ISO of a SMALL elementary school in FCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go for Haycock, OP.

Haycock enrollment is down about 75-80 students from a few years ago. Very glad FCPS acted when it did to open the center at Lemon Road. Haycock is by no means small but it would have over 1000 kids now had the AAP assignments not changed.

Don't worry, Westbriar will fit the 1000 + kids bill and Lemon Road would be the same if it was in a better neighborhood. If you build them they will come. Opening more centers only allows the program to accept more kids at the margin.

Lemon Road is in a more expensive neighborhood than Westbriar.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does such a school exist? If so, please share the name and experience with the school.

Check out FCPS' Dashboard - listings for Spring 2014 enrollments are available:

http://www.fcps.edu/fts/dashboard/enrollment/esenroll13-14.html

Of the schools already mentioned, here are the corresponding Spring 2014 enrollment figures:

Fairfax Villa 596
Franklin Sherman 409
Lemon Road 482
Little Run 351
Olde Creek 439
Vienna 394
Waynewood 733

Vienna sounds ideal to me. And the biggest plus - no AAP!

Don't worry. They'll ruin it. A few years back formerly tiny Westbriar had about 420 students. Now with AAP and an addition they're projected at between 950 to 1000 in two years. NO school is safe in this system. AAP has forever warped sane schooling in this area and if you don't think the fever affects Vienna El. you're kidding yourself.

Latest CIP has Westbriar at 869 students in two years. Is the figure higher on the Dashboard? The projections for Westbriar may assume students from new construction in Tysons. The Vienna ES district doesn't include any Tysons projects. And many students at Westbriar live closer to Wolftrap and Colvin Run, each of which is projected to have extra capacity. Finally, FCPS expects to build another ES in the heart of Tysons at some point.

So I think you're hyperventilating a bit about Westbriar's future and, in any event, it doesn't mean Vienna will get huge any time soon. It's possible FCPS could formally move the small part of Freedom Hill in the Town of Vienna zoned for Madison to Vienna (currently, transfer requests are routinely granted), but that doesn't involve many kids.

Latest CIP is already outdated. These figures came from a meeting about Westbriar's addition and were confirmed by the principal. Yes, at some point, a new Tysons school will be built, but not in near future. Westbriar was a tiny school tucked on a tiny street that people didn't really care about until it became a center. Westbriar would not have gotten the addition if it didn't become a center --new construction in Tysons or no.

And we're talking about more than the doubling of a school population, so forgive me if my reaction seems to be hyperventilating. Completely changes the character of the school and will likely turn it into another AAP-heavy Louise Archer or Haycock disaster.

Assuming this is correct, I still don't think it means Vienna ES will follow suit.

Vienna El. will not follow suit. The principal and other administration will not request and will actually adamantly refuse any idea of a Center school, they will not even consider a Local Level IV there.

Also, there are town ordinances that do not allow Vienna El. to have any trailers and they've already had renovations in recent years so would not be slated to get another addition or renovation for a very long time. So the likelihood of it having the ability to take on extra students as a center school is pretty nil.

I do agree though that AAP has certainly warped FCPS indefinitely. The program had noble beginnings but has avalanched into a out of control disaster. No one at Gatehouse can even touch this monster, it's taken on a life of it's own and at the detriment to the rest of the school system.

THIS. And good for Vienna Elem. administration for saying no to AAP. Finally, a principled stand regarding this absurd program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does such a school exist? If so, please share the name and experience with the school.

Check out FCPS' Dashboard - listings for Spring 2014 enrollments are available:

http://www.fcps.edu/fts/dashboard/enrollment/esenroll13-14.html

Of the schools already mentioned, here are the corresponding Spring 2014 enrollment figures:

Fairfax Villa 596
Franklin Sherman 409
Lemon Road 482
Little Run 351
Olde Creek 439
Vienna 394
Waynewood 733

Vienna sounds ideal to me. And the biggest plus - no AAP!

Don't worry. They'll ruin it. A few years back formerly tiny Westbriar had about 420 students. Now with AAP and an addition they're projected at between 950 to 1000 in two years. NO school is safe in this system. AAP has forever warped sane schooling in this area and if you don't think the fever affects Vienna El. you're kidding yourself.

Latest CIP has Westbriar at 869 students in two years. Is the figure higher on the Dashboard? The projections for Westbriar may assume students from new construction in Tysons. The Vienna ES district doesn't include any Tysons projects. And many students at Westbriar live closer to Wolftrap and Colvin Run, each of which is projected to have extra capacity. Finally, FCPS expects to build another ES in the heart of Tysons at some point.

So I think you're hyperventilating a bit about Westbriar's future and, in any event, it doesn't mean Vienna will get huge any time soon. It's possible FCPS could formally move the small part of Freedom Hill in the Town of Vienna zoned for Madison to Vienna (currently, transfer requests are routinely granted), but that doesn't involve many kids.

Latest CIP is already outdated. These figures came from a meeting about Westbriar's addition and were confirmed by the principal. Yes, at some point, a new Tysons school will be built, but not in near future. Westbriar was a tiny school tucked on a tiny street that people didn't really care about until it became a center. Westbriar would not have gotten the addition if it didn't become a center --new construction in Tysons or no.

And we're talking about more than the doubling of a school population, so forgive me if my reaction seems to be hyperventilating. Completely changes the character of the school and will likely turn it into another AAP-heavy Louise Archer or Haycock disaster.

Assuming this is correct, I still don't think it means Vienna ES will follow suit.

Vienna El. will not follow suit. The principal and other administration will not request and will actually adamantly refuse any idea of a Center school, they will not even consider a Local Level IV there.

Also, there are town ordinances that do not allow Vienna El. to have any trailers and they've already had renovations in recent years so would not be slated to get another addition or renovation for a very long time. So the likelihood of it having the ability to take on extra students as a center school is pretty nil.

I do agree though that AAP has certainly warped FCPS indefinitely. The program had noble beginnings but has avalanched into a out of control disaster. No one at Gatehouse can even touch this monster, it's taken on a life of it's own and at the detriment to the rest of the school system.

Vienna ES isn't in danger of being a center or local level IV- since they are small and surrounded by other schools that absorb the growth- they do not send many AAP eligible students to Louise Archer (single digits). Neither does Cunnigham park (in Vienna). Schools like Flint Hill ES can send kids to Louise Archer and have a local level IV- they have kids in the double digits eligible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Vienna ES isn't in danger of being a center or local level IV- since they are small and surrounded by other schools that absorb the growth- they do not send many AAP eligible students to Louise Archer (single digits). Neither does Cunnigham park (in Vienna). Schools like Flint Hill ES can send kids to Louise Archer and have a local level IV- they have kids in the double digits eligible.

Don't know why you think this. For 2013-14, FCPS reported 39 students transferring out of Cunningham Park ES for AAP, and 55 tranferring out of Vienna ES for AAP.

[Anonymous]

If you want the smallest school in Fairfax County it's Mount Eagle. I wouldn't recommend it - but it's the smallest.

[Anonymous]

Why won't you recommend mount eagle?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you want the smallest school in Fairfax County it's Mount Eagle. I wouldn't recommend it - but it's the smallest.

Yes, why wouldn't you recommend it?
Mount Eagle is a great school. Excellent community and caring, hard working teachers. Lower test scores but that's likely due to many new ESOL students and transient population.
It is not the smallest. Bucknell is the smallest--under 300, Mt Eagle has over 400.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Vienna ES isn't in danger of being a center or local level IV- since they are small and surrounded by other schools that absorb the growth- they do not send many AAP eligible students to Louise Archer (single digits). Neither does Cunnigham park (in Vienna). Schools like Flint Hill ES can send kids to Louise Archer and have a local level IV- they have kids in the double digits eligible.

Don't know why you think this. For 2013-14, FCPS reported 39 students transferring out of Cunningham Park ES for AAP, and 55 tranferring out of Vienna ES for AAP.

I know multiple people from Vienna that went to Louise Archer. 55 total over the 4 years of aap is about 12 per grade. or greater than 20%.

[Anonymous]

Why is a SMALL school a priority for you, OP?

[Anonymous]

Loudoun has a few. Lincoln has 135 kids, Waterford is under 200 as is Baniker.

[Anonymous]

Wow - Vienna sounds great. Know where I should have sent my kids.

I hated an elementary AAP center school divided.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow - Vienna sounds great. Know where I should have sent my kids.

I hated an elementary AAP center school divided.

+1
We're not the only ones, PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is a SMALL school a priority for you, OP?

I'm not OP, but I moved from an area where schools have 1.5 to 3 classes per grade, and experienced some culture shock when my son entered Providence ES. It's just too many people IMO. I feel like a kid could fall through the cracks easily and never get to know everyone in one's grade.

It's just so different than how I grew up. I can name every kid who I attended elementary school with. The families all at least knew each other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is a SMALL school a priority for you, OP?

I'm not OP, but I moved from an area where schools have 1.5 to 3 classes per grade, and experienced some culture shock when my son entered Providence ES. It's just too many people IMO. I feel like a kid could fall through the cracks easily and never get to know everyone in one's grade.

It's just so different than how I grew up. I can name every kid who I attended elementary school with. The families all at least knew each other.

Agreed. Even the smaller schools have a lot with class sizes close to 30.