they could revert to keeping most of Timber Lane north of Route 29 at Longfellow/McLean or entertain requests to move to Kilmer/Marshall instead. Area west of Hollywood Road is likely to move to Shrevewood since they've boxed themselves into making other changes to Timber Lane's boundaries south of Route 29 that will increase Timber Lane's enrollment.

A PP poster wrote that 38% of Spring Hill is now the island. Now it has about 10 legal description sites as seen on the Mclean/Langley boundary process. New builds prior commercial zoning. Nobody looked at this stuff.

Decrease in membership over 20 years without significant boundary changes [Middleton and Blueberry Hill to CRES were small adds from Westbriar Island to Colvin Run]:

VDOE 2004-2005 difference from 2024-2025:
Forestville + Great Falls + Colvin Run (401) - new SFH+empty nesters+ some SINKS/DINKS
Spring Hill Elementary 207 - projected at 105% capacity CIPSY29-30

We attempted to reconcile Thru slides to current :
Falls Church: slides 0 + tool 190=190 is larger than what appears to be Timber Lane Island
Mclean: slides -142 + tool - 205 = diff -63 extra out of Mclean is Timber Lane Island?

Somebody needs to take a video of the walk to Marshall from Dominion Way to George C Marshall Drive. A bus to Mclean HS? No way. Another video to display is the walk to Westgate. Any other gems needed?

240 steps to Marshall entrance 3. Thank you! I am absolutely shocked at this incompetency. To be blunt this thng is at the point where the media should be contacted. Film crew out for the walk. Quick hop to Westgate and it would take the pros 30 minutes. But imagine the viewer count.

I’m shocked the Westgate proposal survived the post-BRAC draft. The Marshall one I can understand since they obviously slapped that part together very quickly after the decision was made to run the scenarios with Timber Lane at Falls Church.

I doubt Thru paid any attention to the fact that Frisch’s school in Dunn Loring is going to reshuffle the boundaries for many of the Marshall ES feeders in a few years. Best to leave that part of Lemon Road at Marshall and not worry about a split feeder for a few more years when it’s probably going to get moved later anyway.

I like my news film crew out to film the walks. Maybe a nice stop at Falls Church HS to preview the new capacity that was omitted for BRAC and a final at the Mclean trailer park.

Didn’t you get what you wanted though? They are proposing moving Timber Lane attendance island from McLean to Falls Church high for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I walked it yesterday. 240 steps from my front door to entrance 3 at Marshall, but sure, bring another bus into an already congested area at 7:30am to bus these kids to McLean.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lets talk Timberlane. Is there any realistic chance it stays with McLean? Or gets transitioned into Marshall? Or is it ultimately bound for Falls Church High School?

I will give you my perspective, and it's mine only.

Timber Lane has been bouncing around in the Thru proposals. It's caught in the crossfire for two reasons: (1) it's an attendance island now at Longfellow/McLean and (2) Graham Road ES currently lies within the Timber Lane boundary south of Route 29.

The BRAC slides had them both keeping Timber Lane north of Route 29 at Longfellow/McLean, except for the area off Route 29 west of Hollywood Road, which they were proposing to move to Kilmer but keep at McLean. And then they had Timber Lane south of Route 29 moving to Longfellow but not McLean. The proposals required them to move part of Shrevewood from Marshall to McLean to bridge the island.

The proposals in the tool deal with some of the obvious flaws. They don't have kids going to Kilmer and then McLean any longer, or kids going to Longfellow and then Falls Church. By any reasonable measure, those are improvements. But they now propose to move all of Timber Lane north of Route 29 to Jackson/Falls Church, except for the area west of Hollywood Road, which they'd continue to move to Kilmer, but then also move to Marshall rather than keep it at McLean.

... This alternative would not take advantage of the additional seats at Falls Church, but they aren't proposing to do anything to move kids into expanded Herndon right now, either. So it's not like they have a consistent approach to making sure they are doing something at every high school that's been expanded recently to take advantage of additional seats.

TLDR version - sure, everything is going to remain in play for months, and it's possible they could revert to keeping most of Timber Lane north of Route 29 at Longfellow/McLean or entertain requests to move to Kilmer/Marshall instead. Area west of Hollywood Road is likely to move to Shrevewood since they've boxed themselves into making other changes to Timber Lane's boundaries south of Route 29 that will increase Timber Lane's enrollment.

A PP poster wrote that 38% of Spring Hill is now the island. Now it has about 10 legal description sites as seen on the Mclean/Langley boundary process. New builds prior commercial zoning. Nobody looked at this stuff.

Decrease in membership over 20 years without significant boundary changes [Middleton and Blueberry Hill to CRES were small adds from Westbriar Island to Colvin Run]:

VDOE 2004-2005 difference from 2024-2025:
Forestville + Great Falls + Colvin Run (401) - new SFH+empty nesters+ some SINKS/DINKS
Spring Hill Elementary 207 - projected at 105% capacity CIPSY29-30

We attempted to reconcile Thru slides to current :
Falls Church: slides 0 + tool 190=190 is larger than what appears to be Timber Lane Island
Mclean: slides -142 + tool - 205 = diff -63 extra out of Mclean is Timber Lane Island?

Somebody needs to take a video of the walk to Marshall from Dominion Way to George C Marshall Drive. A bus to Mclean HS? No way. Another video to display is the walk to Westgate. Any other gems needed?

240 steps to Marshall entrance 3. Thank you! I am absolutely shocked at this incompetency. To be blunt this thng is at the point where the media should be contacted. Film crew out for the walk. Quick hop to Westgate and it would take the pros 30 minutes. But imagine the viewer count.

I’m shocked the Westgate proposal survived the post-BRAC draft. The Marshall one I can understand since they obviously slapped that part together very quickly after the decision was made to run the scenarios with Timber Lane at Falls Church.

I doubt Thru paid any attention to the fact that Frisch’s school in Dunn Loring is going to reshuffle the boundaries for many of the Marshall ES feeders in a few years. Best to leave that part of Lemon Road at Marshall and not worry about a split feeder for a few more years when it’s probably going to get moved later anyway.

I like my news film crew out to film the walks. Maybe a nice stop at Falls Church HS to preview the new capacity that was omitted for BRAC and a final at the Mclean trailer park.

What do you actually want other than to embarrass FCPS staff and Thru for some of their least sensible proposals?

McLean has 4 trailers now, not 21 like it had before they moved the Colvin Run kids to Langley and put in the modular.

[Anonymous]

What is different between Chantilly HS scenario 2 vs scenario 3 to have a change of 127 students. The maps look identical. I’m guessing there’s a scenario 2 map that’s missing in the tool that only moves Chantilly Highlands?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:If anyone is curious why the Navy ES island exists, I know the history. I grew up in the Tuckaway section of Franklin Farm, I started at Oak Hill ES and then got moved to Crossfield ES when it opened. The Nestlewood section of Franklin Farm now ironically being proposed to be moved to Oak Hill stayed at Oak Hill. About 3 years later Oak Hill ES was overcrowded and the county proposed moving the Nestlewood section to Crossfield and moving my neighborhood to Navy since we were closer to Navy and you could take Thompson Rd to get there. My parents and all the other parents in Tuckaway strongly objected since we had already had to move schools once, so the county backed off and sent the Nestlewood section to Navy instead thus creating the island that exists.

Thanks, you just expanded on what I was told some years ago when I moved to the area (not Franklin Farm.) I was told the Nestlewood people objected to leaving Oak Hill and organized and that is why they did not go to Crossfield initialy. (This was prior to being divided by 286--FFXCounty Parkway.)

But, now, why are they not sending them to Crossfield? It doesn't make sense to send them to Oak Hill. It remains an island--just a closer one, I guess.

My understanding is cause Nestlewood goes to Franklin, whereas Crossfield goes to Carson. I agree though Crossfield has capacity and they are surrounded by Crossfield neighborhoods

I still don't understand why Crossfield doesn't go to Franklin like all the other schools zoned to Oakton in that area. They really need to swap Crossfield and Oak Hill so that they go to the right middle schools! Oak Hill is much closer to Carson and Franklin Farm is much closer to Franklin..

Oak Hill students live across the street from Franklin. They are walkers. Most of oak Hill students live closer to Franklin.

The entire Chantilly Highlands neighborhood and Oak Hill ES itself are much closer to Carson than Franklin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm getting lost in all these different discussions. Are there any communities who truly think their school is overcrowded and boundaries should be changed or are unhappy with a split feeder/attendance island and like the idea of realigning? Any at all?

Emerald Chase parent here. We were actually hoping for changes. We’re not pleased with how FCPS is doing any of this process, but still hoping they’ll fix our double split feeder appropriately. Right now our kids leave all their friends and go to middle school with just our neighborhood, then leave all their friends and go to a really far away high school down 28 (Westfield). This is our chance to get in an actual pyramid so our kids can have stable friend relationships.

You are not even close to the only neighborhood in this situation, Emerald Chase parent. Look at Crossfield - the exact same situation but you don't see Franklin Farm going and causing the kind of drama that you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:lol - just noticed that the Emerald Chase HOA website moved their instructions on how to manipulate the system behind a username/password login now.

That's not what happened. That part of the site is down completely now because there are different opinions in the neighborhood about the high school getting rezoned. There are people here who want to stay at Westfields, or are happy with a change to South Lakes, or want a change to Chantilly--and some who would be fine with any of those options, they just don't want the elementary school to change. Pretty sure most people want grandfathering no matter what.

Neighbors have been urging others not to comment and upvote on Emerald Chase-specific issues on Pigeonhole at community meetings that seem outside our "area." Nobody wanted to make it so that others here felt they couldn't get their voices heard, and everyone I've talked to feels really bad about it.

How do you not even know the name of the high school your children are zoned to? That makes me think you don't even live in Emerald Chase.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:lol - just noticed that the Emerald Chase HOA website moved their instructions on how to manipulate the system behind a username/password login now.

That's not what happened. That part of the site is down completely now because there are different opinions in the neighborhood about the high school getting rezoned. There are people here who want to stay at Westfields, or are happy with a change to South Lakes, or want a change to Chantilly--and some who would be fine with any of those options, they just don't want the elementary school to change. Pretty sure most people want grandfathering no matter what.

Neighbors have been urging others not to comment and upvote on Emerald Chase-specific issues on Pigeonhole at community meetings that seem outside our "area." Nobody wanted to make it so that others here felt they couldn't get their voices heard, and everyone I've talked to feels really bad about it.

I suspect that this is representative of what FCPS really looks like. People feel strongly on all sides of the issue but that the ones who are ok with change feel like they are getting shouted down by the ones really passionate about not changing. If you are ok with change, you tend to be ok with the status quo so there is no point in being super vocal.

What is interesting about Emerald Chase is that they are trying to use the process to move the boundary for the HS that they want, which isn't the move suggested or the current location. The problem is they want to move to one of the overcrowded HS and I don't see that happening. I think that bit of politicking is hurting them, but I get it. If FCPS is changing the boundaries, why not try and move to the HS that you are most interested in?

I would love to see what Thru would project if they only focused on getting the schools above 100% to 99%. Remove the split feeder and islands, most of the families at the split feeders and islands seem to prefer their current location to where they would be moved and just address the overcrowding. Those maps would look really different and would probably engender unhappy families who don't want to move but it would be far easier to make the case for moving. I think it might actually address some of the split feed and islands as well.

Emerald Chase is interested in Chantilly HS because it is geographically closest and would be a single pyramid with their current elementary school.

But here you are going on and on about how you don't want your children moved, and then you say you want your children moved, just somewhere that is not what THRU proposed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm getting lost in all these different discussions. Are there any communities who truly think their school is overcrowded and boundaries should be changed or are unhappy with a split feeder/attendance island and like the idea of realigning? Any at all?

Emerald Chase parent here. We were actually hoping for changes. We’re not pleased with how FCPS is doing any of this process, but still hoping they’ll fix our double split feeder appropriately. Right now our kids leave all their friends and go to middle school with just our neighborhood, then leave all their friends and go to a really far away high school down 28 (Westfield). This is our chance to get in an actual pyramid so our kids can have stable friend relationships.

Right and making you Fox Mill-Carson-South Lakes will resolve that issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If anyone is curious why the Navy ES island exists, I know the history. I grew up in the Tuckaway section of Franklin Farm, I started at Oak Hill ES and then got moved to Crossfield ES when it opened. The Nestlewood section of Franklin Farm now ironically being proposed to be moved to Oak Hill stayed at Oak Hill. About 3 years later Oak Hill ES was overcrowded and the county proposed moving the Nestlewood section to Crossfield and moving my neighborhood to Navy since we were closer to Navy and you could take Thompson Rd to get there. My parents and all the other parents in Tuckaway strongly objected since we had already had to move schools once, so the county backed off and sent the Nestlewood section to Navy instead thus creating the island that exists.

Thanks, you just expanded on what I was told some years ago when I moved to the area (not Franklin Farm.) I was told the Nestlewood people objected to leaving Oak Hill and organized and that is why they did not go to Crossfield initialy. (This was prior to being divided by 286--FFXCounty Parkway.)

But, now, why are they not sending them to Crossfield? It doesn't make sense to send them to Oak Hill. It remains an island--just a closer one, I guess.

My understanding is cause Nestlewood goes to Franklin, whereas Crossfield goes to Carson. I agree though Crossfield has capacity and they are surrounded by Crossfield neighborhoods

I still don't understand why Crossfield doesn't go to Franklin like all the other schools zoned to Oakton in that area. They really need to swap Crossfield and Oak Hill so that they go to the right middle schools! Oak Hill is much closer to Carson and Franklin Farm is much closer to Franklin..

Oak Hill students live across the street from Franklin. They are walkers. Most of oak Hill students live closer to Franklin.

The entire Chantilly Highlands neighborhood and Oak Hill ES itself are much closer to Carson than Franklin.

Wrong

[Anonymous]

Ricardy Anderson must be having a meltdown right now.

Ricardy has asked for a boundary study at Glasgow MS for years. It's not seriously overcrowded based on program capacity, but it's big and chaotic, and parents have been asking to reduce the number of students there for years. Ricardy keeps requesting a boundary study, and her colleagues keep denying her requests and saying it will be taken care of as part of the comprehensive boundary review.

Thru's proposals would not move anyone out of Glasgow, and 2 of the 3 scenarios would add another 14 kids to the school, pushing it up to 103%. Nearby Holmes and Poe would still have extra capacity under Thru's scenarios, but moving kids out of Glasgow to those schools likely would create the type of split feeder to high schools that Thru has prioritized eliminating.

She can't be happy.

[Anonymous]

Emerald Chase is interested in Chantilly HS because it is geographically closest and would be a single pyramid with their current elementary school.

There are kids currently zoned for Chantilly HS who are being split from their neighborhood and moved to a new HS. Why should another, farther away neighborhood be given preferential treatment and ADDED to Chantilly HS if the goal is to reduce enrollment and current students are being moved out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ricardy Anderson must be having a meltdown right now.

Ricardy has asked for a boundary study at Glasgow MS for years. It's not seriously overcrowded based on program capacity, but it's big and chaotic, and parents have been asking to reduce the number of students there for years. Ricardy keeps requesting a boundary study, and her colleagues keep denying her requests and saying it will be taken care of as part of the comprehensive boundary review.

Thru's proposals would not move anyone out of Glasgow, and 2 of the 3 scenarios would add another 14 kids to the school, pushing it up to 103%. Nearby Holmes and Poe would still have extra capacity under Thru's scenarios, but moving kids out of Glasgow to those schools likely would create the type of split feeder to high schools that Thru has prioritized eliminating.

She can't be happy.

I started poking around the Mason District recommendations and they’re a mess! There’s a recommendation to move an SPA from Weyanoke across I-395 to Bren Mark Park. A bus would have to meander through the City of Alexandria to get these kids to school.

This has to be a mistake, because that same SPA is later sent to Edison HS, but it’s baked into all of their capacity projections and would likely domino their elementary school tweaks. Weyanoke ES and Columbia ES are the key to their Parklawn solution, and it only worked because they magically got rid of 100 kids through a misplaced SPA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Emerald Chase is interested in Chantilly HS because it is geographically closest and would be a single pyramid with their current elementary school.

There are kids currently zoned for Chantilly HS who are being split from their neighborhood and moved to a new HS. Why should another, farther away neighborhood be given preferential treatment and ADDED to Chantilly HS if the goal is to reduce enrollment and current students are being moved out?

The people advocating for this are clearly a bunch of people with little kids who don’t see the big picture and who just now started paying attention. They have tunnel vision for their precious children and their amazingly special neighborhood and elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do think this process is necessary. We almost certainly won’t be affected (other than my kids losing friends,) but we went through a recent smaller boundary thing and I was still on board even if it meant a non-preferred solution for us.

The county isn’t doing everything well, but they need to be able adjust things to improve the overall logistics of the county.

No. THIS process is not necessary. From where I sit, this is not improving things at all.

I still don't see where they are addressing the immediate and serious need for Coates, and maybe others, that need attention now.

Coates and park lawn boundary changes were delayed for the comprehensive boundary review. They delayed making changes to address actual needs at those schools to allow themselves to make unnecessary changes.

You can’t make this stuff up. Rank incompetence.

That is looking at something strategically and for a longer term rather than just fixing a pocket of need.

Except they are only using old enrollment numbers for September 2024, and are NOT looking at enrollment of the 5th through 10th graders, who will be the middle and high school students in fall 2026 when rezoning is implemented.

The only membership numbers that THRU should be using to determine if schools are too overcrowded over the next 5 year cycle (fall 2026- spring 2031) are the enrollment numbers for current 1st-6th grade for middle school rezoning, and the current 5th grade-10th grade rezoning for high school.

Any enrollment numbers that include current juniors and seniors are completely flawed, as those large classes will be long gone when rezoning is implemented. Thru should only use the membersip numbers for grades below class of 2026.

Not only are they using old enrollment numbers, they fail to recognize the coming, massive impact of all the RIFs, the ripple-effect layoffs in the private sector in FFX, and the number of families either self-deporting outside the U.S. or moving to other parts of the U.S. they consider “safer” from ICE.

This whole process needs to be tabled for at least the 2025/26 school year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ricardy Anderson must be having a meltdown right now.

Ricardy has asked for a boundary study at Glasgow MS for years. It's not seriously overcrowded based on program capacity, but it's big and chaotic, and parents have been asking to reduce the number of students there for years. Ricardy keeps requesting a boundary study, and her colleagues keep denying her requests and saying it will be taken care of as part of the comprehensive boundary review.

Thru's proposals would not move anyone out of Glasgow, and 2 of the 3 scenarios would add another 14 kids to the school, pushing it up to 103%. Nearby Holmes and Poe would still have extra capacity under Thru's scenarios, but moving kids out of Glasgow to those schools likely would create the type of split feeder to high schools that Thru has prioritized eliminating.

She can't be happy.

I started poking around the Mason District recommendations and they’re a mess! There’s a recommendation to move an SPA from Weyanoke across I-395 to Bren Mark Park. A bus would have to meander through the City of Alexandria to get these kids to school.

This has to be a mistake, because that same SPA is later sent to Edison HS, but it’s baked into all of their capacity projections and would likely domino their elementary school tweaks. Weyanoke ES and Columbia ES are the key to their Parklawn solution, and it only worked because they magically got rid of 100 kids through a misplaced SPA.

On its own FCPS redistricted the Edsall Park neighborhood to Edison years ago, and those kids had to cross both 395 and 495 to get to Edison. I don't think it's insane if a different SPA has to cross 395 to get to Bren Mar Park (Thru proposes to move the Edsall Park area to North Springfield ES). They could go through the City of Alexandria but they wouldn't have to. They could go down Chowan Avenue to Cherokee Avenue and then get on Edsall Road.

The weird thing is that that area is coded in the HS map as if it's going to Edison, which can't have been the intent. It's at Weyanoke/Holmes/Annandale now, and they proposed to move Bren Mar Park back to Annandale, so they can't have intended this one SPA to go to Edison. If it's miscoded, it seems like it could result in under-projecting the number of kids at Annandale under Thru's proposals and over-projecting the number of kids at Edison.