Will Mclean High School ever be able to upsize

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why the redistricting isn't a top priority in that case, like Kent Gardens was. You could easily move kids into Marshall or Langley from the outer boundaries of Mclean and that could bring down the number of students to closer to the capacity threshold at Mclean and bring up the numbers at Marshall and Langley, which both had expansive extensions. Langley looks like a private school campus now. So, what is taking the Board so damn long to do the redistricting for Mclean. I'm sure tons of kids would opt into Langley, if given the choice.

Marshall is basically at capacity. Langley is the option.

And regarding a PP with the Timber Lane split, I just can't see that happening given the demographics.

If I was in-bounds for Timber Lane - Longfellow - McLean, I would raise absolute hell if redistricted to Timber Lane - Luther Jackson - Falls Church. That would shave at least $100k off the value of every SFH in that area and get rid of most of the diversity that feeds into McLean. Moving some of McLean to Langley is much more "like to like."

McLean HS has one of the weirdest, non-contiguous boundaries in the system. There are those two islands on the Marshall boundary and the Langley/Marshall boundary are ripe for redistricting. We deliberately did not buy a house in the blob that abuts the Marshall boundary because we figured it was going to be sent to either Marshall or Falls Church sometime before our kids got there. No one at McLean is going to cry about being redistricted to Langley, as long as they allow grandfathering for kids already at McLean so they can graduate with their class.

Frankly, the school board does not give a crap about home values, and the fact that the more-affluent-than-FCHS neighborhood has retained their McLean zoning for this long is the more surprising thing. Maybe if those kids were zoned for Falls Church HS, there would be more well-off parents agitating for their never-ending construction project to actually be finished so the kids are doing four years in trailers. LJ is not really a big deal - it's only two years, and they have an AAP program that should shield Larlo from the unwashed masses. (My kid chose to go there over Thoreau, and it was fine - had some very good AAP teachers, but the band program sucks.) I would move or apply for an academic program transfer before sending my kids to FCHS, based on what I hear from my kid's former LJ classmates who go there now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why the redistricting isn't a top priority in that case, like Kent Gardens was. You could easily move kids into Marshall or Langley from the outer boundaries of Mclean and that could bring down the number of students to closer to the capacity threshold at Mclean and bring up the numbers at Marshall and Langley, which both had expansive extensions. Langley looks like a private school campus now. So, what is taking the Board so damn long to do the redistricting for Mclean. I'm sure tons of kids would opt into Langley, if given the choice.

Marshall is basically at capacity. Langley is the option.

And regarding a PP with the Timber Lane split, I just can't see that happening given the demographics.

If I was in-bounds for Timber Lane - Longfellow - McLean, I would raise absolute hell if redistricted to Timber Lane - Luther Jackson - Falls Church. That would shave at least $100k off the value of every SFH in that area and get rid of most of the diversity that feeds into McLean. Moving some of McLean to Langley is much more "like to like."

McLean HS has one of the weirdest, non-contiguous boundaries in the system. There are those two islands on the Marshall boundary and the Langley/Marshall boundary are ripe for redistricting. We deliberately did not buy a house in the blob that abuts the Marshall boundary because we figured it was going to be sent to either Marshall or Falls Church sometime before our kids got there. No one at McLean is going to cry about being redistricted to Langley, as long as they allow grandfathering for kids already at McLean so they can graduate with their class.

Frankly, the school board does not give a crap about home values, and the fact that the more-affluent-than-FCHS neighborhood has retained their McLean zoning for this long is the more surprising thing. Maybe if those kids were zoned for Falls Church HS, there would be more well-off parents agitating for their never-ending construction project to actually be finished so the kids are doing four years in trailers. LJ is not really a big deal - it's only two years, and they have an AAP program that should shield Larlo from the unwashed masses. (My kid chose to go there over Thoreau, and it was fine - had some very good AAP teachers, but the band program sucks.) I would move or apply for an academic program transfer before sending my kids to FCHS, based on what I hear from my kid's former LJ classmates who go there now.

McLean currently has two attendance island - one in Tysons and one in Falls Church. They make for weird boundaries, but neither area is super far from McLean HS.

The Tysons island was created when the Spring Gate Apartments in Tysons got built. Prior to that time there really wasn't any housing in the small area bordered by 123, the Beltway, and the Toll Road. When the apartments got built, Marshall was well under capacity and McLean was at or above capacity, and Janie Strauss had the area administratively reassigned to Marshall.

The Falls Church island (aka the "Timber Lane island") was created when Fairfax County swapped land with Falls Church City in exchange for what had been the Falls Church City water authority (which supplied water to, and gouged, some county residents). When that area got transferred to FCC, it created an island south of the expanded FCC borders.

I like contiguous boundaries, and wonder what McLean's enrollment would be if the area south of Lewinsville Road between Route 7 and Route 123 and north of the Toll Road were reassigned from Langley to McLean, the Spring Gate apartments were reassigned from Marshall to McLean, and the Timber Lane island was reassigned from McLean to Falls Church. Maybe part of the eastern-most McLean neighborhoods off Dolley Madison would also need to move from McLean to Langley to keep the McLean enrollment in check. It would make for a nicer map, and piss off a ton of folks in the process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why the redistricting isn't a top priority in that case, like Kent Gardens was. You could easily move kids into Marshall or Langley from the outer boundaries of Mclean and that could bring down the number of students to closer to the capacity threshold at Mclean and bring up the numbers at Marshall and Langley, which both had expansive extensions. Langley looks like a private school campus now. So, what is taking the Board so damn long to do the redistricting for Mclean. I'm sure tons of kids would opt into Langley, if given the choice.

Marshall is basically at capacity. Langley is the option.

And regarding a PP with the Timber Lane split, I just can't see that happening given the demographics.

If I was in-bounds for Timber Lane - Longfellow - McLean, I would raise absolute hell if redistricted to Timber Lane - Luther Jackson - Falls Church. That would shave at least $100k off the value of every SFH in that area and get rid of most of the diversity that feeds into McLean. Moving some of McLean to Langley is much more "like to like."

McLean HS has one of the weirdest, non-contiguous boundaries in the system. There are those two islands on the Marshall boundary and the Langley/Marshall boundary are ripe for redistricting. We deliberately did not buy a house in the blob that abuts the Marshall boundary because we figured it was going to be sent to either Marshall or Falls Church sometime before our kids got there. No one at McLean is going to cry about being redistricted to Langley, as long as they allow grandfathering for kids already at McLean so they can graduate with their class.

Frankly, the school board does not give a crap about home values, and the fact that the more-affluent-than-FCHS neighborhood has retained their McLean zoning for this long is the more surprising thing. Maybe if those kids were zoned for Falls Church HS, there would be more well-off parents agitating for their never-ending construction project to actually be finished so the kids are doing four years in trailers. LJ is not really a big deal - it's only two years, and they have an AAP program that should shield Larlo from the unwashed masses. (My kid chose to go there over Thoreau, and it was fine - had some very good AAP teachers, but the band program sucks.) I would move or apply for an academic program transfer before sending my kids to FCHS, based on what I hear from my kid's former LJ classmates who go there now.

The school board at least indirectly cares about home values because constituents do.

[Anonymous]

“The Falls Church island (aka the "Timber Lane island") was created when Fairfax County swapped land with Falls Church City in exchange for what had been the Falls Church City water authority (which supplied water to, and gouged, some county residents). When that area got transferred to FCC, it created an island south of the expanded FCC borders.”

I don’t think this is accurate. There was a Timber Lane island before the sale of the water system and the land that was sold is where Meridian is - it isn’t where the timber lane area is (timber lane area is across Broad Street).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“The Falls Church island (aka the "Timber Lane island") was created when Fairfax County swapped land with Falls Church City in exchange for what had been the Falls Church City water authority (which supplied water to, and gouged, some county residents). When that area got transferred to FCC, it created an island south of the expanded FCC borders.”

I don’t think this is accurate. There was a Timber Lane island before the sale of the water system and the land that was sold is where Meridian is - it isn’t where the timber lane area is (timber lane area is across Broad Street).

When you sell land on one side of Route 7 you create an island on the other side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

When you sell land on one side of Route 7 you create an island on the other side.

Boom. Geography.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“The Falls Church island (aka the "Timber Lane island") was created when Fairfax County swapped land with Falls Church City in exchange for what had been the Falls Church City water authority (which supplied water to, and gouged, some county residents). When that area got transferred to FCC, it created an island south of the expanded FCC borders.”

I don’t think this is accurate. There was a Timber Lane island before the sale of the water system and the land that was sold is where Meridian is - it isn’t where the timber lane area is (timber lane area is across Broad Street).

When you sell land on one side of Route 7 you create an island on the other side.

Pedantic. Island or peninsula, we all know that it isn’t a compact attendance area. The question is whether it is appropriate. I think the answer is yes, as it is an easy way to get even a bit of demographic balance. Timber Lane to McLean is 4.2 miles. For reference, it is 7.7 miles from the Great Falls library to Langley.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“The Falls Church island (aka the "Timber Lane island") was created when Fairfax County swapped land with Falls Church City in exchange for what had been the Falls Church City water authority (which supplied water to, and gouged, some county residents). When that area got transferred to FCC, it created an island south of the expanded FCC borders.”

I don’t think this is accurate. There was a Timber Lane island before the sale of the water system and the land that was sold is where Meridian is - it isn’t where the timber lane area is (timber lane area is across Broad Street).

When you sell land on one side of Route 7 you create an island on the other side.

Pedantic. Island or peninsula, we all know that it isn’t a compact attendance area. The question is whether it is appropriate. I think the answer is yes, as it is an easy way to get even a bit of demographic balance. Timber Lane to McLean is 4.2 miles. For reference, it is 7.7 miles from the Great Falls library to Langley.

Gasp! 7.7 miles! Omg, how do they endure?

You are so incredibly transparent. Any distance cost falls primarily on Forestville students and families, all of whom you very clearly loathe.

[Anonymous]

The point is the water sale didn’t create a timber lane island. Boom, facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why the redistricting isn't a top priority in that case, like Kent Gardens was. You could easily move kids into Marshall or Langley from the outer boundaries of Mclean and that could bring down the number of students to closer to the capacity threshold at Mclean and bring up the numbers at Marshall and Langley, which both had expansive extensions. Langley looks like a private school campus now. So, what is taking the Board so damn long to do the redistricting for Mclean. I'm sure tons of kids would opt into Langley, if given the choice.

Marshall is full. The answer is to move some McLean kids to Langley. But great falls won’t allow it because they are worried about the other side of Langley getting rezoned to Herndon (and no board member has had the spine to stand up to great falls).

And, odd though it sounds, the very small number of McLean kids that Elaine tholen moved to Langley raised such a stink about it! They were not in favor. I wish the board would have gone bigger and done the right change then instead of a tiny one that didn’t even offset the increase in kids to McLean from their TJ admissions changes.

People typically don't like being redistricted. If you listened to the testimony at the time, there were quite a few families who asked to be moved. Typically, they had younger kids who wanted to stay with their elementary school peers at Colvin Run or Spring Hill or thought it would be good for their real estate values. In comparison, families with older kids, including kids already at Longfellow or McLean, tended to oppose getting redistricted.

Totally agree with this. That’s why the screw Great Falls argument is really misguided to me. It is a push for this monumental change negatively impacting thousands of kids (Not even just the “rich” ones) in the name of this theoretical equity. It’s the same argument for Boston busing in the 70s.

The advocate on this board who argues for broad redistricting to soak the western Great Falls “rich” is very fringe, even for Fairfax County, and I say that as a staunch democrat. The Board understands that too.

DP. I 100% agree with you. It's always the same fringe poster, parroting the same words and phrases. Very transparent.

You crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“The Falls Church island (aka the "Timber Lane island") was created when Fairfax County swapped land with Falls Church City in exchange for what had been the Falls Church City water authority (which supplied water to, and gouged, some county residents). When that area got transferred to FCC, it created an island south of the expanded FCC borders.”

I don’t think this is accurate. There was a Timber Lane island before the sale of the water system and the land that was sold is where Meridian is - it isn’t where the timber lane area is (timber lane area is across Broad Street).

When you sell land on one side of Route 7 you create an island on the other side.

Pedantic. Island or peninsula, we all know that it isn’t a compact attendance area. The question is whether it is appropriate. I think the answer is yes, as it is an easy way to get even a bit of demographic balance. Timber Lane to McLean is 4.2 miles. For reference, it is 7.7 miles from the Great Falls library to Langley.

The part of Timber Lane now at McLean was moved from Falls Church to McLean in 1984, at a time when FCPS was making county-wide boundary changes and McLean was under-enrolled. Timber Lane was already largely minority at the time but there’s no indication from the board minutes it was specifically moved to McLean to add diversity. Rather, it seems they just wanted to balance school enrollments. Other Falls Church areas got moved to Marshall and Stuart (now Justice), and Falls Church picked up an area that had previously been at Oakton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The point is the water sale didn’t create a timber lane island. Boom, facts.

You seem to think an island existed simply because the Timber Lane area is on the other side of Route 7. The boundaries still would have looked odd given the then-existing boundaries of Falls Church City, but I don’t think it was literally an “island” until the area on the other side of Route 7 near Haycock Road was transferred to FCC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“The Falls Church island (aka the "Timber Lane island") was created when Fairfax County swapped land with Falls Church City in exchange for what had been the Falls Church City water authority (which supplied water to, and gouged, some county residents). When that area got transferred to FCC, it created an island south of the expanded FCC borders.”

I don’t think this is accurate. There was a Timber Lane island before the sale of the water system and the land that was sold is where Meridian is - it isn’t where the timber lane area is (timber lane area is across Broad Street).

When you sell land on one side of Route 7 you create an island on the other side.

Pedantic. Island or peninsula, we all know that it isn’t a compact attendance area. The question is whether it is appropriate. I think the answer is yes, as it is an easy way to get even a bit of demographic balance. Timber Lane to McLean is 4.2 miles. For reference, it is 7.7 miles from the Great Falls library to Langley.

Why are you bringing up the distance from the Great Falls library to Langley? That seems like an irrelevant factoid in the context of the thread compared to, say, the distance of Timber Lane to Falls Church (2.0 miles).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why the redistricting isn't a top priority in that case, like Kent Gardens was. You could easily move kids into Marshall or Langley from the outer boundaries of Mclean and that could bring down the number of students to closer to the capacity threshold at Mclean and bring up the numbers at Marshall and Langley, which both had expansive extensions. Langley looks like a private school campus now. So, what is taking the Board so damn long to do the redistricting for Mclean. I'm sure tons of kids would opt into Langley, if given the choice.

Marshall is full. The answer is to move some McLean kids to Langley. But great falls won’t allow it because they are worried about the other side of Langley getting rezoned to Herndon (and no board member has had the spine to stand up to great falls).

And, odd though it sounds, the very small number of McLean kids that Elaine tholen moved to Langley raised such a stink about it! They were not in favor. I wish the board would have gone bigger and done the right change then instead of a tiny one that didn’t even offset the increase in kids to McLean from their TJ admissions changes.

People typically don't like being redistricted. If you listened to the testimony at the time, there were quite a few families who asked to be moved. Typically, they had younger kids who wanted to stay with their elementary school peers at Colvin Run or Spring Hill or thought it would be good for their real estate values. In comparison, families with older kids, including kids already at Longfellow or McLean, tended to oppose getting redistricted.

Totally agree with this. That’s why the screw Great Falls argument is really misguided to me. It is a push for this monumental change negatively impacting thousands of kids (Not even just the “rich” ones) in the name of this theoretical equity. It’s the same argument for Boston busing in the 70s.

The advocate on this board who argues for broad redistricting to soak the western Great Falls “rich” is very fringe, even for Fairfax County, and I say that as a staunch democrat. The Board understands that too.

DP. I 100% agree with you. It's always the same fringe poster, parroting the same words and phrases. Very transparent.

No, it’s not one poster suggesting the most logical boundary change. And why are you calling this change a “screw Great Falls” approach? What’s the problem with shifting some kids to the newly renovated Herndon HS IF Langley were to get too crowded after adding McLean kids? And that’s a big IF because renovated Langley is way under capacity.

What school do your kids attend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why the redistricting isn't a top priority in that case, like Kent Gardens was. You could easily move kids into Marshall or Langley from the outer boundaries of Mclean and that could bring down the number of students to closer to the capacity threshold at Mclean and bring up the numbers at Marshall and Langley, which both had expansive extensions. Langley looks like a private school campus now. So, what is taking the Board so damn long to do the redistricting for Mclean. I'm sure tons of kids would opt into Langley, if given the choice.

Marshall is full. The answer is to move some McLean kids to Langley. But great falls won’t allow it because they are worried about the other side of Langley getting rezoned to Herndon (and no board member has had the spine to stand up to great falls).

And, odd though it sounds, the very small number of McLean kids that Elaine tholen moved to Langley raised such a stink about it! They were not in favor. I wish the board would have gone bigger and done the right change then instead of a tiny one that didn’t even offset the increase in kids to McLean from their TJ admissions changes.

People typically don't like being redistricted. If you listened to the testimony at the time, there were quite a few families who asked to be moved. Typically, they had younger kids who wanted to stay with their elementary school peers at Colvin Run or Spring Hill or thought it would be good for their real estate values. In comparison, families with older kids, including kids already at Longfellow or McLean, tended to oppose getting redistricted.

Totally agree with this. That’s why the screw Great Falls argument is really misguided to me. It is a push for this monumental change negatively impacting thousands of kids (Not even just the “rich” ones) in the name of this theoretical equity. It’s the same argument for Boston busing in the 70s.

The advocate on this board who argues for broad redistricting to soak the western Great Falls “rich” is very fringe, even for Fairfax County, and I say that as a staunch democrat. The Board understands that too.

DP. I 100% agree with you. It's always the same fringe poster, parroting the same words and phrases. Very transparent.

No, it’s not one poster suggesting the most logical boundary change. And why are you calling this change a “screw Great Falls” approach? What’s the problem with shifting some kids to the newly renovated Herndon HS IF Langley were to get too crowded after adding McLean kids? And that’s a big IF because renovated Langley is way under capacity.

I called it the “screw Great Falls” approach because that’s all it is - seething animosity toward your county neighbors because some of the residents on the east side of Great Falls are well off (they generally go to private schools, btw). Most of the posts on this matter are not looking out for the Herndon High community, who probably don’t really want their school to become overcrowded with Forestville students. It is really just about soaking the western great falls families, who by the way live in houses that are basically on par with a good chunk of the other communities in Fairfax.

We all know that anyone advocating for the equity-based redistricting approach is likely just a Herndon property owner hoping that their property values go up further. It’s certainly not out of concern for Fairfax kids, nor is it something that would magically fix whatever you are trying to solve at Herndon High.

DP. Well said. I actually think it's McLean Mom who has such a chip on her shoulder about Langley being renovated. She really thinks she's going to somehow "stick it" to Langley on this weird crusade of hers.