Using title 1 students to keep their non-title 1 kids at a high performing school is gross. I don’t care how they try to justify it. A lot of them don’t even send their kids to the title 1 elementary school (Timberlane). So to pretend to care about them is completely fake. They only send them to public once they are able to send them to a non-title 1 school (Longfellow). |
That's incorrect. Timber Lane currently splits 60% to McLean and 40% to Falls Church, and the McLean part includes high-FARMS complexes that are just off Route 29 to the north just as the Falls Church parts includes high-FARMS complexes just off Route 29 to the south and off Annandale Road. Both the McLean and Falls Church parts also include a lot of single-family houses, and the ones zoned to McLean tend to be more expensive than the Falls Church houses and less expensive than any other SFHs zoned to McLean. I don't doubt that it's higher-income families in the Poplar Heights single-family area behind this group, but don't misrepresent the school demographics feeding into both McLean and Falls Church. You can also see how, when Thru proposed to move this area to Falls Church, they looked to offset it to some degree by moving other areas with apartments from Marshall to McLean, including some within walking distance of Marshall. |
Almost all want to stay put. I went through several boundary redistrictings when new schools were built. After the first meeting, my friend looked at me and said that everyone wants to stay where they are---even the people in the "poorer" schools. This is what the SB does not get. The community does not want this. The only ones that may want it are the ones that want others to move to their schools. They don't want to leave, they just want wealthier students to join them. The SB needs to drop this and work on educating the kids where they are. When there is a real need. Then, move kids. Obviously, Coates needs help. That is a real need. Leave the rest alone. The overcrowded high schools are slated to lose population. |
I bet you're also ok with gerrymandering at the political level. Everyone has the politician that they like! Leave the districts alone! Who cares that actual communities are being split up? |
But if they live in a very diverse community already, perhaps there’s some truth to their arguments, even if the ultimate motive is to stay at McLean for obvious reasons. So I’ll give them some benefit of the doubt. |
I don’t think the Title I argument is going to fly. Many of the attendance islands they were looking to remediate existed because they were bussing kids out of their neighborhood to schools with low FARM rates. Falls Church High School is 2 miles from the RT-29 apartments. McLean is 5. |
I don’t think they were looking for that. I think they saw they had two split feeders and moving Lemon Road balanced their McLean budget better than Westgate. If they were looking to balance apartments, they would have moved Westgate or a SPA from Shrevewood instead of Fall Hills. Majority of the moves that Thru has proposed has been moving SFH neighborhoods to Madison and McLean. |
Balancing demographics appears to be very low priority in this whole process. |
No. Not for gerrymandering, but, I'm trying to understand how that breaks up a community? School boundary changes do break up communities. Schools are communities. Not sure that a Congressional district is. Stupid comparison. |
Having more compact school districts with less travel time so kids live in closer proximity to their peers throughout their education and ensuring all the kids in a feeder school within a district go to the same secondary and high schools. It may be an inconvenience for some kids now. But, that's very shortsighted. Overcrowding is not the sole issue that this boundary adjustment is addressing. Community cohesion and reduced travel times are also legitimate concerns. |
Then, why is Thru breaking up my tight knit neighborhood and sending two streets 11 miles away through heavy traffic when they currently go to a school that is less than 3 miles away? Our current school has a compact boundary. All our schools are easily within a ten minute drive. Why does Thru want to change that? |
Just pointing out that no one in the community is complaining about the current travel time for their kids. No one. |
I can't speak specifically to your family's individual situation. But, I don't think it's in the county's interest to cater to people at the individual level and in the present They should focus on the aggregate and with a horizon that extends beyond kids just today. Making more compact communities which are connected, that makes sense. |
Responding to my own comment to add, I do think Thru's proposals come short in this regard. They had an opportunity to make tighter and more cohesive communities. |
Oh yeah, we should totally screw over families now for some vague sense of theoretical future payoff based on planning from a school district that can’t even accurately project a couple years into the future. 🤡 show. |