How would you change the FCPS boundary maps?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are so many factors that reduce the odds of major boundary changes. The PP's touch on a really big one, which is the impact of academic programs on enrollments. It turns into a big chicken vs. egg exercise. The boundary changes that you might make if a Carson isn't going to remain a mega-AAP center forever are very different than the changes you might make if it is.

The other big factor is the reluctance of the recent and current School Board to talk about sending kids to lower rated schools except in the most abstract terms. It's one thing for a Pat Hynes to talk generally about using boundaries as a tool to promote equity. It's another thing to actually do it - hasn't been done in FCPS for over a decade. And of course we've seen the members like Elaine Tholen who pay lip service to equity but make sure no apartments go to Langley.

I don't live near Langley and don't know the make up of the apartments nearby, etc. However, it has been suggested on this forum before that poor kids from Herndon be bused to Langley. That would be a disaster.

Busing does not work. Taking poor kids out of their community aggravates the problem. I taught in a bused school many years ago. Sounds good on paper. Not good in reality, and it does not promote "equity."

Langley is already bussed.

The single biggest boundary problem with FCPS is that Langley and McLean are too close to each other. The fact that they are bussing kids from near Loudoun to Langley is insane.

Why? Langley is about 3.5 miles from McLean. Oakton is less than 2.0 miles from Madison.

Oakton is also 2.0 miles from Fairfax High and Fairfax is about 3.0 miles from Woodson.

So I'd say the proximity of Oakton/Madison/Fairfax/Woodson is a bigger problem than the proximity of Langley to McLean. Langley would better serve its students, however, if it were 3.5 miles northwest of McLean rather than 3.5 miles northeast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are so many factors that reduce the odds of major boundary changes. The PP's touch on a really big one, which is the impact of academic programs on enrollments. It turns into a big chicken vs. egg exercise. The boundary changes that you might make if a Carson isn't going to remain a mega-AAP center forever are very different than the changes you might make if it is.

The other big factor is the reluctance of the recent and current School Board to talk about sending kids to lower rated schools except in the most abstract terms. It's one thing for a Pat Hynes to talk generally about using boundaries as a tool to promote equity. It's another thing to actually do it - hasn't been done in FCPS for over a decade. And of course we've seen the members like Elaine Tholen who pay lip service to equity but make sure no apartments go to Langley.

I don't live near Langley and don't know the make up of the apartments nearby, etc. However, it has been suggested on this forum before that poor kids from Herndon be bused to Langley. That would be a disaster.

Busing does not work. Taking poor kids out of their community aggravates the problem. I taught in a bused school many years ago. Sounds good on paper. Not good in reality, and it does not promote "equity."

Langley is already bussed.

The single biggest boundary problem with FCPS is that Langley and McLean are too close to each other. The fact that they are bussing kids from near Loudoun to Langley is insane.

Why? Langley is about 3.5 miles from McLean. Oakton is less than 2.0 miles from Madison.

Oakton is also 2.0 miles from Fairfax High and Fairfax is about 3.0 miles from Woodson.

So I'd say the proximity of Oakton/Madison/Fairfax/Woodson is a bigger problem than the proximity of Langley to McLean. Langley would better serve its students, however, if it were 3.5 miles northwest of McLean rather than 3.5 miles northeast.

And McLean is actually slightly closer to Marshall than it is to Langley.

[Anonymous]

There needs to be a comprehensive, district-wide boundary study. Change needs to be widespread rather than piecemeal in order to have a chance of being passed.

Everyone feels entitled and uses property values to argue against change. If the whole county gets shaken up and redrawn all at once, it will be like wiping the slate clean and starting afresh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I also feel like Woodson High School was placed in the wrong area of Fairfax County. Woodson High School should have been located halfway between Fairfax High School and Centreville High School, a little before the exclave of Fairfax High School's boundary begins. That way Fairfax High School would have students from the City of Fairfax and the eastern portion of Woodson's current boundary while Woodson would have students from the exclave of Fairfax High School's current boundary plus the western portion of Woodson's current boundary. Woodson High School as it is is too close to Fairfax High School while there is a significant distance between FHS and Chantilly High School or Centreville High School. If Woodson High School were in this new hypothetical location I think the boundaries would be better.

You're going to need a big trailer to relocate Woodson!

But, yes, Madison, Oakton, Woodson, and Fairfax HS are too close to one another. This skews the boundaries in central/western Fairfax.

Langley also is in an inconvenient location. It would be better if it were near Great Falls Village, and not so close to the Potomac River and Arlington County.

It would also help if Robinson were further southwest of its current location.

What’s interesting is that the western part of the Woodson boundary could go to Robinson. They literally pass it driving down Braddock road to get to Woodson.

.

Those neighborhoods used to go to Robinson, but were re-zoned to Fairfax and then re-zoned to Woodson. A lot of “ping ponging” that those neighborhoods have endured.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There needs to be a comprehensive, district-wide boundary study. Change needs to be widespread rather than piecemeal in order to have a chance of being passed.

Everyone feels entitled and uses property values to argue against change. If the whole county gets shaken up and redrawn all at once, it will be like wiping the slate clean and starting afresh.

Good luck with that. The recent meetings they had on the boundary policy made fairly clear there’s no significant support for redrawing boundaries county-wide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There needs to be a comprehensive, district-wide boundary study. Change needs to be widespread rather than piecemeal in order to have a chance of being passed.

Everyone feels entitled and uses property values to argue against change. If the whole county gets shaken up and redrawn all at once, it will be like wiping the slate clean and starting afresh.

Tell a Hayfield family they’re now zoned for MT Vernon and see if they ever vote for your party again

[Anonymous]

We made a very deliberate decision to buy in an AP school district so would definitely be quite unhappy if we got rezoned into an IB district just because someone decided it was time to redraw boundaries for “equity.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There needs to be a comprehensive, district-wide boundary study. Change needs to be widespread rather than piecemeal in order to have a chance of being passed.

Everyone feels entitled and uses property values to argue against change. If the whole county gets shaken up and redrawn all at once, it will be like wiping the slate clean and starting afresh.

Tell a Hayfield family they’re now zoned for MT Vernon and see if they ever vote for your party again

+1. Moving existing families isn’t going to work.

[Anonymous]

I’m so glad my kids will soon be done with FCPS.

The system has been coasting on it’s reputation from the 1980’s, but I’ve been underwhelmed by my own kids’ experience. It’s just kind of meh.

[Anonymous]

The cut out of the Rt 1 corridor out of the South County boundary and into the Hayfield boundary is pretty outrageously racist.

[Anonymous]

I would work on eliminating the peninsulas, islands and split feeders as much as possible.

Not a boundary issue but I would eliminate some of the IB schools in the east of the county and convert them back to AP. There are too many too close together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There needs to be a comprehensive, district-wide boundary study. Change needs to be widespread rather than piecemeal in order to have a chance of being passed.

Everyone feels entitled and uses property values to argue against change. If the whole county gets shaken up and redrawn all at once, it will be like wiping the slate clean and starting afresh.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m so glad my kids will soon be done with FCPS.

The system has been coasting on it’s reputation from the 1980’s, but I’ve been underwhelmed by my own kids’ experience. It’s just kind of meh.

What other school systems would you say are better than FCPS? I have heard some people say LCPS is better than FCPS now, with the exception of the Park View HS pyramid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would aim to minimize changes. People bought expecting to be able to go to a certain school. Or if you need to make massive change I would phase them in SLowly so those in school now age out before the changes happen.

I would keep existing attendance islands. I think they are used to diversify.
I would try to eliminate split feeders as that sucks for kids.

If you are capable of buying a house, you are capable of understanding that school boundaries can change. You should never, ever buy your house JUST because of the schools. That's stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would aim to minimize changes. People bought expecting to be able to go to a certain school. Or if you need to make massive change I would phase them in SLowly so those in school now age out before the changes happen.

I would keep existing attendance islands. I think they are used to diversify.
I would try to eliminate split feeders as that sucks for kids.

I attended split feeders in FCPS. My ES split to two middle schools, and my MS split to four high schools.

It did not suck.

I grew up in a town with 6 elementaries, 2 middle schools, and 2 high schools. The middle schools were both split feeders. We all managed just fine.