Changes to French Immersion at Kent Gardens?

[Anonymous]

If you go to Kent gardens you should be in the neighborhood, stop being cheap

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you go to Kent gardens you should be in the neighborhood, stop being cheap

What does being cheap have to do with parents that like the idea of language immersion and applying out of boundary to Kent Gardens for the French program?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you go to Kent gardens you should be in the neighborhood, stop being cheap

What does being cheap have to do with parents that like the idea of language immersion and applying out of boundary to Kent Gardens for the French program?

You seriously don’t get it?

KG is centered in McLean - where home prices are extremely high. Out of boundary homes are far less expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you go to Kent gardens you should be in the neighborhood, stop being cheap

What does being cheap have to do with parents that like the idea of language immersion and applying out of boundary to Kent Gardens for the French program?

You seriously don’t get it?

KG is centered in McLean - where home prices are extremely high. Out of boundary homes are far less expensive.

PP is just trolling. The issue at KG hasn’t been the finances of the families whose kids attend the school. It’s that KG is among FCPS’s most overcrowded schools and FCPS has no plans to either change the boundaries or expand it. That left reducing the number of out-of-boundary kids in the immersion program as the only other option to address the overcrowding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you go to Kent gardens you should be in the neighborhood, stop being cheap

What does being cheap have to do with parents that like the idea of language immersion and applying out of boundary to Kent Gardens for the French program?

You seriously don’t get it?

KG is centered in McLean - where home prices are extremely high. Out of boundary homes are far less expensive.

PP is just trolling. The issue at KG hasn’t been the finances of the families whose kids attend the school. It’s that KG is among FCPS’s most overcrowded schools and FCPS has no plans to either change the boundaries or expand it. That left reducing the number of out-of-boundary kids in the immersion program as the only other option to address the overcrowding.

It is specifically because KG is in a wealthy area that the current radical-left school board will do nothing the alleviate the overcrowding and use of dangerously-outdated trailers.

The current school board hates successful parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you go to Kent gardens you should be in the neighborhood, stop being cheap

What does being cheap have to do with parents that like the idea of language immersion and applying out of boundary to Kent Gardens for the French program?

You seriously don’t get it?

KG is centered in McLean - where home prices are extremely high. Out of boundary homes are far less expensive.

PP is just trolling. The issue at KG hasn’t been the finances of the families whose kids attend the school. It’s that KG is among FCPS’s most overcrowded schools and FCPS has no plans to either change the boundaries or expand it. That left reducing the number of out-of-boundary kids in the immersion program as the only other option to address the overcrowding.

It is specifically because KG is in a wealthy area that the current radical-left school board will do nothing the alleviate the overcrowding and use of dangerously-outdated trailers.

The current school board hates successful parents.

I would put it somewhat differently and say the current School Board is obsessed with the idea of not appearing to favor schools that serve wealthier neighborhoods, to the point where they end up discriminating against them.

So when South Lakes, Justice and Madison got overcrowded, for example, FCPS adjusted the CIP and budgeted for additions at those schools, even when they were not coming up for renovations or on the 2008 renovation queue.

When McLean and Kent Gardens get overcrowded, the current School Board turned a blind eye and pretended there's nothing that can be done to expand either school until every school currently on the queue is renovated.

Then Elaine Tholen goes to the community and says, as she did today to the McLean PTSA, that she's only one of 12 School Board members and there's only so much she can do. But one thing that she NEVER does is use her platform as an opportunity to point out in public the disparities between how FCPS has treated schools in her district and other schools. And so the bullies on the School Board keep making sure that we get nothing.

Under the circumstances, I'm sure Elaine thinks she's protecting KG families in her district, because it's going to be kids at other schools whose access to French immersion at KG is being curtailed. Unfortunately for her, many of those families also reside in her district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you go to Kent gardens you should be in the neighborhood, stop being cheap

What does being cheap have to do with parents that like the idea of language immersion and applying out of boundary to Kent Gardens for the French program?

You seriously don’t get it?

KG is centered in McLean - where home prices are extremely high. Out of boundary homes are far less expensive.

I don't get it because I did not look at the location of the school. We are at a language immersion school and 1/3 of the school is from out of boundary. We don't have an issue with over crowding and I have not heard of people who dislike the LI program. We know families in LI and Gen Ed. The major complaint I have heard is that the Gen Ed program seems to end up with more of the kids who have IEPs and behavioral issues then the LI program. The Gen Ed classes at our school tend to be smaller then the LI classes although they seem to balance out by 6th grade. I suspect that some of the out of boundary parents are attending because they are not interested in attending lower rated schools and LI is an opportunity to move to a better school. I know some of the out of boundary kids have parents who are native speakers and want their kids to have more exposure to the families language.

That said, I do agree that if the school is over crowded then the French program should be limited to in boundary Kent Garden students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you go to Kent gardens you should be in the neighborhood, stop being cheap

What does being cheap have to do with parents that like the idea of language immersion and applying out of boundary to Kent Gardens for the French program?

You seriously don’t get it?

KG is centered in McLean - where home prices are extremely high. Out of boundary homes are far less expensive.

PP is just trolling. The issue at KG hasn’t been the finances of the families whose kids attend the school. It’s that KG is among FCPS’s most overcrowded schools and FCPS has no plans to either change the boundaries or expand it. That left reducing the number of out-of-boundary kids in the immersion program as the only other option to address the overcrowding.

It is specifically because KG is in a wealthy area that the current radical-left school board will do nothing the alleviate the overcrowding and use of dangerously-outdated trailers.

The current school board hates successful parents.

I would put it somewhat differently and say the current School Board is obsessed with the idea of not appearing to favor schools that serve wealthier neighborhoods, to the point where they end up discriminating against them.

So when South Lakes, Justice and Madison got overcrowded, for example, FCPS adjusted the CIP and budgeted for additions at those schools, even when they were not coming up for renovations or on the 2008 renovation queue.

When McLean and Kent Gardens get overcrowded, the current School Board turned a blind eye and pretended there's nothing that can be done to expand either school until every school currently on the queue is renovated.

Then Elaine Tholen goes to the community and says, as she did today to the McLean PTSA, that she's only one of 12 School Board members and there's only so much she can do. But one thing that she NEVER does is use her platform as an opportunity to point out in public the disparities between how FCPS has treated schools in her district and other schools. And so the bullies on the School Board keep making sure that we get nothing.

Under the circumstances, I'm sure Elaine thinks she's protecting KG families in her district, because it's going to be kids at other schools whose access to French immersion at KG is being curtailed. Unfortunately for her, many of those families also reside in her district.

I think the real solution is to redraw the school boundaries across all of FCPS and see how we can use that to redistribute students so that underutilized schools are better used and overcrowded schools see that population adjusted. Then look at what schools need to be expanded to handle any over crowding issues. The problem for McLean and schools in that area is that I think parents are afraid of what happens with boundary shifts and do anything they can to fight that process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you want lottery schools and non-neighborhood craziness, move to Arlington. That's their jam.

Move non Spanish French Immersion and Japanese [non Fox Mill] to Dunn Loring when it opens. Provide phaseout shuttle bussing academy style for students who used to access the program at their base schools.

Tholen's % change is only for grade 1. What's FCPS ging to do? Bump 3rd graders? No. The first year admission in 2022-23 for FLI would go from 40% out of boundary to 25%. No impact on FLI inbound transfers in 2022-23 for next years grade 2-6. Moving programs is a joint effort between instruction and facilities and transportation. FCPS used to move AAP when capacity increased at other schools for renovation or new builds or even to bump academic achievement. But it also did adminsitrative boundary changes on new developments. Unless a school has high % of Spanish ESL students I doubt any would want immersion programs.

For operating efficiency it even merged Floris-Fox Mill FLI http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2005/oct/12/japanese-program-moving/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you go to Kent gardens you should be in the neighborhood, stop being cheap

What does being cheap have to do with parents that like the idea of language immersion and applying out of boundary to Kent Gardens for the French program?

You seriously don’t get it?

KG is centered in McLean - where home prices are extremely high. Out of boundary homes are far less expensive.

PP is just trolling. The issue at KG hasn’t been the finances of the families whose kids attend the school. It’s that KG is among FCPS’s most overcrowded schools and FCPS has no plans to either change the boundaries or expand it. That left reducing the number of out-of-boundary kids in the immersion program as the only other option to address the overcrowding.

It is specifically because KG is in a wealthy area that the current radical-left school board will do nothing the alleviate the overcrowding and use of dangerously-outdated trailers.

The current school board hates successful parents.

I would put it somewhat differently and say the current School Board is obsessed with the idea of not appearing to favor schools that serve wealthier neighborhoods, to the point where they end up discriminating against them.

So when South Lakes, Justice and Madison got overcrowded, for example, FCPS adjusted the CIP and budgeted for additions at those schools, even when they were not coming up for renovations or on the 2008 renovation queue.

When McLean and Kent Gardens get overcrowded, the current School Board turned a blind eye and pretended there's nothing that can be done to expand either school until every school currently on the queue is renovated.

Then Elaine Tholen goes to the community and says, as she did today to the McLean PTSA, that she's only one of 12 School Board members and there's only so much she can do. But one thing that she NEVER does is use her platform as an opportunity to point out in public the disparities between how FCPS has treated schools in her district and other schools. And so the bullies on the School Board keep making sure that we get nothing.

Under the circumstances, I'm sure Elaine thinks she's protecting KG families in her district, because it's going to be kids at other schools whose access to French immersion at KG is being curtailed. Unfortunately for her, many of those families also reside in her district.

I think the real solution is to redraw the school boundaries across all of FCPS and see how we can use that to redistribute students so that underutilized schools are better used and overcrowded schools see that population adjusted. Then look at what schools need to be expanded to handle any over crowding issues. The problem for McLean and schools in that area is that I think parents are afraid of what happens with boundary shifts and do anything they can to fight that process.

I'm curious - can you tell us what high school you're zoned for and its current/planned capacity?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you go to Kent gardens you should be in the neighborhood, stop being cheap

What does being cheap have to do with parents that like the idea of language immersion and applying out of boundary to Kent Gardens for the French program?

You seriously don’t get it?

KG is centered in McLean - where home prices are extremely high. Out of boundary homes are far less expensive.

PP is just trolling. The issue at KG hasn’t been the finances of the families whose kids attend the school. It’s that KG is among FCPS’s most overcrowded schools and FCPS has no plans to either change the boundaries or expand it. That left reducing the number of out-of-boundary kids in the immersion program as the only other option to address the overcrowding.

It is specifically because KG is in a wealthy area that the current radical-left school board will do nothing the alleviate the overcrowding and use of dangerously-outdated trailers.

The current school board hates successful parents.

I would put it somewhat differently and say the current School Board is obsessed with the idea of not appearing to favor schools that serve wealthier neighborhoods, to the point where they end up discriminating against them.

So when South Lakes, Justice and Madison got overcrowded, for example, FCPS adjusted the CIP and budgeted for additions at those schools, even when they were not coming up for renovations or on the 2008 renovation queue.

When McLean and Kent Gardens get overcrowded, the current School Board turned a blind eye and pretended there's nothing that can be done to expand either school until every school currently on the queue is renovated.

Then Elaine Tholen goes to the community and says, as she did today to the McLean PTSA, that she's only one of 12 School Board members and there's only so much she can do. But one thing that she NEVER does is use her platform as an opportunity to point out in public the disparities between how FCPS has treated schools in her district and other schools. And so the bullies on the School Board keep making sure that we get nothing.

Under the circumstances, I'm sure Elaine thinks she's protecting KG families in her district, because it's going to be kids at other schools whose access to French immersion at KG is being curtailed. Unfortunately for her, many of those families also reside in her district.

We agree, and yes, the way you phrased the situation is indeed toned dow and more detailed than mine, while also being accurate.

I personally believe the current school board should all resign in disgrace after what they have done (and failed to do) since elected. The evidence just revealed during the lawsuit should convince any voter in Fairfax . At a minimum, they should all be voted out in 2023.

But for those still on the fence about the current school board, consider the outright racism exhibited by board members, in words and actions (on top of all their other bad qualities):

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1028423.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want lottery schools and non-neighborhood craziness, move to Arlington. That's their jam.

Move non Spanish French Immersion and Japanese [non Fox Mill] to Dunn Loring when it opens. Provide phaseout shuttle bussing academy style for students who used to access the program at their base schools.

Tholen's % change is only for grade 1. What's FCPS ging to do? Bump 3rd graders? No. The first year admission in 2022-23 for FLI would go from 40% out of boundary to 25%. No impact on FLI inbound transfers in 2022-23 for next years grade 2-6. Moving programs is a joint effort between instruction and facilities and transportation. FCPS used to move AAP when capacity increased at other schools for renovation or new builds or even to bump academic achievement. But it also did adminsitrative boundary changes on new developments. Unless a school has high % of Spanish ESL students I doubt any would want immersion programs.

For operating efficiency it even merged Floris-Fox Mill FLI http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2005/oct/12/japanese-program-moving/

I'd rather keep the program in the McLean pyramid since the KG program continues at Longfellow MS and Longfellow (unlike McLean) should have capacity in future years. Dunn Loring ES will be another Kilmer feeder, and Kilmer is more capacity-challenged than Longfellow.

Maybe take these steps at KG now and relocate the immersion program to the eventual Tysons ES, which will be in the McLean pyramid, when it opens.

[Anonymous]

Well once MS and HS hit the FLI is over. Students are simply in 1 language class at a higher level. Mclean Pyramid? How many are at Mclean HS because of FLI and are out of boundary?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well once MS and HS hit the FLI is over. Students are simply in 1 language class at a higher level. Mclean Pyramid? How many are at Mclean HS because of FLI and are out of boundary?

You can take a language class earlier in MS if you've been in an ES immersion program. It appears there are about 25 kids outside the McLean pyramid who transferred to Longfellow this year to take French on an accelerated basis. Presumably most had been at KG.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you go to Kent gardens you should be in the neighborhood, stop being cheap

What does being cheap have to do with parents that like the idea of language immersion and applying out of boundary to Kent Gardens for the French program?

You seriously don’t get it?

KG is centered in McLean - where home prices are extremely high. Out of boundary homes are far less expensive.

PP is just trolling. The issue at KG hasn’t been the finances of the families whose kids attend the school. It’s that KG is among FCPS’s most overcrowded schools and FCPS has no plans to either change the boundaries or expand it. That left reducing the number of out-of-boundary kids in the immersion program as the only other option to address the overcrowding.

It is specifically because KG is in a wealthy area that the current radical-left school board will do nothing the alleviate the overcrowding and use of dangerously-outdated trailers.

The current school board hates successful parents.

I would put it somewhat differently and say the current School Board is obsessed with the idea of not appearing to favor schools that serve wealthier neighborhoods, to the point where they end up discriminating against them.

So when South Lakes, Justice and Madison got overcrowded, for example, FCPS adjusted the CIP and budgeted for additions at those schools, even when they were not coming up for renovations or on the 2008 renovation queue.

When McLean and Kent Gardens get overcrowded, the current School Board turned a blind eye and pretended there's nothing that can be done to expand either school until every school currently on the queue is renovated.

Then Elaine Tholen goes to the community and says, as she did today to the McLean PTSA, that she's only one of 12 School Board members and there's only so much she can do. But one thing that she NEVER does is use her platform as an opportunity to point out in public the disparities between how FCPS has treated schools in her district and other schools. And so the bullies on the School Board keep making sure that we get nothing.

Under the circumstances, I'm sure Elaine thinks she's protecting KG families in her district, because it's going to be kids at other schools whose access to French immersion at KG is being curtailed. Unfortunately for her, many of those families also reside in her district.

I think the real solution is to redraw the school boundaries across all of FCPS and see how we can use that to redistribute students so that underutilized schools are better used and overcrowded schools see that population adjusted. Then look at what schools need to be expanded to handle any over crowding issues. The problem for McLean and schools in that area is that I think parents are afraid of what happens with boundary shifts and do anything they can to fight that process.

I'm curious - can you tell us what high school you're zoned for and its current/planned capacity?

South Lakes which I believe is already at or near capacity after completing a remodel and a boundary shift 15 or so years ago. I have no clue how the new school would impact us but know that most of the high schools in this area are near capacity or over capacity. I suspect that boundary shifts would cause a good amount of change in this area and I don't think anyone from my neighborhood would be moved to McLean. But there would be a real impact on my area.