FCPS comprehensive boundary review

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anyway, it will be the board dictating, not your neighbors but good on you for volunteering. Someone has to serve as checkbox for “community engagement.”

NP. So you'd rather complain on an anonymous board than actually do something? Got it.

The PP is the attitude of all the FCPS employees who hate FCPS but who hate parents even more. There are lots of them and they are chronically online.

Well, we had Ricardy Anderson complaining yesterday about the "squeaky wheels" in the community and the new consultant essentially saying the survey results from the work of the prior consultant (in which there was strong opposition to boundary changes) can be disregarded because the respondents weren't sufficiently representative.

The consistent message from the School Board is to shut up and just rely on them to channel the wishes of the community, although all the evidence from the past is that they act in their own interests and ignore the interests of others.

If you went door-to-door in disadvantaged communities and asked families if they'd like their kids to attend successful, safe schools with hundreds of opportunities in academic clubs, activities, and sports, I guarantee you they'd be fully on board.

But your side wants to dismiss their thoughts. Just because they don't answer email surveys and don't have the luxury of a 9-to-5 office gig with time to attend evening community meetings, doesn't mean their "culture" devalues education of their children.

Not sure what to make of this. Are you contending this doesn’t describe the schools for which these families are currently zoned? And, if so, why would it surprise you if others don’t want to be reassigned to those schools?

I’m all for additional outreach, but less in favor of transparently leading questions or School Board members purporting to speak for “those who aren’t being heard” when it’s really just a pretext to impose their own preferences on everyone else.

Yeah, is the prior poster admitting that the school board is wasting taxpayer money on these surveys?

If she just wants to pretend that the public’s overwhelming opposition to boundary changes doesn’t matter, then why do the school board members continually harp on how extensive public outreach will be?

“Overwhelming opposition” from who exactly (besides the FairFacts Matters folks)? Because the voters seem to overwhelmingly support the school board leadership. Also, how can you oppose a plan that hasn’t been developed yet?

No the voters didn’t get a chance to vote in the school board on this issue. No one on either side brought it up during the election season.

Ok fair, but they did vote in leaders who support the OneFairfax initiative. Even Stevie Wonder could see where things were headed…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anyway, it will be the board dictating, not your neighbors but good on you for volunteering. Someone has to serve as checkbox for “community engagement.”

NP. So you'd rather complain on an anonymous board than actually do something? Got it.

The PP is the attitude of all the FCPS employees who hate FCPS but who hate parents even more. There are lots of them and they are chronically online.

Well, we had Ricardy Anderson complaining yesterday about the "squeaky wheels" in the community and the new consultant essentially saying the survey results from the work of the prior consultant (in which there was strong opposition to boundary changes) can be disregarded because the respondents weren't sufficiently representative.

The consistent message from the School Board is to shut up and just rely on them to channel the wishes of the community, although all the evidence from the past is that they act in their own interests and ignore the interests of others.

If you went door-to-door in disadvantaged communities and asked families if they'd like their kids to attend successful, safe schools with hundreds of opportunities in academic clubs, activities, and sports, I guarantee you they'd be fully on board.

But your side wants to dismiss their thoughts. Just because they don't answer email surveys and don't have the luxury of a 9-to-5 office gig with time to attend evening community meetings, doesn't mean their "culture" devalues education of their children.

Not sure what to make of this. Are you contending this doesn’t describe the schools for which these families are currently zoned? And, if so, why would it surprise you if others don’t want to be reassigned to those schools?

I’m all for additional outreach, but less in favor of transparently leading questions or School Board members purporting to speak for “those who aren’t being heard” when it’s really just a pretext to impose their own preferences on everyone else.

Yeah, is the prior poster admitting that the school board is wasting taxpayer money on these surveys?

If she just wants to pretend that the public’s overwhelming opposition to boundary changes doesn’t matter, then why do the school board members continually harp on how extensive public outreach will be?

“Overwhelming opposition” from who exactly (besides the FairFacts Matters folks)? Because the voters seem to overwhelmingly support the school board leadership. Also, how can you oppose a plan that hasn’t been developed yet?

The school board has been wholly inconsistent in the rationale for the boundary changes, and we all know why. Board members can’t say the real reason why they want to change boundaries, because that result in a lawsuit, so they’re stuck arguing for these supposed transportation cost savings (with any grandfathering savings will be negative), or sleep time for high schoolers (could they come up with a more spacious paternalistic rationale? Probably not).

Fairfax families are overwhelmingly against changes that will split friends groups and cause turmoil across the county. Ask yourself why the school board is hell bent on getting this done by fall of 2026 not fall of 2027.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anyway, it will be the board dictating, not your neighbors but good on you for volunteering. Someone has to serve as checkbox for “community engagement.”

NP. So you'd rather complain on an anonymous board than actually do something? Got it.

The PP is the attitude of all the FCPS employees who hate FCPS but who hate parents even more. There are lots of them and they are chronically online.

Well, we had Ricardy Anderson complaining yesterday about the "squeaky wheels" in the community and the new consultant essentially saying the survey results from the work of the prior consultant (in which there was strong opposition to boundary changes) can be disregarded because the respondents weren't sufficiently representative.

The consistent message from the School Board is to shut up and just rely on them to channel the wishes of the community, although all the evidence from the past is that they act in their own interests and ignore the interests of others.

If you went door-to-door in disadvantaged communities and asked families if they'd like their kids to attend successful, safe schools with hundreds of opportunities in academic clubs, activities, and sports, I guarantee you they'd be fully on board.

But your side wants to dismiss their thoughts. Just because they don't answer email surveys and don't have the luxury of a 9-to-5 office gig with time to attend evening community meetings, doesn't mean their "culture" devalues education of their children.

If you went door to door in disadvantaged communities and told them that the school board wants to move a bunch of rich kids into their school to mask the low test scores, because that controversy is easier for the school board than teaching poor and immigrant kids to succeed, they would be furious and insulted by the school board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anyway, it will be the board dictating, not your neighbors but good on you for volunteering. Someone has to serve as checkbox for “community engagement.”

NP. So you'd rather complain on an anonymous board than actually do something? Got it.

The PP is the attitude of all the FCPS employees who hate FCPS but who hate parents even more. There are lots of them and they are chronically online.

Well, we had Ricardy Anderson complaining yesterday about the "squeaky wheels" in the community and the new consultant essentially saying the survey results from the work of the prior consultant (in which there was strong opposition to boundary changes) can be disregarded because the respondents weren't sufficiently representative.

The consistent message from the School Board is to shut up and just rely on them to channel the wishes of the community, although all the evidence from the past is that they act in their own interests and ignore the interests of others.

If you went door-to-door in disadvantaged communities and asked families if they'd like their kids to attend successful, safe schools with hundreds of opportunities in academic clubs, activities, and sports, I guarantee you they'd be fully on board.

But your side wants to dismiss their thoughts. Just because they don't answer email surveys and don't have the luxury of a 9-to-5 office gig with time to attend evening community meetings, doesn't mean their "culture" devalues education of their children.

Not sure what to make of this. Are you contending this doesn’t describe the schools for which these families are currently zoned? And, if so, why would it surprise you if others don’t want to be reassigned to those schools?

I’m all for additional outreach, but less in favor of transparently leading questions or School Board members purporting to speak for “those who aren’t being heard” when it’s really just a pretext to impose their own preferences on everyone else.

Yeah, is the prior poster admitting that the school board is wasting taxpayer money on these surveys?

If she just wants to pretend that the public’s overwhelming opposition to boundary changes doesn’t matter, then why do the school board members continually harp on how extensive public outreach will be?

“Overwhelming opposition” from who exactly (besides the FairFacts Matters folks)? Because the voters seem to overwhelmingly support the school board leadership. Also, how can you oppose a plan that hasn’t been developed yet?

The school board has been wholly inconsistent in the rationale for the boundary changes, and we all know why. Board members can’t say the real reason why they want to change boundaries, because that result in a lawsuit, so they’re stuck arguing for these supposed transportation cost savings (with any grandfathering savings will be negative), or sleep time for high schoolers (could they come up with a more spacious paternalistic rationale? Probably not).

Fairfax families are overwhelmingly against changes that will split friends groups and cause turmoil across the county. Ask yourself why the school board is hell bent on getting this done by fall of 2026 not fall of 2027.

And many are in favor of reviewing the borders to alleviate the split feeders and attendance islands that have gotten out of hand, so that their children’s friend groups aren’t split up every few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anyway, it will be the board dictating, not your neighbors but good on you for volunteering. Someone has to serve as checkbox for “community engagement.”

NP. So you'd rather complain on an anonymous board than actually do something? Got it.

The PP is the attitude of all the FCPS employees who hate FCPS but who hate parents even more. There are lots of them and they are chronically online.

Well, we had Ricardy Anderson complaining yesterday about the "squeaky wheels" in the community and the new consultant essentially saying the survey results from the work of the prior consultant (in which there was strong opposition to boundary changes) can be disregarded because the respondents weren't sufficiently representative.

The consistent message from the School Board is to shut up and just rely on them to channel the wishes of the community, although all the evidence from the past is that they act in their own interests and ignore the interests of others.

If you went door-to-door in disadvantaged communities and asked families if they'd like their kids to attend successful, safe schools with hundreds of opportunities in academic clubs, activities, and sports, I guarantee you they'd be fully on board.

But your side wants to dismiss their thoughts. Just because they don't answer email surveys and don't have the luxury of a 9-to-5 office gig with time to attend evening community meetings, doesn't mean their "culture" devalues education of their children.

Not sure what to make of this. Are you contending this doesn’t describe the schools for which these families are currently zoned? And, if so, why would it surprise you if others don’t want to be reassigned to those schools?

I’m all for additional outreach, but less in favor of transparently leading questions or School Board members purporting to speak for “those who aren’t being heard” when it’s really just a pretext to impose their own preferences on everyone else.

Yeah, is the prior poster admitting that the school board is wasting taxpayer money on these surveys?

If she just wants to pretend that the public’s overwhelming opposition to boundary changes doesn’t matter, then why do the school board members continually harp on how extensive public outreach will be?

“Overwhelming opposition” from who exactly (besides the FairFacts Matters folks)? Because the voters seem to overwhelmingly support the school board leadership. Also, how can you oppose a plan that hasn’t been developed yet?

No the voters didn’t get a chance to vote in the school board on this issue. No one on either side brought it up during the election season.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/quote/45/28517032.page#preview

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anyway, it will be the board dictating, not your neighbors but good on you for volunteering. Someone has to serve as checkbox for “community engagement.”

NP. So you'd rather complain on an anonymous board than actually do something? Got it.

The PP is the attitude of all the FCPS employees who hate FCPS but who hate parents even more. There are lots of them and they are chronically online.

Well, we had Ricardy Anderson complaining yesterday about the "squeaky wheels" in the community and the new consultant essentially saying the survey results from the work of the prior consultant (in which there was strong opposition to boundary changes) can be disregarded because the respondents weren't sufficiently representative.

The consistent message from the School Board is to shut up and just rely on them to channel the wishes of the community, although all the evidence from the past is that they act in their own interests and ignore the interests of others.

If you went door-to-door in disadvantaged communities and asked families if they'd like their kids to attend successful, safe schools with hundreds of opportunities in academic clubs, activities, and sports, I guarantee you they'd be fully on board.

But your side wants to dismiss their thoughts. Just because they don't answer email surveys and don't have the luxury of a 9-to-5 office gig with time to attend evening community meetings, doesn't mean their "culture" devalues education of their children.

Not sure what to make of this. Are you contending this doesn’t describe the schools for which these families are currently zoned? And, if so, why would it surprise you if others don’t want to be reassigned to those schools?

I’m all for additional outreach, but less in favor of transparently leading questions or School Board members purporting to speak for “those who aren’t being heard” when it’s really just a pretext to impose their own preferences on everyone else.

Yeah, is the prior poster admitting that the school board is wasting taxpayer money on these surveys?

If she just wants to pretend that the public’s overwhelming opposition to boundary changes doesn’t matter, then why do the school board members continually harp on how extensive public outreach will be?

“Overwhelming opposition” from who exactly (besides the FairFacts Matters folks)? Because the voters seem to overwhelmingly support the school board leadership. Also, how can you oppose a plan that hasn’t been developed yet?

The school board has been wholly inconsistent in the rationale for the boundary changes, and we all know why. Board members can’t say the real reason why they want to change boundaries, because that result in a lawsuit, so they’re stuck arguing for these supposed transportation cost savings (with any grandfathering savings will be negative), or sleep time for high schoolers (could they come up with a more spacious paternalistic rationale? Probably not).

Fairfax families are overwhelmingly against changes that will split friends groups and cause turmoil across the county. Ask yourself why the school board is hell bent on getting this done by fall of 2026 not fall of 2027.

And many are in favor of reviewing the borders to alleviate the split feeders and attendance islands that have gotten out of hand, so that their children’s friend groups aren’t split up every few years.

If there was a particular split feeder or attendance island situation that parents really wanted addressed, that could be done without county wide changes.

For example, there used to be a small number of Freedom Hill families that went to Madison when most of Freedom Hill went to Marshall. They organized and persuaded the school board to reassign them to Vienna, which is primarily a Madison feeder.

Conversely, there were a small number of Vienna families that went to Marshall rather than Madison, and they preferred to stay at Vienna rather than move to Freedom Hill. The school board respected their wishes.

I suspect that the biggest issue with split feeders is in western Fairfax at schools like Carson, but it's unlikely they can ever make Carson a feeder to a single school the way that Cooper feeds to Langley, Longfellow feeds to McLean, Johnson feeds to Fairfax, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anyway, it will be the board dictating, not your neighbors but good on you for volunteering. Someone has to serve as checkbox for “community engagement.”

NP. So you'd rather complain on an anonymous board than actually do something? Got it.

The PP is the attitude of all the FCPS employees who hate FCPS but who hate parents even more. There are lots of them and they are chronically online.

Well, we had Ricardy Anderson complaining yesterday about the "squeaky wheels" in the community and the new consultant essentially saying the survey results from the work of the prior consultant (in which there was strong opposition to boundary changes) can be disregarded because the respondents weren't sufficiently representative.

The consistent message from the School Board is to shut up and just rely on them to channel the wishes of the community, although all the evidence from the past is that they act in their own interests and ignore the interests of others.

If you went door-to-door in disadvantaged communities and asked families if they'd like their kids to attend successful, safe schools with hundreds of opportunities in academic clubs, activities, and sports, I guarantee you they'd be fully on board.

But your side wants to dismiss their thoughts. Just because they don't answer email surveys and don't have the luxury of a 9-to-5 office gig with time to attend evening community meetings, doesn't mean their "culture" devalues education of their children.

Well we have 3 ways of making sure all kids attend safe schools with lots of EC activities. 1, fund and staff all these activities to the greatest extent possible at all schools. But the kids at Lewis for example still have most sports teams, and AP and IB classes. Do they have a newspaper and a yearbook? A debate team? What specifically are they missing?

2, bus kids from underprivileged neighborhoods to richer schools. Which is all fine and good, but don’t underestimate the effects of a long bus commute on your kids. Ask anyone who grew up in a far-flung exurb or rural area who had a 30 minute+ bus ride on top of waiting at the school for 30+ minutes for the bus to even arrive. And if this was some kind of application process, who knows what kind of applications they’d get. A lot of kids and families just want to go to schools closer to home to minimize disruptions.

3, bus kids from wealthy neighborhoods to underprivileged schools. Does this help create “safe” schools with lots of “opportunities?” I’d argue no. But it does balance numbers and bring up scores and so everyone looks better on paper.

I can't speak to what Lewis HS might be missing but my kids went to Mount Vernon HS (youngest just graduated) - another one of the poor high schools in the county. We have a very small group of parents who help with all the extra stuff and we don't raise a lot of money, although we've been a little more successful in fundraising the last two years.

Some of the things I've noticed in our time at the high school:
MV seniors have not had an All Night Grad Party since 2017. Instead, we've done a day time carnival at the school - it is significantly cheaper.
MV sports teams don't get much swag. I've been to multiple sporting events. Other teams have personal sports equipment bags with the team logo on it (golf bag, individual baseball bag, individual lacrosse bag, etc.)
Our prom is usually held on a Friday because it is much cheaper than a Saturday.
The band rents a truck for each band competition. Other schools own their own trucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anyway, it will be the board dictating, not your neighbors but good on you for volunteering. Someone has to serve as checkbox for “community engagement.”

NP. So you'd rather complain on an anonymous board than actually do something? Got it.

The PP is the attitude of all the FCPS employees who hate FCPS but who hate parents even more. There are lots of them and they are chronically online.

Well, we had Ricardy Anderson complaining yesterday about the "squeaky wheels" in the community and the new consultant essentially saying the survey results from the work of the prior consultant (in which there was strong opposition to boundary changes) can be disregarded because the respondents weren't sufficiently representative.

The consistent message from the School Board is to shut up and just rely on them to channel the wishes of the community, although all the evidence from the past is that they act in their own interests and ignore the interests of others.

If you went door-to-door in disadvantaged communities and asked families if they'd like their kids to attend successful, safe schools with hundreds of opportunities in academic clubs, activities, and sports, I guarantee you they'd be fully on board.

But your side wants to dismiss their thoughts. Just because they don't answer email surveys and don't have the luxury of a 9-to-5 office gig with time to attend evening community meetings, doesn't mean their "culture" devalues education of their children.

Well we have 3 ways of making sure all kids attend safe schools with lots of EC activities. 1, fund and staff all these activities to the greatest extent possible at all schools. But the kids at Lewis for example still have most sports teams, and AP and IB classes. Do they have a newspaper and a yearbook? A debate team? What specifically are they missing?

2, bus kids from underprivileged neighborhoods to richer schools. Which is all fine and good, but don’t underestimate the effects of a long bus commute on your kids. Ask anyone who grew up in a far-flung exurb or rural area who had a 30 minute+ bus ride on top of waiting at the school for 30+ minutes for the bus to even arrive. And if this was some kind of application process, who knows what kind of applications they’d get. A lot of kids and families just want to go to schools closer to home to minimize disruptions.

3, bus kids from wealthy neighborhoods to underprivileged schools. Does this help create “safe” schools with lots of “opportunities?” I’d argue no. But it does balance numbers and bring up scores and so everyone looks better on paper.

I can't speak to what Lewis HS might be missing but my kids went to Mount Vernon HS (youngest just graduated) - another one of the poor high schools in the county. We have a very small group of parents who help with all the extra stuff and we don't raise a lot of money, although we've been a little more successful in fundraising the last two years.

Some of the things I've noticed in our time at the high school:
MV seniors have not had an All Night Grad Party since 2017. Instead, we've done a day time carnival at the school - it is significantly cheaper.
MV sports teams don't get much swag. I've been to multiple sporting events. Other teams have personal sports equipment bags with the team logo on it (golf bag, individual baseball bag, individual lacrosse bag, etc.)
Our prom is usually held on a Friday because it is much cheaper than a Saturday.
The band rents a truck for each band competition. Other schools own their own trucks.

Will rezoning a few dozen rich kids into your school fix all that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anyway, it will be the board dictating, not your neighbors but good on you for volunteering. Someone has to serve as checkbox for “community engagement.”

NP. So you'd rather complain on an anonymous board than actually do something? Got it.

The PP is the attitude of all the FCPS employees who hate FCPS but who hate parents even more. There are lots of them and they are chronically online.

Well, we had Ricardy Anderson complaining yesterday about the "squeaky wheels" in the community and the new consultant essentially saying the survey results from the work of the prior consultant (in which there was strong opposition to boundary changes) can be disregarded because the respondents weren't sufficiently representative.

The consistent message from the School Board is to shut up and just rely on them to channel the wishes of the community, although all the evidence from the past is that they act in their own interests and ignore the interests of others.

If you went door-to-door in disadvantaged communities and asked families if they'd like their kids to attend successful, safe schools with hundreds of opportunities in academic clubs, activities, and sports, I guarantee you they'd be fully on board.

But your side wants to dismiss their thoughts. Just because they don't answer email surveys and don't have the luxury of a 9-to-5 office gig with time to attend evening community meetings, doesn't mean their "culture" devalues education of their children.

Well we have 3 ways of making sure all kids attend safe schools with lots of EC activities. 1, fund and staff all these activities to the greatest extent possible at all schools. But the kids at Lewis for example still have most sports teams, and AP and IB classes. Do they have a newspaper and a yearbook? A debate team? What specifically are they missing?

2, bus kids from underprivileged neighborhoods to richer schools. Which is all fine and good, but don’t underestimate the effects of a long bus commute on your kids. Ask anyone who grew up in a far-flung exurb or rural area who had a 30 minute+ bus ride on top of waiting at the school for 30+ minutes for the bus to even arrive. And if this was some kind of application process, who knows what kind of applications they’d get. A lot of kids and families just want to go to schools closer to home to minimize disruptions.

3, bus kids from wealthy neighborhoods to underprivileged schools. Does this help create “safe” schools with lots of “opportunities?” I’d argue no. But it does balance numbers and bring up scores and so everyone looks better on paper.

I can't speak to what Lewis HS might be missing but my kids went to Mount Vernon HS (youngest just graduated) - another one of the poor high schools in the county. We have a very small group of parents who help with all the extra stuff and we don't raise a lot of money, although we've been a little more successful in fundraising the last two years.

Some of the things I've noticed in our time at the high school:
MV seniors have not had an All Night Grad Party since 2017. Instead, we've done a day time carnival at the school - it is significantly cheaper.
MV sports teams don't get much swag. I've been to multiple sporting events. Other teams have personal sports equipment bags with the team logo on it (golf bag, individual baseball bag, individual lacrosse bag, etc.)
Our prom is usually held on a Friday because it is much cheaper than a Saturday.
The band rents a truck for each band competition. Other schools own their own trucks.

Will rezoning a few dozen rich kids into your school fix all that?

DP. A few dozen? They could move hundreds from West Potomac to Mount Vernon.

Except in that case the earlier Democratic board looks pretty stupid for building West Po out to 3000.

It's amazing how many of the issues that this is supposedly going to address could have been solved in FCPS's facilities staff, and School Board oversight thereof, hadn't been so deeply incompetent for the last 15 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anyway, it will be the board dictating, not your neighbors but good on you for volunteering. Someone has to serve as checkbox for “community engagement.”

NP. So you'd rather complain on an anonymous board than actually do something? Got it.

The PP is the attitude of all the FCPS employees who hate FCPS but who hate parents even more. There are lots of them and they are chronically online.

Well, we had Ricardy Anderson complaining yesterday about the "squeaky wheels" in the community and the new consultant essentially saying the survey results from the work of the prior consultant (in which there was strong opposition to boundary changes) can be disregarded because the respondents weren't sufficiently representative.

The consistent message from the School Board is to shut up and just rely on them to channel the wishes of the community, although all the evidence from the past is that they act in their own interests and ignore the interests of others.

If you went door-to-door in disadvantaged communities and asked families if they'd like their kids to attend successful, safe schools with hundreds of opportunities in academic clubs, activities, and sports, I guarantee you they'd be fully on board.

But your side wants to dismiss their thoughts. Just because they don't answer email surveys and don't have the luxury of a 9-to-5 office gig with time to attend evening community meetings, doesn't mean their "culture" devalues education of their children.

Well we have 3 ways of making sure all kids attend safe schools with lots of EC activities. 1, fund and staff all these activities to the greatest extent possible at all schools. But the kids at Lewis for example still have most sports teams, and AP and IB classes. Do they have a newspaper and a yearbook? A debate team? What specifically are they missing?

2, bus kids from underprivileged neighborhoods to richer schools. Which is all fine and good, but don’t underestimate the effects of a long bus commute on your kids. Ask anyone who grew up in a far-flung exurb or rural area who had a 30 minute+ bus ride on top of waiting at the school for 30+ minutes for the bus to even arrive. And if this was some kind of application process, who knows what kind of applications they’d get. A lot of kids and families just want to go to schools closer to home to minimize disruptions.

3, bus kids from wealthy neighborhoods to underprivileged schools. Does this help create “safe” schools with lots of “opportunities?” I’d argue no. But it does balance numbers and bring up scores and so everyone looks better on paper.

I can't speak to what Lewis HS might be missing but my kids went to Mount Vernon HS (youngest just graduated) - another one of the poor high schools in the county. We have a very small group of parents who help with all the extra stuff and we don't raise a lot of money, although we've been a little more successful in fundraising the last two years.

Some of the things I've noticed in our time at the high school:
MV seniors have not had an All Night Grad Party since 2017. Instead, we've done a day time carnival at the school - it is significantly cheaper.
MV sports teams don't get much swag. I've been to multiple sporting events. Other teams have personal sports equipment bags with the team logo on it (golf bag, individual baseball bag, individual lacrosse bag, etc.)
Our prom is usually held on a Friday because it is much cheaper than a Saturday.
The band rents a truck for each band competition. Other schools own their own trucks.

Honest to goodness I'd prefer the simpler, cheaper things.

I rowed crew in Fairfax County in the 90s and our team intentionally kept fees low (because it's unfunded, right, so you pay for everything). Other teams paid 6x as much to have the matching team bags and all this stuff. We stomped them in races anyway and had plenty of team pride thanks to our success. Matching swag and All-Night grad and owning a truck are overrated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anyway, it will be the board dictating, not your neighbors but good on you for volunteering. Someone has to serve as checkbox for “community engagement.”

NP. So you'd rather complain on an anonymous board than actually do something? Got it.

The PP is the attitude of all the FCPS employees who hate FCPS but who hate parents even more. There are lots of them and they are chronically online.

Well, we had Ricardy Anderson complaining yesterday about the "squeaky wheels" in the community and the new consultant essentially saying the survey results from the work of the prior consultant (in which there was strong opposition to boundary changes) can be disregarded because the respondents weren't sufficiently representative.

The consistent message from the School Board is to shut up and just rely on them to channel the wishes of the community, although all the evidence from the past is that they act in their own interests and ignore the interests of others.

Not just the school board, Gatehouse too.

And the aging population of Fairfax County will keep voting these people in because they show up on the correct sample ballot and parrot the correct talking points. Yay.

Good luck when the value of their homes plummet. FCPS being highly ranked was one of the biggest draws for home buyers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anyway, it will be the board dictating, not your neighbors but good on you for volunteering. Someone has to serve as checkbox for “community engagement.”

NP. So you'd rather complain on an anonymous board than actually do something? Got it.

The PP is the attitude of all the FCPS employees who hate FCPS but who hate parents even more. There are lots of them and they are chronically online.

Well, we had Ricardy Anderson complaining yesterday about the "squeaky wheels" in the community and the new consultant essentially saying the survey results from the work of the prior consultant (in which there was strong opposition to boundary changes) can be disregarded because the respondents weren't sufficiently representative.

The consistent message from the School Board is to shut up and just rely on them to channel the wishes of the community, although all the evidence from the past is that they act in their own interests and ignore the interests of others.

Not just the school board, Gatehouse too.

And the aging population of Fairfax County will keep voting these people in because they show up on the correct sample ballot and parrot the correct talking points. Yay.

Good luck when the value of their homes plummet. FCPS being highly ranked was one of the biggest draws for home buyers.

The bigger draw for home buyers is proximity to jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anyway, it will be the board dictating, not your neighbors but good on you for volunteering. Someone has to serve as checkbox for “community engagement.”

NP. So you'd rather complain on an anonymous board than actually do something? Got it.

The PP is the attitude of all the FCPS employees who hate FCPS but who hate parents even more. There are lots of them and they are chronically online.

Well, we had Ricardy Anderson complaining yesterday about the "squeaky wheels" in the community and the new consultant essentially saying the survey results from the work of the prior consultant (in which there was strong opposition to boundary changes) can be disregarded because the respondents weren't sufficiently representative.

The consistent message from the School Board is to shut up and just rely on them to channel the wishes of the community, although all the evidence from the past is that they act in their own interests and ignore the interests of others.

If you went door-to-door in disadvantaged communities and asked families if they'd like their kids to attend successful, safe schools with hundreds of opportunities in academic clubs, activities, and sports, I guarantee you they'd be fully on board.

But your side wants to dismiss their thoughts. Just because they don't answer email surveys and don't have the luxury of a 9-to-5 office gig with time to attend evening community meetings, doesn't mean their "culture" devalues education of their children.

Not sure what to make of this. Are you contending this doesn’t describe the schools for which these families are currently zoned? And, if so, why would it surprise you if others don’t want to be reassigned to those schools?

I’m all for additional outreach, but less in favor of transparently leading questions or School Board members purporting to speak for “those who aren’t being heard” when it’s really just a pretext to impose their own preferences on everyone else.

Yeah, is the prior poster admitting that the school board is wasting taxpayer money on these surveys?

If she just wants to pretend that the public’s overwhelming opposition to boundary changes doesn’t matter, then why do the school board members continually harp on how extensive public outreach will be?

“Overwhelming opposition” from who exactly (besides the FairFacts Matters folks)? Because the voters seem to overwhelmingly support the school board leadership. Also, how can you oppose a plan that hasn’t been developed yet?

The school board has been wholly inconsistent in the rationale for the boundary changes, and we all know why. Board members can’t say the real reason why they want to change boundaries, because that result in a lawsuit, so they’re stuck arguing for these supposed transportation cost savings (with any grandfathering savings will be negative), or sleep time for high schoolers (could they come up with a more spacious paternalistic rationale? Probably not).

Fairfax families are overwhelmingly against changes that will split friends groups and cause turmoil across the county. Ask yourself why the school board is hell bent on getting this done by fall of 2026 not fall of 2027.

And many are in favor of reviewing the borders to alleviate the split feeders and attendance islands that have gotten out of hand, so that their children’s friend groups aren’t split up every few years.

Also, it's ok to split up friend groups every year for every 3rd grader in the county for AAP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anyway, it will be the board dictating, not your neighbors but good on you for volunteering. Someone has to serve as checkbox for “community engagement.”

NP. So you'd rather complain on an anonymous board than actually do something? Got it.

The PP is the attitude of all the FCPS employees who hate FCPS but who hate parents even more. There are lots of them and they are chronically online.

Well, we had Ricardy Anderson complaining yesterday about the "squeaky wheels" in the community and the new consultant essentially saying the survey results from the work of the prior consultant (in which there was strong opposition to boundary changes) can be disregarded because the respondents weren't sufficiently representative.

The consistent message from the School Board is to shut up and just rely on them to channel the wishes of the community, although all the evidence from the past is that they act in their own interests and ignore the interests of others.

If you went door-to-door in disadvantaged communities and asked families if they'd like their kids to attend successful, safe schools with hundreds of opportunities in academic clubs, activities, and sports, I guarantee you they'd be fully on board.

But your side wants to dismiss their thoughts. Just because they don't answer email surveys and don't have the luxury of a 9-to-5 office gig with time to attend evening community meetings, doesn't mean their "culture" devalues education of their children.

Well we have 3 ways of making sure all kids attend safe schools with lots of EC activities. 1, fund and staff all these activities to the greatest extent possible at all schools. But the kids at Lewis for example still have most sports teams, and AP and IB classes. Do they have a newspaper and a yearbook? A debate team? What specifically are they missing?

2, bus kids from underprivileged neighborhoods to richer schools. Which is all fine and good, but don’t underestimate the effects of a long bus commute on your kids. Ask anyone who grew up in a far-flung exurb or rural area who had a 30 minute+ bus ride on top of waiting at the school for 30+ minutes for the bus to even arrive. And if this was some kind of application process, who knows what kind of applications they’d get. A lot of kids and families just want to go to schools closer to home to minimize disruptions.

3, bus kids from wealthy neighborhoods to underprivileged schools. Does this help create “safe” schools with lots of “opportunities?” I’d argue no. But it does balance numbers and bring up scores and so everyone looks better on paper.

I can't speak to what Lewis HS might be missing but my kids went to Mount Vernon HS (youngest just graduated) - another one of the poor high schools in the county. We have a very small group of parents who help with all the extra stuff and we don't raise a lot of money, although we've been a little more successful in fundraising the last two years.

Some of the things I've noticed in our time at the high school:
MV seniors have not had an All Night Grad Party since 2017. Instead, we've done a day time carnival at the school - it is significantly cheaper.
MV sports teams don't get much swag. I've been to multiple sporting events. Other teams have personal sports equipment bags with the team logo on it (golf bag, individual baseball bag, individual lacrosse bag, etc.)
Our prom is usually held on a Friday because it is much cheaper than a Saturday.
The band rents a truck for each band competition. Other schools own their own trucks.

Honest to goodness I'd prefer the simpler, cheaper things.

I rowed crew in Fairfax County in the 90s and our team intentionally kept fees low (because it's unfunded, right, so you pay for everything). Other teams paid 6x as much to have the matching team bags and all this stuff. We stomped them in races anyway and had plenty of team pride thanks to our success. Matching swag and All-Night grad and owning a truck are overrated.

But if we disrupt people’s lives we can have cool gear and more expensive parties!🤓

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anyway, it will be the board dictating, not your neighbors but good on you for volunteering. Someone has to serve as checkbox for “community engagement.”

NP. So you'd rather complain on an anonymous board than actually do something? Got it.

The PP is the attitude of all the FCPS employees who hate FCPS but who hate parents even more. There are lots of them and they are chronically online.

Well, we had Ricardy Anderson complaining yesterday about the "squeaky wheels" in the community and the new consultant essentially saying the survey results from the work of the prior consultant (in which there was strong opposition to boundary changes) can be disregarded because the respondents weren't sufficiently representative.

The consistent message from the School Board is to shut up and just rely on them to channel the wishes of the community, although all the evidence from the past is that they act in their own interests and ignore the interests of others.

If you went door-to-door in disadvantaged communities and asked families if they'd like their kids to attend successful, safe schools with hundreds of opportunities in academic clubs, activities, and sports, I guarantee you they'd be fully on board.

But your side wants to dismiss their thoughts. Just because they don't answer email surveys and don't have the luxury of a 9-to-5 office gig with time to attend evening community meetings, doesn't mean their "culture" devalues education of their children.

Not sure what to make of this. Are you contending this doesn’t describe the schools for which these families are currently zoned? And, if so, why would it surprise you if others don’t want to be reassigned to those schools?

I’m all for additional outreach, but less in favor of transparently leading questions or School Board members purporting to speak for “those who aren’t being heard” when it’s really just a pretext to impose their own preferences on everyone else.

Yeah, is the prior poster admitting that the school board is wasting taxpayer money on these surveys?

If she just wants to pretend that the public’s overwhelming opposition to boundary changes doesn’t matter, then why do the school board members continually harp on how extensive public outreach will be?

“Overwhelming opposition” from who exactly (besides the FairFacts Matters folks)? Because the voters seem to overwhelmingly support the school board leadership. Also, how can you oppose a plan that hasn’t been developed yet?

The school board has been wholly inconsistent in the rationale for the boundary changes, and we all know why. Board members can’t say the real reason why they want to change boundaries, because that result in a lawsuit, so they’re stuck arguing for these supposed transportation cost savings (with any grandfathering savings will be negative), or sleep time for high schoolers (could they come up with a more spacious paternalistic rationale? Probably not).

Fairfax families are overwhelmingly against changes that will split friends groups and cause turmoil across the county. Ask yourself why the school board is hell bent on getting this done by fall of 2026 not fall of 2027.

And many are in favor of reviewing the borders to alleviate the split feeders and attendance islands that have gotten out of hand, so that their children’s friend groups aren’t split up every few years.

Also, it's ok to split up friend groups every year for every 3rd grader in the county for AAP?

AAP is popular and something people have the opportunity to choose. If they don't want to leave their friends, they can remain at the base school.

Rezoning every 5 years to push One Fairfax is controversial and unwanted.