FCPS Boundary Review Updates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

In truth, it is much easier to post links to meetings through already existing email pathways and websites than it is to create those pathways in communities that have no HOA. In a non-HOA Community that would involve door knocking, social media posting across multiple sites, getting personal contact information etc just to get to the point where a community has an email list. I understand people’s defensiveness in me pointing that out, but it isn’t “rude” to say so. It is the truth. Saying things like “we encourage all communities to participate” when many can’t organize as easily as you do is disingenuous.

I've been watching this thread because I went through this with my kids. I do live in tract housing with an HOA. Our HOA was not involved at all. However, our PTA parents became seriously engaged and formed groups to fight a change.

However, at that time, they were not taking elementary neighborhoods and splitting them as they are now. That hits closer to home. Anyone who cannot see that either has an agenda or has never had children.
I don't blame anyone who wants to keep the status quo.

Anyone who does not want to keep the status quo is likely someone who has no attachment to their current community and school.

The status quo isn't really working for Lewis, boundaries or academics. Yet nothing is being done. People on here talk about community, but Lewis really has no strong community. I would wager the neighborhoods that feed it have some of the highest private, homeschool, or pupil placement rates. Not a lot of Lewis graduate signs up right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just wait for the new maps to come out in the fall moving Langley to Herndon. If you think this page is ugly now…

Ah, so we’re back to the secret map stage? I think there are some posters who just want to sow confusion so people don’t pay attention to what’s actually before them at the moment.

I have no doubt that, if new maps were to emerge moving part of Langley to Herndon, it would generate a lot of attention. But there are no such maps now, and Thru could not reconcile moving any part of Langley consistent with its stated priorities.

Thru is doing a lot of moving that is not consistent with their stated priorities already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just wait for the new maps to come out in the fall moving Langley to Herndon. If you think this page is ugly now…

Ah, so we’re back to the secret map stage? I think there are some posters who just want to sow confusion so people don’t pay attention to what’s actually before them at the moment.

I have no doubt that, if new maps were to emerge moving part of Langley to Herndon, it would generate a lot of attention. But there are no such maps now, and Thru could not reconcile moving any part of Langley consistent with its stated priorities.

Thru is doing a lot of moving that is not consistent with their stated priorities already.

I don't think they see it that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just wait for the new maps to come out in the fall moving Langley to Herndon. If you think this page is ugly now…

Ah, so we’re back to the secret map stage? I think there are some posters who just want to sow confusion so people don’t pay attention to what’s actually before them at the moment.

I have no doubt that, if new maps were to emerge moving part of Langley to Herndon, it would generate a lot of attention. But there are no such maps now, and Thru could not reconcile moving any part of Langley consistent with its stated priorities.

Thru is doing a lot of moving that is not consistent with their stated priorities already.

I don't think they see it that way.

1. They are splitting my neighborhood.
2. Creating a new island in my neighborhood school.
3. Sending part of my neighborhood much further away.

How is that consistent with stated priorities?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just wait for the new maps to come out in the fall moving Langley to Herndon. If you think this page is ugly now…

Ah, so we’re back to the secret map stage? I think there are some posters who just want to sow confusion so people don’t pay attention to what’s actually before them at the moment.

I have no doubt that, if new maps were to emerge moving part of Langley to Herndon, it would generate a lot of attention. But there are no such maps now, and Thru could not reconcile moving any part of Langley consistent with its stated priorities.

Thru is doing a lot of moving that is not consistent with their stated priorities already.

I think moving part of Langley to Herndon would be consistent with Policy 8130's focus on reducing transportation times, but the Thur scenarios prioritize:

* eliminating attendance islands and addressing schools outside their boundaries;

* minimizing < 25% split feeders; and

* getting schools under 105% capacity

Langley pyramid has no attendance islands, schools outside their boundaries, or split feeders below 25%, and no schools over 105%. Spring Hill would move to Langley to fix an attendance island at McLean but that's it.

So FCPS staff/Thru would have to change their priorities and scenarios to justify touching Langley at this point. If they do that, big, big egg on their face for misleading people so far.

I say give it a rest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just wait for the new maps to come out in the fall moving Langley to Herndon. If you think this page is ugly now…

Ah, so we’re back to the secret map stage? I think there are some posters who just want to sow confusion so people don’t pay attention to what’s actually before them at the moment.

I have no doubt that, if new maps were to emerge moving part of Langley to Herndon, it would generate a lot of attention. But there are no such maps now, and Thru could not reconcile moving any part of Langley consistent with its stated priorities.

Thru is doing a lot of moving that is not consistent with their stated priorities already.

I don't think they see it that way.

1. They are splitting my neighborhood.
2. Creating a new island in my neighborhood school.
3. Sending part of my neighborhood much further away.

How is that consistent with stated priorities?

Their current priorities and scenarios don't care about "splitting" neighborhoods or increasing commuting times. Many of their proposals would split neighborhoods or increase commuting times if necessary to do something like eliminate an attendance island or a < 25% split feeder or get a school below 105%.

In some cases in trying to effectuate their priorities they've done things like create new islands, and that's something that, if they want to be faithful to the priorities set forth in the three scenarios, they'd need to eliminate before the next maps are released.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just wait for the new maps to come out in the fall moving Langley to Herndon. If you think this page is ugly now…

Ah, so we’re back to the secret map stage? I think there are some posters who just want to sow confusion so people don’t pay attention to what’s actually before them at the moment.

I have no doubt that, if new maps were to emerge moving part of Langley to Herndon, it would generate a lot of attention. But there are no such maps now, and Thru could not reconcile moving any part of Langley consistent with its stated priorities.

Proximity?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A friend sent me a screenshot of a poster calling out families who send their kids to St. James instead of their zoned elementary school. I can't find the post to comment.

We bought our land and built a house zoned for the middle and high school we wanted for our kids, not the elementary school. With the proposed scenarios, it seems like that may not happen. We have three options: fight, comply, or move. We're going to start by fighting. Families do what they feel is best for their kids.

Oh the “best for our kids”. We can all see through what this really means.

Please tell us. Because that is what it means to me.

Fine, do what’s best for your kids. But then don’t use other (FARMs) kids to push your property value/better ranked school agenda.

[Anonymous]

It is ironic that FCPS talks so much about equity but then sets up a feedback process that is so inequitable. It is so true that communities of people with more resources and time will be able to organize more quickly and easily to protest any changes. And if they’re using a stupid metric like number of comments on a website, then the communities who can’t organize as easily will get lost in the shuffle. It makes me think the whole feedback process is just for show and so they can say they did it. They have to know it’s a garbage process

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone on here talk about Annandale High school. The school is close to capacity and projected to hit higher (with modulars) yet they are moving Lewis students and putting it above capacity.

Why would they do that? This seems to go against the whole point of this review and sets the school for failure when it is finally turning itself around.

1. They are only looking at September enrollments for capacity, not projections.
2. They are considering capacity with the modulars, not without.

So while there’s projected growth in Annandale, and the current capacity is perfect for phasing out the modulars, they’re going to fill them back up.

And, look at that, in the efforts to fix the Holmes to Annandale and Edison split feeder, they’ve created a Holmes to Annandale/Justice split feeder in the 4-11 presentation, slide 12 that’s never addressed!

Slide 12 of the 4/11 presentation addresses a Bull Run ES attendance island. I think you are referring to Slide 20 of the 4/25 presentation, which appears to show part of Holmes moving to Justice.

I doubt this was their intent, but Thru Consulting probably should be renamed Sloppy Consulting. I think they used the wrong map, and treated an area that they separately proposed to move from Parklawn ES to Columbia ES (see Slide 36 of the 4/11 presentation) as if that area was zoned for Justice rather than Annandale. That area currently attends Annandale and there would be no reason to move it to Justice, especially if they were moving it from Parklawn (currently a split feeder to Annandale and Justice) to Columbia (a 100% feeder to Annandale).

The whole Edison-to-Annandale move to eliminate the split feeder at Holmes looks like an exercise in rearranging deck chairs. In 2010-11 Annandale HS had an enrollment of slighly over 2500 and this was considered unacceptable. In response, the School Board moved the part of Wakefield Forest that had attended Poe/Annandale to Frost/Woodson and reassigned Bren Mar Park from Annandale to Edison while leaving it at Holmes. Now, because split feeders are being targeted, they are proposing to move Bren Mar Park back to Annandale, which would leave Annandale just shy of 2500 again.

I feel for that community. Some now in the Edsall Park area have to cross both 495 and 395 to get to Edison, but Annandale with 2500 kids is not going to be a great environment. It's an old building that, along with Lewis and McLean, got the cheapest "renovations" of any high schools in the early 2000s, and it currently has a 14-classroom modular. It also has a large ESOL/FARMS population, and 2500 kids at Annandale is a bigger challenge than, say, 2400 kids at McLean. On the other hand, Edison is currently at 107% capacity with no modular, so they thought they were dealing with two issues (split feeder at Holmes, overcrowding at Edison) by reassigning BMP back to Annandale. If you can install a modular at Annandale (28 acres), I'm not sure why they can't install a modular at Edison (43.5 acres).

We are newer to the area and live in that part of Wakefield Forest that was re-districted to Frost and Woodson back when you mentioned. I have heard from neighbors that the community was split on it and it was ugly. Lots of people wanted to stay at Annandale and were able to due to generous grandfathering policies.

My spouse and I went to one of the earlier boundary meetings at Annandale HS to see the school and hopefully talk to some families there, in the event that our neighborhood was sent back there. We chose the Frost and Woodson pyramid due to AP, marching band, and a few extracurricular clubs our kids are particularly interested in. We were/are not eager to have our kids move in high school but we took the opportunity to go and see the school during that presentation.

We met countless parents who loved the school and didn’t want to be zoned OUT of it. They had kids who loved the IB program and have a stellar Arabic teacher, apparently. They described what happened when our particular area was routed out of Annandale and to Woodson and it was really interesting to hear. They said the parent and community involvement plummeted at the middle and high schools there and never really recovered - at least not to the original level. Again, we are new to the area and totally unfamiliar with what has happened in the past here. That’s just what we were told. It was good perspective to help us better appreciate what can happen when school boundaries are changed and communities are moved to other areas. It sounds like it was a net negative for Annandale, and while I’d prefer my kids to stay at Woodson and continue to have stability there, I really feel for our neighboring school and community and hope they don’t continue to have such unrest.

Some others in this forum in years past have posted how FCPS really botched that boundary move with Annandale. The former principal warned against moving Annandale’s higher income outside-the-beltway neighborhoods from Annandale to Woodson, Robinson, etc. He was harshly criticized for comments that were construed to be belittling of the inside the beltway neighborhoods.

That tool was responsible for the entire debacle. “We’re so overcrowded! We need relief!” Then “NOOOO! I meant take the poors out!”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A friend sent me a screenshot of a poster calling out families who send their kids to St. James instead of their zoned elementary school. I can't find the post to comment.

We bought our land and built a house zoned for the middle and high school we wanted for our kids, not the elementary school. With the proposed scenarios, it seems like that may not happen. We have three options: fight, comply, or move. We're going to start by fighting. Families do what they feel is best for their kids.

Oh the “best for our kids”. We can all see through what this really means.

Please tell us. Because that is what it means to me.

Fine, do what’s best for your kids. But then don’t use other (FARMs) kids to push your property value/better ranked school agenda.

FWIW, some in my neighborhood are being sent to a "better" school and they are NOT happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just wait for the new maps to come out in the fall moving Langley to Herndon. If you think this page is ugly now…

Ah, so we’re back to the secret map stage? I think there are some posters who just want to sow confusion so people don’t pay attention to what’s actually before them at the moment.

I have no doubt that, if new maps were to emerge moving part of Langley to Herndon, it would generate a lot of attention. But there are no such maps now, and Thru could not reconcile moving any part of Langley consistent with its stated priorities.

At least one school board rep, Sandy Anderson, as well as doctor Reid have ssid publicly this past week that there are mistakes in the maps presented by Thru, such as designating an elementary school as a new split feeder when the actual plan is to move the entire school.

Sandy Anderson has also stated publicly at 2 meetings since the latest maps were released, that she will not support grandfathering any WSHS students, because she intends to move Lewis students into their spots.

Their words, not mine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

In truth, it is much easier to post links to meetings through already existing email pathways and websites than it is to create those pathways in communities that have no HOA. In a non-HOA Community that would involve door knocking, social media posting across multiple sites, getting personal contact information etc just to get to the point where a community has an email list. I understand people’s defensiveness in me pointing that out, but it isn’t “rude” to say so. It is the truth. Saying things like “we encourage all communities to participate” when many can’t organize as easily as you do is disingenuous.

I've been watching this thread because I went through this with my kids. I do live in tract housing with an HOA. Our HOA was not involved at all. However, our PTA parents became seriously engaged and formed groups to fight a change.

However, at that time, they were not taking elementary neighborhoods and splitting them as they are now. That hits closer to home. Anyone who cannot see that either has an agenda or has never had children.
I don't blame anyone who wants to keep the status quo.

Anyone who does not want to keep the status quo is likely someone who has no attachment to their current community and school.

The status quo isn't really working for Lewis, boundaries or academics. Yet nothing is being done. People on here talk about community, but Lewis really has no strong community. I would wager the neighborhoods that feed it have some of the highest private, homeschool, or pupil placement rates. Not a lot of Lewis graduate signs up right now.

Sandy Anderson stated at 2 public meetings this past week that she intends to move Rolling Valley/Key/Lewis families out of Lewis/Key and into Irving/WSHS.

So Lewis will lose around a couple dozen students

* Thru has Rolling Valley/Key/Lewis neighborhoods staying put for middle and high school, moving their split feeder to Saratoga Elementary, which is exactly the same distance from that neighborhood as Rolling Valley, eliminating the Rolling Valley split feeder and keeping all those students together through high school.

Thru's map shows 106 RV zoned Lewis students, around 15-16 per grade, so not a small number of students. Over 4 grades, that is at least 60 students potentially moving to WSHS, more once the neighborhood becomes WSHS.

Sandy Anderson says it is only 10 students per grade, which doesn't match with Thru's numbers.

Something is wrong with their numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Emerald Chase parent here. We’re getting a lot of hate (and several outright rude comments) about our community. Last night, we had one comment that we encouraged all our parents to vote for. We want to make sure our voices are heard since we have two schools changing and yet no meeting scheduled for our (new or old) pyramid. Per the zoom, they were actually only showing one comment live and they locked it on the display. Other “out of pyramid” schools also voiced opinions (Coates, Hunters Valley, etc.) but we are the only ones getting hate. It is the nature of the way Thru consulting has set up the feedback system that should be attacked, not us. We encourage all communities to participate and stand up for their children.

Also, our community is not being organized through our HOA. Our small SPA is actually made up of 2 HOAs. It is a group of parents that feel very strongly and are working tirelessly to make sure FCPS listens.

Of course you are going to say that. It is a “bootstraps” statement. Like it is your hard work that is making this happen instead of the existing structure of your community. That is why you are using the words “Tirelessly etc”.

In truth, it is much easier to post links to meetings through already existing email pathways and websites than it is to create those pathways in communities that have no HOA. In a non-HOA Community that would involve door knocking, social media posting across multiple sites, getting personal contact information etc just to get to the point where a community has an email list. I understand people’s defensiveness in me pointing that out, but it isn’t “rude” to say so. It is the truth. Saying things like “we encourage all communities to participate” when many can’t organize as easily as you do is disingenuous.

A community of 240+ votes attending one meeting is not a “small SPA”. We have far far less children in our neighborhood.

It is clear Emerald Chase has beaten the system, but don’t lie to yourself that it is your “tireless efforts.” You have a lot of structure you are relying on.

But definitely no hate here.

There is a distinct difference between me hating you and not wanting you to succeed vs me pointing out that you have a much easier time advocating for your children because of the type of community you live in.

I do NOT hate you, in fact I am anti any boundary changes without generous grandfathering. I don’t want your kids moved or mine unless it is done in a way that allows kids to stay in their school and transition to a new school at a natural transition point (end of 8th, end of 5th, not for high school).

BUT I am also pointing out that your assumptions that all communities can just as easily pull together to get want they want for their kids as Emerald Chase can for their kids is WRONG. I am pointing out that I think taking over meeting feedback repeatedly with 250+ votes for a single community every time takes away from others voices. Again, that doesn’t mean I hate you, it does mean I think it is wrong to continue to take over meetings. It does mean I am telling you I think that is wrong. I think your defensiveness in saying I ‘hate” you makes it easier for you to take that criticism (that you probably understand is objectively true) and negate it so you don’t have to think about it.

[Anonymous]

BUT I am also pointing out that your assumptions that all communities can just as easily pull together to get want they want for their kids as Emerald Chase can for their kids is WRONG. I am pointing out that I think taking over meeting feedback repeatedly with 250+ votes for a single community every time takes away from others voices. Again, that doesn’t mean I hate you, it does mean I think it is wrong to continue to take over meetings. It does mean I am telling you I think that is wrong. I think your defensiveness in saying I ‘hate” you makes it easier for you to take that criticism (that you probably understand is objectively true) and negate it so you don’t have to think about it.

I don't live in Emerald Chase. But, why are your neighbors not interested? Do you want your neighborhood to move/not move. Are you disappointed that others are not moving?

It is a lot easier to advocate if you have an idea of what you want or don't want.

What are you advocating for? Did you comment? If so, what was your comment? Let us know and you might get some up votes at the next meeting.