FCPS High School Poverty and Enrollment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. It seems to me that FCPS does fine by military families but there’s still a legitimate discussion to be had as to whether military families living at Ft. Belvoir should effectively have pupil placement options not available to other non-military families.

Of course the military kids should have this ability.

My goodness.

+1
I am against special options given to one group of kids vs another (AAP vs Gen Ed). However, when it comes to military families, I think they should definitely get first priority pupil placements - over everyone else. They have earned it. No one else should get special choices, just military families and their kids.

You’re against special options given to one group of kids vs. another, unless they are military kids?

You are being facetious, right?

Getting stationed at Fort Belvoir is very different than a person voluntarily purchasing in Silverbrook knowing that the house is zoned for Lewis, or a home on the other side of Belvoir knowing you are zoned for Mount Vernon, then complaining that you are zoned for Lewis or MV and wanting special treatment to send your kids to a different school, or trying to push through redistricting other people who made sacrifices to buy a more expensive home so you don't have to go to the school you picked when you bought your house.

The military kid station at Belvoir is an extraordinary situation.

The other person made an educated housing choice.

Why is real estate always brought into the conversation? The private mortgages we pay should not have anything to do with public schools (i.e., you shouldn't use your expensive mortgage as an excuse for why you deserve a better school than someone else.) And before you bring up taxes, we all pay the same tax rate.

What you are highlighting, however, is that FCPS has completely failed to fix the bad optics surrounding it's base school that serves Belvoir. We shouldn't even be having this conversation if FCPS had any spine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. It seems to me that FCPS does fine by military families but there’s still a legitimate discussion to be had as to whether military families living at Ft. Belvoir should effectively have pupil placement options not available to other non-military families.

Of course the military kids should have this ability.

My goodness.

+1
I am against special options given to one group of kids vs another (AAP vs Gen Ed). However, when it comes to military families, I think they should definitely get first priority pupil placements - over everyone else. They have earned it. No one else should get special choices, just military families and their kids.

You’re against special options given to one group of kids vs. another, unless they are military kids?

You are being facetious, right?

Getting stationed at Fort Belvoir is very different than a person voluntarily purchasing in Silverbrook knowing that the house is zoned for Lewis, or a home on the other side of Belvoir knowing you are zoned for Mount Vernon, then complaining that you are zoned for Lewis or MV and wanting special treatment to send your kids to a different school, or trying to push through redistricting other people who made sacrifices to buy a more expensive home so you don't have to go to the school you picked when you bought your house.

The military kid station at Belvoir is an extraordinary situation.

The other person made an educated housing choice.

Why is real estate always brought into the conversation? The private mortgages we pay should not have anything to do with public schools (i.e., you shouldn't use your expensive mortgage as an excuse for why you deserve a better school than someone else.) And before you bring up taxes, we all pay the same tax rate.

What you are highlighting, however, is that FCPS has completely failed to fix the bad optics surrounding it's base school that serves Belvoir. We shouldn't even be having this conversation if FCPS had any spine.

Part of the bad optics around Mt. Vernon is that people know many military families transfer out even though the school does what is within its power to cater to those families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it doesn’t cost us anything then all parents in the county should be allowed to choose the school of choice for their child.

The argument boils down to advocating for more fringe benefits for military personnel instead of just actually paying them more or actually providing better healthcare.

They chose/volunteered. Did their kids? No. But neither did the kids born to single parent/low income/homeless choose to be born into their situation. That argument doesn’t actually go very far.

This is exactly right. Some of the PPs are adamant to protect the special fringe benefits military families are getting because they think it’s somehow patriotic to do so, but giving them schooling options denied other families still is poor educational policy. If you want to incentivize people to enlist, teach, or be a doctor in a poor community, just pay them more.

The open enrollment based on exisiting open capacity in any Virginia school division is state not local. https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title22.1/chapter1/section22.1-7.2/

The fact is if a military connected family does not get on base housing the student does not get the out of FCPS cycle opportunity for transfer. Bases do not have an unlimited supply of 1 to 3 bedroom units.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. It seems to me that FCPS does fine by military families but there’s still a legitimate discussion to be had as to whether military families living at Ft. Belvoir should effectively have pupil placement options not available to other non-military families.

Of course the military kids should have this ability.

My goodness.

+1
I am against special options given to one group of kids vs another (AAP vs Gen Ed). However, when it comes to military families, I think they should definitely get first priority pupil placements - over everyone else. They have earned it. No one else should get special choices, just military families and their kids.

You’re against special options given to one group of kids vs. another, unless they are military kids?

You are being facetious, right?

Getting stationed at Fort Belvoir is very different than a person voluntarily purchasing in Silverbrook knowing that the house is zoned for Lewis, or a home on the other side of Belvoir knowing you are zoned for Mount Vernon, then complaining that you are zoned for Lewis or MV and wanting special treatment to send your kids to a different school, or trying to push through redistricting other people who made sacrifices to buy a more expensive home so you don't have to go to the school you picked when you bought your house.

The military kid station at Belvoir is an extraordinary situation.

The other person made an educated housing choice.

Why is real estate always brought into the conversation? The private mortgages we pay should not have anything to do with public schools (i.e., you shouldn't use your expensive mortgage as an excuse for why you deserve a better school than someone else.) And before you bring up taxes, we all pay the same tax rate.

What you are highlighting, however, is that FCPS has completely failed to fix the bad optics surrounding it's base school that serves Belvoir. We shouldn't even be having this conversation if FCPS had any spine.

Part of the bad optics around Mt. Vernon is that people know many military families transfer out even though the school does what is within its power to cater to those families.

The bad optics are because of a 57% farms rate at a school that performs lower than just about any other school in the county on just about every metric.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it doesn’t cost us anything then all parents in the county should be allowed to choose the school of choice for their child.

The argument boils down to advocating for more fringe benefits for military personnel instead of just actually paying them more or actually providing better healthcare.

They chose/volunteered. Did their kids? No. But neither did the kids born to single parent/low income/homeless choose to be born into their situation. That argument doesn’t actually go very far.

This is exactly right. Some of the PPs are adamant to protect the special fringe benefits military families are getting because they think it’s somehow patriotic to do so, but giving them schooling options denied other families still is poor educational policy. If you want to incentivize people to enlist, teach, or be a doctor in a poor community, just pay them more.

The open enrollment based on exisiting open capacity in any Virginia school division is state not local. https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title22.1/chapter1/section22.1-7.2/

The fact is if a military connected family does not get on base housing the student does not get the out of FCPS cycle opportunity for transfer. Bases do not have an unlimited supply of 1 to 3 bedroom units.

A family that doesn't live on post can choose a different district

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. It seems to me that FCPS does fine by military families but there’s still a legitimate discussion to be had as to whether military families living at Ft. Belvoir should effectively have pupil placement options not available to other non-military families.

Of course the military kids should have this ability.

My goodness.

+1
I am against special options given to one group of kids vs another (AAP vs Gen Ed). However, when it comes to military families, I think they should definitely get first priority pupil placements - over everyone else. They have earned it. No one else should get special choices, just military families and their kids.

You’re against special options given to one group of kids vs. another, unless they are military kids?

You are being facetious, right?

Getting stationed at Fort Belvoir is very different than a person voluntarily purchasing in Silverbrook knowing that the house is zoned for Lewis, or a home on the other side of Belvoir knowing you are zoned for Mount Vernon, then complaining that you are zoned for Lewis or MV and wanting special treatment to send your kids to a different school, or trying to push through redistricting other people who made sacrifices to buy a more expensive home so you don't have to go to the school you picked when you bought your house.

The military kid station at Belvoir is an extraordinary situation.

The other person made an educated housing choice.

All these kids deserve a public education, but military kids don’t deserve preferential treatment.

They already are receiving an education.

[Anonymous]

FYI, families with older high school kids that live on base are usually living on base because they are required to live on base due to rank and job requirements. They don't have a choice of whether to live on base or purchase/rent in their desired school zone. The position the military parent is in has mandated housing.

[Anonymous]

This is my guess as to why the policy:

People were probably refusing to move to Fort Belvoir because of the bad reputation of Mount Vernon. My guess is that the officials at Fort Belvoir requested a boundary adjustment out of Mount Vernon and this was the result.

I don't know this to be true--but it seems likely to me.

Does anyone know how long this policy has been in effect? Is it applied in any other school systems?

Does this have anything to do with that incident at the middle school when the girl attacked the Fort Belvoir kid on the school bus?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FYI, families with older high school kids that live on base are usually living on base because they are required to live on base due to rank and job requirements. They don't have a choice of whether to live on base or purchase/rent in their desired school zone. The position the military parent is in has mandated housing.

+1

This is about keeping military families together, instead of the military member leaving the family behind in their last duty station and coming alone ("geo-baching"), which ultimately impacts retention. Without it, the anecdote is a military member deciding to retire or separate instead of taking the assignment at a post where their high schooler would have to attend a failing high school. It's not an uncommon reason why people decide to leave the military.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it doesn’t cost us anything then all parents in the county should be allowed to choose the school of choice for their child.

The argument boils down to advocating for more fringe benefits for military personnel instead of just actually paying them more or actually providing better healthcare.

They chose/volunteered. Did their kids? No. But neither did the kids born to single parent/low income/homeless choose to be born into their situation. That argument doesn’t actually go very far.

This is exactly right. Some of the PPs are adamant to protect the special fringe benefits military families are getting because they think it’s somehow patriotic to do so, but giving them schooling options denied other families still is poor educational policy. If you want to incentivize people to enlist, teach, or be a doctor in a poor community, just pay them more.

The open enrollment based on exisiting open capacity in any Virginia school division is state not local. https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title22.1/chapter1/section22.1-7.2/

The fact is if a military connected family does not get on base housing the student does not get the out of FCPS cycle opportunity for transfer. Bases do not have an unlimited supply of 1 to 3 bedroom units.

That was already pointed out earlier. Just because the special treatment may be afforded under state law does not mean it is good public policy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it doesn’t cost us anything then all parents in the county should be allowed to choose the school of choice for their child.

The argument boils down to advocating for more fringe benefits for military personnel instead of just actually paying them more or actually providing better healthcare.

They chose/volunteered. Did their kids? No. But neither did the kids born to single parent/low income/homeless choose to be born into their situation. That argument doesn’t actually go very far.

This is exactly right. Some of the PPs are adamant to protect the special fringe benefits military families are getting because they think it’s somehow patriotic to do so, but giving them schooling options denied other families still is poor educational policy. If you want to incentivize people to enlist, teach, or be a doctor in a poor community, just pay them more.

The open enrollment based on exisiting open capacity in any Virginia school division is state not local. https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title22.1/chapter1/section22.1-7.2/

The fact is if a military connected family does not get on base housing the student does not get the out of FCPS cycle opportunity for transfer. Bases do not have an unlimited supply of 1 to 3 bedroom units.

That was already pointed out earlier. Just because the special treatment may be afforded under state law does not mean it is good public policy.

Schools/School districts provide special treatment to a lot of different groups. Not sure what the big deal here is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it doesn’t cost us anything then all parents in the county should be allowed to choose the school of choice for their child.

The argument boils down to advocating for more fringe benefits for military personnel instead of just actually paying them more or actually providing better healthcare.

They chose/volunteered. Did their kids? No. But neither did the kids born to single parent/low income/homeless choose to be born into their situation. That argument doesn’t actually go very far.

This is exactly right. Some of the PPs are adamant to protect the special fringe benefits military families are getting because they think it’s somehow patriotic to do so, but giving them schooling options denied other families still is poor educational policy. If you want to incentivize people to enlist, teach, or be a doctor in a poor community, just pay them more.

The open enrollment based on exisiting open capacity in any Virginia school division is state not local. https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title22.1/chapter1/section22.1-7.2/

The fact is if a military connected family does not get on base housing the student does not get the out of FCPS cycle opportunity for transfer. Bases do not have an unlimited supply of 1 to 3 bedroom units.

That was already pointed out earlier. Just because the special treatment may be afforded under state law does not mean it is good public policy.

Schools/School districts provide special treatment to a lot of different groups. Not sure what the big deal here is.

That proves too much. It’s not a good reason to continue a policy that has weakened schools like Mount Vernon all over the state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it doesn’t cost us anything then all parents in the county should be allowed to choose the school of choice for their child.

The argument boils down to advocating for more fringe benefits for military personnel instead of just actually paying them more or actually providing better healthcare.

They chose/volunteered. Did their kids? No. But neither did the kids born to single parent/low income/homeless choose to be born into their situation. That argument doesn’t actually go very far.

This is exactly right. Some of the PPs are adamant to protect the special fringe benefits military families are getting because they think it’s somehow patriotic to do so, but giving them schooling options denied other families still is poor educational policy. If you want to incentivize people to enlist, teach, or be a doctor in a poor community, just pay them more.

The open enrollment based on exisiting open capacity in any Virginia school division is state not local. https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title22.1/chapter1/section22.1-7.2/

The fact is if a military connected family does not get on base housing the student does not get the out of FCPS cycle opportunity for transfer. Bases do not have an unlimited supply of 1 to 3 bedroom units.

That was already pointed out earlier. Just because the special treatment may be afforded under state law does not mean it is good public policy.

Schools/School districts provide special treatment to a lot of different groups. Not sure what the big deal here is.

That proves too much. It’s not a good reason to continue a policy that has weakened schools like Mount Vernon all over the state.

So, you want military kids to be a pawn in your hopes they will improve Mount Vernon? I'm pretty sure Mount Vernon is the only high school in FCPS affected by this.

several reasons for this policy have already been stated:

1. People may have lived in temporary housing in another boundary and moved to Fort Belvoir. So, you are asking families who necessarily move frequently to add one more school to their child's experience.
2. Families who move here may be retiring or choosing geographic separation due to a school.
3. Military may have put pressure on the school system because of #2.

When did this policy get enacted? Is it a state policy or just FCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. It seems to me that FCPS does fine by military families but there’s still a legitimate discussion to be had as to whether military families living at Ft. Belvoir should effectively have pupil placement options not available to other non-military families.

Of course the military kids should have this ability.

My goodness.

+1
I am against special options given to one group of kids vs another (AAP vs Gen Ed). However, when it comes to military families, I think they should definitely get first priority pupil placements - over everyone else. They have earned it. No one else should get special choices, just military families and their kids.

You’re against special options given to one group of kids vs. another, unless they are military kids?

You are being facetious, right?

Getting stationed at Fort Belvoir is very different than a person voluntarily purchasing in Silverbrook knowing that the house is zoned for Lewis, or a home on the other side of Belvoir knowing you are zoned for Mount Vernon, then complaining that you are zoned for Lewis or MV and wanting special treatment to send your kids to a different school, or trying to push through redistricting other people who made sacrifices to buy a more expensive home so you don't have to go to the school you picked when you bought your house.

The military kid station at Belvoir is an extraordinary situation.

The other person made an educated housing choice.

Why is real estate always brought into the conversation? The private mortgages we pay should not have anything to do with public schools (i.e., you shouldn't use your expensive mortgage as an excuse for why you deserve a better school than someone else.) And before you bring up taxes, we all pay the same tax rate.

What you are highlighting, however, is that FCPS has completely failed to fix the bad optics surrounding it's base school that serves Belvoir. We shouldn't even be having this conversation if FCPS had any spine.

private mortgages have nothing to do with it, it's that taxes are associated with the value of the home, if there was a flat tax on homes then no one should complain, in fact the values of the homes would be very different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. It seems to me that FCPS does fine by military families but there’s still a legitimate discussion to be had as to whether military families living at Ft. Belvoir should effectively have pupil placement options not available to other non-military families.

Of course the military kids should have this ability.

My goodness.

+1
I am against special options given to one group of kids vs another (AAP vs Gen Ed). However, when it comes to military families, I think they should definitely get first priority pupil placements - over everyone else. They have earned it. No one else should get special choices, just military families and their kids.

You’re against special options given to one group of kids vs. another, unless they are military kids?

You are being facetious, right?

Getting stationed at Fort Belvoir is very different than a person voluntarily purchasing in Silverbrook knowing that the house is zoned for Lewis, or a home on the other side of Belvoir knowing you are zoned for Mount Vernon, then complaining that you are zoned for Lewis or MV and wanting special treatment to send your kids to a different school, or trying to push through redistricting other people who made sacrifices to buy a more expensive home so you don't have to go to the school you picked when you bought your house.

The military kid station at Belvoir is an extraordinary situation.

The other person made an educated housing choice.

Why is real estate always brought into the conversation? The private mortgages we pay should not have anything to do with public schools (i.e., you shouldn't use your expensive mortgage as an excuse for why you deserve a better school than someone else.) And before you bring up taxes, we all pay the same tax rate.

What you are highlighting, however, is that FCPS has completely failed to fix the bad optics surrounding it's base school that serves Belvoir. We shouldn't even be having this conversation if FCPS had any spine.

private mortgages have nothing to do with it, it's that taxes are associated with the value of the home, if there was a flat tax on homes then no one should complain, in fact the values of the homes would be very different.

let me restate, if the taxes on homes were not associated to home values then you can make that argument but the fact that you pay more taxes on more expensive homes that pay for schools nullifies your complaint.