FCPS Boundary Review Updates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is amazing how stark the difference is between McLean and Falls Church.

37% English Learner at FCHS vs 7% at McLean
64% Free&Reduced at FCHS vs 12% at McLean

Sending more rich white kids to FCHS will reduce those numbers, this is a good thing!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am very curious if most of the pro rezoning posts from the past 10-20 pages are from just 1-2 people posting repeatedly.

The pro-boundary update people watching the thread have very little incentive to post. If someone posts how they'd like to fix their split feeder they are hounded incessantly by claims of "you just want to hurt the mental health of my kids", or "you're just trying to increase your property value at the expense of others" (the Emerald Chase people come to mind most recently) - all the while the people posting against them are happy to do the same to keep the status quo. I notice hardly any Emerald Chase people post here anymore because of it.
You don't have the super majority you think you have. It's just an echo chamber in here.

If you are posting the majority of the posts in support of boundary changes here, then it is likely that you have as little support throughout FCPS as you do here.

No, usually I post maybe once a week - twice if I reply to someone afterward. I'm not in a split feeder ES, but one kid basically was because of AAP. He was split from his friends where roughly 30% of the kids go to the center - so it's a situation Thru wouldn't have addressed either. Now he goes to Carson for AAP where he'll be split from most of his peers once again for high school. Split feeders are not ideal and should be eliminated whenever possible. The only people okay with them are the ones that are just happy they got the "better" end of the split for their future middle and high school and don't want it fixed if they end up somewhere "worse."

I understand the frustration of some people at schools like Carson and Thoreau that are three-way split feeders and have some really weird feeder patterns. What I don't quite get is why some in those areas don't spend more time asking FCPS and its outside consultants to address them, because they aren't part of Thru's proposals. Instead, they project all their angst into cheering for other people's kids to get redistricted to eliminate split feeders at other schools their kids don't attend. That just seems bizarre to me.

That is unfair. We (at least the many of us I interact with) do want our split feeders ended and nobody is cheering any part of this. Please engage in an honest and constructive manner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also if your neighborhood friends told you they go for the Catholic education, why do not believe it or why do you care why they do not go to Timber Lane? They are not bad-mouthing the school, their choices literally have nothing to do with you. I think it’s time for you to realize families make their own choices independent of what their friends families might be doing. It does not mean they are judging your choice.

Bc they aren’t just going for the catholic education. Suddenly public school becomes ok in middle and high school, as long as it isn’t at Timber Lane (or Shrevewood, for that matter). So now these same people suddenly claiming to care about the FARMs students at Timberlane is quite frankly disgusting.

DP. It's nothing new for families to send their kids to K-6 parochial schools and then to public middle and high schools or to K-8 parochial schools and then to public high school. Langley HS has a lot of families who sent their kids to St. Luke when they could have gone to Churchill Road and Cooper, and McLean HS has a lot of families who sent their kids to St. Mark when they could have gone to Chesterbrook and Longfellow. I'm not convinced you have quite as much insight into the motives of all these families as you think you do.

DP but some of these people are my friends and they 100% are sending their children to St. James with the intent to send them to McLean for high school because they don't want to send their children to Timber Lane. They're all very open about it. I am a Shrevewood parent whose child's pyramid is going to stay the same but I'm sad that my children's friends will go to a different high school.

Someone above mentioned sports leagues. All of our kids - Shrevewood and Timber Lane - play in the Falls Church City rec league. We don't play sports with kids who live in McLean and Vienna except for maybe a handful of kids who got to Haycock. For the most part, my kids' soccer, baseball, and basketball friends go to Oak St, Mt. Daniel, Shrevewood, and Timber Lane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is amazing how stark the difference is between McLean and Falls Church.

37% English Learner at FCHS vs 7% at McLean
64% Free&Reduced at FCHS vs 12% at McLean

Sending more rich white kids to FCHS will reduce those numbers, this is a good thing!

This is the One Fairfax plan. Move kids around for socioeconomic balancing so that are schools are equal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at Timber Lane ES which has been a recent topic of conversation, we are in the section that has always been zoned to go to Jackson/FCHS. I always thought the split feeder stunk because the kids they were friends with would not all continue on together. But anyhow, I never cared that the other kids went to McLean, it’s just the way it has been set up. But what I have found interesting, is some of the families on the McLean side who are unhappy with the split have been arguing on how it tears their community apart. This makes sense for families that have already started middle school and high school, but some of the loudest voices still just have elementary aged students. It’s like, all the sudden the “community” they had with the families across Lee Hwy that have been with their kids for years does not matter. And they make arguments about what sports teams they join (we still live in the same area, we all join the same teams) and their sudden deep concern for the education of their title 1 neighbors. Now, I want nothing more for them to be zoned back out of FCHS because I find the parents to be pretty insufferable and cannot believe the level of entitlement. I would much rather not have to have these people in my life after my kids finish elementary school.

I noticed this too.

One thing that's being ignored here is that FCPS/Thru is proposing to completely revamp the Timber Lane boundaries south of Route 29. The parents on the north side of Route 29 may have had a sense of community with the families across Route 29 (f/k/a Lee Highway) but Thru is proposing to reassign every current Timber Lane neighborhood south of Route 29 to Graham Road ES and repopulate Timber Lane south of 29 with areas now zoned to Graham Road and Pine Spring. The sense of community you'd like the Timber Lane families north of 29 to share with those currently at Timber Lane south of 29 is going to be disrupted regardless of whether the area north of 29 stays at McLean or shifts over to Falls Church.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am very curious if most of the pro rezoning posts from the past 10-20 pages are from just 1-2 people posting repeatedly.

The pro-boundary update people watching the thread have very little incentive to post. If someone posts how they'd like to fix their split feeder they are hounded incessantly by claims of "you just want to hurt the mental health of my kids", or "you're just trying to increase your property value at the expense of others" (the Emerald Chase people come to mind most recently) - all the while the people posting against them are happy to do the same to keep the status quo. I notice hardly any Emerald Chase people post here anymore because of it.
You don't have the super majority you think you have. It's just an echo chamber in here.

If you are posting the majority of the posts in support of boundary changes here, then it is likely that you have as little support throughout FCPS as you do here.

No, usually I post maybe once a week - twice if I reply to someone afterward. I'm not in a split feeder ES, but one kid basically was because of AAP. He was split from his friends where roughly 30% of the kids go to the center - so it's a situation Thru wouldn't have addressed either. Now he goes to Carson for AAP where he'll be split from most of his peers once again for high school. Split feeders are not ideal and should be eliminated whenever possible. The only people okay with them are the ones that are just happy they got the "better" end of the split for their future middle and high school and don't want it fixed if they end up somewhere "worse."

DP but you could have left him at Franklin for AAP with more kids who are going to go to his High School but you didn't. You did this to your own child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also if your neighborhood friends told you they go for the Catholic education, why do not believe it or why do you care why they do not go to Timber Lane? They are not bad-mouthing the school, their choices literally have nothing to do with you. I think it’s time for you to realize families make their own choices independent of what their friends families might be doing. It does not mean they are judging your choice.

Bc they aren’t just going for the catholic education. Suddenly public school becomes ok in middle and high school, as long as it isn’t at Timber Lane (or Shrevewood, for that matter). So now these same people suddenly claiming to care about the FARMs students at Timberlane is quite frankly disgusting.

We are a family from a different area that sent our kids to Catholic grade school and public high school, specifically so they would have experience being around kids from all sorts of religious and non religious backgrounds to prepare them to transition from a Catholic, religious community with shared values, to going away to college with people from all walks of life.

That is not uncommon for Catholic families to enroll their kids in Catholic grade school to enrich their spiritual like and understanding and have their kids in a teaching structure and institution that incorporates Catholic values in everything from religious classes and faith formation, to math class, science and even art and music classes. Later, they send them into the public system for preparation for living and thriving in a secular world that is often hostile to people of faith.

That is a very Catholic thing to do, and has nothing to do with FCPS zoning or FARMS rates.

Exactly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP- to clarify- the McLean families are not unhappy with the split, they are upset with the reasoning to FCHS.

The pro boundary change/SJW folks are tripping all over themselves on this one.

“Hell, no, no addition for McLean! Redistrict those kids (again) and eliminate the attendance islands and split feeders!”

“You mean we’re sending most of the FARMS kids there to Falls Church and slashing the FARMS rate at McLean? Hell, no!”

“You mean if we want to keep those FARMS kids at McLean, we have to create a new split feeder at Shrevewood so we don’t have a terrible, awful, very bad attendance island? Hell, no!”

McLean: “How about you just leave our families alone for now and let us know when you’re finally going to renovate our school?”

Shrevewood isn't even zoned to McLean right now. This has nothing to do with McLean parents. It has to do with creating a split feeder for no reason just because they don't want to keep Timberlane an attendance island. I think the idea of ruining other schools to get rid of attendance islands is so stupid. Literally nobody has ever complained specifically about Timberlane being an attendance island. The parents there don't care, they're just happy they're zoned to McLean (and unhappy now). Shrevewood parents on the other hand seem to be just fine with their current pyramid and don't want their school (which has already been torn apart by the previous principal's idiotic removal of the AAP program) torn apart AGAIN.

Agree with you 100%. But the fact is that FCPS staff and Thru are treating the elimination of attendance islands as ground zero for boundary changes. If you look their scenarios, the elimination of attendance islands is treated as the first order of business in "Scenario 1," and everything in "Scenario 1" is repeated in "Scenario 2" and "Scenario 3."

The Timber Lane folks are arguing theirs is not truly an attendance island, and it's true that it's closer to the main McLean area than some other attendance islands are to the main areas at other schools, but it's still an attendance island. So if you really think an attendance island is bad, and must be bridged for a boundary to be acceptable, that means they're going to create a new split feeder at Shrevewood. Shrevewood doesn't want that, so presumably you prefer that, if FCPS is going to do something, they just reassign the island to Falls Church and Marshall (although some of you have expressed reservations about taking on the area west of Hollywood Road) and avoid the bridge.

And, then, if that preference is honored, and the island is reassigned, there are going to be other people complaining about FCPS reducing the FARMS rate at McLean. That's why I said it becomes a tail-chasing exercise when the reality is that most people in the McLean and Marshally pyramids would just like to be left alone.

[Anonymous]

I understand the frustration of some people at schools like Carson and Thoreau that are three-way split feeders and have some really weird feeder patterns. What I don't quite get is why some in those areas don't spend more time asking FCPS and its outside consultants to address them, because they aren't part of Thru's proposals. Instead, they project all their angst into cheering for other people's kids to get redistricted to eliminate split feeders at other schools their kids don't attend. That just seems bizarre to me.

Carson feeds into Westfield, Carson, Oakton, and South Lakes, I think. (Some Chantilly AAP kids, but that is elective.)
Franklin--less than two miles away feeds into Chantilly, Oakton, and, I think a little to Westfield.

That is five high schools between two middle schools in close proximity. I guess you could send the Franklin Westfield
kids to Carson (not sure about where they come from). But, I don't know if Franklin could absorb all the Oakton kids. Can Hughes absorb all South Lakes kids? I doubt it.

Bottom line: there is no way to get those two middle schools to be single feeders. One of them necessarily has to feed into three high schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am very curious if most of the pro rezoning posts from the past 10-20 pages are from just 1-2 people posting repeatedly.

The pro-boundary update people watching the thread have very little incentive to post. If someone posts how they'd like to fix their split feeder they are hounded incessantly by claims of "you just want to hurt the mental health of my kids", or "you're just trying to increase your property value at the expense of others" (the Emerald Chase people come to mind most recently) - all the while the people posting against them are happy to do the same to keep the status quo. I notice hardly any Emerald Chase people post here anymore because of it.
You don't have the super majority you think you have. It's just an echo chamber in here.

If you are posting the majority of the posts in support of boundary changes here, then it is likely that you have as little support throughout FCPS as you do here.

No, usually I post maybe once a week - twice if I reply to someone afterward. I'm not in a split feeder ES, but one kid basically was because of AAP. He was split from his friends where roughly 30% of the kids go to the center - so it's a situation Thru wouldn't have addressed either. Now he goes to Carson for AAP where he'll be split from most of his peers once again for high school. Split feeders are not ideal and should be eliminated whenever possible. The only people okay with them are the ones that are just happy they got the "better" end of the split for their future middle and high school and don't want it fixed if they end up somewhere "worse."

I understand the frustration of some people at schools like Carson and Thoreau that are three-way split feeders and have some really weird feeder patterns. What I don't quite get is why some in those areas don't spend more time asking FCPS and its outside consultants to address them, because they aren't part of Thru's proposals. Instead, they project all their angst into cheering for other people's kids to get redistricted to eliminate split feeders at other schools their kids don't attend. That just seems bizarre to me.

That is unfair. We (at least the many of us I interact with) do want our split feeders ended and nobody is cheering any part of this. Please engage in an honest and constructive manner.

I am engaging in an honest and constructive manner. But if you want your own split feeders ended, that's where you should be channeling your energies. Where are the web sites of folks calling for the elimination of the three-way split feeder at Carson or Thoreau? Instead, I see you spending your time second-guessing the motives of people in another part of the county and calling for the elimination of a split feeder that your own kids don't attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is amazing how stark the difference is between McLean and Falls Church.

37% English Learner at FCHS vs 7% at McLean
64% Free&Reduced at FCHS vs 12% at McLean

Sending more rich white kids to FCHS will reduce those numbers, this is a good thing!

FCHS already has areas with high-income families. It has more low-income families than high-income families, but there are some very nice neighborhoods all over the FCHS area.

The demographics of the Timber Lane island at McLean that might be reassigned are very similar to the current demographics at Falls Church. The difference is that those demographics are an outlier in the McLean pyramid, but common in the Falls Church pyramid.

So reassigning that island to Falls Church would do very little to reduce the FARMS percentage at Falls Church, even assuming the families of the "rich white kids" accepted the reassignment. It would probably reduce the FARMS percentage at Falls Church a little bit because there is a piece of the island that FCPS/Thru proposes to reassign to Marshall that includes no single-family homes, so the part that would be reassigned to Falls Church skews less FARMS that the island as a whole and the Marshall piece.

[Anonymous]

They really shouldn’t be doing these boundary changes and not considering Dunn Loring. That is going to affect Shrevewood and thereby Timber Lane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They really shouldn’t be doing these boundary changes and not considering Dunn Loring. That is going to affect Shrevewood and thereby Timber Lane.

Dunn Loring will definitely affect Shrevewood, Freedom Hill, and Stenwood (a lot), but not necessarily Timber Lane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am very curious if most of the pro rezoning posts from the past 10-20 pages are from just 1-2 people posting repeatedly.

The pro-boundary update people watching the thread have very little incentive to post. If someone posts how they'd like to fix their split feeder they are hounded incessantly by claims of "you just want to hurt the mental health of my kids", or "you're just trying to increase your property value at the expense of others" (the Emerald Chase people come to mind most recently) - all the while the people posting against them are happy to do the same to keep the status quo. I notice hardly any Emerald Chase people post here anymore because of it.
You don't have the super majority you think you have. It's just an echo chamber in here.

Oh is that why the feedback at all of the boundary meetings so far has been overwhelmingly in favor of NOT making changes? What planet are you living on? You and your super liberal friends are not a super majority. Look around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also if your neighborhood friends told you they go for the Catholic education, why do not believe it or why do you care why they do not go to Timber Lane? They are not bad-mouthing the school, their choices literally have nothing to do with you. I think it’s time for you to realize families make their own choices independent of what their friends families might be doing. It does not mean they are judging your choice.

Bc they aren’t just going for the catholic education. Suddenly public school becomes ok in middle and high school, as long as it isn’t at Timber Lane (or Shrevewood, for that matter). So now these same people suddenly claiming to care about the FARMs students at Timberlane is quite frankly disgusting.

We are a family from a different area that sent our kids to Catholic grade school and public high school, specifically so they would have experience being around kids from all sorts of religious and non religious backgrounds to prepare them to transition from a Catholic, religious community with shared values, to going away to college with people from all walks of life.

That is not uncommon for Catholic families to enroll their kids in Catholic grade school to enrich their spiritual like and understanding and have their kids in a teaching structure and institution that incorporates Catholic values in everything from religious classes and faith formation, to math class, science and even art and music classes. Later, they send them into the public system for preparation for living and thriving in a secular world that is often hostile to people of faith.

That is a very Catholic thing to do, and has nothing to do with FCPS zoning or FARMS rates.

We did the same thing. We could have sent our kids to PVI or DJO, but decided our kids needed a reality check. They now attend a high school with majority FARMS rate. Their parrochial K-8 experience gave them a great foundation in Catholic Social Teaching, ELA, organization skills, and they got to participate in CYO sports.

They joined athletic teams at their high school and quickly made new friends. No mental health issues at all!