FCPS HS Boundary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The impression I got was they are going to focus first on the bussing islands and less on entire schools. They also didn’t emphasize that much the high school situation and act like they was an attempt to fill up Lewis high school. I don’t even think they will look at moving elementary to other regions/pyramids if they aren’t bussing them now (ie West Springfield schools).

Wishful thinking. Anderson must have mentioned at least three times that Glasgow MS has more kids than Lewis HS, and St. John-Cunning talked about how Lewis kids were just as proud as Langley kids. The low enrollment at Lewis is very much on their minds.

St John-Cunning keeps bringing equity into the policy. In the governance meeting and here she mention how the policy was written for equity. Which to me, isn’t cunning because it is illegal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The impression I got was they are going to focus first on the bussing islands and less on entire schools. They also didn’t emphasize that much the high school situation and act like they was an attempt to fill up Lewis high school. I don’t even think they will look at moving elementary to other regions/pyramids if they aren’t bussing them now (ie West Springfield schools).

Wishful thinking. Anderson must have mentioned at least three times that Glasgow MS has more kids than Lewis HS, and St. John-Cunning talked about how Lewis kids were just as proud as Langley kids. The low enrollment at Lewis is very much on their minds.

Ricardy Anderson is fixated on Glasgow’s size and has been for awhile.

Yes, and their ensuring this was part of the upcoming review shows this is still largely about politics. Glasgow is a big but not especially overcrowded middle school with a crap administration that can’t maintain control. Rather than replace a failing principal they’ve all agreed to say the school is just “too big” and should be redistricted. And once they do that, it will end up having even more concentrated poverty and they’ll find someone else to blame for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The impression I got was they are going to focus first on the bussing islands and less on entire schools. They also didn’t emphasize that much the high school situation and act like they was an attempt to fill up Lewis high school. I don’t even think they will look at moving elementary to other regions/pyramids if they aren’t bussing them now (ie West Springfield schools).

Wishful thinking. Anderson must have mentioned at least three times that Glasgow MS has more kids than Lewis HS, and St. John-Cunning talked about how Lewis kids were just as proud as Langley kids. The low enrollment at Lewis is very much on their minds.

Yes but Reid emphasized keeping community together. And bussing HV or another school to Key and Lewis goes against that and can’t be the only solution to fix the Lewis under enrollment. I don’t think she’s interested in redoing pyramids and regions.

Moving one part of Springfield to a school in another part of Springfield?

If you allow “community” to be defined by current school assignment you could never make any changes without “breaking up a community.”

Still Springfield but two different regions. And again, bussing kids past closer schools to further schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The impression I got was they are going to focus first on the bussing islands and less on entire schools. They also didn’t emphasize that much the high school situation and act like they was an attempt to fill up Lewis high school. I don’t even think they will look at moving elementary to other regions/pyramids if they aren’t bussing them now (ie West Springfield schools).

Wishful thinking. Anderson must have mentioned at least three times that Glasgow MS has more kids than Lewis HS, and St. John-Cunning talked about how Lewis kids were just as proud as Langley kids. The low enrollment at Lewis is very much on their minds.

Yes but Reid emphasized keeping community together. And bussing HV or another school to Key and Lewis goes against that and can’t be the only solution to fix the Lewis under enrollment. I don’t think she’s interested in redoing pyramids and regions.

Moving one part of Springfield to a school in another part of Springfield?

If you allow “community” to be defined by current school assignment you could never make any changes without “breaking up a community.”

I agree. Community can mean anything. I wouldn't be surprised if they move Hunt Valley. I also see them removing the Sangster island near South Run and sending those kids to Newington Forest/South County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The impression I got was they are going to focus first on the bussing islands and less on entire schools. They also didn’t emphasize that much the high school situation and act like they was an attempt to fill up Lewis high school. I don’t even think they will look at moving elementary to other regions/pyramids if they aren’t bussing them now (ie West Springfield schools).

Wishful thinking. Anderson must have mentioned at least three times that Glasgow MS has more kids than Lewis HS, and St. John-Cunning talked about how Lewis kids were just as proud as Langley kids. The low enrollment at Lewis is very much on their minds.

Yes but Reid emphasized keeping community together. And bussing HV or another school to Key and Lewis goes against that and can’t be the only solution to fix the Lewis under enrollment. I don’t think she’s interested in redoing pyramids and regions.

I don't know. They are very open to shifting elementary kids. I can see them redoing the HV boundary to put more kids into Saratoga.

The edge of HV border bumps up against Newington Forest and Sangster. Saratoga makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The impression I got was they are going to focus first on the bussing islands and less on entire schools. They also didn’t emphasize that much the high school situation and act like they was an attempt to fill up Lewis high school. I don’t even think they will look at moving elementary to other regions/pyramids if they aren’t bussing them now (ie West Springfield schools).

Wishful thinking. Anderson must have mentioned at least three times that Glasgow MS has more kids than Lewis HS, and St. John-Cunning talked about how Lewis kids were just as proud as Langley kids. The low enrollment at Lewis is very much on their minds.

Yes but Reid emphasized keeping community together. And bussing HV or another school to Key and Lewis goes against that and can’t be the only solution to fix the Lewis under enrollment. I don’t think she’s interested in redoing pyramids and regions.

Moving one part of Springfield to a school in another part of Springfield?

If you allow “community” to be defined by current school assignment you could never make any changes without “breaking up a community.”

Still Springfield but two different regions. And again, bussing kids past closer schools to further schools.

Hunt Valley wouldn't pass a closer school. The parkway goes straight to Lewis. You don't even need to jump on Old Keene Mill or Rolling Rd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The impression I got was they are going to focus first on the bussing islands and less on entire schools. They also didn’t emphasize that much the high school situation and act like they was an attempt to fill up Lewis high school. I don’t even think they will look at moving elementary to other regions/pyramids if they aren’t bussing them now (ie West Springfield schools).

Wishful thinking. Anderson must have mentioned at least three times that Glasgow MS has more kids than Lewis HS, and St. John-Cunning talked about how Lewis kids were just as proud as Langley kids. The low enrollment at Lewis is very much on their minds.

Yes but Reid emphasized keeping community together. And bussing HV or another school to Key and Lewis goes against that and can’t be the only solution to fix the Lewis under enrollment. I don’t think she’s interested in redoing pyramids and regions.

Moving one part of Springfield to a school in another part of Springfield?

If you allow “community” to be defined by current school assignment you could never make any changes without “breaking up a community.”

I agree. Community can mean anything. I wouldn't be surprised if they move Hunt Valley. I also see them removing the Sangster island near South Run and sending those kids to Newington Forest/South County.

There are also sangster/WSHS neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The impression I got was they are going to focus first on the bussing islands and less on entire schools. They also didn’t emphasize that much the high school situation and act like they was an attempt to fill up Lewis high school. I don’t even think they will look at moving elementary to other regions/pyramids if they aren’t bussing them now (ie West Springfield schools).

Wishful thinking. Anderson must have mentioned at least three times that Glasgow MS has more kids than Lewis HS, and St. John-Cunning talked about how Lewis kids were just as proud as Langley kids. The low enrollment at Lewis is very much on their minds.

Yes but Reid emphasized keeping community together. And bussing HV or another school to Key and Lewis goes against that and can’t be the only solution to fix the Lewis under enrollment. I don’t think she’s interested in redoing pyramids and regions.

I don't know. They are very open to shifting elementary kids. I can see them redoing the HV boundary to put more kids into Saratoga.

The edge of HV border bumps up against Newington Forest and Sangster. Saratoga makes no sense.

Yes, it does. And it helps fill Lewis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The impression I got was they are going to focus first on the bussing islands and less on entire schools. They also didn’t emphasize that much the high school situation and act like they was an attempt to fill up Lewis high school. I don’t even think they will look at moving elementary to other regions/pyramids if they aren’t bussing them now (ie West Springfield schools).

Y
Wishful thinking. Anderson must have mentioned at least three times that Glasgow MS has more kids than Lewis HS, and St. John-Cunning talked about how Lewis kids were just as proud as Langley kids. The low enrollment at Lewis is very much on their minds.

Yes but Reid emphasized keeping community together. And bussing HV or another school to Key and Lewis goes against that and can’t be the only solution to fix the Lewis under enrollment. I don’t think she’s interested in redoing pyramids and regions.

Moving one part of Springfield to a school in another part of Springfield?

If you allow “community” to be defined by current school assignment you could never make any changes without “breaking up a community.”

Still Springfield but two different regions. And again, bussing kids past closer schools to further schools.

Hunt Valley wouldn't pass a closer school. The parkway goes straight to Lewis. You don't even need to jump on Old Keene Mill or Rolling Rd.

Not literally past but beyond. It makes no sense. If they want to fix crowding send those kids to SC and fix Lewis within the current region.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The impression I got was they are going to focus first on the bussing islands and less on entire schools. They also didn’t emphasize that much the high school situation and act like they was an attempt to fill up Lewis high school. I don’t even think they will look at moving elementary to other regions/pyramids if they aren’t bussing them now (ie West Springfield schools).

Wishful thinking. Anderson must have mentioned at least three times that Glasgow MS has more kids than Lewis HS, and St. John-Cunning talked about how Lewis kids were just as proud as Langley kids. The low enrollment at Lewis is very much on their minds.

St John-Cunning keeps bringing equity into the policy. In the governance meeting and here she mention how the policy was written for equity. Which to me, isn’t cunning because it is illegal.

It’s not illegal to refer to equity given how nebulous that term can be. Say you want to redistrict based on race and you’ve got a problem. They know not to say that out loud and, in fact, it may not even be their intent. Eliminating some of these attendance islands they keep criticizing would reduce diversity at schools like Fort Hunt ES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The best nugget of info out of this meeting (because boundary adjustments are a foregone conclusion) is from Dr. Reid's response to Mateo Dunne's question about boundary changes: she stated that HS boundaries will not change much at all, and most of the boundary changes will be at the ES level.

That’s interesting, I wonder why they decided to do that. Most kids attend the closest ES unless they’re at a split feeder or in an attendance island. The kids who have a long ES bus ride would have one regardless because they live in a far-flung area like Clifton or Great Falls. Or they’re getting bussed to the AAP center …

This is false. Anyone with eyes can look at a map of the school boundaries to see lots of elementary schools completely disconnected from their communities.

Such as??

Westbriar, Keene Mill, Flint Hill, Sangster, etc.

The one no-brainer move coming from a savant who spends too much time on Zillow and has no dog in the fight, the Groveland/Green Garland drive area zoned for Sangster will move to Newington Forest and will become part of the South County pyramid.

I can see that happening, although that’s a really small neighborhood that probably won’t make too much of a difference either way.

As a Lorton resident I wonder if the infamous Hagel Circle will continue to get bussed past 95 to Halley or if they will get sent to the much closer Gunston. That’s a hot potato.

I was shocked to learn that Hagel Ct students didn’t go to Lorton Station ES. It’s only a mile away!

That’s one of the equity bussing situations. Sending those kids to the comparatively rich Halley makes Halley and Gunston both around 40% FARMS, and Lorton Station around 55%. Otherwise Halley would have demographics similar to Silverbrook which has single digit FARMS, and Gunston or Lorton Station would be much higher needs.

I imagine if they changed it it would be to send those kids to Gunston so they can stay at South County, as opposed to Lorton Station/Hayfield. But also, without that big neighborhood Halley’s population would drop quite a bit and there’s really nowhere for them to pick up kids from since that is not a growth area of the county.

This may have been their intention when they assigned these attendance islands, but they’re seeing the negative impacts. If kids miss the bus, they’re likely missing school that day, when in some cases, there’s another elementary school within walking distance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The impression I got was they are going to focus first on the bussing islands and less on entire schools. They also didn’t emphasize that much the high school situation and act like they was an attempt to fill up Lewis high school. I don’t even think they will look at moving elementary to other regions/pyramids if they aren’t bussing them now (ie West Springfield schools).

Wishful thinking. Anderson must have mentioned at least three times that Glasgow MS has more kids than Lewis HS, and St. John-Cunning talked about how Lewis kids were just as proud as Langley kids. The low enrollment at Lewis is very much on their minds.

Ricardy Anderson is fixated on Glasgow’s size and has been for awhile.

Yes, and their ensuring this was part of the upcoming review shows this is still largely about politics. Glasgow is a big but not especially overcrowded middle school with a crap administration that can’t maintain control. Rather than replace a failing principal they’ve all agreed to say the school is just “too big” and should be redistricted. And once they do that, it will end up having even more concentrated poverty and they’ll find someone else to blame for that.

All the MS/HS schools in that part of Mason are poor. There are some nice neighborhoods but many people send their kids to privates. Anyway Falls Church and Poe are about as poor as Justice and Glasgow so if moving some kids to the smaller schools makes Glasgow more manageable so be it. At least Anderson is a fighter. Some of them will just roll over as schools in their districts get decimated or worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The impression I got was they are going to focus first on the bussing islands and less on entire schools. They also didn’t emphasize that much the high school situation and act like they was an attempt to fill up Lewis high school. I don’t even think they will look at moving elementary to other regions/pyramids if they aren’t bussing them now (ie West Springfield schools).

Wishful thinking. Anderson must have mentioned at least three times that Glasgow MS has more kids than Lewis HS, and St. John-Cunning talked about how Lewis kids were just as proud as Langley kids. The low enrollment at Lewis is very much on their minds.

Yes but Reid emphasized keeping community together. And bussing HV or another school to Key and Lewis goes against that and can’t be the only solution to fix the Lewis under enrollment. I don’t think she’s interested in redoing pyramids and regions.

I don't know. They are very open to shifting elementary kids. I can see them redoing the HV boundary to put more kids into Saratoga.

The edge of HV border bumps up against Newington Forest and Sangster. Saratoga makes no sense.

It’s probably closer, or at least the same distance, for the southern part of HV (south of the parkway) to go to South County via Newington Forest. That would free up some space at HV to allow for some adjustments with Orange Hunt and/or Sangster. OH in particular is very large and over-enrolled. I’m not sure how many students that would affect however and I’m not sure if Newington Forest could absorb them all since it is a pretty small school.

I don’t know what they are going to do with Sangster. The problem is the AAP center stuff. OH and HV are some of the only schools in the county with no LLIV. They have L3 only. Keene Mill is obviously the main center for the WS pyramid, but HV and OH kids go to the center at Sangster and then LB for MS AAP, and then WSHS. I don’t know that KM could absorb all of HV and OH’s AAP kids at this point if Sangster was completely made into a LB feeder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The best nugget of info out of this meeting (because boundary adjustments are a foregone conclusion) is from Dr. Reid's response to Mateo Dunne's question about boundary changes: she stated that HS boundaries will not change much at all, and most of the boundary changes will be at the ES level.

That’s interesting, I wonder why they decided to do that. Most kids attend the closest ES unless they’re at a split feeder or in an attendance island. The kids who have a long ES bus ride would have one regardless because they live in a far-flung area like Clifton or Great Falls. Or they’re getting bussed to the AAP center …

This is false. Anyone with eyes can look at a map of the school boundaries to see lots of elementary schools completely disconnected from their communities.

Such as??

Westbriar, Keene Mill, Flint Hill, Sangster, etc.

The one no-brainer move coming from a savant who spends too much time on Zillow and has no dog in the fight, the Groveland/Green Garland drive area zoned for Sangster will move to Newington Forest and will become part of the South County pyramid.

I can see that happening, although that’s a really small neighborhood that probably won’t make too much of a difference either way.

As a Lorton resident I wonder if the infamous Hagel Circle will continue to get bussed past 95 to Halley or if they will get sent to the much closer Gunston. That’s a hot potato.

I was shocked to learn that Hagel Ct students didn’t go to Lorton Station ES. It’s only a mile away!

That’s one of the equity bussing situations. Sending those kids to the comparatively rich Halley makes Halley and Gunston both around 40% FARMS, and Lorton Station around 55%. Otherwise Halley would have demographics similar to Silverbrook which has single digit FARMS, and Gunston or Lorton Station would be much higher needs.

I imagine if they changed it it would be to send those kids to Gunston so they can stay at South County, as opposed to Lorton Station/Hayfield. But also, without that big neighborhood Halley’s population would drop quite a bit and there’s really nowhere for them to pick up kids from since that is not a growth area of the county.

This may have been their intention when they assigned these attendance islands, but they’re seeing the negative impacts. If kids miss the bus, they’re likely missing school that day, when in some cases, there’s another elementary school within walking distance.

Very true and I’m sure there is a lot of absenteeism coming from that area. A lot of families don’t have cars. If the kid misses the school bus there’s no way to get them to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The impression I got was they are going to focus first on the bussing islands and less on entire schools. They also didn’t emphasize that much the high school situation and act like they was an attempt to fill up Lewis high school. I don’t even think they will look at moving elementary to other regions/pyramids if they aren’t bussing them now (ie West Springfield schools).

Wishful thinking. Anderson must have mentioned at least three times that Glasgow MS has more kids than Lewis HS, and St. John-Cunning talked about how Lewis kids were just as proud as Langley kids. The low enrollment at Lewis is very much on their minds.

Yes but Reid emphasized keeping community together. And bussing HV or another school to Key and Lewis goes against that and can’t be the only solution to fix the Lewis under enrollment. I don’t think she’s interested in redoing pyramids and regions.

I don't know. They are very open to shifting elementary kids. I can see them redoing the HV boundary to put more kids into Saratoga.

The edge of HV border bumps up against Newington Forest and Sangster. Saratoga makes no sense.

It’s probably closer, or at least the same distance, for the southern part of HV (south of the parkway) to go to South County via Newington Forest. That would free up some space at HV to allow for some adjustments with Orange Hunt and/or Sangster. OH in particular is very large and over-enrolled. I’m not sure how many students that would affect however and I’m not sure if Newington Forest could absorb them all since it is a pretty small school.

I don’t know what they are going to do with Sangster. The problem is the AAP center stuff. OH and HV are some of the only schools in the county with no LLIV. They have L3 only. Keene Mill is obviously the main center for the WS pyramid, but HV and OH kids go to the center at Sangster and then LB for MS AAP, and then WSHS. I don’t know that KM could absorb all of HV and OH’s AAP kids at this point if Sangster was completely made into a LB feeder.

Sangster doesn’t have to be a WSHS split feeder to also be one of its AAP centers. There are many schools that send their AAP kids to a different pyramid. Keene Mill is the AAP center for Ravensworth and Kings Glen/Park, which are Lake Braddock schools. Send those schools to Lake Braddock AAP centers (White Oak and Sangster shuffle) and Keene Mill can pick up HV and OV.