Boundaries assessment update 2023

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course, SB could also opt for a new Western HS (assuming it’s eventually built) to be a choice/option/magnet program… either a TJ clone/spinoff (due to demand) or perhaps an Arts or other focus… but basically make it a “more reasonable commute distance” option for some folks, which could help alleviate crowding at a number of schools without requiring dramatic boundary changes.

So the county could have two magnets almost inaccessible from the eastern portion of the county? Would a kid who got into a humanities magnet really get bussed from West Potomac or Edison an hour an a half west (no busses in the HOV lanes) for school every morning?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People need to stop taking about Langley and Great Falls. Nothing will happen.

The real issue is out west with Chantilly/Centreville/Westfield.

Ignore the elephant in the room and focus elsewhere

[Anonymous]

What about giving FARMs families the option of being bussed to Langley? Start with the highest FARMs school and continue to fill spaces until Langley is near capacity? Allow the families that want to leave the schools that are high FARMs and low opportunity the chance to attend one of the low FARMs schools? Make it a choice so that the families who are below the poverty line but are invested in their kids education have the chance to attend a better school.

There is not much we can do to help the kids who come from families were the parents are not invested in school or where the family pressures demand that the kid miss school to work or watch siblings. We know that the kids with high rates of absenteeism need a different solution then what we are providing them. Bussing won’t help those kids. But the kids who do want more and are looking for more opportunities would have the choice to move to a different commute.

We really need to invest in alternative programs for many of the FARMs kids. Schools that offer classes at different times of day or even a modified school schedule so that the child is taking 2 classes at a time but the school year runs all year. Some way to meet those kids at a place where they can attend school in a non-traditional manner but get an education that will give them a chance at improving their quality of life. Hopefully then they can be in a better place where their kids can access school in a traditional manner and further improve their life.

All the boundary changes in the world are not going to address the real issues that the low FARMs schools have and we already know that the current form of education is not working for many of those kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People need to stop taking about Langley and Great Falls. Nothing will happen.

The real issue is out west with Chantilly/Centreville/Westfield.

Westfield is under capacity. For now growth near the Silver Line extension can be accommodated at Westfield and Herndon.

They already have committed to expand Centreville to 3000 seats.

They will leave Chantilly overcrowded because they know people prefer a school close to their homes, especially when it is lower FARMS than other schools in the area.

That’s how they’ll deal with the “real issue.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People need to stop taking about Langley and Great Falls. Nothing will happen.

The real issue is out west with Chantilly/Centreville/Westfield.

It looks like the next School Board member for Dranesville will come from Herndon. She might be a wild card. She isn’t going to prioritize Langley’s interests over everyone else’s like Elaine Tholen does, though she seems to care more about increasing teacher pay than anything else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about giving FARMs families the option of being bussed to Langley? Start with the highest FARMs school and continue to fill spaces until Langley is near capacity? Allow the families that want to leave the schools that are high FARMs and low opportunity the chance to attend one of the low FARMs schools? Make it a choice so that the families who are below the poverty line but are invested in their kids education have the chance to attend a better school.

There is not much we can do to help the kids who come from families were the parents are not invested in school or where the family pressures demand that the kid miss school to work or watch siblings. We know that the kids with high rates of absenteeism need a different solution then what we are providing them. Bussing won’t help those kids. But the kids who do want more and are looking for more opportunities would have the choice to move to a different commute.

We really need to invest in alternative programs for many of the FARMs kids. Schools that offer classes at different times of day or even a modified school schedule so that the child is taking 2 classes at a time but the school year runs all year. Some way to meet those kids at a place where they can attend school in a non-traditional manner but get an education that will give them a chance at improving their quality of life. Hopefully then they can be in a better place where their kids can access school in a traditional manner and further improve their life.


All the boundary changes in the world are not going to address the real issues that the low FARMs schools have and we already know that the current form of education is not working for many of those kids.

We need creative solutions like this to solve for kids assigned to underperforming schools. Full school choice starting with kids in the lowest performing schools is a great start using the current pupil placement system. This is a better solution then boundary changes which require a level of analysis and future predicting FCPS seems incapable of doing well. FWIW, according to FCPS Langley was at 91% of their expanded capacity last year and would be over-capacity had they not expanded the school when they did the reno (1st since it was built in 1965). https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/fcps.fts/viz/SY2022-23CapacityDashboard/ReadMe
When the phased in boundary change with McLean completes next year, Langley will likely be close to 95+%. Still, plenty of room but hardly underutilized.

FCPS lost close to 10,000 students during their pandemic shut down and those students dont seem to be coming back. They were mostly at the early elementary school level so as the years tick by, the current trend is for fewer high school students at FCPS, not more. How do you justify the cost of a new high school for a system that lost the equivalent of 4+ high schools in recent years? We do need another TJ or two.....more STEM focused schools to create more opportunities for our kids rather than reallocating the precious few spaces at current TJ. Maybe Herndon and a school in south county area? I pray the incoming school board has some creative thinkers who can push FCPS to focus on more effective solutions and not rearranging the deck chairs on a sinking ship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about giving FARMs families the option of being bussed to Langley? Start with the highest FARMs school and continue to fill spaces until Langley is near capacity? Allow the families that want to leave the schools that are high FARMs and low opportunity the chance to attend one of the low FARMs schools? Make it a choice so that the families who are below the poverty line but are invested in their kids education have the chance to attend a better school.

There is not much we can do to help the kids who come from families were the parents are not invested in school or where the family pressures demand that the kid miss school to work or watch siblings. We know that the kids with high rates of absenteeism need a different solution then what we are providing them. Bussing won’t help those kids. But the kids who do want more and are looking for more opportunities would have the choice to move to a different commute.

We really need to invest in alternative programs for many of the FARMs kids. Schools that offer classes at different times of day or even a modified school schedule so that the child is taking 2 classes at a time but the school year runs all year. Some way to meet those kids at a place where they can attend school in a non-traditional manner but get an education that will give them a chance at improving their quality of life. Hopefully then they can be in a better place where their kids can access school in a traditional manner and further improve their life.


All the boundary changes in the world are not going to address the real issues that the low FARMs schools have and we already know that the current form of education is not working for many of those kids.

We need creative solutions like this to solve for kids assigned to underperforming schools. Full school choice starting with kids in the lowest performing schools is a great start using the current pupil placement system. This is a better solution then boundary changes which require a level of analysis and future predicting FCPS seems incapable of doing well. FWIW, according to FCPS Langley was at 91% of their expanded capacity last year and would be over-capacity had they not expanded the school when they did the reno (1st since it was built in 1965). https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/fcps.fts/viz/SY2022-23CapacityDashboard/ReadMe
When the phased in boundary change with McLean completes next year, Langley will likely be close to 95+%. Still, plenty of room but hardly underutilized.

FCPS lost close to 10,000 students during their pandemic shut down and those students dont seem to be coming back. They were mostly at the early elementary school level so as the years tick by, the current trend is for fewer high school students at FCPS, not more. How do you justify the cost of a new high school for a system that lost the equivalent of 4+ high schools in recent years? We do need another TJ or two.....more STEM focused schools to create more opportunities for our kids rather than reallocating the precious few spaces at current TJ. Maybe Herndon and a school in south county area? I pray the incoming school board has some creative thinkers who can push FCPS to focus on more effective solutions and not rearranging the deck chairs on a sinking ship.

I don't know if PP is one or two people.

However, I don't think PP(s) know many FARMS families or they would not think this will solve the problem. I have experience in teaching in a school where FARMS families lived outside the community. It does not work. Family support is difficult enough when the school is close by. It is almost nil when the school is hard to reach.

Good idea in theory--not in practice.

[Anonymous]

Westfield is under capacity. For now growth near the Silver Line extension can be accommodated at Westfield and Herndon.

2657 is hardly small. I do realize Westfield was expanded to 3000(?) but the Silver LIne area might add to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about giving FARMs families the option of being bussed to Langley? Start with the highest FARMs school and continue to fill spaces until Langley is near capacity? Allow the families that want to leave the schools that are high FARMs and low opportunity the chance to attend one of the low FARMs schools? Make it a choice so that the families who are below the poverty line but are invested in their kids education have the chance to attend a better school.

There is not much we can do to help the kids who come from families were the parents are not invested in school or where the family pressures demand that the kid miss school to work or watch siblings. We know that the kids with high rates of absenteeism need a different solution then what we are providing them. Bussing won’t help those kids. But the kids who do want more and are looking for more opportunities would have the choice to move to a different commute.

We really need to invest in alternative programs for many of the FARMs kids. Schools that offer classes at different times of day or even a modified school schedule so that the child is taking 2 classes at a time but the school year runs all year. Some way to meet those kids at a place where they can attend school in a non-traditional manner but get an education that will give them a chance at improving their quality of life. Hopefully then they can be in a better place where their kids can access school in a traditional manner and further improve their life.


All the boundary changes in the world are not going to address the real issues that the low FARMs schools have and we already know that the current form of education is not working for many of those kids.

We need creative solutions like this to solve for kids assigned to underperforming schools. Full school choice starting with kids in the lowest performing schools is a great start using the current pupil placement system. This is a better solution then boundary changes which require a level of analysis and future predicting FCPS seems incapable of doing well. FWIW, according to FCPS Langley was at 91% of their expanded capacity last year and would be over-capacity had they not expanded the school when they did the reno (1st since it was built in 1965). https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/fcps.fts/viz/SY2022-23CapacityDashboard/ReadMe
When the phased in boundary change with McLean completes next year, Langley will likely be close to 95+%. Still, plenty of room but hardly underutilized.

FCPS lost close to 10,000 students during their pandemic shut down and those students dont seem to be coming back. They were mostly at the early elementary school level so as the years tick by, the current trend is for fewer high school students at FCPS, not more. How do you justify the cost of a new high school for a system that lost the equivalent of 4+ high schools in recent years? We do need another TJ or two.....more STEM focused schools to create more opportunities for our kids rather than reallocating the precious few spaces at current TJ. Maybe Herndon and a school in south county area? I pray the incoming school board has some creative thinkers who can push FCPS to focus on more effective solutions and not rearranging the deck chairs on a sinking ship.

I don't know if PP is one or two people.

However, I don't think PP(s) know many FARMS families or they would not think this will solve the problem. I have experience in teaching in a school where FARMS families lived outside the community. It does not work. Family support is difficult enough when the school is close by. It is almost nil when the school is hard to reach.

Good idea in theory--not in practice.

Agree it's not THE solution but as a suite of solutions, I think its worth a try - not every high performing school is hard to get to. Although I do agree that community based schools are the best solution for most students and the community, when another school can meet a specific need and help balance school capacity without disrupting communities, we should at least look at it.

I honestly dont think that FCPS is fixable at its current size. It's too large and too geographically spread out to work well. Smaller, community based school systems are more nimble, responsive to specific community needs and accountable. Totally support more funding for schools with more needs but the Large Corporate FCPS version is irreparably broken.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about giving FARMs families the option of being bussed to Langley? Start with the highest FARMs school and continue to fill spaces until Langley is near capacity? Allow the families that want to leave the schools that are high FARMs and low opportunity the chance to attend one of the low FARMs schools? Make it a choice so that the families who are below the poverty line but are invested in their kids education have the chance to attend a better school.

There is not much we can do to help the kids who come from families were the parents are not invested in school or where the family pressures demand that the kid miss school to work or watch siblings. We know that the kids with high rates of absenteeism need a different solution then what we are providing them. Bussing won’t help those kids. But the kids who do want more and are looking for more opportunities would have the choice to move to a different commute.

We really need to invest in alternative programs for many of the FARMs kids. Schools that offer classes at different times of day or even a modified school schedule so that the child is taking 2 classes at a time but the school year runs all year. Some way to meet those kids at a place where they can attend school in a non-traditional manner but get an education that will give them a chance at improving their quality of life. Hopefully then they can be in a better place where their kids can access school in a traditional manner and further improve their life.


All the boundary changes in the world are not going to address the real issues that the low FARMs schools have and we already know that the current form of education is not working for many of those kids.

We need creative solutions like this to solve for kids assigned to underperforming schools. Full school choice starting with kids in the lowest performing schools is a great start using the current pupil placement system. This is a better solution then boundary changes which require a level of analysis and future predicting FCPS seems incapable of doing well. FWIW, according to FCPS Langley was at 91% of their expanded capacity last year and would be over-capacity had they not expanded the school when they did the reno (1st since it was built in 1965). https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/fcps.fts/viz/SY2022-23CapacityDashboard/ReadMe
When the phased in boundary change with McLean completes next year, Langley will likely be close to 95+%. Still, plenty of room but hardly underutilized.

FCPS lost close to 10,000 students during their pandemic shut down and those students dont seem to be coming back. They were mostly at the early elementary school level so as the years tick by, the current trend is for fewer high school students at FCPS, not more. How do you justify the cost of a new high school for a system that lost the equivalent of 4+ high schools in recent years? We do need another TJ or two.....more STEM focused schools to create more opportunities for our kids rather than reallocating the precious few spaces at current TJ. Maybe Herndon and a school in south county area? I pray the incoming school board has some creative thinkers who can push FCPS to focus on more effective solutions and not rearranging the deck chairs on a sinking ship.

I don't know if PP is one or two people.

However, I don't think PP(s) know many FARMS families or they would not think this will solve the problem. I have experience in teaching in a school where FARMS families lived outside the community. It does not work. Family support is difficult enough when the school is close by. It is almost nil when the school is hard to reach.

Good idea in theory--not in practice.

Agree it's not THE solution but as a suite of solutions, I think its worth a try - not every high performing school is hard to get to. Although I do agree that community based schools are the best solution for most students and the community, when another school can meet a specific need and help balance school capacity without disrupting communities, we should at least look at it.

I honestly dont think that FCPS is fixable at its current size. It's too large and too geographically spread out to work well. Smaller, community based school systems are more nimble, responsive to specific community needs and accountable. Totally support more funding for schools with more needs but the Large Corporate FCPS version is irreparably broken.

I do not see how this could be legally applied. If there is space--anyone can legally apply for pupil placement. Providing transportation only for FARMS students could be dicey. And, if it were legal, I could see some people fraudulently becoming FARMS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about giving FARMs families the option of being bussed to Langley? Start with the highest FARMs school and continue to fill spaces until Langley is near capacity? Allow the families that want to leave the schools that are high FARMs and low opportunity the chance to attend one of the low FARMs schools? Make it a choice so that the families who are below the poverty line but are invested in their kids education have the chance to attend a better school.

There is not much we can do to help the kids who come from families were the parents are not invested in school or where the family pressures demand that the kid miss school to work or watch siblings. We know that the kids with high rates of absenteeism need a different solution then what we are providing them. Bussing won’t help those kids. But the kids who do want more and are looking for more opportunities would have the choice to move to a different commute.

We really need to invest in alternative programs for many of the FARMs kids. Schools that offer classes at different times of day or even a modified school schedule so that the child is taking 2 classes at a time but the school year runs all year. Some way to meet those kids at a place where they can attend school in a non-traditional manner but get an education that will give them a chance at improving their quality of life. Hopefully then they can be in a better place where their kids can access school in a traditional manner and further improve their life.


All the boundary changes in the world are not going to address the real issues that the low FARMs schools have and we already know that the current form of education is not working for many of those kids.

We need creative solutions like this to solve for kids assigned to underperforming schools. Full school choice starting with kids in the lowest performing schools is a great start using the current pupil placement system. This is a better solution then boundary changes which require a level of analysis and future predicting FCPS seems incapable of doing well. FWIW, according to FCPS Langley was at 91% of their expanded capacity last year and would be over-capacity had they not expanded the school when they did the reno (1st since it was built in 1965). https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/fcps.fts/viz/SY2022-23CapacityDashboard/ReadMe
When the phased in boundary change with McLean completes next year, Langley will likely be close to 95+%. Still, plenty of room but hardly underutilized.

FCPS lost close to 10,000 students during their pandemic shut down and those students dont seem to be coming back. They were mostly at the early elementary school level so as the years tick by, the current trend is for fewer high school students at FCPS, not more. How do you justify the cost of a new high school for a system that lost the equivalent of 4+ high schools in recent years? We do need another TJ or two.....more STEM focused schools to create more opportunities for our kids rather than reallocating the precious few spaces at current TJ. Maybe Herndon and a school in south county area? I pray the incoming school board has some creative thinkers who can push FCPS to focus on more effective solutions and not rearranging the deck chairs on a sinking ship.

I don't know if PP is one or two people.

However, I don't think PP(s) know many FARMS families or they would not think this will solve the problem. I have experience in teaching in a school where FARMS families lived outside the community. It does not work. Family support is difficult enough when the school is close by. It is almost nil when the school is hard to reach.

Good idea in theory--not in practice.

Agree it's not THE solution but as a suite of solutions, I think its worth a try - not every high performing school is hard to get to. Although I do agree that community based schools are the best solution for most students and the community, when another school can meet a specific need and help balance school capacity without disrupting communities, we should at least look at it.

I honestly dont think that FCPS is fixable at its current size. It's too large and too geographically spread out to work well. Smaller, community based school systems are more nimble, responsive to specific community needs and accountable. Totally support more funding for schools with more needs but the Large Corporate FCPS version is irreparably broken.

I imagine breaking up FCPS into smaller chunks will lead to more disparity across the county. Wouldn't high SES regions (Gf and Mclean) thrive while low SES regions (SE fairfax) be continually underfunded?

[Anonymous]

The big challenge is that growth is lumpy.

On the one hand, you have the larger trend of declining birth rates.

On the other hand, you have areas where the county is promoting growth, or making policy decisions that will add kids.

Some people will say FCPS should stop the willy-nilly expansions of schools like Langley that didn’t need additions and just redistrict to make use of existing capacity wherever it’s located.

But FCPS has shown little appetite or talent for big boundary changes. And some don’t want to end up being at the only schools that aren’t expanded after FCPS has spent a lot of money expanding other schools to 2500-3000 seats.

Most likely they will continue to defer the western high school; they’ll make modest boundary changes when there’s no alternative; and they’ll continue to leave kids in trailers and modulars at the schools that are overcrowded for extended periods because they just aren’t nimble enough (and are too scared) to adjust their plans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about giving FARMs families the option of being bussed to Langley? Start with the highest FARMs school and continue to fill spaces until Langley is near capacity? Allow the families that want to leave the schools that are high FARMs and low opportunity the chance to attend one of the low FARMs schools? Make it a choice so that the families who are below the poverty line but are invested in their kids education have the chance to attend a better school.

There is not much we can do to help the kids who come from families were the parents are not invested in school or where the family pressures demand that the kid miss school to work or watch siblings. We know that the kids with high rates of absenteeism need a different solution then what we are providing them. Bussing won’t help those kids. But the kids who do want more and are looking for more opportunities would have the choice to move to a different commute.

We really need to invest in alternative programs for many of the FARMs kids. Schools that offer classes at different times of day or even a modified school schedule so that the child is taking 2 classes at a time but the school year runs all year. Some way to meet those kids at a place where they can attend school in a non-traditional manner but get an education that will give them a chance at improving their quality of life. Hopefully then they can be in a better place where their kids can access school in a traditional manner and further improve their life.


All the boundary changes in the world are not going to address the real issues that the low FARMs schools have and we already know that the current form of education is not working for many of those kids.

We need creative solutions like this to solve for kids assigned to underperforming schools. Full school choice starting with kids in the lowest performing schools is a great start using the current pupil placement system. This is a better solution then boundary changes which require a level of analysis and future predicting FCPS seems incapable of doing well. FWIW, according to FCPS Langley was at 91% of their expanded capacity last year and would be over-capacity had they not expanded the school when they did the reno (1st since it was built in 1965). https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/fcps.fts/viz/SY2022-23CapacityDashboard/ReadMe
When the phased in boundary change with McLean completes next year, Langley will likely be close to 95+%. Still, plenty of room but hardly underutilized.

FCPS lost close to 10,000 students during their pandemic shut down and those students dont seem to be coming back. They were mostly at the early elementary school level so as the years tick by, the current trend is for fewer high school students at FCPS, not more. How do you justify the cost of a new high school for a system that lost the equivalent of 4+ high schools in recent years? We do need another TJ or two.....more STEM focused schools to create more opportunities for our kids rather than reallocating the precious few spaces at current TJ. Maybe Herndon and a school in south county area? I pray the incoming school board has some creative thinkers who can push FCPS to focus on more effective solutions and not rearranging the deck chairs on a sinking ship.

I don't know if PP is one or two people.

However, I don't think PP(s) know many FARMS families or they would not think this will solve the problem. I have experience in teaching in a school where FARMS families lived outside the community. It does not work. Family support is difficult enough when the school is close by. It is almost nil when the school is hard to reach.

Good idea in theory--not in practice.

Agree it's not THE solution but as a suite of solutions, I think its worth a try - not every high performing school is hard to get to. Although I do agree that community based schools are the best solution for most students and the community, when another school can meet a specific need and help balance school capacity without disrupting communities, we should at least look at it.

I honestly dont think that FCPS is fixable at its current size. It's too large and too geographically spread out to work well. Smaller, community based school systems are more nimble, responsive to specific community needs and accountable. Totally support more funding for schools with more needs but the Large Corporate FCPS version is irreparably broken.

I imagine breaking up FCPS into smaller chunks will lead to more disparity across the county. Wouldn't high SES regions (Gf and Mclean) thrive while low SES regions (SE fairfax) be continually underfunded?

this could only happen if the pyramids were "pure." No split feeders with other pyramids, etc. I don't see this happening. I could see Fairfax City going independent of the county--like Falls Church. Vienna, maybe? Is McLean incorporated?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about giving FARMs families the option of being bussed to Langley? Start with the highest FARMs school and continue to fill spaces until Langley is near capacity? Allow the families that want to leave the schools that are high FARMs and low opportunity the chance to attend one of the low FARMs schools? Make it a choice so that the families who are below the poverty line but are invested in their kids education have the chance to attend a better school.

There is not much we can do to help the kids who come from families were the parents are not invested in school or where the family pressures demand that the kid miss school to work or watch siblings. We know that the kids with high rates of absenteeism need a different solution then what we are providing them. Bussing won’t help those kids. But the kids who do want more and are looking for more opportunities would have the choice to move to a different commute.

We really need to invest in alternative programs for many of the FARMs kids. Schools that offer classes at different times of day or even a modified school schedule so that the child is taking 2 classes at a time but the school year runs all year. Some way to meet those kids at a place where they can attend school in a non-traditional manner but get an education that will give them a chance at improving their quality of life. Hopefully then they can be in a better place where their kids can access school in a traditional manner and further improve their life.


All the boundary changes in the world are not going to address the real issues that the low FARMs schools have and we already know that the current form of education is not working for many of those kids.

We need creative solutions like this to solve for kids assigned to underperforming schools. Full school choice starting with kids in the lowest performing schools is a great start using the current pupil placement system. This is a better solution then boundary changes which require a level of analysis and future predicting FCPS seems incapable of doing well. FWIW, according to FCPS Langley was at 91% of their expanded capacity last year and would be over-capacity had they not expanded the school when they did the reno (1st since it was built in 1965). https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/fcps.fts/viz/SY2022-23CapacityDashboard/ReadMe
When the phased in boundary change with McLean completes next year, Langley will likely be close to 95+%. Still, plenty of room but hardly underutilized.

FCPS lost close to 10,000 students during their pandemic shut down and those students dont seem to be coming back. They were mostly at the early elementary school level so as the years tick by, the current trend is for fewer high school students at FCPS, not more. How do you justify the cost of a new high school for a system that lost the equivalent of 4+ high schools in recent years? We do need another TJ or two.....more STEM focused schools to create more opportunities for our kids rather than reallocating the precious few spaces at current TJ. Maybe Herndon and a school in south county area? I pray the incoming school board has some creative thinkers who can push FCPS to focus on more effective solutions and not rearranging the deck chairs on a sinking ship.

I don't know if PP is one or two people.

However, I don't think PP(s) know many FARMS families or they would not think this will solve the problem. I have experience in teaching in a school where FARMS families lived outside the community. It does not work. Family support is difficult enough when the school is close by. It is almost nil when the school is hard to reach.

Good idea in theory--not in practice.

Agree it's not THE solution but as a suite of solutions, I think its worth a try - not every high performing school is hard to get to. Although I do agree that community based schools are the best solution for most students and the community, when another school can meet a specific need and help balance school capacity without disrupting communities, we should at least look at it.

I honestly dont think that FCPS is fixable at its current size. It's too large and too geographically spread out to work well. Smaller, community based school systems are more nimble, responsive to specific community needs and accountable. Totally support more funding for schools with more needs but the Large Corporate FCPS version is irreparably broken.

I do not see how this could be legally applied. If there is space--anyone can legally apply for pupil placement. Providing transportation only for FARMS students could be dicey. And, if it were legal, I could see some people fraudulently becoming FARMS.

No, you have to have a valid reason. Not being happy with your high FARMS school isn't one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course, SB could also opt for a new Western HS (assuming it’s eventually built) to be a choice/option/magnet program… either a TJ clone/spinoff (due to demand) or perhaps an Arts or other focus… but basically make it a “more reasonable commute distance” option for some folks, which could help alleviate crowding at a number of schools without requiring dramatic boundary changes.

So the county could have two magnets almost inaccessible from the eastern portion of the county? Would a kid who got into a humanities magnet really get bussed from West Potomac or Edison an hour an a half west (no busses in the HOV lanes) for school every morning?

What are you talking about? TJ is in Annandale? That's very convenient to Edison, eastern side of the county, etc.